The thing beneath the blue grass moved with us.
I saw the trail it left behind.
The blades bent in a long line, then rose again after whatever was beneath them passed.
Kaelen noticed it too.
His hand rested on his sword, but he did not draw.
The wounded servant Seris had carried from the road was tied to her back with a strip of cloth. His name was Tomas. He had stopped speaking after we entered the forest, though his breathing remained steady.
Lyra walked ahead with her bow ready.
The ruined fortress stood at the far end of the valley. Its walls had been carved directly into the mountain, black stone rising in uneven towers. A massive gate filled the center of the fortress, sealed by iron bars thick enough to stop a siege beast.
That was the Black Gate.
The old road leading to it was covered in bones.
Not human bones.
The remains were too large, too long, and burned black along the edges.
Seris slowed when she saw them.
"The valley is a feeding ground."
"For what?" Lyra asked.
Something struck the earth behind us.
Blue grass flew into the air.
The beast surfaced.
It was larger than the grave hounds by several times. Its back was covered in plates the color of wet stone, and four heavy legs carried it through the grass. A long head rose above its shoulders. Two pale eyes opened on either side of its skull.
Kaelen drew his sword.
The creature opened its mouth.
Heat rolled across the valley.
"Move toward the gate," I said.
The beast charged.
Its body shook the ground with every step.
Lyra fired first. Her arrow struck one of its eyes and broke against the hard outer membrane. The beast turned toward her.
Kaelen rushed across its path.
His sword struck the creature’s front leg.
The blade cut through the outer plate but stopped before reaching the joint. The beast swung its head and struck him with the side of its skull.
Kaelen flew across the road and crashed into a broken pillar.
The red scar beneath his coat lit up.
He pushed himself to his feet.
"I’m fine."
"That sentence is losing meaning," I said.
The beast opened its mouth again.
I released Tremor Sense.
The ground revealed its movement before the body did. Its weight shifted to the rear legs. The jaw opened wider.
I grabbed Lyra’s arm and pulled her down.
A stream of heated liquid shot over us and struck the fortress wall. Stone melted under the impact.
Seris released Tomas and threw both hands forward.
Blood rose from the grass in thin red ropes. They wrapped around the beast’s neck and pulled its head to the side.
The second stream hit the ground.
The grass caught fire.
"Kaelen!" I shouted.
He was already moving.
He sprinted toward the creature and climbed onto its back. His sword found the gap between two plates. He drove the blade down with both hands.
The beast screamed.
Its body twisted.
Kaelen lost his footing, but the red power in his chest exploded through his limbs. He held on with one hand and pulled the sword free.
The creature slammed its back against the ground.
Kaelen rolled away before the plates crushed him.
I saw the opening.
The wound beneath its neck was exposed.
I used Cinder Vein.
The first burst struck the soft flesh.
The second opened the wound.
The third burst hit the bone beneath it.
The beast fell sideways.
Its legs kicked through the burning grass.
Seris pulled the blood ropes tighter.
"Finish it!"
I moved toward the throat.
The beast’s tail struck me before I could reach it.
Pain broke across my ribs.
I flew through the air and landed hard enough to lose my breath.
The creature turned its head toward me.
Its mouth opened.
Kaelen reached it first.
He drove his sword through the lower jaw and into the skull.
The beast collapsed.
Steam rose from its mouth.
Kaelen pulled the sword free and stood over the body.
The red light beneath his shirt faded, but the scar remained brighter than before.
He looked toward me.
"You’re bleeding."
"So are you."
"I asked first."
"I answered."
He shook his head and walked toward the gate.
The fight had cost us time.
The fire spread across the valley behind us, and smoke was already rising above the fortress walls.
Seris picked up Tomas.
"Soldiers will see that."
"They already know where we are," I said.
As if answering me, a horn sounded from the Black Gate.
Iron bars rose inside the fortress.
The gate did not open.
A line of soldiers appeared along the battlements.
Their armor bore the royal sunburst.
At the center stood a man in a blue cloak.
"Drop your weapons!" he shouted.
Kaelen stepped toward the gate.
"We need passage through the mountains."
The officer looked at the dead beast, then at the wounded servant.
"You are trespassing on royal ground."
Lyra raised her bow.
I caught her wrist before she could draw.
The officer continued.
