The Heizen counterattack did not begin with trumpets or speeches.
It began with fire.
But that fire had been prepared long before.
For months, while Nightstar banners spread across occupied land, Heizen did not collapse. It endured. Blacksmiths worked through the night behind shuttered windows. They worked on firearms, studied them carefully, and crafted more with whatever materials they could find.
Meanwhile, soldiers were trained in firearms. Young recruits learned to load powder with shaking hands. Older veterans learned to aim and fire in volleys. The sound of gunfire slowly became familiar in hidden fields and valleys.
Grain was rationed and stocked up. Horses were hidden in forest barns. Roads were quietly mapped again, not by generals, but by hunters and traders who slipped through checkpoints while pretending to submit.
And in the deep north, envoys walked into the frozen forests.
The help of the Ice Elves also proved fatal to Nightstar.
