Kael didn't sleep that night. Neither did Sera.
The fire between them had burned low to embers, casting flickering shadows on the walls of the hollowed oak. Lina slept soundly wrapped in Kael's cloak, exhaustion finally winning over fear.
Sera leaned back against a fallen root, arms crossed, watching Kael with a half-lidded expression that looked like boredom but felt like calculation.
"You don't trust me," she said softly.
Kael didn't answer.
"I don't blame you," she added, eyes turning upward to the shifting canopy. "I wouldn't trust me either."
"I trust actions," Kael said, not looking at her. "Not words."
"Then lucky for you, I haven't stabbed anyone today."
He glanced at her sideways.
Sera grinned. "Yet."
They broke camp before dawn, setting off along a narrow trail winding northward through the forest. The rain had stopped, leaving a fog that clung to the trees like ash on glass.
Lina walked beside Kael now, holding his hand, silent but alert. Her eyes darted to every snapping twig and fluttering leaf. Kael carried the rune-sword on his back, the scroll sealed and hidden beneath his cloak.
Sera led the way with surprising grace for someone carrying two daggers, a bow, and a heavy pack. She moved like someone who had lived in woods like this her whole life.
"So," she said as they walked, "want to tell me where you're actually going, or are we just wandering until something tries to kill us?"
Kael gave her a dry look. "North."
She rolled her eyes. "North is a direction, not a destination."
"There's something I have to find. A place called the Hollow Star."
Sera stopped in her tracks. "The Hollow Star?"
Kael frowned. "You know it?"
"I've heard of it. An old ruin deep in the GravenwoodMountains. Half the old maps don't even show it anymore. Just a symbol where it should be — an empty ring of stone." She squinted at him. "Why would you go there?"
Kael didn't answer immediately. He looked ahead, toward the growing mist beyond the trees.
"It's where the scroll told me to go."
Sera tilted her head. "Scroll?"
Kael hesitated… then reached under his cloak and pulled it out. The wax seal was gone now, broken and cold. He unrolled it and handed it to her.
She read silently, eyes narrowing with each line.
When she looked up, her joking tone was gone.
"'The Flame is not dead,'" she read aloud. "'Its ashes lie where the old blood still runs…' Kael, this is Vorrin magic. RealVorrin. Not some bedtime legend. You realize what this means, don't you?"
"I'm starting to."
Sera handed the scroll back slowly. "If that flame is still out there… and your blood really is tied to it…"
"I didn't ask for any of this," Kael said quietly. "I didn't even know what the Flame was until two days ago."
"Doesn't matter. The wrong people already know your name. That's enough."
Kael nodded grimly. "Then I need to get to the Hollow Star before they do."
They followed an old river path north until the trees thinned and the terrain sloped upward into rocky hills. Around midday, the wind picked up, stirring the mist and revealing jagged stones and dead tree stumps dotting the highland.
Sera stopped and crouched low, holding up a hand.
Kael knelt beside her. "What is it?"
"Tracks. Horses. Four of them. Not wild. Too even."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "How old?"
Sera touched the footprint. "Fresh. Half a day, maybe less."
Kael glanced at Lina, who stood quietly behind a rock. "Scouts?"
"Maybe," Sera said. "But they're moving west. That's away from us. Still…" she stood, eyes narrowing. "We move faster. And quieter."
They continued in silence, every snapped twig putting Kael on edge.
By nightfall, they reached a stretch of cliffs overlooking the valley below. In the distance, torchlight dotted a distant road — a patrol of riders, slow-moving but steady.
"Definitely soldiers," Sera whispered. "That's a full squad. Too many for us to fight, unless your sword's secretly a god in disguise."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Could be the same ones from Hallowford."
Lina tugged at his sleeve. "They're hunting us, aren't they?"
He crouched beside her. "Maybe. But they won't find us tonight."
Sera tapped his shoulder. "Come on. I know a cave a few miles east. High ground, good view, only smells mildly like dead bear."
Kael gave her a look.
She smirked. "Trust me. You'll love it."
They reached the cave just after moonrise. It was narrow, with walls of black stone and moss, and opened up to a small ledge that looked out over the valley. Kael gathered dry wood while Sera unpacked rations — mostly dried meat and bread.
Lina sat against the wall, eating quietly, eyes still full of thoughts.
Sera sat beside Kael near the fire, tossing a small pebble between her hands.
"So. You gonna tell me how your sword did that?"
Kael raised an eyebrow. "Did what?"
"Cut through steel like it was paper. I've fought men in full plate. You need either brute force, enchantments, or… something worse."
Kael glanced at the blade resting nearby. The runes were dim now, as if sleeping.
"I don't know," he admitted. "It only started glowing two nights ago. Right before I got to Hallowford."
Sera frowned. "It reacted to something."
"I think it's tied to the scroll."
"Or your blood."
Kael looked at her. "What do you know about the Flame?"
She hesitated, then leaned forward, voice low. "Only stories. That it wasn't fire the way we think of it. It was life. Magic. Power given shape. It let the old kingdoms create… and destroy. But they fought over it. Broke it. Scattered it."
"And now it's waking up."
Sera nodded. "And you're caught in the middle."
Kael didn't respond. His thoughts were a storm — bloodlines, soldiers, burning villages, a sword that shouldn't exist.
He turned toward the valley. Somewhere out there, death rode in black armor, searching.
Somewhere ahead, in the mountains, the Hollow Star waited.
He had no idea what he'd find when he reached it.
But he'd find it.
No matter what it cost.