It was getting late and Vardy needed to go back to their hideout, he needed to tell them what happened, even though everything boiled down to him.
Vardy moved swiftly through the dense brush, his cloak billowing behind him as the night pressed in around him.
His thoughts were elsewhere, back in Haven City, back at the square, back to the blood on the stone.
Dean's message.
The rogue Altana's body had been left there, discarded like a broken tool, nothing more than a warning to the people.
To him.
"You'll meet the same fate. The Dud will fall."
Vardy clenched his jaw, his fingers twitching against his staff.
He wouldn't let that happen.
The path ahead was rough, uneven, but he knew it well. It had been weeks since he had last stepped into Haven, since he had last walked among the people he was supposed to protect.
And tonight, he had seen them again.
The fear in their eyes. The whispers in the streets. The doubt creeping in like a sickness.
Dean was losing control.
