Chapter 66: The Missing Guard
The humming drifted through the forest.
Soft.
Unhurried.
As if someone were quietly singing to themselves.
Only...
There were no footsteps.
No rustling branches.
Nothing.
Nobody in the camp moved.
The fire crackled weakly.
Its light barely reached the first line of trees.
Beyond that...
Only darkness.
Rowan’s voice was barely above a whisper.
"...Nobody leaves the fire."
The merchants nodded immediately.
Not one questioned him.
Eric leaned closer to Noah.
"...Do we fight if something attacks?"
Noah kept his eyes on the forest.
"Only if we have to."
The humming shifted again.
This time...
From behind the wagons.
Everyone spun around.
Nothing.
Just another wall of ancient pines.
Luna frowned.
"It’s moving."
Sophia shook her head.
"No..."
"It isn’t."
Everyone looked at her.
"The sound is moving."
"...Whatever’s making it..."
"...isn’t."
Even Damien’s expression changed slightly.
"...How?"
Sophia closed her eyes.
"My mana sense can’t find anyone."
"It’s as though..."
She hesitated.
"...the forest itself is singing."
A heavy silence settled over the camp.
One of the younger merchants suddenly gasped.
"My lantern..."
Everyone turned.
The lantern hanging from his wagon had gone out.
Then another.
And another.
One by one...
Every lantern surrounding the camp extinguished itself.
Only the campfire remained.
The darkness pressed closer.
Rowan calmly reached for another lantern.
He struck flint.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
No spark.
"...Stay calm."
He said firmly.
Then...
A small pebble rolled into the camp.
Everyone looked down.
It stopped near Noah’s boot.
Tied around it...
Was a faded strip of cloth.
Noah crouched and untied it.
There were only three words written in faded ink.
Don’t follow it.
Eric blinked.
"...Who threw that?"
Nobody knew.
Noah looked toward the tree line.
Someone...
Or something...
Had just warned them.
A branch snapped.
Crack.
Every weapon in the camp was drawn.
From the darkness...
A deer slowly stepped into the firelight.
It lowered its head and calmly drank from a puddle left by the evening rain.
Nothing unusual.
Just a deer.
The tension eased.
Eric laughed nervously.
"...I nearly attacked a deer."
Luna didn’t smile.
"It’s not the deer."
The animal suddenly lifted its head.
Its ears twitched.
Then...
It bolted back into the forest.
Not away from the camp.
Away from something else.
Damien noticed first.
"...Listen."
Silence.
Not ordinary silence.
The humming had stopped.
The insects had stopped.
Even the wind had stopped.
The forest had become completely still.
Rowan slowly stood.
"...Everyone..."
"...inside the wagon circle."
The merchants obeyed immediately.
The wagons were quickly pulled into a defensive ring.
A habit learned through years on dangerous roads.
Noah helped move one of the supply wagons into place.
As he pushed...
Something caught his eye.
A footprint.
Just outside the camp.
Barefoot.
Small.
Like a child’s.
Then another.
And another.
They circled the entire camp.
Hundreds of them.
Every print faced inward.
As though...
Children had stood around the camp...
Watching.
Noah’s pulse quickened.
The footprints hadn’t been there a moment ago.
Sophia whispered,
"...Noah."
He looked up.
She pointed toward the opposite side of the wagon circle.
"There."
Standing just beyond the reach of the firelight...
Was the child-sized silhouette again.
This time...
It wasn’t alone.
Another appeared beside it.
Then another.
Then another.
One.
Five.
Ten.
Twenty.
Dozens of small silhouettes stood silently among the trees.
None moved.
None spoke.
They simply watched.
Eric swallowed hard.
"...Those aren’t children..."
No.
They were too still.
Far too still.
Noah tightened his grip on Shadowfang beneath his cloak.
Yet something told him...
Drawing the blade now...
Would be a mistake.
The nearest silhouette slowly raised one hand.
Its finger pointed...
Not at Noah.
Not at the merchants.
At the old shrine hidden somewhere deeper within Graypine Forest.
Then...
Every silhouette turned.
In perfect unison.
And silently walked into the darkness.
Leaving only their tiny footprints behind.
Noah looked down at the strip of cloth still in his hand.
Don’t follow it.
He folded it carefully and slipped it into his pocket.
For some reason...
He had the feeling...
Someone in this forest was trying to protect them.
While something else...
Was trying to lure them deeper inside.
No one slept.
The campfire burned until dawn.
Every merchant.
Every guard.
Every member of Squad Seven remained awake.
