The night over the northern hills had gone thick and cold.
A light wind drifted through, carrying the smell of damp earth and the soft rustle of dry leaves.
On the rocky hilltop, Valerie stood behind a dense bush, pulling her black cloak tighter around her too loose frame.
Two wolf soldiers assigned to guard her stood still on her left and right, their eyes glowing faintly in the dark as they watched the valley below.
At the bottom of the valley, the enemy’s western logistics complex was still alive with movement.
Wooden torches fixed along the fortress walls threw out a yellow light that flickered and danced.
The creak of wagon wheels and the crack of whips against the pack horses came through the air in pieces, mixed with the sharp voices of the officers directing traffic at the gate.
“They’re already unloading at the central yard,” whispered the wolf soldier on Valerie’s left, his voice so low it almost got swallowed by the wind.
“Where are Caleb and the others now?” Valerie asked, turning her head only slightly while keeping her eyes locked on the warehouse complex.
“Prince Caleb is already hidden behind the shadow of the back wall,” the soldier on her right answered, his wolf ears twitching as he caught the faint vibration of sound from far away.
“They’re moving real smooth.
The tower guards haven’t seen a thing.” Valerie gave a small nod and clenched her cold fingers beneath the folds of her cloak.
“Good.
Now we just need to wait for the first fire.” Down below, black shapes slid fast through the cracks and stone gaps behind the warehouse.
Caleb was leading in front, his body bent low, blending perfectly into the night.
Eighteen of his chosen soldiers followed in an organized line behind him.
Every step was planned with precision, timed to the moment when the watchtower guards turned their heads toward the noise and chaos in the front yard.
Caleb stopped right beneath the thick wooden wall that enclosed the rear of the weapons warehouse.
He lifted his head and studied the two guards standing on top of the western tower.
Just as Valerie had predicted earlier that day, the guards looked exhausted and careless.
One of them was even leaning his spear against the wooden wall while rubbing his eyes again and again.
“Two on the tower,” Caleb whispered to the two soldiers beside him.
“Put your strength into your shoulders.
We climb this wall without making a sound.” “Y-yes, Prince,” the soldiers whispered back in unison.
Two broad shouldered soldiers immediately crouched beside the wall and crossed their fingers together to make a foothold.
Caleb stepped forward without hesitation, planted one boot into their joined hands, then pushed himself up and over the top of the wooden wall in one smooth motion.
He landed cleanly on the ground without even a soft creak.
One by one, the eighteen stealth soldiers slipped into the inner area of the warehouse complex.
The back section was much quieter than the front yard.
The straw roofed warehouse buildings stood close together, forming narrow lanes filled with deep black shadows.
“The weapon crates are stacked in warehouse number three,” whispered one soldier who had once served in the western territory.
“The grain warehouse is right next to it.” “We split into two teams,” Caleb ordered, his voice firm but held tight in his throat.
“First team comes with me to spread the oil in the weapons warehouse.
Second team sets the fire trigger in the grain warehouse.
Nobody lights anything until every bottle is in place.” “Y-yes, Prince!” they answered softly.
Caleb moved fast through the narrow lane between two wooden buildings.
The smell of old oil, wet grain, and iron rust hit his nose hard.
The sound of laughter and rough talk from the front yard came through more clearly now.
The guards there seemed to be enjoying the unloading chaos way too much, completely unaware that death was creeping up behind them.
Caleb reached the wooden door of weapons warehouse number three.
It was locked from the outside with a thick iron chain.
Without wasting time, Caleb pulled a poisoned dagger from inside his cloak and slipped it into the hinge gap.
He pressed hard, slowly snapping the wooden peg until it broke without making a sharp sound.
The door cracked open a little.
Caleb peered into the dim room.
Hundreds of large wooden crates were stacked neatly all the way up toward the ceiling.
Inside them, he could see flashes of poisoned arrow tips, newly forged iron swords, and chest armor ready to be sent to the capital.