"Your weapons and the wounded man. Do that, and the gate opens."
Tomas stirred against Seris’s shoulder.
His eyes opened halfway.
"Do not..."
The officer saw his face.
"Wait."
He pointed at Tomas.
"That is an Ordan servant."
Seris moved behind me.
The officer’s men began lowering crossbows from the wall.
"House Ordan is wanted for treason," the officer said. "Hand him over, and the rest of you may pass."
Kaelen looked at me.
I could already guess what he wanted.
"No," I said.
He frowned. "I did not say anything."
"You were about to."
The officer raised his hand.
The crossbows aimed at Tomas.
"We will count to three."
Behind the gate, civilians had gathered near the inner courtyard. Farmers, merchants, and travelers waited beside carts loaded with supplies. Some wore the gray coats of people fleeing Blackmere.
The officer had placed them close to the gate.
Not for protection.
For leverage.
He knew we would not attack through them.
At least, he assumed we would not.
"Take the servant," I called.
The officer smiled.
"Good decision."
"I did not say you could have him."
I drew my sword.
The officer’s smile disappeared.
"Three."
The crossbows pulled back.
"Two."
Kaelen stepped beside me.
His sword came free with a sharp scrape.
The red scar on his chest began to glow.
"One."
The crossbows fired.
I released Abyssal Sense.
The bolts slowed in my perception.
Not in the air.
Inside my awareness.
I saw their paths.
One aimed at Tomas.
Two aimed at Seris.
The rest were directed at Kaelen and me.
I moved.
Kaelen moved with me.
He struck the first bolt aside.
I cut through the second and caught the third against my shoulder guard.
Seris twisted away from the fourth.
The remaining bolts struck the ground around us.
The civilians screamed.
The officer shouted for the gate to close.
Too late.
Kaelen had reached the bars.
He drove his sword into the mechanism and forced it sideways. The iron gate jammed halfway open.
The civilians inside scattered.
The officer drew his sword and descended the wall stairs with twenty soldiers behind him.
"Leave him to me," Kaelen said.
"You have a problem with orders?"
"I have a problem with you killing everyone."
I looked at the soldiers.
"You may want to hurry."
The royal line charged through the half-open gate.
Seris pushed Tomas toward Lyra.
"Get him inside."
Lyra pulled him behind a supply cart.
I met the first soldier.
His spear struck toward my stomach.
I turned the blade aside and cut his wrist. He dropped the weapon, but another soldier replaced him immediately.
The gate made the battlefield narrow.
Every step mattered.
Kaelen fought on my right, his sword moving quickly but without the clean rhythm he had before his death. The red power compensated for mistakes. It pulled his body into attacks he had not planned.
One soldier swung at his head.
Kaelen ducked.
The red energy moved first.
His sword cut through the soldier’s throat.
Kaelen stared at the body for half a second.
That pause nearly killed him.
A second soldier struck from behind.
I cut him down before the blade reached Kaelen.
Kaelen looked at me.
"I had that."
"You were staring."
"I was not."
Another wave of soldiers entered the gate.
There were too many to hold for long.
I released Cinder Vein.
The first burst shattered a shield.
The second knocked three soldiers backward.
The third blew apart the stone beneath the gate.
The ground dropped.
Two soldiers fell into the broken channel below.
The rest stumbled.
"Now!" I shouted.
Lyra fired from behind the cart.
Her arrow struck the chain holding the gate. The damaged mechanism collapsed, and the iron bars fell halfway between us and the outer road.
We were trapped inside the fortress.
So were the royal soldiers.
The officer pushed through them.
He was older than I expected, with a scar running from his ear to his jaw.
His sword was marked with blue runes.
"Lord Veyr Draven," he said.
I did not answer.
"You have made this more difficult than it needed to be."
"You started with crossbows."
"I gave you a chance."
"You gave me a hostage."
His eyes moved toward Tomas.
The servant had crawled out from behind the cart.
He held a broken knife in one hand.
The officer saw him and drew a shorter blade from his belt.
"Kill the servant."
A soldier moved toward Tomas.
Kaelen blocked him.
The soldier struck hard.
Kaelen parried, but the red energy inside his body flared violently. His scar spread beneath his collar.
The soldier smiled when he saw it.
"The Heart has already claimed him."
