Page 159 of Warlord's Plaything

50

HIRA

We are scattered throughout the tunnels, waiting.

Listening.

The air is too still, too quiet, the kind of silence that only exists before war erupts.

I should be nervous.

I should be afraid.

But I’m not.

I’m ready.

Then I hear the first sound of it.

Shouting.

A clash of steel.

The roar of something breaking.

"It’s begun."

Valis’s voice is low, sharp, edged with satisfaction.

I turn toward Xyron, his eyes glowing like a predator catching the first stench of blood.

He doesn’t move.

Doesn’t speak.

But I see it.

The war inside him.

The fire ready to consume.

This is what we’ve been waiting for.

Kaelith’s house of cards is finally falling.

Now we watch them destroy each other.

We move through the tunnels, emerging at the edges of the battlefield.

The orc encampment is in chaos.

Fire flickers, shadows twisting against the tents.

"You think you can betray us, Kaelith?"

A massive orc, his chest scarred from battles long before this one, stands before the dark elf noble.

His voice is thunder, rolling through the encampment, drawing attention, pulling warriors from their tents.

---