The caravan was heavier than when they had left the previous village.

  Two crates of root vegetables sat tied behind the rear wagon. A wrapped bundle of smoked meat hung beneath the axle to keep the sun from spoiling it. Fresh-cut firewood had been stacked along the wagon rails and tied down with rope.

  Payment.

  Not coins.

  Villages rarely had those.

  Kael sat on the front wagon bench holding a clay cup.

  “…Milk?” he said skeptically.

  Yava lifted his own cup and took a slow sip.

  “Well, Kael, not everyone is rich,” he said calmly. “Besides, this milk is excellent. You should try some before Borgas finishes the entire supply.”

  Behind them, Borgas lowered a large jug.

  Milk foam clung to his lip.

  “…What?”

  Kael stared at him.

  “You didn’t even pour it into a cup.”

  Borgas looked at the jug.

  Then at the cup.

  “…The jug is bigger.”

  Eryn sighed from the rear wagon without looking up from his notes.

  “That is not how distribution works.”

  Kael shook his head.

  “Next village we’re getting paid in barrels.”

  Yava only smiled faintly.

  Morning on the road was supposed to be simple.

  Eryn adjusted the book in his satchel—the black-covered Dimension Ledger.

  “Technically we prevented their irrigation system from collapsing into another dimension.”

  Kael shrugged.

  “Vegetables still count.”

  Yava walked beside the lead wagon, one hand resting lightly on the wood.

  Merchant pace.

  Unhurried.

  Ordinary.

  And therefore suspicious.

  A shadow crossed overhead.

  Kael looked up instantly.

  Borgas nearly choked on dried fruit.

  A mechanical hawk descended from the sky.

  Bronze wings caught the sunlight in sharp geometric planes. Its chest held a small glowing solar core, and fine Albion script ran beneath the edges of its wings.

  The bird landed on the front beam of the wagon.

  Its claws locked into place with a metallic click.

  The Ironwing Courier.

  “Lyssandra,” Yava said.

  The Ironwing’s chest rotated open.

  Instead of symbols, a circular lens extended outward.

  The air shimmered.

  A pale green projection stabilized above the wagon beam.

  Lyssandra appeared—slightly distorted by the projection field but unmistakable.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  “Testing signal,” she said calmly.

  Kael blinked.

  “That bird just turned into a person.”

  Eryn ignored him.

  “Projection relay,” he said quietly. “Short-range communication node.”

  Lyssandra continued.

  “Supply corridor three has been attacked twice this morning. Raiders disappear after engagement. Investigate if feasible. Stabilize the route if fractures are involved.”

  The projection flickered once.

  “Report if you discover anything unusual.”

  The image collapsed.

  The Ironwing’s chest closed again, wings unfolding with a metallic whisper.

  It launched skyward and vanished into the clouds.

  Eryn continued watching the empty sky.

  “The signal stuttered,” he said.

  Kael frowned.

  “It’s a bird.”

  “It’s a relay system,” Eryn replied. “And the projection lagged before the final message.”

  Yava looked ahead down the road.

  “Then we proceed assuming interference.”

  Kael rested his hand on his sword.

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning,” Yava said calmly,

  “This may not be banditry alone.”

  They found the wrecked wagon shortly before noon.

  One wheel had shattered completely. The axle had split and the wagon leaned sideways against the road. Crates were broken open and stripped clean.

  The horses were gone.

  Not dead.

  Gone.

  Borgas crouched beside the road.

  “No blood.”

  “Professional enough to take what they wanted,” Kael said.

  Eryn moved past them and examined the ground.

  Boot prints.

  Dragged crates.

  Military arrow shafts.

  Then the tracks stopped.

  Not faded.

  Stopped.

  Kael followed the trail twice before throwing up his hands.

  “That makes no sense.”

  “It does,” Eryn said quietly. “If they didn’t leave through the road.”

  He knelt where the tracks vanished.

  He exhaled slowly.

  The lattice flickered faintly in his vision.

  The world sharpened—not visually, but structurally.

  Tension seams.

  Pressure lines.

