Chapter 227: Crown Ember Road

The Burned Crown was still on the march, so the ember trail continued east out of West Rift, and they followed a road that wasn’t on any map currently in use, passing under broken arches black with age, over dried riverbeds, and past demon road markers covered in ash, each with a small flame at its center, freshly kindled from Maelor’s portable crown flame, while the air smelled of old smoke and scorched stone and the ash beneath their boots was so fine that it rose in pale clouds with every step, coating their clothes and catching in their throats.

The recon team followed the ember trail, Veyra, Sable, Rin, Tamsin, Kethra, Orven, Nyra, Tessa, Calder, and Austin Veyron, carrying three copies of the map, a public recall slate connected to West Rift, and rations that would last a few days, while Joren’s message was still up on the slate.

RECONNAISSANCE ONLY. WEST RIFT CAN RECALL TEAM IF STABILITY IS COMPROMISED.

Austin Veyron read the message and felt the limitation, because he wanted to keep following until he found Maelor regardless of what the rift needed, and the crown ember trail was calling him to push the search above everything else he was bound to.

Veyra caught on. "Name it."

"Following until I find him."

"And what would it make?"

"The person who sees limits as something others can pay for."

"Then smaller," Sable said, her shard giving off a small white glow. "We follow the slate as well as the trail."

As the team walked the old road, they came across new messages the crown ember had left behind at each archway.

ONE ROAD. ONE ARMY.

The trail seemed to simplify itself, with every side trail appearing blocked off and shadowed, but Tessa was able to see faint lines on all three maps that the trail was trying to obscure. "The trail isn’t the only road. It’s just the only road Maelor wants his army to see."

Orven examined the old road markers. "These are demon migration roads. Armies traveled on them before the freeholds to move their tribute and prisoners, and the crown flame is awakening them."

Rin found herself walking between Austin Veyron and Veyra, on Veyra’s left as always, and when the trail narrowed, she put one arm through each of theirs as if it were the most natural thing in the world, while Veyra looked down at their linked arms and then up at Austin Veyron with one eyebrow raised.

"Stop looking at me," Austin Veyron said. "You two were kissing last time. I just recommended it."

"You recommended it very loudly," Veyra said, but she didn’t take her arm back from Rin, and Rin smiled and rested her head against Veyra’s good shoulder for a moment before they both let go.

A scout came into view ahead, a demon in black leather with a small crown flame hovering over her hand, standing beneath an archway that glowed red, with three more scouts behind her carrying hook swords.

THE INVASION ROAD BELONGS TO THE CROWN.

"Turn around," the scout called out to them. "The Burned Crown has decided the path."

Rin leaped at the scout and slashed her claws through the crown flame in her hand, destroying it, though the flame regenerated from the archway above her, while Tamsin met the first hook sword with her spear and Veyra cut through another scout’s pauldron, sending her stumbling away from the map case.

Austin Veyron could see the claim in the fire, because the road didn’t belong to Maelor just because he had ignited it, but was an old road that could lead anywhere, and the crown flame was using that to turn everyone on it into part of one army.

"Target," Austin Veyron said. "The invasion-road ownership claim. Not the road, the scouts, or the side trails."

"Witnessed," Veyra said.

"Witnessed," Sable answered.

Austin Veyron placed his white root chain against the archway.

DEVOUR opened, and the claim tasted like a highway that only allowed one direction of travel.

THE INVASION ROAD BELONGS TO THE CROWN.

He consumed invasion.

The flame flickered and the maps showed more side trails, while the crown scouts stumbled as their marks began to disappear, and one of them let go of her hook sword and looked down the road in confusion.

Kethra walked up to her slowly, her blade lowered so the scout could see she meant no threat. "Do you wish to walk away from the march?"

The scout looked at the trail and at the side road lying in shadow. "I want to walk away from burning villages for a crown."

The remaining scouts ran east, and the one who stayed pointed at a mountain of gray-black rock in the distance. "That’s Ash Spine. Maelor has a war camp under it, and when the sun rises, he’ll light the flame anchors on the road. If all of them are lit, the Black Tithe can move along the old roads faster than a warning can travel."