“Take out the oil bottles,” Caleb whispered.
Three of his soldiers immediately reached into their waist pouches and pulled out the glass bottles filled with Valerie’s black liquid.
Caleb took one bottle, popped the cork loose, then poured the liquid over the stacks of crates and the straw lining the floor.
The smell of concentrated pine oil mixed with sulfur instantly stabbed through the sealed room.
“Ugh, that smell is brutal,” one soldier muttered, grimacing and covering his nose with the cloth of his cloak.
“Hold your breath,” Caleb said softly, though his own eyes were watering a little from the sting of the natural chemical smell.
“That girl wasn’t joking when she said this stuff could wreck their sense of smell.” Meanwhile, on the top of the hill, Valerie kept watching the movement in the warehouse front yard.
The wagons had just finished parking in the center of the yard.
Dozens of enemy soldiers were starting to unload the grain crates, breathing hard from the work.
“Miss Valerie, there’s strange movement at the side gate,” whispered the guard soldier on her right.
Valerie instantly focused on the small gate on the western side of the fortress.
Two mounted officers in shining iron armor had just entered the complex.
They were being greeted by the fortress guard commander, who bowed immediately.
“Who are they?” Valerie asked, her brow pulling tight.
“From the shine of their armor and the banners on their spears, that’s the personal escort of the Western Garrison Commander,” the soldier replied, his face tense.
“They arrived earlier than planned!” Valerie’s fingers tightened hard.
“That’s bad.
If the Garrison Commander inspects the weapons warehouse now, Caleb and the others will get trapped inside!” “Sh should we send the alarm, miss!?” the left guard asked, panic climbing into his voice.
“No!” Valerie snapped at once, staring at him wide eyed.
“If you sound the warning now, the whole fortress will go on alert!
Caleb will be trapped inside those walls!” “T then what do we do!?” the soldier asked again, his voice rising with fear.
“We have to trigger the fire from outside faster,” Valerie said, her mind racing for a way out in a matter of seconds.
She reached into her waist pouch and pulled out the last glass bottle she had deliberately kept.
“Soldier!
Can you throw this bottle far enough to hit the straw roof of warehouse number three from here!?” The wolf soldier looked down at the distance between the hilltop and the warehouse roof below, then slowly shook his head, worry written all over his face.
“That’s too far for a hand throw, miss!
But if I drop halfway down the slope to the stone gap below, I can hit the roof with an arrow!” “Do it now!” Valerie ordered sharply, handing him the glass bottle together with a strip of cloth already soaked in oil.
“Tie this bottle to the tip of your arrow, light the cloth, then shoot straight into the straw roof of the weapons warehouse!” “Y-yes, miss!” The soldier grabbed the bottle at once and slid down the slope with frightening speed.
Inside the warehouse complex, Caleb had just finished pouring the final bottle of oil over the straw piles in the grain warehouse.
He swept his eyes around the room, checking that all the main corners had been soaked with Valerie’s fire starter liquid.
“P-prince!
A group of officers is heading toward this warehouse!” whispered the soldier guarding the door, breathing hard.
Caleb jerked his head up.
His golden eyes flashed sharply in the dark.
“How many!?” “About eight, Prince!
The Garrison Commander is with them!” the soldier answered, looking tense.
Caleb cursed softly in his head.
The arrival of those officers had not been part of the original plan at all.
If they opened this warehouse door right now, the sulfur smell inside would expose their presence instantly.
“Get your weapons ready,” Caleb ordered in a very low voice, slowly pulling his longsword from its sheath.
“If they step inside, we take them out quietly before they even get the chance to scream!” The sound of iron boots came closer and closer to the grain warehouse door.
Their laughter and rough chatter echoed through the narrow lane.
“Check the grain warehouse and make sure the roof isn’t leaking before the support wagons arrive tomorrow,” the Garrison Commander’s heavy voice said right outside the wooden door.
“Yes, Commander!” one of his escorts answered.
