From his position on the roof of a bell tower, several hundred feet away from what he’d decided to call ‘Forge Street’, Davon watched as Tenebris leapt through the city. The general landed by the forge with a snarl. His draconic head turned slowly from side to side, inspecting the scene.

  A Crimson Reaver patrol arrived not long after. They spread out into the street, searching for anything out of the ordinary. Tenebris continued to gaze at the bodies Davon had left behind.

  Roughly ten minutes later, Tenebris turned and leapt away from the scene, bounding deeper into the city. Davon waited until he saw the draconic beast disappear behind the city’s inner walls before he finally allowed himself a sigh of relief.

  Returning his attention to Forge Street, Davon continued his observation. While he couldn’t make out exact details at this distance, he made an effort to measure the response of the Crimson Reaver army to such an alarm being raised.

  First, he counted the enemies that responded to the call. A dozen regular soldiers, two sergeants, and a Duelist missing their mount showed up. They milled about the scene for roughly half an hour before carrying away the bodies, leaving behind four soldiers to replace the ones Davon had killed.

  He noted everything down, even pulling a notebook from his pack to make physical notes, something he hadn’t done since the very first days on the Night Runner.

  This will be useful for future infiltrations, he thought, already pondering ambush strategies.

  Of course, he wouldn’t have dared to pull off an ambush on that many Crimson Reavers alone. Even though he’d grown significantly in power since the first encounter with them, he recognized that strength in numbers was also something to worry about, especially when he couldn’t rely on runes too heavily.

  As time went on, Davon cast his gaze to other surrounding streets, looking for other Crimson Reaver patrols. He only saw two from his perch. His eyebrows furrowed in annoyance, though, when he spotted a Necromancer leading one of the patrols.

  If only I could spare the time…

  Davon briefly considered making a detour to kill the Crimson Reaver, but he managed to push the idea away. Instead, he poured all his need for vengeance into tracking the two patrols’ movements. A plan began to form in his head. After observing the patrols for an hour, memorizing every turn they made, Davon confirmed to himself that they always followed their routes with uncanny precision.

  This meant his plan could work.

  Davon pushed himself onto his feet and climbed down the building. Dropping onto street level, he immediately set off running, still cloaked by the Invisibility rune.

  Having memorized the patrol routes, Davon knew his path would be clear of enemies as long as he kept pace. He turned each corner with confidence until he reached the spot he’d designated in his planning.

  Once there, he reached into his pack and pulled out the crate of explosives. He carefully removed one of the cylinders. Following Taz’s instructions, Davon pressed the wooden button cap and felt a strand of connection form between himself and the explosive. Moving with even greater care, he placed the thing on the ground and covered it with some nearby debris.

  Davon took a step back to inspect his work, nodding in satisfaction. If I didn’t know what to look for, I wouldn’t notice it. With this step done, he rushed down the street towards the route of the second patrol.

  He repeated the process in a different spot, activating and disguising the explosive. Davon dusted off his hands and took a second to breathe. A smile spread across his face at the thought of how much he had changed since becoming a Revenant. His old self would’ve been left winded not even halfway through this plan.

  With excitement brewing in his heart, Davon took off running again. Once he reached Forge Street, he Shadow-stepped up onto the roof of a small tower poking out from one of the interconnected townhouses. From this vantage, he could see both Crimson Reaver patrols currently in the area.

  Then he settled down on his perch, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

  While he waited, Davon went over the details of his plan again and again. After taking out the two patrols, he would kill any remaining soldiers at the forge, set the explosives, and run away before reinforcements arrived. He’d memorized an escape path. He’d even chosen a spot along the way where he could see the forge, so he could confirm the destruction of his target.

  Then would come both the easiest and most terrifying part of his plan: getting out.

  While Tenebris had reacted with relative disinterest to the initial scuffle, Davon was certain that the forge’s destruction would infuriate the Crimson Reaver general. And Davon was not certain that his Invisibility rune would be enough to protect him from Tenebris’ fury.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  As the two Crimson Reaver patrols came into view, he pushed his concerns aside.

  Problems for the rapidly approaching future, he thought.

  Watching the two Crimson Reaver patrols get closer to the traps he’d set, Davon frowned with dissatisfaction. He had misplaced one of the explosives. The patrol led by the Necromancer would reach their trap too late.

  But he didn’t have the time to correct his mistake. When the closer patrol reached the trap, Davon tugged at the mental string connecting him to the cylinders. Almost immediately, the ground shook with the awe-inspiring force of the Vanguard’s explosives.

  Davon watched in stunned silence as the buildings next to the traps collapsed, falling onto whatever remained of the closer patrol after the initial blast. He couldn’t linger there, however. Davon wrenched his attention back to the forge, where the group of guards left behind to protect it were gathering in response to the blast.

  After what seemed to be a brief conversation, two of the guards split off, heading for the blast sites. Distant wingbeats sent chills down Davon’s spine, but he shook his head.

