Chapter 16 The Rogues Pact
Chapter 16 The Rogues Pact
I couldn’t sleep as the air in Crescent had changed not with peace, but with suspicion. After what happened at the council chamber, the weight of every stare followed me like a ghost. Theron voice still echoed in my mind, :The Hollow Flame isn’t done with us”.
I caught fragments of voices as i walked past the training grounds. “Rogues… Hollow Flame… recruitment.” Then I remembered what Mira and I saw when we followed a trail without Rae’s knowledge.
About the same time, Mira stepped into the courtyard and our gaze met like we heard the same thing. Then I knew she heard it too. “They’re gathering near the border,” she muttered. “If what I heard is true, they’re not just rebels anymore. They’re building an army.”
Rae appeared from the shadows, he was listening to us all along. “Then we have to see for ourselves.”
The three of us then decidded to check whats going on by slipping past Crescent’s borders and into the forest. The forest looked sick with tension as the trees bent low, as if bowing to something unseen.
We could smell ash and blood. We followed the scent until we saw a flash of firelight break through the darkness.
From where we were, we could see dozens of wolves in human form, their armor was marked with a twisted sigil that made my stomach stir. It was the Moonshade crescent, half-swallowed by a black flame.
Mira leaned close, whispering, “They’re merging the emblems. Moonshade and Hollow Flame will become one cause.”
“They’ve already begun to choose sides,” Rae muttered as his gaze was sharp as steel.
In the center of the camp, a hooded figure was drawing symbols in ash. The rogues knelt, chanting words I didn’t recognize. But when the fire before them flared, it burned not red or gold but pitch black.
My heart skipped. “That’s not normal fire.”
“It’s bound,” Mira said with a trembling voice. “They’re invoking something dark… an ancient power.”
And then, I heard my name.
Not spoken but chanted.
“Aria… Aria of flame… vessel of the crown…”
The words crawled up my spine like cold fingers. I felt the mark on my chest burn faintly beneath my clothes.
Rae turned to me,“They’re calling you, Aria. They’re building this army around the fire that lives inside you.”
Anger sneered through me, hot and clean. “Then they’ll learn it doesn’t serve them.”
Before Rae could stop me, I moved. My boots sank into the mud as I stepped into the open space, then my fire began to lick at my palms. Rae and Mira followed, hiding behind shadows and ready if I fell.
The chanting stopped.
Dozens of eyes turned toward me, rogues, scarred and furious with their faces illuminated by the unnatural flame.
The hooded figure straightened. “The Queen’s child graces us. You should not hide among Crescent’s cowards. You belong here, among fire.”
I laughed, low but bitter. “Funny. I don’t remember pledging myself to monsters.”
The rogue sneered. “You’ll change your mind during the Blood Moon ritual. Once your soul is bound to the ancient weapon, you’ll understand what true power feels like.”
That made me freeze. Blood Moon ritual? Bound?
Mira’s voice echoed faintly in my mind. They’re going to bind your fire to something or someone.
I took a step closer. “You’re playing with a magic you don’t understand. Fire isn’t meant to obey darkness.”
The rogue laughed. “And yet it always burns best in the shadows.”
He moved first with a blur of motion and steel. I moved fast, and fire erupted around me in a golden burst, throwing him backward as chaos exploded through the camp.
Rogues drew blades. Mira’s daggers flashed. Rae’s fists were fire and fury. I moved like instinct, every motion guided by the power within me. For the first time, the flame felt alive. Not just mine, but me.
I waved my hands in the air, and a ring of fire surrounded the camp. The rogues froze, trapped in their own circle of fear.
“Who planned this ritual?” I demanded. “Tell me, or I burn every lie from your tongues.”
One rogue, shaking, dropped to his knees. “The High Flame commands it! The Hollow Flame rises again! The Blood Moon will crown its vessel!”
The others began to chant, half in fear, half in faith. Their eyes glowed with that same black shimmer I’d seen before.
“Enough,” I snarled. The air thickened with heat. “If they want my fire….” I raised my hand, golden light spilling through my fingers, “....let them come and try to steal it.”
The flames surged, swallowing the rogue banners. The symbols of Moonshade and the Hollow Flame burned to ash. The ground trembled, and for a heartbeat, I felt something answer like a distant pulse from beneath the earth, ancient and hungry.
I splashed the fire with a sharp breath then silence followed. The rogues scattered like shadows in dawnlight, fleeing into the trees.
Rae placed a hand on my shoulder. “You shouldn’t have come out like that.”
“I had to,” I whispered. “They’re not just gathering but preparing. The Blood Moon isn’t a rumor anymore.”
Mira knelt beside one of the burned sigils, tracing the ashes. “They’re not afraid of you, Aria. They’re worshipping you.”
That sent a chill through me colder than any ice. “Then they’ve already lost themselves.”
We turned to leave, but before we could move back into the forest, a faint voice cut through the still air.
I turned and one rogue, half-burned, was crawling from the ashes. His eyes glowed faintly, reflecting the dying embers of my fire.
“The Crescent won’t protect you forever, Queen of Flame,” he rasped. “The High Flame already knows your name… and your twin’s.”
My blood ran cold. Twin?
Before I could question him, the rogue’s body exploded into smoke vanishing as if he’d never existed.
Rae and Mira exchanged looks, but all I could hear was the echo of that final word burning through my mind, ‘TWIN”
And somewhere deep inside me, my mark flared not gold, but blue.