EPISODE 11:Title:THE CLIFF BENEATH THE MOON
1335 Words
Ashes of the Blackan** **Episode 11: The Cliff Beneath the Moon**
**1. The Full Moon Pact**
The full moon rose over the edge of the western cliffs like a blind white eye. Beneath it, the land shimmered with pale light, and the sea below crashed with a rhythm older than the Blackan bloodline.
They stood together on the high ridge — Kalen, Mira, Cassian, Silas, Saphira — cloaked against the wind, eyes wary. The air between them carried weight. Not just of secrets, but of something heavier: mistrust, regret, guilt.
Mira broke the silence first. “Why here?”
Kalen didn’t answer immediately. He was staring out over the edge, into the crashing waters and rocks far below. “Because there’s no one listening. No walls with ears.”
Silas shifted uneasily, clutching the scroll maps he’d carried for weeks. Cassian paced, arms folded tight, his breath clouding in the cold air. Saphira, for once, said nothing.
Rowan arrived late, as expected.
His smile was all warmth and apology. “I had to dodge a patrol,” he said smoothly. “They’ve doubled guard rotations.”
Kalen didn’t respond. He simply nodded and motioned for them all to form a loose circle. This meeting was planned to be their last before making a break from the manor — the moment they’d agree to flee together or not at all.
He wasn’t sure how many of them would choose loyalty… or how many were already lost.
**2. A Fragile Circle**
Mira looked stronger than she had days ago — but not untouched. Her magic pulsed under her skin, faint as starlight, barely held in check. The memory of the cursed scrolls still haunted her dreams.
“I know we can’t stay,” she said, staring at the flames of the campfire Cassian built. “I know they’ll come again. And next time… it’ll be worse.”
“They already planned worse,” Kalen said grimly. “I intercepted a rider headed east. A message to the Witch-Hunters of Thale.”
Even Rowan’s carefully cultivated calm seemed to twitch at that.
Cassian growled. “So we run.”
“Not run,” Saphira corrected. “Escape. There’s a difference.”
Silas unrolled one of his maps, weighed down at the corners by smooth stones. “I charted a path through the southern forest, past the dead valleys. We could reach the port cities in a week. There’s an old smuggler’s tunnel under the outer cliff. Hidden. Unused for years.”
“Convenient,” Rowan noted.
Silas flinched, but didn’t argue.
Kalen’s gaze narrowed. He didn’t say what he was thinking — not yet. Rowan’s trap was near its spring, and he needed to see *how*.
“We move in two days,” he said. “At nightfall. We leave no trace.”
Mira nodded. “If we wait longer, they’ll catch on.”
“And if one of us is followed?” Cassian asked.
Kalen didn’t answer.
But Rowan smiled slightly.
**3. The Knife Drawn**
That night, Kalen met Mira in the old armory. Dust hung like fog around the ruined swords and rusted spears. Moonlight sliced in through a shattered window.
“She’s still in danger,” he said, checking a curved dagger’s edge. “You all are. I feel it like rot in the walls.”
Mira leaned against a pillar. “You think Rowan?”
“I don’t think. I *know.*”
Mira’s breath caught. “You’re sure?”
“He’s been feeding them information. The trap is set for the cliffs.”
Mira froze. “But that’s where—”
“Exactly,” Kalen interrupted. “That’s where we go. We spring it first.”
He handed her the dagger. “You may need this.”
Mira didn’t hesitate.
She had no more illusions.
**4. The Betrayal**
Two nights later, beneath that same cliff, the air was quiet — too quiet.
They moved single-file through the narrow path toward the smuggler’s tunnel. Silas led, fingers tracing the edges of the rock as he double-checked his own notes. Cassian carried their supplies, Saphira kept to the rear, and Mira stayed close to Kalen.
Rowan followed second — right where he could see them all.
Then, it happened.
An arrow flew from the darkness, embedding into the rock beside Mira’s head.
“Ambush!” Kalen shouted, drawing his sword.
From both sides of the ridge, cloaked soldiers emerged — twenty at least, armed with manacles, nets, and glowing runes of suppression.
“Down!” Cassian tackled Silas out of the line of fire.
Saphira threw up a blinding flash of light, stunning half the ambushers.
But the soldiers pressed forward — and the cliff’s narrowness gave them an advantage.
Rowan, caught in the middle, ducked as if trying to dodge an arrow — and slid silently to the rear.
Kalen turned just in time to see him reach into his cloak and pull out a rune-dagger — the same used by witch-hunters.
The same kind that burned magic right out of your bones.
“ROWAN!” Mira screamed.
But Rowan wasn’t aiming at her.
He lunged toward **Silas**.
The boy had no time to react. He turned, eyes wide, just as Rowan drove the dagger into his side.
**5. Blood and Fire**
Silas collapsed.
The dagger flared with red light, and a ripple of magic exploded outward — disrupting Saphira’s spell, freezing Mira in pain, knocking Cassian flat.
Kalen lunged at Rowan, steel flashing.
They clashed — Rowan fast, agile, trained to kill without flair. Kalen, the brute of shadow, struck like a hammer.
The duel lasted only seconds.
But Kalen didn’t kill him.
He disarmed him.
And let Rowan *see* his own failure reflected in Kalen’s cold, dark eyes.
“You betrayed the wrong people,” Kalen whispered.
Then he slammed Rowan’s head into the rocks, once, twice — and the traitor crumpled unconscious.
Mira scrambled to Silas’s side.
Blood soaked his tunic. He was shaking. Eyes fluttering.
“No, no, no—” she whispered, pressing both hands to the wound.
But the rune-burn had reached too deep. It wasn’t just a stab. It was a **curse**.
“He saved me,” she whispered. “That dagger… it wasn’t meant for him, was it?”
Kalen knelt beside her. “No. It was meant for you.”
“Can we heal him?”
“I don’t know.”
**6. The Escape**
Cassian carried Silas.
Saphira guided them into the smuggler’s tunnel while Mira blasted a path open with magic she barely controlled. Kalen covered their retreat, sword in one hand, torch in the other.
Behind them, the ridge burned. The Maevryn soldiers regrouped, but too late. Their prey was gone.
But the damage was done.
Rowan was left behind, captured by his own employers.
The Maevryn would *deal* with failure.
Hours passed in the darkness of the tunnel.
Silas faded in and out of consciousness.
“I didn’t mean… to hurt anyone,” he mumbled.
“You didn’t,” Mira whispered. “You saved us.”
His hand tightened around hers.
“Don’t let them win.”
“I won’t.”
“You’re my family,” he whispered. “You and Saphira. Even if I lied before.”
And Mira, tears streaking down her face, nodded.
“We’re your family,” she said.
“We always will be.”
**7. The Turning**
They emerged from the tunnel near dawn, into a forgotten cove far from the manor. Mist rose from the sea. The sound of gulls replaced the thunder of blood.
Kalen stood alone for a moment, gazing back at the cliffs.
He had brought them here.
He had protected them.
But it wasn’t enough.
Silas lay dying.
Mira was hunted.
The enemy still ruled.
*Not forever,* he swore.
*Not while I breathe.*
He turned back to the others.
“Rest while you can,” he told them.
“Because when the sun sets… we start a war.”
**END OF EPISODE 11**
- Writer
