Soren looked at Eris. The expression on her face mirrored his own, a dark realization that went back weeks, to the long road from Solmire.
"The journey from the South," Eris said, her voice cutting through the wind. "The fire-beasts in the borderlands. They were acting out of character, too. Attacking the caravan when they should have been dormant. Behaving with a frantic, mindless aggression."
Soren nodded, his expression darkening. "Same pattern. Different elements, same corruption. This isn't just a bad season or a territorial dispute. Something is wrong, and it's spreading through the veins of the world. If the Thraen are waking up and the Drogar are being steered like puppets, the mountains aren't safe."
"The hunt?" Jorel asked, though he already knew the answer.