A hand moved toward the wooden door handle.
Caleb lowered himself into a fighting stance, holding his breath while narrowing his eyes, ready to strike the moment anyone crossed the threshold.
But before the wooden door could open wide, a sharp whistle cut through the night air from above.
swoosh!
A fire arrow shot out of the northern hills and stabbed right into the middle of the straw roof of warehouse number three, only ten meters away.
BOOM!
In just a few seconds, the pine oil and sulfur coating the rooftop straw caught fire with brutal force.
A burst of hot air roared upward, sending blazing flames into the night sky.
Thick black smoke carrying a harsh sulfur sting poured out at once, rising high and spreading through the entire warehouse complex in a single heartbeat.
“ATTACK!
THERE’S AN ATTACK FROM THE HILL!” a hysterical scream rang out from the watchtower above.
“FIRE!
THE WEAPONS WAREHOUSE IS ON FIRE!” the Garrison Commander shouted from outside the door, flinging his cloak aside in total panic.
“GET WATER!
MOVE!
GET WATER FROM THE MAIN WELL!” Unable to open the grain warehouse door, the Garrison Commander and his escorts turned and ran straight toward the front yard to organize the troops.
Full blown chaos exploded across the entire fortress area.
Hundreds of soldiers ran with no direction, shouting over each other and crashing into one another while black smoke began stinging their noses.
“COUGH!
COUGH!
My nose!
What the hell is that smell!?” screamed one guard near the yard, dropping his water bucket while clutching his burning nose.
“My sense of smell!
I can’t smell anything!” shouted another soldier, his red watery eyes wide as he rolled across the ground, trying to endure the pain in his breathing passages.
Inside the grain warehouse, Caleb let out a wide grin behind the thin smoke that had started slipping in through the cracks of the wall.
“That girl really is something…” “P-prince!
The fire has spread to the weapons warehouse!
We need to burn the grain warehouse now and pull out!” one of his soldiers shouted while lighting a small torch.
“Burn it now!” Caleb ordered firmly.
The torch flew into the straw piled with oil.
In an instant, the grain warehouse burst into violent flames, joining the noise and panic already raging outside.
“Fall back to the rear wall!
Move now!” Caleb commanded, leading his eighteen soldiers through the back door of the warehouse that was already full of thick smoke.
One by one, the stealth soldiers leaped over the wooden back wall while the tower guards remained trapped in total confusion, choking on sulfur smoke.
Not a single enemy arrow flew toward them because the tower guards had lost all focus and their vision was buried under dense black fumes.
Caleb was the last one to vault the wall.
He glanced once toward the central yard and saw hundreds of enemy soldiers scattering like ants with their nest flooded by boiling water.
The Garrison Commander was shouting orders that his panicking men were too busy to follow, all of them too distracted to notice the damage they were doing to their own lungs.
“Mission complete,” Caleb muttered, his golden eyes glowing with satisfaction, then he leaped down into the night and followed his small squad back toward the northern hills.
At the top of the hill, Valerie let out a long, relieved breath when she saw Caleb’s tall figure and the line of soldiers emerge from the bushes.
The fire in the valley below had grown even larger, lighting the night sky in a gorgeous orange gold glow.
The sulfur smoke had even reached the hilltop by then, though it had grown thin and harmless.
“You made it!” Valerie called out when Caleb came closer.
“Not just made it, Valerie,” Caleb replied, wiping sweat and black soot from his face while looking at her with clear awe.
“Your smoke tactic crushed their entire defense line in minutes.
They didn’t even know who hit them!” “Did any of our soldiers get hurt!?” Valerie asked, scanning the eighteen soldiers behind Caleb.
“Not a single gunshot wound or sword cut,” Caleb said with a steady nod, a small grin showing his white teeth.
“Just a bit of coughing from breathing in your own smoke.” Some of the young wolf soldiers behind Caleb gave small laughs while rubbing noses that were still itching.