  At least Tenebris was predictable.

  Ignoring the fear creeping into his heart, Davon slid from his perch and landed gracefully on the street far below. A couple months ago, a fall like that would’ve killed me, he noted, appreciating the fact that he could now jump from the top of three-story buildings without so much as a hint of pain.

  He quickly scanned the street. The two remaining guards were standing beside the forge’s entrance, swords drawn and waiting. In one swift motion, Davon slung the bow from his back and detached its limbs. Easier to kill both of them in close quarters, he reasoned. Before they can react.

  With the fresh snow padding his footsteps, Davon reached the unaware guards in near-total silence. He swung both blades at the first soldier’s neck and decapitated him almost instantly.

  His Invisibility gone, Davon dug his heel into the fresh snow and slid to a stop. He pulled back his arm and prepared a throw just as the second soldier reached for a war horn hanging on his hip. Davon whipped his arm forward the next instant, throwing the blade with all his strength.

  The soldier’s war horn hit the ground before his body collapsed onto the ground, Davon’s blade sticking out of his neck.

  Poor bastards, Davon thought. Then he pulled the blade free and turned away.

  Davon took a moment to inspect the forge. Both the anvil and the forge itself were covered, top to bottom, with strange runes. During his time with the Guild, Vanguard, and most of all Lyla, Davon had become accustomed to rune work. Not enough to make sense of it, but enough to recognize arcana when he saw it.

  But the runes covering the forge and anvil were completely alien to him. He was used to sleek rune symbols, placed in circular formations and interconnected with various lines. These runes were sharp and jagged in shape, arrayed in square formations and only vaguely connected.

  Still, with the sheer amount of carving required, he imagined the creation of the forge must’ve taken months. And that was without factoring in the process of enchanting the damn thing.

  Suddenly Davon understood why a forge, of all things, was considered valuable enough to deploy a team of Revenants to destroy it. He’d been confused about the mission before, but no longer. It was unlikely the Crimson Reavers would get the chance to create another forge during the siege.

  Shaking his head, Davon set about arming the explosives. He placed one directly on top of the anvil, and one on either side of the forge. Then he cloaked himself with the Invisibility rune again and peeked out into the street. Once he was certain no more Crimson Reavers were present, he sprinted towards his chosen vantage point.

  Soon Davon was once again sitting at the edge of a roof, within full view of Forge Street. He glanced towards one of the blast sites, noting that Tenebris was still sniffing around the debris with two soldiers at his feet.

  Davon took a deep breath, braced himself, and triggered the explosives.

  The explosion shook the city’s foundation as a massive fireball erupted from the forge. Davon watched with a wicked grin .

  Almost immediately, Tenebris leapt towards the explosion, landing almost directly in the residual fire and smoke. The general reared on his hind legs and flapped his massive wings with all his might. The smoke quickly cleared, blown away by the general’s efforts, revealing the shattered fragments of a destroyed forge.

  Tenebris turned his head to the sky and unleashed an ear-shattering roar, filled with enough fury to melt a glacier. Raising a clawed fist, he slammed it into the ground, creating a huge crater. Davon clenched his teeth at the sight.

  The General shouted out commands in the Crimson Reavers’ strange, guttural language, his voice loud enough to force Davon to cover his ears. In the distance, Davon saw hundreds of Crimson Reavers scramble into the network of alleys, all making their way towards their General.

  Deciding this was his cue to leave, Davon ran to the opposite side of the roof and dropped into the streets. He took off running as soon as his feet touched the ground. Carried by the winds of panic, he scrambled along his planned escape route, reaching the outer walls in record time.

  Davon Shadow-stepped up onto the wall. He had decided beforehand that wasting time on stairs when enemy forces were flooding into the nearby city wasn’t a good idea.

  When his sight refocused, Davon realized he had landed directly next to a Crimson Reaver soldier. Thinking on his feet, Davon slung the bow from his back and, without detaching the limbs, simply drove the pointy end of a bow limb into the soldier’s neck. The body slid off his bow and tumbled over the ramparts.

  Davon decided after only a moment’s thought to chance a jump from the ramparts. No time to take the descent slowly and carefully. His stomach twisted in fear during the fall, but he landed softly into the freshly gathered snow.

  The second he realized he was completely fine, Davon took off running once again, thinking only with his feet. He didn’t stop until he was back at the Vanguard camp. There, he shed his Invisibility and doubled over, trying to catch his breath.

  The two Revenant guards posted at the camp’s entrance jumped as Davon appeared in front of him.

  Once his breathing began to slow, the realization of his success struck Davon like a thunderbolt. He started laughing, lightly at first but louder with every passing second, drawing confused looks from the two guards and other passing Revenants.

  “Did… you… see that?” Davon gasped, gesturing behind himself towards the smoke rising from the city. “I did that. Heh.”