Fox's Glade all teeth

Cole’s eyes cut past the stranger, toward the old stones rising like teeth from the earth. He knew what lay beneath their shadow—Kvarsheim. A place steeped in old oaths and older bones. His ears flicked once, sharp and silent.
Had they been raided?
He didn’t ask. Didn’t need to.
The silence held between them like a taut wire. Cole weighed the man—massive, blood-wet, carved from the same brutality that shaped the worst of men. His scent was muddled, but not aimless. A sword without a sheath. A threat, maybe. But not today.
Cole gritted his teeth, jaw tightening with the weight of a choice he wasn’t sure he’d be thanked for. But it was his to make. No war today. Not unless this bastard brought it to his door.
A slow breath through his nose. Then he turned, shoulder rolling beneath the old, ugly scars that told stories he never cared to repeat.
Welcome to the valley, he said, voice like a rusted gate swinging open, rough and low and final.
And without another word, Cole walked off into the mist.

exit Cole, sorry it was so short haha