“Miss Valerie really is a master strategist!” one soldier praised with deep respect.
“I’ve never seen enemy troops panic that hard just because of the smell of burned leaves!” “That wasn’t just burned leaves,” Valerie answered, smiling with pride as she adjusted the strap of her waist pouch.
“That was science mixed with a direct hit on the enemy’s biological weakness.” Caleb tilted his head slightly, looking at Valerie with a confused expression.
“Science?
What kind of weird word is that?” “I’ll explain later once we’re back at base,” Valerie cut in quickly, laughing softly at the confusion on his face.
“Right now, we need to move out before an outer patrol notices the huge fire.” “You’re right,” Caleb nodded.
He turned to his soldiers.
“Close ranks!
We return to Oakhaven Fortress before dawn!” “Yes, Prince!” all the soldiers answered in unison.
The small group moved quickly through the mountain gaps, leaving behind the western logistics complex that had now turned into a giant sea of fire.
Thick black smoke kept rising high into the air, marking the moment the enemy’s main supply chain to the capital had been cut in a single night without a drop of blood on their side.
The journey back to Oakhaven Fortress felt much faster and lighter.
The joy of the sabotage mission filled every soldier’s chest.
Morning sunlight began casting red gold streaks across the eastern horizon as their main base came into view behind the mountain trees.
The fortress’s giant wooden gate slowly opened wide as they approached.
Vane and Varkas were already standing in the front yard with dozens of mountain clan soldiers, waiting for them with expressions full of concern and curiosity.
“You’re back!” Vane shouted in huge relief, running over to welcome Caleb and Valerie.
“We saw a giant pillar of black smoke in the western sky two hours ago!
Did the mission work!?” “Their weapons warehouse and grain reserves are ashes now, Vane,” Caleb answered, giving his subordinate’s shoulder a firm pat.
Varkas stepped forward with his heavy, wide stride, staring back and forth between Caleb and Valerie with his red eyes wide open.
“You really burned the whole thing down without losing a single soldier!?” “Not a drop of our people’s blood was wasted, Chief Varkas,” Valerie answered casually, crossing her arms over her chest with a calm, confident look.
Varkas froze for a second, staring at the human girl from head to toe, then suddenly exploded into booming laughter that echoed through the entire courtyard.
“HAH!
THAT IS STRAIGHT UP INSANE!
A LITTLE HUMAN GIRL CRUSHED THE ENEMY FRONT LINE WITH JUST OIL BOTTLES AND STINKY SMOKE!” “My name is Valerie, Varkas,” Valerie said softly, lifting one eyebrow.
“Yeah, yeah, Valerie!” Varkas laughed, pounding his own chest.
“I admit it!
Your brain is way more dangerous than ten war axes from my best soldiers!” The mountain clan soldiers around the courtyard answered Varkas’s words with loud cheers.
The respect and awe that had once belonged only to Caleb now flowed fully toward the human girl standing beside the prince.
“Take the whole force to rest and eat breakfast!” Caleb ordered, turning his voice toward the officers.
“We have won this logistics battle, but the real war at the border has only just begun!” “Yes, Prince!” the soldiers shouted before dispersing in orderly lines toward the dining hall and the barracks.
Vane and Varkas also headed off to handle food distribution and gate security, leaving Caleb and Valerie alone in the now quiet courtyard.
Valerie let out a long breath and stretched both arms overhead to loosen the muscles that had gone stiff after a full day of travel.
“Ah, I can finally breathe again…” Caleb watched her from a few steps away, his golden eyes warm.
“You were reckless last night, Valerie.
Shooting the fire arrow from the hill without my approval.” “If I hadn’t told your soldier to shoot that arrow, the enemy Garrison Commander would have opened the warehouse door and found you inside, Caleb,” Valerie argued, meeting his golden eyes with a teasing look.
“I just saved your precious life, Wolf Prince.” Caleb fell silent for a second, then a low laugh came out of him and cut softly through the cold morning air.
