⚔️ **CHAPTER 56 — Those Who Walk the Same Road**
They did not meet the new faces all at once.
That would have been too clean. Too obvious.
Instead, they found traces first.
A snapped branch tied back together with twine.
Ashes buried carefully beneath damp soil.
Footprints that did not try to hide—but also did not linger.
"Not Council," Caelin said quietly, crouching to inspect the ground. "Too… human."
Veyrath's eyes narrowed. "And too disciplined for common travelers."
Kael felt it too—not pressure this time, but **presence**. People nearby who were choosing not to be seen.
He stopped walking.
"We're being followed," he said. "But not hunted."
Silence answered him.
Then a voice.
"Good," a woman said from the trees to their left. "Because hunting you would be expensive."
She stepped out openly, hands away from her weapons.
She was tall, broad-shouldered, scarred across the jaw—not old, but worn. A veteran. Her armor was mismatched, repaired too many times to be decorative.
Behind her emerged two more figures.
One was a thin man with ash-blond hair and sharp eyes, moving like he was always counting exits. A dagger rested openly in his palm—not threatening, just honest.
The last was younger. A girl, maybe Kael's age, wrapped in a faded cloak. She carried no visible weapon—but the way she watched Veyrath suggested she didn't need one.
Caelin straightened slowly. "State your names."
The woman snorted. "Straight to business. I like that."
She tapped her chest. "Mireya Holt. Former border guard. Current problem."
The thin man gave a shallow bow. "Tomas. Information runner. I hear things before they become executions."
The girl hesitated, then spoke softly. "Lysa."
Just that.
Veyrath studied them in silence.
"You've been watching us," he said.
"Yes," Mireya replied. "Because the Council started watching *us* after they noticed you."
That drew Kael's attention sharply. "Why?"
Tomas smiled without humor. "Because when the Council circles someone, anyone nearby becomes… expendable."
Lysa looked at Kael then—not with fear, but curiosity. "You're not what they said you were."
"What did they say?" Kael asked.
"That you'd already be broken," she replied simply.
Veyrath turned slightly toward Kael. "This is the consequence of being noticed."
Caelin stepped closer to Kael's side. "And you chose to approach us?"
Mireya shrugged. "Better to stand near the fire than freeze alone."
The forest shifted again—not distortion, not illusion.
Movement.
Kael felt it instantly.
"Council," he said.
Not observers this time.
Hunters.
Mireya's expression hardened. "Then we're out of time for introductions."
Veyrath nodded once. "Good. Let's see how many of you can move slowly under pressure."
Tomas blinked. "That doesn't sound reassuring."
"It isn't," Veyrath replied.
The presence slammed into the clearing—mental pressure mixed with physical threat. Kael felt his body lag, exhaustion clawing back.
Iron Mind rose—
—but he remembered.
*Anchor. Don't armor.*
He breathed. Adjusted. Held.
Lysa gasped slightly. "How are you standing?"
Kael didn't answer.
Caelin drew his sword. Mireya raised her shield. Tomas melted sideways into shadow.
For the first time, Kael was not the only one being tested.
And as the Council closed in, one thing became clear:
This was no longer the journey of a single broken boy.
It was becoming a convergence—
of survivors, of outcasts, of people the world had failed quietly—
All walking the same dangerous road.
---