Tessa noted the ritual location on all three maps, and the route ember lit up to confirm it, while Nyra held her heart shard to the ground. "There are three anchor lines, one going north to the old fort roads, one going south toward the trading ruins, and one going west toward the freeholds. If Maelor lights all three, the Tithe can hit three areas before the gates can close."

Calder looked at the time glowing faintly on the public slate. "Sunrise is six hours away."

West Rift sent a message through its relay.

RIFT IS STABLE AT THIS TIME. RECONNAISSANCE TIME LIMIT HAS BEEN RAISED BY FOUR HOURS. REPORT HOURLY.

Beneath it, a second line came through from the Grand Meridian in a hand he knew.

AND COME HOME WHOLE. E.

Austin Veyron touched the slip over his heart, and they hadn’t been given the authority to take over, only a time frame and a duty to report, with the local councils still able to call them back, so he felt the difference between a leash and a limit as clearly as he felt the ember’s pull. "We have four hours. We’ll document the ritual and whatever we can find about it, then send it back to the councils, and we won’t strike until we know what the route councils are willing to risk."

"Good," Sable said, and something like approval softened her tired face, and her knuckles brushed his for a moment before she turned back toward the road.

They made their way up Ash Spine and saw the Black Tithe camp spread across a shallow bowl of black rock below them, with three red flame anchors burning and demon soldiers carrying crates of supplies toward an old round platform built into the rock, while Maelor stood at its center with the portable crown flame floating above his head, brighter than they had ever seen it, and when he placed it over a socket in the stone, three old road lines began to glow outward from the platform, because the ritual had already begun.

A message appeared on the slate from the West Rift councils.

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Tessa began writing down what they saw, three anchors that would be lit at sunrise, a Black Tithe supply camp, the crown flame at the central anchor, and an unknown number of soldiers, while Calder used his spyglass to get a better look at the platform.

"The anchors aren’t just flame sources," Calder said. "They’re connected to the road marks as well, and if we break one, it could feed the others and make them ignite."

Nyra felt her heart shard vibrate. "The crown flame is drawing on the Black Tithe’s fear, but there’s another source under the platform. Something is sleeping in the Ash Spine."

Kethra looked over the crates of supplies. "Cinderstone, chain oil, and tribute tags. Maelor will use the ritual to make his soldiers believe the invasion road is the only road. He doesn’t need everyone to want to invade if he can hide all the other roads."

The crown scout who had stayed behind pointed at the perimeter of the camp. "There are bridge markers around the platform. They think they’re guarding the flame, but they’re really guarding the witness lines. If the camp knows how many of them there really are and that there’s a way out, Maelor loses his hidden hold on them."

Austin Veyron watched the anchors glow and knew what he wanted to do, to strike down from the mountain, devour the crown flame, kill Maelor, and let the camp scatter in fear, which would be quick if it worked but was just as likely to set off every anchor at once and trap everyone who wanted to leave the march.

Veyra saw the plan forming in him and took the hand he had resting on the rock, wrapping her fingers around his. "Name it."

"The strike."

"And what would it make?"

"The person who calls not knowing cowardice because he wants a clean kill."

"Then smaller," Sable said, keeping her crown shard dim. "We tell the councils what we know and ask whether this is a reconnaissance or a strike."

Tessa added to their message that the three anchors were connected, that there might be another source under the platform, that the supply camp held civilians who might have been forced to march, and that a strike could make the anchors ignite faster, with sunrise now under five hours away, and West Rift responded after conferring with the other councils.

EXTEND RECONNAISSANCE. IF YOU CAN PREVENT THE ANCHORS FROM IGNITING, DO SO. ALLOW THE CAMP A WAY OUT. INFORM US OF ANY CHANGES.

They hadn’t been told to take over, only given a chance to stop the ritual, and Austin Veyron nodded. "We’ll stop what we can and leave them a way out. We won’t burn the camp."

Rin settled on his other side and put her shoulder against his. "I expect a night without combat when this is over."

"Me too," Veyra said, without looking away from the camp or letting go of his hand, and neither of them was smiling.

Austin Veyron looked back at Maelor as he lifted the crown flame higher and waited for the old demon roads to become the invasion road, their red light spreading across the ash like veins beneath skin while the first gray of the distant dawn still lay hours away.