The Black Gate closed behind us.
Its iron teeth locked into place with a sound that traveled through the mountain road.
For the first time since leaving Blackmere, no soldiers followed.
That did not make the road safe.
The northern mountains rose on both sides of us, cutting off the sky. Their peaks were dark even beneath the afternoon sun, covered with old snow and sharp black stone. Narrow bridges connected one cliff to another, while waterfalls dropped into chasms too deep to see.
The road ahead had been carved into the mountain itself.
Old statues stood along its edges.
Most had lost their heads.
The few remaining faces wore crowns.
Kaelen looked up at them as we walked.
"Who built this road?"
"The old northern kingdom," Seris said.
"There is no northern kingdom."
"Not anymore."
She carried Tomas beneath one arm, though the wounded servant had become heavier with every mile. His fever had returned. Blood had soaked through the bandage around his stomach.
Lyra walked beside her, watching the cliffs.
"What happened to the kingdom?"
"War. Then famine. Then the mountains took what was left."
Kaelen glanced toward her. "The mountains took it?"
Seris stepped over a crack in the road.
"People say that when they do not want to explain how badly they failed."
Kaelen looked at the ruined statues again.
"That sounds like something people would say."
"It is."
I walked ahead of them, watching the road.
The Black Gate had been built to protect the northern route, not to keep people outside. The walls faced the mountain road. The towers were aimed toward the plains beyond the peaks.
Something had been coming from the north once.
Something the old kingdom had feared enough to build a fortress inside a mountain.
The road turned sharply around a cliff.
A valley opened before us.
It was wider than I expected, hidden between the mountains like a bowl. A river cut through its center, bright beneath the sun. Terraced fields climbed the lower slopes, but most were abandoned. Wooden houses stood among them with their roofs covered in snow.
Smoke rose from three chimneys.
The village was alive.
Kaelen stopped.
"There are people here."
"Of course there are," I said.
"Why did no one tell us?"
"Who were you expecting to send a letter?"
He gave me an annoyed look, then returned his attention to the valley.
A bell rang below.
Once.
Then twice.
The people had seen us.
Figures appeared along the rooftops. Some carried bows. Others held long spears and crossbows.
A wooden gate blocked the road down into the valley.
A woman in a gray fur cloak stepped onto the wall above it.
She had a crossbow in one hand and a scar across her mouth.
"State your business," she called.
Seris shifted Tomas higher against her shoulder.
"Medicine," Kaelen shouted back. "And shelter."
The woman’s eyes moved over us.
They stopped on the royal officer’s runed sword hanging from my belt.
Then on the blood covering our clothes.
"Lower your weapons."
Kaelen’s hand went to his sword.
The woman raised her crossbow.
"I did not ask twice."
I drew the sword from my belt and placed it on the ground.
Lyra followed.
Seris hesitated.
The woman pointed at Tomas.
"If the servant dies on my road, I will not let you through."
Seris lowered him carefully.
Kaelen and Lyra placed their weapons beside mine.
Seris laid down her blood knife.
The woman studied us for a few moments.
Then she turned to the people behind the wall.
"Open the gate."
The wooden doors groaned apart.
We entered the village under the aim of twenty weapons.
No one spoke until we reached the central square.
The settlement was built around an old stone well. Blue paint covered the houses, though much of it had faded beneath the snow and rain. People watched us from windows and doorways.
They did not look frightened.
They looked tired.
The woman with the scar approached.
"Name."
"Veyr Draven."
Her expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
"You are the lord from Blackmere."
"I was."
"You are wanted by the Crown."
"So I have heard."
She looked at Kaelen.
"And him?"
"Kaelen Rook."
The woman’s crossbow rose again.
Three villagers aimed at him from the side.
Kaelen slowly lifted his hands.
"Is there a problem?"
"You were declared dead."
"I have been having a difficult week."
His attempt at humor fell flat.
The woman’s eyes narrowed.
"You should have stayed dead."
The red scar beneath Kaelen’s shirt pulsed.
His fingers curled.
I stepped closer to him.
The woman noticed.
"You are protecting him."
"He is useful."
Kaelen looked at me.
I ignored him.
The woman lowered her crossbow slightly.
"Take the injured servant to the healer’s house. Keep the rest of them under watch."
A group of villagers carried Tomas away.
Seris followed them without asking.
Lyra looked after her.
"I am going with her."
The woman nodded toward a narrow stone building.
"You can help there."
Lyra did not wait for permission twice.
She followed Seris.
That left me and Kaelen in the square.
The woman gestured toward the building behind her.
"Inside."
The room smelled of dried herbs, smoke, and wet wool.
A map covered the back wall.
The northern mountains were marked with red lines, old roads, blocked passes, and small black circles. One large red mark had been drawn beyond the valley.
The Red Monastery.
The woman shut the door behind us.
"My name is Mara Venn. I run this village."
"You are a long way from Blackmere."
"We are a long way from everyone."
"That seems intentional."
"It was."
She placed her crossbow on the table.
"You have soldiers behind you."
"Not ours."
"Royal troops?"
"Royal, church, and possibly both."
Mara studied my face.
"Then you brought trouble through the Black Gate."
"The trouble was already there."
She smiled without humor.
"That is what trouble always says."
Kaelen leaned against the wall.
His color had worsened during the walk.
Mara noticed the movement beneath his shirt.
