The morning air was crisp, carrying the scent of damp earth and distant rain. Argolaith, Kaelred, and Malakar moved in near silence, their boots pressing into the soft ground as they traveled southwest.
The wilderness stretched endlessly before them—rolling hills, dense forests, jagged cliffs, and rivers that cut through the land like veins of silver.
It had been three days since Kaelred first felt the pull toward his tree, and with each passing hour, the feeling grew stronger.
But something else grew alongside it.
A deep, gnawing tension.
Kaelred hadn't spoken much about what he was feeling, but Argolaith had noticed the way his friend's expression darkened the closer they got.
It wasn't just excitement or anticipation.
It was something else.
Something heavier.
Malakar, of course, had noticed it too.
He was always watching—always calculating.
But, as usual, the lich said nothing, letting Kaelred wrestle with his thoughts in silence.
Until—
