Redrock Pass.
The warhorses whinnied softly, like blades long held in silence, waiting to be drawn.
More than a hundred knights of the Broken Blade Knights stood in orderly ranks on the platform at the mouth of the gorge.
Their battle dress was no longer the deep blue of Frost Glaive City. Instead, they wore the red-and-blue cloaks specially made by the Red Tide Fief, marking them as men of Frostspear who now served Red Tide.
They had been meant to garrison this place, nothing more than a "buffer strongpoint" in Red Tide's northern defenses.
But now, at last, they were about to receive their first chance to prove their loyalty.
Ahead of the formation, a lone rider stood in the wind.
He was Reggie Olsen, Deputy Commander of the Broken Blade Knights, once the youngest Transcendent Knight in Frost Glaive City.
His silver hair stirred in the Dawnlight. An ice-blue longsword rested across his saddle, his presence restrained yet thunderous.
He surveyed the troops, his blade-sharp gaze sweeping over every knight's face, then spoke at an unhurried pace:
"We have only just joined Red Tide, and we have yet to fight a battle worthy of our oath. You all remember what Lord Louis has done for us.
The resettlement grants for our families, triple pay, the medicine sent when we were wounded, even our children's schooling... every last detail was taken care of.
Now it is time to repay all of that."
With that, he slowly drew his longsword and held it diagonally before his chest. Sunlight fell upon its edge, reflecting a cold gleam like ice and snow.
"We are the spearhead of the Northern Frontier, the blade of our oath."
Reggie's horse took a slow half-step forward.
Behind him, a hundred knights struck the ground with their