Chapter 10
1124 Words
I stared at the spot where Kael’s ring had been found.
A bench.
Wood splintered from weather, not violence.
No blood. No drag marks. No broken leaves. Nothing but silence and a cloak that didn’t belong on that side of the stronghold.
He left it there on purpose.
Which meant he knew he was being watched.
Which meant he didn’t fight.
Or he couldn’t.
The anger came fast — not at him, not yet.
At whoever thought they could play the same game I once survived. Messages meant to distract while the knife was already pressed to the neck.
They took Kael.
And they were going to regret not finishing the job when they had the chance.
The stronghold wasn’t panicking yet.
Only a handful of wolves even knew Kael was missing. And I wasn’t about to let them blow the alarm — not until I had a direction.
“Where’s the last confirmed sighting?” I asked Lena, eyes already scanning the western ridge path.
“Three hours ago. One of the inner guards said he saw Kael heading toward the tower alone.”
“With who?”
“No one.”
“He wouldn’t go alone,” I said. “Not today. Not with what we’ve uncovered.”
“He gave no orders,” Lena replied. “Didn’t even take a backup.”
My fingers twitched.
“Someone called him out there.”
“You think it was a setup?”
“No,” I said coldly. “I know it was.”
We tore through the surrounding terrain in tight formation — me, Lena, Orryn, and two scouts. No command chain. No Council. Just wolves who’d bled for this territory and weren’t willing to hand it over.
We followed the scent line northeast, where the old quarry trails bled into forest. Kael’s scent grew sharper for a while, then veered.
Then it vanished altogether.
“Spell masking,” Orryn muttered. “The kind witches used during the Icehold raids.”
“No,” I said. “Not witches.”
“Then who?”
I crouched and pressed my palm against the dirt.
“He led them here on purpose.”
Lena frowned. “You think Kael wanted to be taken?”
“Not wanted,” I said. “Planned.”
She stepped forward. “That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does,” I said. “If he knew I’d follow.”
We reached the first trail split ten minutes later — and that’s when I found it.
A carving on the inside of a tree trunk. Small, nearly hidden.
One word: “East.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“This way.”
We broke into a run.
By the time we reached the edge of the Eastern cliffs, Lena caught up to me.
“We’re near No Man’s Cradle,” she said. “If they dragged him here—”
“They didn’t drag him,” I said. “They walked. Quietly. Like this was coordinated.”
Orryn scanned the rocks. “There’s an old burial pit down there. Deep. No guards. If they wanted to question him out of range—”
“He wouldn’t let himself be questioned,” I said.
“Unless he needed to hear what they were planning.”
Lena exhaled. “You think this was a play?”
“I think Kael let himself be captured because he knew we weren’t moving fast enough.”
“Damn.”
I moved toward the cliff edge and peered over.
That’s when I saw it.
A patch of red cloth snagged on the lower rocks — just like the ones used during the northern war drills to mark drop zones.
Kael’s scent ended there.
“He’s down there,” I said.
Orryn crouched beside me. “There’s no safe path.”
“We don’t need one.”
I straightened and turned to Lena. “You’re going to circle back and make it public. Announce his disappearance.”
“Won’t that cause panic?”
“Not if you tell them he ordered it himself.”
“And if they don’t believe me?”
“Then they’ll believe what happens next.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What’s next?”
I pulled my blade and checked the edge.
“War.”
I went down alone.
Not because I didn’t trust the others — but because I didn’t trust what I’d find.
If Kael had handed himself over to someone inside our pack…
If he’d been lured by a name he still believed in…
Then what waited at the bottom of that cliff wasn’t just a rescue.
It was a reckoning.
The descent was steep, carved by time and war. I followed the red cloth markers deeper, past bone trees and old sigil stones scarred from past conflicts.
At the base, the air shifted.
The kind of still that meant no creatures stirred here anymore.
That’s when I heard it, a voice.
It wasn’t Kael.
“We can still make use of him. If he speaks.”
I pressed my back against the rock face.
Another voice answered.
“He won’t. You saw his eyes. He’s not afraid of pain.”
My stomach tightened.
Kael was here, somewhere close.
They weren’t breaking him or trying to negotiate.
My hands tightened on my blade.
I rounded the final curve and found the opening.
A wide cavern, dark but not deep. Two figures stood with their backs to me — both dressed in plain southern gear. One held a blade. The other, a vial.
Kael was on his knees in front of them.
Arms bound, shirt torn, but upright.
Alert.
His eyes snapped to mine instantly.
And the second they did, he moved.
Twisting his wrist, he knocked the vial from the man’s hand — sending glass shattering to the ground. The second man spun toward me.
Too late.
I was already moving.
I closed the distance and drove my blade through his shoulder, pinning him to the cavern wall.
The other dove for a second weapon.
Kael kicked his leg out from under him — fast, brutal, clean. I stepped in and slammed the hilt of my dagger into the side of his head.
Silence.
I pulled Kael to his feet.
“You waited long enough,” he said.
“Couldn’t miss your show.”
“Did you come alone?”
“No. But they’ll be here any minute.”
He looked at the bodies, then at me.
“We have a problem.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“What kind?”
“They weren’t trying to kill me,” he said. “They were waiting for someone.”
“Who?”
He stared at me.
Then spoke one name.
“Orin.”
- Writer
