Chapter 22: Chains of the Capital

They didn’t get long to breathe.

The very next day, the forest was invaded—not by beasts, but armored men.

Ash spotted them first: banners of the royal capital, gleaming armor, leashes of chain dragging behind horses.

Slavers.

Mira’s hand tightened on her knife. “They’re looking for us.”

“No,” Ash muttered. “They’re looking for me.”

The slavers combed the forest like predators, torches glowing. One of them stopped near their hiding spot, sniffing the air.

Ash’s pulse spiked. He knew what they smelled—blood. His blood.

Haru whispered, “W-what do we do?”

Ash looked at him, then at Mira, then clenched his fists until they bled.

“I’ll draw ‘em off. You two head north. Don’t stop.”

Mira hissed, “That’s suicide!”

Ash grinned, his eyes dark with fire. “Nah. That’s survival.”

He bolted from the bush, hurling a stone at the nearest knight. Metal clanged, voices shouted. The slavers turned like hounds to a bone.

Ash ran, his chains clinking faintly under his clothes—the reminder of what he was.

A slave on the run.