Watching.
Waiting.
The child-sized silhouettes never returned.
As the first rays of sunlight filtered through Graypine Forest...
The strange feeling slowly lifted.
Birds began singing once more.
A squirrel darted across a branch.
The forest looked...
Normal.
Almost.
Rowan let out a slow breath.
"...Morning."
One by one, the merchants relaxed.
The horses settled.
The lanterns lit normally again.
It was as though the previous night had never happened.
Eric rubbed his eyes.
"So..."
"...did we all imagine that?"
"No."
Damien answered.
"The footprints."
Everyone looked toward the edge of the camp.
The hundreds of tiny footprints...
Were gone.
Not faded.
Gone.
Only one remained.
The very first footprint Noah had discovered beside the wagon.
Everything else had vanished.
Luna crouched beside it.
"...Strange."
She brushed away loose dirt.
The footprint wasn’t pressed into the soil.
It was...
Burned into it.
As though something had branded the earth.
Sophia frowned.
"I don’t sense any mana."
"Neither do I."
Noah replied.
The camp began packing.
Tents disappeared.
Supplies were loaded.
Breakfast was eaten quietly.
No one spoke much.
Rowan approached Noah.
"You kept your people calm."
"I tried."
"You did more than try."
Rowan looked toward the forest.
"Most first-years would’ve chased whatever they saw."
Noah thought of the strip of cloth in his pocket.
Don’t follow it.
"...Something wanted us alive."
Rowan looked at him for a moment.
Then nodded.
"...I think so too."
The caravan resumed its journey.
Morning sunlight poured through the trees.
The road curved alongside a narrow creek.
According to the map...
Whisper Creek wasn’t far away.
Around noon...
The caravan rounded a bend.
Everyone stopped.
A merchant wagon blocked the road.
Broken.
One wheel had snapped clean off.
Several crates lay scattered across the ground.
Rowan frowned.
"...That’s not one of ours."
Noah stepped closer.
The wagon looked abandoned.
No horses.
No driver.
No blood.
Nothing.
Eric scratched his head.
"...Bandits?"
Damien knelt beside the broken wheel.
"No."
He pointed.
"There are no weapon marks."
"The axle simply..."
He stopped.
"...Collapsed."
Sophia looked around uneasily.
"Where’s the owner?"
No answer.
Rowan motioned to two caravan guards.
"Check the area."
The guards nodded and disappeared into the trees.
Five minutes passed.
Then ten.
Neither returned.
The forest remained silent.
Rowan’s expression hardened.
"...Signal."
One merchant lifted a brass horn.
BWOOOOOM!
The deep sound echoed through the forest.
No response.
Eric shifted uneasily.
"They should’ve answered."
Noah walked toward the edge of the road.
Fresh boot prints.
Two sets.
Exactly as expected.
The guards had entered the forest together.
Then...
The tracks stopped.
Not gradually.
Not at rocky ground.
Simply...
Stopped.
No signs of struggle.
No dragged marks.
No blood.
Nothing.
Luna stared at the ground.
"...People don’t just disappear."
A nervous merchant whispered,
"They do here..."
Everyone turned toward him.
He swallowed.
"My father used to tell me..."
"If Graypine Forest wants something..."
"...it doesn’t chase you."
"It waits."
The caravan fell silent.
Rowan made his decision.
"No splitting up."
"We stay together."
He looked at Noah.
"Think your squad can scout fifty meters ahead?"
Noah nodded.
"We’ll stay within sight."
"Good."
Squad Seven moved to the front of the caravan.
Luna took point.
Damien watched the rear.
Sophia focused on mana.
Eric stayed near the road.
Noah remained in the center.
The forest grew denser.
Branches intertwined overhead.
Sunlight barely reached the ground.
Sophia suddenly stopped.
"...There’s someone ahead."
Everyone froze.
"One person?"
Noah asked.
She nodded slowly.
"...Standing in the middle of the road."
As the squad advanced...
A lone figure came into view.
One of the missing caravan guards.
His back faced them.
He stood perfectly still.
Helmet on.
Sword at his side.
Not moving.
Eric called out instinctively.
"Hey!"
The guard didn’t react.
Not even slightly.
Noah remembered Old Bram’s warning.
And quietly raised a hand.
"No one gets closer."
The guard remained motionless.
Like a statue.
Waiting.
Then...
Very slowly...
He began turning his head.
Not his body.
Only...
His head.
Until it faced them.
From impossibly far away...
The guard smiled.
A smile far too wide to belong to any human.