Chapter 18

• Darius’s POV
• The sound of heavy iron wheels grinding against the uneven dirt path filled the cold evening air. The transport wagons—reinforced with thick metal plates and barred windows—came to a stop just beyond Ironclaw’s outer gates. A silence settled over the border, thick with tension and the underlying weight of unspoken expectations.
• I straightened my posture as the warriors from Ashfang and Bloodstone dismounted from their horses. These men were built like war machines—towering figures with hardened faces, their skin marred by countless battles. Scars ran across their bodies like jagged lines on an old map, each telling the story of survival in the cruelest ways.