BLACK ASHES
Chapter Four: The Burnt Oath
The night had teeth.
It chewed through the silence of the forest with howls and whispers—some from the wind, others from things no one dared to name. Zara trudged through the undergrowth, her boots caked with soot and mud. Behind her, the blackened ruins of Elder Hollow smoldered, the last flames dying in red veins.
She didn't cry.
There were no tears left. Only the ash smeared on her cheeks like war paint and the weight of a promise.
She paused at the river, the moonlight bending across the surface like silver blades. Pulling the satchel closer to her chest, she reached inside and drew out the charred remains of the Ashmark sigil. Once, it had been the symbol of peace—a phoenix cradled in a ring of fire. Now it was cracked, burned, and broken.
Just like everything else.
Suddenly, a twig snapped.
Zara spun, dagger in hand, her eyes scanning the darkness. A figure stepped into the moonlight—tall, cloaked, familiar.
"Kalen?" she whispered.
The boy she once knew was gone. In his place stood a man with shadows in his eyes and a sword on his back.
"You should not have returned," he said coldly.
Zara didn't flinch. "I had no choice."
"You broke the Oath. The Council will hunt you."
"They already did," she said. "They burned my home. They killed my brother. And they blamed me."
Kalen stepped closer, his face unreadable. "Then why come back?"
Zara opened her palm and let the remains of the Ashmark fall into the river.
"Because if I'm going to be blamed for fire," she said, voice like flint, "then I might as well