“You always have a way of turning my words around, huh?” “That’s not twisting it.
That’s facts,” Valerie said, smiling sweetly.
Caleb moved closer and stopped right in front of her.
The morning air was still cold enough to make their breaths look like thin smoke.
The wolf man looked at Valerie’s face, where black soot still marked her left cheek and forehead.
“Your face is filthy,” he muttered, which made Valerie laugh softly.
“This is battle dirt, Caleb,” Valerie said, ready to wipe her cheek with her sleeve.
But before her sleeve could touch her skin, Caleb had already lifted his large hand.
His rough thumb brushed gently over the black soot on Valerie’s left cheek, cleaning it away with a motion so slow and careful it almost made the air feel still.
Valerie froze instantly.
The warmth of Caleb’s fingers on her cold face sent a strange shiver through her chest.
She looked straight into his golden eyes, and what she found there was pure sincerity and a deep kind of protection.
“Thank you, Valerie,” Caleb whispered in his low baritone.
“Not just for tonight, but for every tactic and every bit of courage you brought into my life since that first night in the cave.” Valerie swallowed slowly, feeling heat spread fast across both cheeks.
She smiled faintly and tapped Caleb’s sleeve with her palm.
“We’re a team, Caleb.
Besides, I already promised I’d help you take your throne back from your brother.” Caleb slowly pulled his hand away, showing a small smile he almost never gave anyone else.
“And I promise I’ll make sure you get back to your world safely after all this stupid war is over.” Valerie flinched a little at those words.
Caleb’s promise to send her back to the human world suddenly hit her chest with a strange and unpleasant ache.
During the last few months, her attention had been locked completely on planning tactics, winning small battles, and surviving beside Caleb.
She had almost forgotten this world was not her home, and that one day, after the war ended, she would have to make a huge decision about where her feet would land next.
“Valerie?” Caleb called softly, noticing the change in her face.
“What is it?
You look spaced out.” Valerie quickly gathered herself and gave him a sweet smile to hide the doubt in her heart.
“Nothing, Caleb.
I’m just really sleepy and tired.” “Then go rest in the room upstairs in the fortress,” Caleb ordered, pointing toward the main stone stairs.
“Vane already cleaned that room for you last night.
You can sleep there peacefully without worrying about the cold night wind.” “Aren’t you going to rest too?” Valerie asked, looking at Caleb with concern.
“You haven’t closed your eyes since yesterday afternoon.” “I still have to check the weapon supply report with Vane,” Caleb replied, sounding stern even while his own eyes carried fatigue he was trying to hide.
“After that, I’ll sleep.” “You’re so stubborn,” Valerie muttered, which made Caleb chuckle.
“Sleep well, Valerie,” he replied softly.
Valerie turned and walked up the stone stairs toward the upper floor of Oakhaven Fortress.
Her footsteps made a light creak against the quiet wooden corridor floor.
When she finally reached the simple stone roofed room prepared for her, Valerie closed the wooden door and leaned her back against it.
Warm morning sunlight slipped in through the stone window gap, touching the soft bed covered with thick wool in the corner of the room.
Valerie walked slowly to the window and looked out at the wide green mountain view beneath a clear blue sky.
Down below, Caleb’s wolf clan banner flew proudly over the fortress tower, snapping in the strong morning wind.
Valerie touched her own chest and felt her heartbeat steady and low.
Tonight’s victory in the western warehouse was only one small move in the long chessboard she was still building.
But the shadow of that promise of separation and the faint memory of her own world began circling back in her mind, bringing with it a ripple of unease that she could not ignore.
Valerie drew in a long breath, slipped off her dirty black cloak, then collapsed onto the soft bed with her tired body.
As her eyes slowly closed and heavy sleep began to pull her under, one thing Valerie knew for sure was this.
The next move in this war would bring them even closer to the heart of a kingdom filled with dangers far greater than before.