THE OATHBREAKER

CHAPTER SIX

The ritual site pulsed, its crimson glow overshadowing the trees. I stood at the edge of the stone circle, gripping my blade firmly. The boy's scream still lingered in my thought, and Rhea's voice, "You can't run forever, Celeste" plaguing my mind. I was no longer running, I was hunting.

Three of Torian's wolves waited behind me, ready to investigate, their breaths shallow in the cold. Torian had gone back, he needed to tend to Kael's injury and the others injured in the raid. He had picked Alys, broad-shouldered and strong, Stan, grizzled and fearless and Renn, the youngest, lean, with eyes that missed nothing. I was to lead them, for now, and the weight of it pressed on my ribs already screaming from the bandages binding them.

"Spread out" I murmured, "Touch nothing unless I say." They nodded, eyes sharp, but Renn's hands trembled for a split second, like he was nervous. I didn't blame him. I though I heard one of the stones make a sound, I squatted net to it, my fingers hovering over the sculpted lines, feeling heat brush under my hands. Ancient blood magic devoured rather than merely kill. The incident from 12 years ago flashed through my mind. How Lys's body struck the ground and Uncle Fen's eyes met mine, begging for help, before closing. I pushed the remembrance down and focused my attention to the present.

"There is something under here."I whispered. The ground felt wrong, too soft, as if there was something beneath. Though my instincts were screaming to run, Alys crouched close to me, her steel scent gounding me. She pressed a hand to the ground curiously.

“Its hollow,” she spoke, her voice steady. "Stan, Renn check the area. Make sure we're the only ones here." The two vanished into the shadows silently. Alys stayed close, her gqze flicking between me and the stones.

I traced around the stone, searching for a seam where soil opened to reveal something smoother "Here," I exclaimed, stabbing my knife into the c***k. The blade caught, I raised it up, revealing a slab, noisy as it shifted. Alys assisted, her strength worked swiftly and soon we gazed into a deep, dark hole. A draft came up, bearing a cold stone and a metallic cup of dried blood.

"Relics," Alys said, her voice low. "Or a trap."

Pulling a flashlight from my belt, I answered, "Both." The light from it cut through the darkness to show a tiny stairway carved into the stone going down into a chamber below. My ribs were hurting, but I did not hesitate. As Stan and Renn defended the entrance above, I descended down the stairs with Alys behind me.

The air became cooler as we went down, and the walls looking wet. The chamber opened up, its runes gleaming weakly just like the ones above. A stone altar stood in the middle surrounded by relics, crushed mistletoe in a jar, bone fragments, a bent dagger. My stomach turned. This was not a shrine. This was like a vault of Bloodbind Cult, where their power originated.

“Celeste,” Alys called, pointing to a corner. Half-buried in dust there was a map bound with leather, with shaky but unbroken edges. I unfolded it and knelt down. Though crude, the lines marked a path through the Northern Crescent to a place I hadn't heard of in years, the Sanctuary of the First Fang. Older than Nightmoor, older than any living wolf’s memory. Bound by blood and moon, it held a power no Alpha could wield, a remnant of the first wolves.

"This is their target" I said, my voice calm despite the chill running down my spine. "The sanctuary, it is bound to this location.

Alys's eyes narrowed as she studied the map from behind me. "Why here?"

"The tales say it's where the first wolves struck a pact with the moon, and blood magic arose before it went bad. Should Rhea be the High Blood, she will need that power to anchor whatever she is summoning."

Alys nodded in affirmation, "We have to tell Torian. Tonight."

A sound stopped me, it sounded like claws on stone, from the tunnel above. Stan spoke swiftly and urgently from across the darkness. "Movement. North side"

Already moving, I had my blade out and Alys behind me, We climbed up the stairs, coming out to where Stan and Renn stood, weapons ready, eyes focused on the trees. Renn's face was pale, his breath shallow. "Something's out there," he whispered, "And its not a wolf."

The air grew thick, like a storm was about to break. The runes on the stones shone brighter, and Rhea's voice—distorted, wrong, echoed through my mind once again. I gipped my blade tight, scanning the shadows, but nothing moved. No heartbeats, no scent, just the weight of eyes watching, waiting.

"Back to camp," I ordered, my voice low but firm, repeating Torian's order from earlier. The wolves aligned around me, but i hesitated, my eyes locked on the trees. My blood went cold as a shadow moved, too fast, too deliberate. Something had been following us, mirroring our footsteps, and it was not the cult. not now, but Rhea was out there pulling strings and I'll be damned if I let her unravel me first.

The forest was closed in on us, branches clawed at my coat as we began to move forward, the map weighing heavy on my chest. With quick steps, Alys led me, Stan and Renn flanked me, their eyes monitoring and darting to every rustle in the bush.

The air, still thickened with ozone and blood hung around as though the beat of the ritual location was following us.I tightened my grasp on my blade, that shadow in the trees was waiting, patient, like a predator circling a wounded prey. It was not gone.

The power of the Sanctuary, the anchor for Rhea's summoning, towered in my vision.

I was no longer just bait. I was the key.