Dawn broke slowly over the valley.
The imperial camp awakened beneath a pale sky, its banners moving gently in the morning wind.
But Adrian wasn’t watching the thousands of soldiers.
He was watching the northern slope.
The enemy engineers had worked through the night.
They had found the ancient stonework.
And if they continued digging…
They would eventually find the real entrance.
Sir Roland stood beside him.
“How long?”
Adrian studied the distant movement.
“Perhaps two days.”
Roland’s expression hardened.
“And if we’re wrong?”
“Then we have less.”
The old knight looked at him.
“You already have a plan.”
Adrian gave a faint smile.
“I have several.”
Deep beneath the mountain, Garrick led Adrian through a narrow passage.
The old Sentinel stopped beside an ordinary-looking wall.
He pressed three stones.
Click.
A section of the wall shifted inward.
Beyond it was another tunnel.
Tomas stared.
“Another passage?”
“A false one,” Garrick replied.
Adrian stepped inside.
The passage descended toward the eastern side of the mountain before ending at a collapsed chamber.
Adrian studied the route carefully.
“An enemy searching from outside would think this was an entrance.”
Garrick nodded.
“That was its purpose.”
“Then the founders were more paranoid than I expected.”
“They understood something important.”
Garrick looked at him.
“An enemy doesn’t need to know the truth to be dangerous.”
“They only need to believe they know it.”
Adrian smiled.
“Then let’s give them something to believe.”
By evening, the plan was ready.
Six trusted men slipped out through a concealed opening.
They carried no weapons beyond what was necessary.
Their mission wasn’t to attack.
It was to leave evidence.
A footprint beside the eastern slope.
A broken branch.
A length of rope.
An abandoned torch.
Then they returned through the forest before the imperial patrols noticed them.
The trail looked natural.
Not perfect.
Perfect would have been suspicious.
Adrian had learned that the best deception contained imperfections.
The following morning, an imperial scout hurried into the command tent.
“My lord.”
The Emperor’s Hawk looked up.
“We found footprints near the eastern cliffs.”
“How many?”
“Several.”
“Fresh?”
“Yes.”
The commander immediately smiled.
“We’ve found their passage.”
The Hawk didn’t respond.
He examined the report.
Then the map.
Then the mountain.
Finally, he said,
“Send the engineers.”
The commander hesitated.
“No soldiers?”
“Not yet.”
“And why?”
The Hawk’s eyes remained on the map.
“If this is a trap, soldiers will only make it harder to see.”
He stood.
“Let the engineers investigate.”
By noon, the imperial engineers entered the false passage.
Their torches illuminated ancient stone walls.
They discovered old crates.
Rust-covered tools.
A collapsed section of tunnel.
Everything appeared abandoned.
Yet it also appeared recently disturbed.
The lead engineer smiled.
“My lord…”
“I believe we’ve found it.”
The Hawk entered the tunnel himself.
He examined the walls.
The dust.
The footprints.
The old crates.
Then he crouched beside one of the footprints.
His fingers brushed the dirt.
He remained silent.
The commander waited.
“Well?”
The Hawk slowly stood.
“The footprint is wrong.”
The commander frowned.
“Wrong?”
“Too deep.”
He pointed toward the ground.
“Whoever made it deliberately placed more weight on his heel.”
The commander stared at him.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning someone wanted us to notice it.”
The Hawk looked farther into the darkness.
“For now, we continue.”
Far beneath the mountain, Adrian received the report from one of his scouts.
“The Hawk entered the passage himself.”
Sir Roland frowned.
“Then he knows.”
“No.”
Adrian looked over the map.
“He suspects.”
“Isn’t that worse?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not yet.”
He pointed toward the eastern passage.
“He’s looking there.”
Roland slowly understood.
“Which means he’s not looking somewhere else.”
Adrian nodded.
“The deception doesn’t need to fool him completely.”
“It only needs to occupy his attention.”
The imperial engineers spent the rest of the day examining the false passage.
They found nothing of military value.
No hidden army.
No weapons.
No escape route.
Eventually, the Hawk ordered them to stop.
The commander looked confused.
“We’re abandoning the search?”
“For now.”
“But we found evidence.”
“We found evidence that someone wanted us to find.”
The Hawk walked out of the tunnel.
His eyes moved toward the mountain.
He wasn’t angry.
He was intrigued.
“Prince Adrian…”
He spoke quietly.
“You’re trying to make me look in the wrong direction.”
That evening, Adrian stood inside the War Chamber.
Maps covered the stone table.
Garrick stood opposite him.
“The Hawk is clever.”
Adrian nodded.
“Very.”
“Then what now?”
Adrian placed a finger on the northern section of the map.
“We stop trying to deceive him.”
Garrick raised an eyebrow.
“Why?”
“Because if he’s expecting deception…”
Adrian moved his finger toward the northern slope.
“…the best deception is to give him the truth.”
Sir Roland stared at the map.
“The northern entrance?”
Adrian nodded.
“They already know something is beneath the mountain.”
“They’ll keep searching until they find something.”
“So we’ll let them.”
Roland’s expression changed.
“You want them to discover an entrance?”
“An entrance that leads somewhere we choose.”
Silence filled the chamber.
Garrick slowly smiled.
“The old founders would have approved.”
The next morning, imperial engineers returned to the northern slope.
They worked carefully.
Stone by stone.
Eventually, one engineer struck something beneath the earth.
The sound was different.
He stopped.
“My lord!”
The Hawk approached.
The engineers cleared away the dirt.
A large section of ancient masonry emerged.
At its center was a carved emblem.
The unmistakable crest of House Ardyn.
The commander stared.
“This is real.”
The Hawk crouched beside the stone.
His fingers traced the ancient crest.
For several moments, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
Not with triumph.
With genuine admiration.
“So…”
“The prince wasn’t merely hiding.”
“He was protecting something.”
Far above them, Adrian stood on the watchtower.
He saw the sudden movement around the northern slope.
More engineers.
More soldiers.
The Hawk himself.
Adrian’s expression became serious.
“They found it.”
Sir Roland stepped beside him.
“Then we’ve lost.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
He looked toward the mountain.
“We’ve reached the part of the plan where they believe they’ve won.”
Roland stared at him.
Adrian turned away.
“Prepare the men.”
“For what?”
Adrian looked toward the hidden tunnels beneath their feet.
“For the next move.”
The imperial camp grew restless that night.
The Hawk remained awake long after the other commanders had gone to sleep.
Before him lay the map of the mountain.
Across the table sat the ancient crest of House Ardyn.
He studied it for a long time.
Then he looked toward the distant watchtower.
“Prince Adrian…”
His voice was almost a whisper.
“I hope we meet before this war ends.”
Across the valley, Adrian stood beneath the same night sky.
His eyes rested on the imperial command tent.
He couldn’t hear the Hawk.
But somehow…
He understood.
This was no longer a war between a fleeing prince and an invading army.
It had become a contest between two commanders.
And neither intended to lose.
The mountain had become their battlefield.
The next move would decide who controlled it.
————————–The End———————
Next : The Enemy Beneath Our Feet
By : Zenryth