The creatures continued emerging from the forest for several minutes. From the terrace, Lilith could make out dozens of silhouettes crossing the sky toward the south, some so small they barely looked like dots among the clouds and others with wings large enough to cast shadows over the trees.
None of them showed any interest in the Eternal Bastion. They flew desperately in the same direction, occasionally crashing into one another and breaking any formation that might be expected from a normal flock.
Evelyn remained gripping the railing as she watched them disappear into the distance. Lilith did not need to ask what that expression meant. She had seen exactly the same fear when Evelyn spoke about the signal coming from the north. "Have you ever seen anything like this before?" she finally asked.
Evelyn shook her head without taking her eyes off the horizon. "Not this many together." Another creature emerged from between the trees and followed the same path as the others. Evelyn tightened her fingers around the railing. "First it was small animals. Then the predators appeared. Now this." Lilith turned her gaze toward the north, but from that height she could only see kilometers of forest stretching toward mountains covered in mist.
There was no gigantic monster, mysterious army, or black fortress advancing toward them. Somehow, that was even less reassuring. Something was there. They simply could not see it yet.
The alarm mobilized the Eternal Bastion's explorers and soldiers, but no attack came. Over the next hour, reports arrived from different observation points confirming that several species were moving south and east.
Some of them normally hunted one another, but now they were moving in the same direction without stopping to fight. When Claire returned to the terrace, her expression was much more serious than before. "It's not just that flock," she explained as she approached.
"The explorers found land animals moving south. A lot of them." Lilith stepped away from the railing. "Toward us?" Claire shook her head and pointed toward a region several kilometers to the east. "They go around us whenever they can. It looks like they don't want to get close to the Bastion." Evelyn let out a humorless laugh.
"Because even they understand that a mountain with legs is dangerous." Claire was about to respond, but Evelyn had already turned toward Lilith. There was something different in her expression. The resistance she had maintained since waking up in the infirmary seemed to have finally weakened.
"I need to speak with the people in charge of this fortress."
The meeting took place less than an hour later. Lilith had no direct authority over the Eternal Bastion's decisions, but her position as a princess and representative of her kingdom was enough to allow her to remain in the room alongside Claire and several officers.
Evelyn sat in front of a table covered with maps and spent the first few minutes answering questions about the creatures, the ruins, and the mechanism she had activated. She continued refusing to reveal the exact location of her home until one of the officers asked how many people were in danger.
Evelyn remained silent. She looked at the map, then at Lilith, and finally closed her eyes for several seconds. "Around four hundred." The number made Lilith straighten slightly. She had imagined a small group hidden among the trees, perhaps only a few dozen people. Evelyn continued before anyone could interrupt her.
"We have walls, hunters, and people capable of using magic. We're not defenseless. We've lived here for generations."
One of the officers placed both hands on the table. "But you need help." Evelyn looked at him with obvious displeasure at the conclusion. "We need time."
Lilith immediately understood the difference. Evelyn did not want anyone to see her people as a group of victims waiting to be saved. "The creatures attacking your settlement," Lilith asked while looking at the map, "are they coming from the north too?" Evelyn nodded slowly.
"At first, we thought they were looking for food. Then we realized we were simply standing in their path." Claire moved a small marker across the map, tracing an imaginary route.
"So they're not trying to attack your village." Evelyn shook her head. "Not until we try to stop them. During the first few nights, we managed to divert them with fire and barriers. Then creatures too large to scare away started arriving." She paused and ran a finger over an unmapped region to the north.
"More arrive every night. If this migration continues, our defenses will eventually fall." Lilith then remembered the enormous tracks they had found during their first expedition and the corpse pierced by a wound far too clean to have been caused by any of the monsters they had fought.
From the beginning, they had been finding signs of something moving through those lands. Until now, they had simply been seeing separate pieces of the same problem.
One of the officers suggested sending a force of soldiers to the settlement. Evelyn rejected the idea before he could finish explaining it. "No." The man frowned, but Evelyn placed a hand on the table and continued.
"If I return accompanied by a hundred soldiers from a foreign fortress, my people might treat them as invaders before I can explain anything." Claire tilted her head slightly. "Even knowing they're being attacked?" Evelyn looked at her.
"Especially because they're being attacked. When you live here, you learn that any stranger can become another problem." Lilith understood that logic particularly well after having received a sword to the neck as a greeting.
"Then a small group," she proposed. Evelyn looked at her immediately. "How many?" Lilith counted mentally. "The three of us and a few explorers. Enough to help, not enough to look like an army." Evelyn remained still for several seconds, evaluating the proposal. Finally, she nodded.
"That could work."