Adventure of Kalazan 1

Commander Korth plants his feet on the corridor stones and cups both hands to his mouth. His voice crashes upward through the fort. "Archers, line the wall. Heavy bolts. Now."

Above, bows thrum in answer. Kalazan stands over the control orb, his will sinking into the giant's thoughts like a blade into mud. The creature's mind feels twisted, hungry, and wrong.

Korth catches the signal at once. He snaps one arm toward the causeway, never looking away from the target. The first volley drops in a dark sheet of iron and ash-colored wood.

Bolts punch into the giant's chest and shoulder. It lurches sideways against the stone, its grip failing, its bellow cutting off into a ragged gasp.

A second wave strikes harder. The giant buckles at the bend of the causeway and crashes down, shaking dust from the wall. Korth lowers his arm, jaw tight, already scanning for anything else that moves.

The battlements fall silent except for the creak of bowstrings and the hiss of settling grit. Somewhere beyond the wall, the forest waits. Korth turns back toward Kalazan, expecting the next order.

Below the wall, the giant gives one last shudder, then lies still against the stone. The order goes out in a hard knot of motion, men rushing for hooks, chains, and canvas.

Kalazan directs the recovery with a few sharp gestures. The body is secured, turned, and dragged clear before the blood can soak the tread of the causeway.

A trapped scrap of cold breath slips from the giant's mouth as it is hauled past the gate. In the torchlight, one of the fallen claws carries a black mineral shard pressed deep beneath the nail.

The shard glints once, faintly warm, as the litter disappears toward the inner stairs and the labs below. All around it, the corridor tightens with waiting eyes.