Kaelen’s blade stopped.
The soldier stabbed.
Kaelen twisted aside, but the tip cut across his ribs.
The officer watched the red glow.
"You brought the vessel to us yourself."
Kaelen drove his elbow into the soldier’s face and threw him backward.
"I am not your vessel."
The officer raised his runed sword.
Blue light gathered around the blade.
"Then prove it."
He attacked Kaelen.
Their swords collided.
The impact sent a shock through the courtyard.
Kaelen was forced back.
The officer moved better than the soldiers around him. His blade changed direction at the last second, using the blue runes to pull it through impossible angles.
Kaelen blocked one strike.
The second cut his shoulder.
The third drove him to one knee.
The red scar on his chest flashed.
I felt his panic through the blood link.
Not fear.
Pressure.
The foreign power wanted control.
Kaelen fought it.
The officer raised his sword for the finishing blow.
I stepped between them.
The runed blade struck mine.
The force drove me back three steps.
The officer twisted his wrist.
Blue energy crawled along my sword and burned through the metal.
I released Whitefire Lance.
Flame covered my arm.
The officer pulled away before the blast reached him, but the edge of the attack tore through his cloak.
Kaelen rose beside me.
"You should have let me handle him."
"You were losing."
"I was adjusting."
"He was cutting you."
"That was part of the adjustment."
The officer attacked again.
This time, Kaelen and I met him together.
I forced his blade high.
Kaelen struck low.
The officer blocked both attacks, but the blue runes flickered.
Seris sent a blood thread around his ankle.
He cut it before it tightened.
Lyra fired.
The officer turned his shoulder, but the arrow still pierced his upper arm.
His stance broke.
I struck his sword hand.
The runed blade fell.
Kaelen’s sword stopped against his throat.
The courtyard went silent.
The officer looked at Kaelen.
"You will not kill me."
Kaelen’s breathing was heavy.
The red glow had reached his neck.
The officer lowered his voice.
"You are still in there, aren’t you?"
Kaelen’s eyes narrowed.
"What are you talking about?"
"The thing inside you. It is listening."
The officer pressed two fingers against a crystal set into his belt.
The red scar across Kaelen’s chest exploded with light.
He froze.
His sword shifted toward my ribs.
I felt the blood link tighten.
The officer smiled.
"The church taught us how to awaken it."
Kaelen’s arm moved.
I caught his wrist.
The red power pushed against me through the link.
For a moment, I could not tell whether I was stopping Kaelen or fighting myself.
His eyes met mine.
"Do it," he whispered.
The first command rose to my mouth.
I could order him to kneel.
To drop the sword.
To kill the officer.
Only one command remained.
I chose carefully.
"Break the crystal."
Kaelen’s hand turned.
His sword struck the crystal on the officer’s belt.
The device shattered.
The red energy vanished from Kaelen’s body.
The officer stared at the broken fragments.
Kaelen drove his knee into the man’s stomach.
He fell.
I placed my sword against his throat.
The officer looked up at me.
"Kill me, and the gate remains closed."
I glanced at the fortress.
The Black Gate was sealed.
The road through the mountain was on the other side.
The officer had been telling the truth.
Kaelen watched me.
I lowered my sword.
Then I drove it through the officer’s hand and pinned it to the stone.
His scream echoed across the courtyard.
The soldiers froze.
I leaned closer.
"Open the gate."
He gritted his teeth.
"You will regret this."
"Probably."
I twisted the blade.
The officer shouted for the gate to open.
The soldiers obeyed.
The inner mechanism groaned, and the Black Gate began to rise.
Beyond it, the mountain road descended into a vast northern plain.
Far in the distance, red cliffs cut through the horizon.
Seris came to stand beside me.
"The monastery is beyond those cliffs."
Kaelen looked at the road, then at the officer bleeding beneath my sword.
"You said you would not kill him."
"I did not."
"You nearly did."
"He tried to control you."
Kaelen looked down at the blood link pulsing beneath his skin.
The gate opened fully.
Beyond the mountains waited a wider world, a royal road, and the Red Monastery.
Behind us, Blackmere was still hunting us.
Ahead, the church was already waiting.
I pulled my sword from the officer’s hand.
"Move," I said.
This time, Kaelen did not argue.
He simply walked through the Black Gate.