CAIRN POINT OF VIEW

The call came just after training.

It didn’t cut through the yard like an order or echo like the horns that ruled our mornings. It slipped in quietly, almost unnoticed, threading through the noise of men catching their breath and shifting out of formation. The kind of summons that didn’t need volume to carry weight.

“Daren.”

My body reacted before my mind did, turning at the sound of the name I had been wearing like borrowed skin. The senior guard stood a few ...