Page 93 of A Reign of Chromes & Shadows

Hamish handed it over. Rain tested the weight, stepped back, and cast it in a smooth arc. It whistled through the night, clearing the fence. His power caught it mid-drop, flinging it across the clearing. The stone looped around a thick branch, knotting itself securely.

Rain anchored the other end to the nearest branch, tightening the line until it was taut as a bowstring.

“Traverse is live.”

One by one, they clipped in. Corporal Maren went first; calm, steady. The rope sagged under her weight, but she moved with precision. Still every groan of the line made Rain’s chest tighten.

Renn crossed next; light as a shadow.

Vass followed; heavy but controlled.

Short went fourth; eyes sharp even mid-climb.

The others followed suit and Rain clipped in last. He swung out, muscles coiling as he moved hand over hand. The current beneath him roared louder than his heartbeat. Very little scared him but this raised every hair on his body.

Don’t touch the wire.

Halfway across, a muffled curse snapped his focus upward.

Vass’s boot—slick with bog water—skidded on the rope. His body pitched sideways, dropping low. His heel skimmed dangerously close to the top wire.

Blue sparks erupted. The fence reached for him like a starving beast.

“He’s too close…” Hamish hissed.

Rain didn’t think. He reached.

A violent jerk of power snapped Vass’s feet upward, yanking him away from the current. His boot had been millimetres from contact.

Vass grunted, wrapping his legs around the rope, hands clenching tight. The squad froze, breath held, eyes locked on the crackling threat.

“Keep moving,” Short hissed. “Now.”

One by one, they made it across. Boots thudded softly onto the concrete road beyond. Relief chorused through the squad, thankful to be back on solid ground.

Rain untied the knots in a heartbeat and Hamish reeled the rope in. Within a minute, the line vanished into their packs, and they were back on the move.

They slipped into the shadows of the Red Kingdom, the hum of the fence fading behind them like a warning whispered into the night.

Chapter 33

Six hours on foot had carved exhaustion into every one of them.

Rain held up better than the rest physically—aside from sweating his bollocks off—but even he struggled to comprehend why the Red Kingdom had chosen this hellscape as the environment surrounding their capital. The heat was a living thing, pressing against their skin, crawling into their lungs, clinging to their clothes like a second suffocating layer.

Mentally, it was worse.

Channelling the squad’s energy for hours on end left Rain irritable, agitated, and dangerously close to snapping. But he couldn’t afford a reprieve. Not here. Not when they were deep in enemy territory, surrounded by scattered roads and sleeping villages. Most civilians were still in their beds, but early risers; farmers, hunters, traders, would soon begin their day. And the last thing Rain needed was to be spotted by a Red local wandering through their fields.

The first half of the journey had been spent trudging through dry, sandy dunes where dehydration and fatigue were their biggest threats. But the terrain had shifted in the last two hours, morphing into a rocky rain-forest that felt like stepping into another world entirely.

The ground was softer, kinder on their legs but the dangers multiplied.

The rain-forest was alive with nocturnal predators. Eyes glinted from the underbrush. Leaves rustled with unseen movement. Rain had already flung several creatures off their path, including a Cankoran Snake; aserpent native only to the tropical regions of Red territory. Fifteen feet long, thick as a grown man’s torso, and venomous enough to kill an elephant in minutes.

Watching that monstrous creature slither past them after Rain hurled it aside with his power had been… unforgettable. The threat of becoming a midnight snack added a sharp, gruelling edge to their trek. Rain couldn’t afford to let his guard down for even a heartbeat.

Finally, they pushed through the last wall of tropical foliage that bordered the city. The dense greenery offered blessed coverage; a pocket of shadow where they could rest and regroup.