  A thin misalignment in the air.

  “Here,” he said.

  Yava stepped beside him.

  A narrow fracture hung against the stone embankment, nearly invisible.

  “A stabilized tear,” Yava said softly.

  Kael frowned.

  “I thought only we could stabilize those.”

  Yava brushed dirt away from the rock.

  Metal gleamed beneath the soil.

  A stabilizer frame.

  Alloy ribs.

  Relic shard.

  Runic anchors.

  “This wasn’t born,” Yava said.

  “It was installed.”

  Kael scratched the back of his head.

  “Who could even build something like this?”

  “The world is vast,” Yava replied calmly.

  “And full of surprises.”

  Borgas raised a hand.

  “Breakfast?”

  Kael blinked.

  “What?”

  “We cannot think if we are hungry.”

  Eryn sighed.

  “…That is unfortunately correct.”

  So they sat beside a dimensional anomaly and ate smoked meat and boiled root vegetables.

  The arrow struck the road with a hard crack.

  “Cover!” Kael barked.

  Bandits poured from the forest.

  Not chaotic raiders.

  Formation.

  Shield line.

  Archers behind them.

  Former soldiers.

  Kael moved first.

  His blade smashed into the lead shieldman and forced the formation backward.

  Borgas planted himself beside the wagon, Titan Force swelling through his arms as arrows clattered harmlessly off reinforced forearms.

  “Left flank weak!” Eryn shouted.

  Kael adjusted instantly.

  But the militia were not trying to win.

  They were retreating.

  Toward the cliff wall.

  The air rippled.

  A narrow slit opened in space.

  One by one the raiders stepped through.

  Gone.

  The fracture sealed itself.

  Kael stared at the cliff.

  “…I hate this road.”

  They located the second stabilizer an hour later.

  Hidden among rocks above the road.

  Larger.

  More stable.

  Eryn studied the device carefully.

  “It’s redistributing tension,” he said.

  “Not creating the tear.”

  “Just holding it open.”

  Kael folded his arms.

  “So someone built these.”

  “Yes,” Yava said quietly.

  Borgas scratched his head.

  “So the bandits are using the damage we caused.”

  Kael groaned.

  “Why do you keep saying the part out loud?”

  They found the camp near sunset.

  Or what remained of it.

  Burned tents.

  Broken crates.

  Two stabilizers smashed apart.

  Bodies lay scattered across the clearing.

  Not bandits.

  Operatives.

  Their equipment was subtle but expensive—reinforced coats, hidden blades, compact relic tools.

  Too precise for raiders.

  Borgas frowned.

  “One person did this?”

  Eryn knelt beside a body.

  Clean kill.

  One strike.

  Efficient.

  “No,” Eryn said quietly.

  “One fighter.”

  The trees surrounding the clearing were scarred.

  Long diagonal blade cuts carved deep into the bark.

  Not wild swings.

  Precise strikes.

  Kael ran his fingers across one.

  “…That wasn’t a normal fight.”

  A groan came from beneath a collapsed tent.

  Borgas froze.

  “Someone is alive.”

  They pulled the canvas aside.

  A wounded man lay beneath it.

  His armor matched the other operatives.

  Blood soaked his side.

  Eryn crouched beside him.

  “Who attacked you?”

  The man coughed.

  Fear filled his eyes.

  “Two blades,” he rasped.

  “Fast… faster than—”

  He swallowed blood.

  “He’s hunting us.”

  His eyes lost focus.

  The man went still.

  Silence returned to the clearing.

  They camped far from the ruined site.

  Lanterns low.

  Weapons close.

  Eryn studied the stabilizer fragments beside the fire.

  “If someone built this once,” he said quietly,

  “They can build more.”

  Yava nodded.

  “Yes.”

  Deep within the forest, unseen by the campfire light, a shadow moved across the trees.

  A hooded figure paused on a high branch.

  Two blades rested across his back.

  He looked toward the distant glow of the caravan fire.

  Watching.

  Measuring.

  Then he turned and disappeared into the dark forest.

  The hunt was not over.

  End of Chapter 24