---
At first, he thought they were travelers.
Then he saw the way they moved. No dust. No lantern. No beast cart. No hesitation.
The watchman's fingers tightened on his spear.
"Who goes there?" he called.
His voice cracked in the middle, not from cowardice, but from the simple human instinct that recognized the shape of wrongness before the mind could name it.
The three did not answer. They kept walking.
The watchman swallowed.
He turned his head and shouted toward the nearest house.
"Wake up!"
That was as far as he got.
Sofia disappeared.
No dramatic flash. No loud step. One moment she was walking below, the next she was gone from the road.
The watchman's eyes widened.
Then she was on the tower with him.
Her hand closed around his throat before the second scream could form.
He was a grown man. Strong enough to survive bad harvests, winter wolves, trade route thieves. His legs kicked anyway like a child lifted by the scruff.
Sofia's face was inches from his.
