Chapter 101: Holding (Part 1 of 4)

  The Signal

  The pressure did not ease after Tomas fell.

  It sharpened.

  Laurent didn’t see a signal.

  He felt it in the way the three in front of him shifted.

  One of them swore under his breath.

  “Damn it.”

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  The pressure changed.

  Not easing.

  Reorienting.

  They came in harder now, overlapping angles, abandoning patience.

  Laurent had no attention to spare beyond them.

  On the eastern flank, Tarin Solen was bleeding.

  Not one decisive wound—but accumulation. Cuts that dragged at muscle. Impacts that stole breath. Two Moravin Vanguards worked him deliberately, alternating pressure.

  Against one, he would have held.

  Against two, the space vanished.

  He held anyway.

  Until a blade slipped past his guard, tearing deep into his side.

  The Moravin Vanguard assessed him in a heartbeat.

  They could have finished him.

  It would have taken longer than they were willing to spend.

  They disengaged.

  Tarin stayed upright minutes longer. Long enough for infantry to close the gap.

  Only when the pressure finally lifted did his body fail him.

  He collapsed hard.

  Alive—barely.

  Pelin’s eyes cut across the field.

  Laurent was still on his feet.

  Three Vanguards on him now.

  Tight. Overlapping. Driving him back step by step.

  He… held against three?

  Pelin did not move.

  He couldn’t.

  Only when the Moravin line began to peel away did he break free.

  By the time he reached Tarin, the fight had already moved on.

  Alive.

  Barely.

  Late.

  But not too late.