Chapter 1 THE LAST PEACEFUL MORNING

ETHAN'S POV

The book slipped from my hands and hit the floor with a loud bang.

I jerked awake, my heart pounding. For a second, I didn't know where I was. Then I saw the familiar shelves packed with books, the morning sunlight streaming through the window, and my father's old desk covered in maps and papers.

I was home. Safe in Father's library in Ashford. Just another boring morning.

"Ethan!" My sister Lily's voice cut through the quiet like a knife. The library door burst open and she rushed in, her face pale. "You need to come downstairs. Now."

"What's wrong?" I asked, standing up too fast. The chair scraped against the wooden floor.

"Soldiers," she whispered. "At our front door. Lots of them."

My stomach twisted into a knot. Soldiers never came to Ashford. We were too small, too far from anything important. This wasn't right.

I ran past Lily, taking the stairs two at a time. My mind raced with terrible possibilities. Had someone attacked the town? Was Father in trouble? Did something happen to the king?

In the entrance hall, I found my father—Captain Roland Blackwood—standing very still. He held a rolled piece of paper sealed with red wax. The royal seal. His hands were shaking.

Father never shook.

"What is it?" I asked, moving closer.

He didn't answer right away. He just stared at that paper like it was a poisonous snake. Outside, through the open door, I could see five soldiers on horseback. They wore the king's colors and carried swords at their sides.

"Father?" My voice cracked on the word.

He finally looked at me. Really looked at me. His eyes were sad in a way I'd never seen before. "Ethan, my son. I'm so sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Fear crawled up my spine like ice.

"I thought we had more time," he said quietly. "I thought peace would last."

"What are you talking about?" I practically shouted. Lily grabbed my arm, her fingers digging in hard.

Father broke the seal on the paper. His eyes moved across the words. With each line he read, his face got older. Harder. When he finished, he looked like he'd aged ten years in ten seconds.

"The orc tribes have declared war on the kingdom," he said. Each word dropped like a stone into deep water. "They've been attacking villages along the border. Burning homes. Killing families." He paused, and when he spoke again, his voice was barely a whisper. "The king is drafting all able men between eighteen and thirty into military service."

The world stopped.

I heard the words, but they didn't make sense. War? Orcs attacking? Me in the army?

"No," I said. "That can't be right. The orcs signed peace treaties fifty years ago. We have trade agreements with them. Why would they suddenly attack us?"

"I don't know," Father admitted. "But the order comes directly from the king. You have two weeks to prepare before you report to the training camp."

Two weeks. Fourteen days. Then I'd be a soldier.

"I can't fight," I said, panic rising in my chest. "I'm a scholar, not a warrior. I read books about battles, I don't fight in them!"

"You'll learn." Father's voice was firm now. Military voice. The one he used when he was Captain Roland instead of just Father. "I'll train you myself. Every day for the next two weeks. You'll be ready."

"Ready to die?" The words burst out before I could stop them.

Lily gasped. Father's face went hard as stone.

"Ready to survive," he corrected. "Ready to protect yourself and the men who'll fight beside you. Ready to do your duty to the kingdom."

"My duty?" I felt anger now, hot and sharp. "My duty is to study history so we don't repeat it! My duty is to learn languages so different peoples can understand each other! My duty is—"

"Your duty," Father interrupted, "is whatever the king commands it to be. You took an oath when you turned eighteen. All citizens did. Now the kingdom needs you."

I wanted to argue more. I wanted to scream that this was wrong, that there had to be a mistake, that I wasn't meant to be a soldier. But the look in Father's eyes stopped me.

He was scared too. For me.

"When do I leave?" I asked instead.

"Two weeks from today." He handed me the paper. "This is your draft notice. Keep it safe. You'll need it to enter the training camp."

I took the paper with numb fingers. The royal seal felt heavy. Final.

Outside, one of the soldiers called out, "Captain Blackwood! We have twelve more families to visit before sunset. The list is long."

Twelve more. Twelve more young men being told their lives were about to change forever. How many were in our town alone? How many across the whole kingdom?

How many of us would come home?

Father walked me to the library. We didn't speak. What was there to say? In two weeks, I'd be gone. In three weeks, I'd be learning to kill people I'd never met. People the kingdom called enemies.

Back in the library, I looked at the books I'd been reading. A history of the Great Peace. A study of orc culture and language. Maps showing trade routes between human and orc lands.

I picked up the culture book and flipped to a page I'd marked yesterday. It showed an orc family celebrating a harvest festival. They were laughing. Happy. The children looked just like human children—playing, smiling, living.

These were the monsters I was supposed to fight?

Something felt wrong. Very wrong.

I grabbed my grandfather's old journal from the shelf. He'd traveled through orc territories decades ago, before the war, before the peace, when everyone expected humans and orcs to destroy each other.

But grandfather wrote that orcs were honorable. Sophisticated. They valued family and education just like humans did. They weren't monsters at all.

So why were they attacking us now?

I opened the draft notice again and read it carefully this time. Really read it.

"The orc tribes have launched unprovoked attacks on peaceful human settlements," it said. "They have violated all treaties and peace agreements. They have shown their true savage nature. All able men must join the army to defend our kingdom against this barbaric threat."

Unprovoked attacks. Savage nature. Barbaric threat.

The words sounded like propaganda. Like someone was trying too hard to make me hate orcs.

Why?

A knock on the door made me jump.

"Ethan?" It was Lily. She came in quietly and sat beside me. "Are you scared?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Me too." She leaned against my shoulder. "What if you don't come back?"

"I'll come back," I promised, even though I had no idea if that was true.

"Father's been crying," she whispered. "I heard him in his study. He thinks you can't hear, but I did."

My throat got tight. Father never cried. Not when Mother died. Not when the farm had a bad year. Never.

"I'll be okay," I said, trying to sound confident. "Father will train me. I'll learn to fight. I'll survive."

But even as I said the words, I didn't believe them.

That night, I couldn't sleep. I stood at my window and looked out at Ashford. The town was dark and quiet. Peaceful. Tomorrow, everything would change. Tomorrow, Father would start teaching me how to kill.

And in two weeks, I'd leave this place. Maybe forever.

I thought about the orc family in the book. The children playing. The parents smiling.

Were they dead now? Killed by human soldiers who believed what the draft notice said?

Or were they preparing their own children for war, teaching them to hate humans, telling them we were the monsters?

Somewhere out there, beyond the borders I'd never crossed, an orc my age was probably standing at his window too. Wondering the same things. Scared of the same future.

We were supposed to be enemies.

But what if we were both just people being forced to fight a war we didn't understand?

I made a decision then. A quiet promise to myself.

I would fight if I had to. I would follow orders if I must. But I would also pay attention. I would ask questions. I would look for the truth behind all the propaganda and hatred.

Because something about this war didn't make sense.

And I was going to find out what.

THE KINGDOM OF VALORNIA REQUIRES ALL ABLE MEN BETWEEN EIGHTEEN AND THIRTY TO REPORT FOR MILITARY SERVICE IMMEDIATELY. THE ORC TRIBES HAVE DECLARED WAR.

The words echoed in my head as I finally fell into restless sleep, not knowing that in exactly fourteen days, I would meet someone who would change everything I thought I knew about enemies, truth, and

war.

Someone with fire-red hair and secrets that could destroy kingdoms.