Contents
Chapter 7
Overview
Before dawn, Hallis rouses Acker with news that Roison has overrun a valley in Tyreek’s territory using trolls to collapse the mountainside. A traumatized messenger, Darcy, confirms Zion is wounded but hiding. Acker orders a strategic fallback and preparation for siege, then sends Hallis on a focused mission to retrieve Zion.
Summary
Hallis wakes Acker with urgent news: Roison has invaded a valley in Tyreek’s territory, taken the town, and is establishing camps along the fjord. Acker notes his father’s empty bedchamber and proceeds to the sitting room, where Tyreek, Hallis, Draken, and others await a messenger from the front.
They receive Darcy, a shell-shocked soldier who describes a surprise assault aided by trolls. The giants shattered a mountainside with flails, opening a path for Roison to overrun the town and decimate the battalion. Zion, wounded but alive and hidden in the rocks, sent Darcy to warn them and provided rough locations of Roison camps and a building holding prisoners.
After sending Darcy to a healer, Acker convenes the council. Despite blame cast on him, he orders frontline forces to fall back and form a last defensive line to protect farmlands and the city, warning that war will reach the walls by winter’s end. Hallis urges swift provincial alerts, while Draken notes trolls have never before intervened in human wars.
Acker predicts the city gates will fall and commands nearby farms to render winter wheat early. When Hallis objects it will spoil, Acker clarifies it is needed as hay for horses and cattle. The council disperses to enact the decrees.
Tyreek then demands a plan to recover his son, Zion. Acker silently signals agreement and, once alone with Hallis, issues a final order: infiltrate, retrieve their brother Zion, and return alive—no heroics.
Who Appears
- AckerRoused to crisis; debriefs Darcy, orders a strategic fallback, prepares the city for siege, and tasks Hallis to extract Zion.
- HallisBrings news of the invasion, supports planning, and accepts Acker’s order to rescue Zion with strict instructions.
- TyreekLord of the invaded territory; demands a plan to retrieve his captured, wounded son, Zion.
- DarcyExhausted messenger from the front; reports trolls’ assault, heavy losses, camp positions, and Zion’s status.
- DrakenCouncil member who notes trolls’ unprecedented involvement and aids strategic discussion.
- ZionWounded commander hiding in the mountainside; identified target of the extraction mission.