They buried the bone wolf's shattered chains beneath a cairn of black stone, far from the tyrant's crag.
The young man—once called the Drowned King—sat alone by the fire, silent since the battle. His name was Nareus, though even he spoke it with hesitation, like a word remembered from a forgotten life.
"He was only a boy when the throne found him," Elira said quietly to Kael. "The curse made him a king of ghosts."
Kael stared into the flames. "We were all children once. The throne just found us at different times."
Selene returned from patrol, blood on her blade—not theirs. "No more hounds. But the fog still circles us. This place won't let go easily."
Kael looked to Nareus.
"He's a danger," Selene said plainly. "Curse or not, he killed hundreds."
"He was a prisoner to the same force we're fighting," Kael replied.
"That doesn't absolve him."
Kael stood. "Nothing absolves us. But if we kill everyone the curse touches, we're just the throne's enforcers."
Elira stepped beside him. "What do you plan to do with him?"
Kael looked to the horizon. A dark wind was rising. He felt it. The curse… shifting.
"We bring him with us. He knows parts of the throne we don't. He can help us reach it."
From the fire, Nareus spoke. His voice was hollow, low.
"The throne sits beneath the world. Beneath memory. Beneath death. I dreamed of it every night."
He turned to Kael.
"But I never touched it. Only heard its song."
Kael's cursed eye burned.
The song was growing louder.
---
Elsewhere…
In a forest where sunlight never touched, a cloaked figure moved among trees twisted with runes.
They stopped before a pool of still water. Spoke a name.
"Kael Valtheris."
The water rippled.
Images: fire, chains, a broken crown.
A woman stepped into view—her face masked by silver branches, her voice like a whisper between falling leaves.
"He gathers the Marked. He walks toward the throne."
The cloaked one drew a dagger of black glass.
"Then he walks toward us."
---
End of Chapter 22
As Kael's party grows, so too does the attention of those who serve the throne. Not all who seek him do so with mercy in mind. The forest of the Forgotten awaits.