"What happened to him?"
"Church experiment."
"You should have left him behind."
"He keeps surviving."
Mara looked at him for a long moment.
"Does he know what is inside him?"
"Enough."
Kaelen’s gaze moved to me.
"Not everything."
Mara caught the tension between us and decided not to ask.
Instead, she pointed at the map.
"You are heading to the Red Monastery."
"Yes."
"Then you will not reach it by the eastern road."
"Why?"
"The monastery has closed the pass."
"Because of us?"
"Because of everyone."
She traced a finger along the red marks.
"Three days ago, the monastery bells started ringing. Not the normal bells. The deep ones."
Kaelen straightened.
"What does that mean?"
"It means the old gate beneath the mountain opened."
I looked at the map.
"What is behind it?"
Mara’s eyes hardened.
"The reason the northern kingdom disappeared."
Silence filled the room.
I expected another piece of history.
Instead, Mara pointed toward the valley outside.
"Look at the fields."
I moved to the window.
The terraced fields were abandoned, but not because of snow. Long black lines cut through the earth between the houses. They resembled cracks, except the ground around them had turned to glass.
"That appeared last winter," Mara said. "Every month, the cracks spread."
"Earthquakes?"
"No."
"What, then?"
"Heat."
Kaelen came beside me.
A thin red glow ran beneath one of the distant cracks.
My ring responded.
The black stone warmed against my finger.
Seris’s voice came from the doorway.
"Tomas is stable."
Lyra stood behind her.
Mara looked toward the ring.
"You carry a piece of it."
"Of what?"
"The Heart."
Seris stepped fully into the room.
Mara reached for her crossbow again.
"You should have said that before entering my village."
"We did not know this was your village," Seris replied.
"You knew what you carried."
I looked at the map.
"You know what it is."
Mara did not answer immediately.
The door opened behind us.
Two villagers dragged in a dead man.
His clothes were covered in frost, but the body was steaming.
They dropped him near the hearth.
Mara’s face tightened.
"He was found near the eastern pass."
Seris crouched beside the corpse.
The man’s chest had split open from the inside. Thin red lines spread across his skin, similar to Kaelen’s scar.
She touched one.
The line pulsed.
Seris pulled her hand back.
"The same energy."
Kaelen looked down at his own chest.
"Was he a vessel?"
"No," Seris said. "He was exposed to the residue."
Mara turned toward me.
"The Red Monastery is not using the Heart anymore. It is waking."
The words were simple.
That made them worse.
I looked at the dead man.
"Why would the monastery keep it there?"
"It did not."
Mara crossed to the map and pointed beyond the marked fortress.
"Twenty-three years ago, the Crown transferred the Heart to the Red Monastery. The monks carried it through the northern pass."
Seris stared at the old writing.
"The transfer record said the monastery received the container."
"It received the container," Mara said. "Not the Heart."
Kaelen frowned.
"Then where did it go?"
Mara pointed at the black circles beneath the mountain.
"Below us."
The village bell rang.
This time, it rang three times.
Everyone in the room froze.
A deep vibration passed through the floor.
The red cracks in the valley brightened.
The villagers outside began shouting.
Mara grabbed her crossbow.
"Get to the wall."
We followed her into the square.
The valley had changed.
A section of the eastern mountain had split open. Stone poured down its face, carrying trees and snow with it. Beneath the collapse, a massive doorway had been revealed.
It was carved into the mountain.
The door bore the same three-winged raven symbol as my ring.
A red light burned behind its cracks.
The villagers rushed toward the wall.
Mara shouted orders, sending archers to the eastern watchtower.
A horn sounded from beyond the valley.
Then another.
Royal soldiers appeared on the northern ridge.
Their banners moved in the wind.
Prince Alric had found another route through the mountains.
He had not followed our false trail.
He had simply known where we would go.
Mara saw them and swore.
"How many?"
"Two hundred," one of the archers shouted.
Kaelen drew the sword he had taken back from the gate.
The red scar beneath his shirt brightened.
His face tightened as the power woke.
I felt the link pull.
The mountain door answered.
Red light traveled from the raven symbol across the stone and into the valley cracks.
The same energy moved inside Kaelen.
The same energy rested beneath my ring.
The old gate was opening.
Royal soldiers began descending toward the village.
Behind them, something moved inside the mountain.
Not a person.
Not an army.
A huge shadow pressed against the red light beyond the door.
Mara loaded her crossbow.
"If that gate opens fully, the village is finished."
Kaelen looked at the soldiers.
"And if we stay, the soldiers take it?"
"They will kill anyone who knows what is below."
I drew my sword.
The Black Gate was behind us.
The royal army was ahead.
The Red Monastery waited beyond the mountain.
Between all of them stood a village that had never asked to become part of our fight.
Mara looked at me.
"You brought this to my door."
"No," I said.
The mountain gave another violent shake.
The raven symbol on the door began to glow.
"I brought the people hunting it."
The first royal soldiers reached the lower fields.
Mara raised her crossbow.
"Then help us keep them away."
I stepped toward the wall.
Kaelen moved beside me.
Seris took position near the eastern road.
Lyra climbed the nearest watchtower.
The villagers prepared behind us.
For the first time, we were not running.
The northern mountains had hidden the Heart beneath them for twenty-three years.
Now the Crown had come to claim it.
And something inside the mountain had started to wake.