← Chapter 20: The Council of Stone | 📖 Series Index | Chapter 22: Blood on Sacred Ground →
Night begins to descend on the troll settlement like a held breath. The darkness breaks only with twin sources of light facing each other across sacred ground—the miners’ torches painting everything in harsh orange urgency, and the ancient stones’ soft glow responding to my presence with ethereal blue-white luminescence. The contrast creates a battlefield of light and shadow where two worlds are about to collide.
I stand at the settlement’s edge with Ironarm Company flanking me, feeling the ancestors’ grief still heavy in my chest like stones pressing against my ribs. The communion left me raw and exposed, my giant blood singing with the memory of Velkir’s ancient wisdom and the terrible knowledge of what lies beneath our feet.
Behind me, the troll community arranges itself with practiced efficiency. Warriors taking defensive positions around family clusters. Children being ushered toward interior buildings. The elderly moving with grim determination toward places where they can contribute despite no longer possessing strength for direct combat. They’ve prepared for violence while praying it would never come.
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