Three days after Hilga's public blessing in the central square, a royal messenger arrived at the Castros estate before the sun had fully cleared the eastern wall.
The man wore the king's crimson and gold tabard, a heavy chain of office around his neck, and the kind of exhausted expression that only comes from riding through the night without rest. He dismounted in the courtyard, boots crunching on fresh gravel, and bowed low when Egon, Vienna, Noella, and Hilga emerged from the main doors to meet him.
"Lady Hilga of Castros," he said, voice hoarse but formal. "Hero of Dolan City. His Majesty King Aldric IV sends urgent summons. The border duchies of Valenwood and Ironcrag are under siege. Rifts have opened along the northern frontier. Orc legions pour through, backed by ogre warbands and at least two confirmed wyvern flights. The duchies cannot hold another week."
