The Crownless Curse

Chapter 2: The Crimson Pact

Kael moved through the blood-soaked field with the silence of a shadow. Bodies lay strewn across the grass like broken dolls, faces frozen in death's last question. The stink of burning flesh and wet iron made his throat tighten. Smoke curled into the dawn sky in thin gray ribbons, as if mourning the dead below. He did not mourn them. There was no time for that.

He stepped over the corpse of a soldier who had once worn the royal crest. The sigil had been slashed, barely visible under the smear of dried blood. Kael's boots crushed fragments of shattered spears and brittle bone. The sounds of crows echoed in the distance, their calls hoarse and cruel.

The battle had ended hours ago, but the memory of it burned fresh in his mind. The way his blade had sunk into the commander’s chest. The way his heart had pounded as he made his choice. He had not hesitated. Hesitation had no place in war.

He paused at the edge of the ridge where the hill dipped into the valley. A blackened banner snapped in the wind, tattered and half-buried in ash. From here, the land looked quiet again. But quiet was just the mask chaos wore when it was waiting.

Footsteps crunched behind him.

Kael turned fast, sword half drawn before he recognized the gait.

Talia.

She looked different in the morning light. Her red armor had lost its sheen, dulled by blood and smoke. Strands of black hair clung to her face, streaked with soot and sweat. Her eyes met his, unreadable.

“We won,” she said, voice hoarse.

“Did we?” Kael asked.

She said nothing, only lowered her gaze to the valley.

“Why did you not flee?” he asked after a moment. “Like the others?”

“I told you,” she said. “I do not run.”

Kael studied her face. There was no lie in her eyes. Just exhaustion and something else. Something sharp. Maybe pride. Maybe rage.

He sheathed his sword and turned back to the valley. “We cannot stay here.”

Talia nodded. “I know.”

The wind shifted, carrying the scent of rot. Kael’s jaw tightened.

“Someone is coming,” he said.

Talia tensed. “You sure?”

He nodded once. “Too quiet. The birds stopped.”

A moment later, they heard it. Hoofbeats. Slow and deliberate.

Kael drew his blade again. Talia readied her daggers.

From the haze of smoke came a rider dressed in deep green robes. His face was hidden beneath a silver mask shaped like a fox. His horse was black and sleek, its breath steaming in the morning air. It did not wear armor. The rider did not carry a visible weapon.

He stopped ten paces from them.

“Kael Veylan,” the man said.

His voice was smooth, almost bored.

“Who are you?” Kael demanded.

The masked figure tilted his head. “I come bearing an offer.”

Kael’s grip on his sword tightened.

“You think I trust someone who hides their face?”

The man chuckled. “Wise. But foolish as well. You of all people should know that names and faces are currency. And I am very rich.”

“What do you want?” Talia asked, stepping forward.

“I seek a pact,” the man replied.

“With whom?”

Kael stepped between them. “He means me.”

The man nodded. “The last scion of the Veilblood line. The child born under the eclipse. You wear your fate like armor. But it is not armor. It is a chain. Let me break it.”

Kael’s eyes narrowed. “You speak in riddles.”

“I speak in truths you are not ready to hear.”

Kael stepped closer. “Try me.”

The masked man dismounted. His movements were fluid, unnatural. He removed a scroll from beneath his robe and held it out.

“This is not a contract in the way you understand it,” he said. “This is a pact of blood. A door to power. It will mark you. Bind you. But it will also free you.”

“From what?” Kael asked.

“From weakness.”

Kael took the scroll. It was sealed in wax, marked with an unfamiliar sigil. His fingers tingled when he touched it.

Talia grabbed his arm. “You do not have to do this.”

He looked at her.

“I do,” he said. “I saw what happened on that field. I saw what they did to the villagers. To the children. I will not let that happen again.”

Her eyes shone. “You are not a god.”

“No,” Kael said. “But I will become something they fear.”

He broke the seal.

The scroll unfurled on its own, the ink glowing red. Words shifted across the parchment, as if alive.

Kael did not understand the language, but he heard it in his mind. A voice not his own. Deep. Whispering.

He bled onto the scroll. His blood sizzled on the parchment.

The wind screamed.

Talia stumbled back.

The masked man bowed. “It is done.”

Kael’s vision blurred. Fire surged through his veins. He dropped to his knees, gasping. His shadow twisted, stretching across the ground in strange shapes.

“Kael!” Talia shouted.

He did not answer. The world spun. Darkness reached for him. And then it stopped.

He stood.

The pain was gone.

So was the scroll.

The masked man was already remounting his horse.

“What did you do to me?” Kael demanded.

“I gave you what you asked for.”

Kael looked down at his hands. They trembled, but he felt stronger. More grounded. The fear was gone.

“Who are you?” he asked again.

The man’s eyes glinted behind the silver mask.

“I am a servant of the Old Flame. The one who remembers. The one who waits.”

Then he turned and rode off, vanishing into the smoke.

Kael stood in silence.

Talia approached cautiously.

“What have you done?” she asked.

Kael looked at her.

“I made a choice.”

She touched his arm. Her fingers recoiled.

“You are burning,” she whispered.

“I know.”

He walked down the hill without another word.

Behind him, the crows began to sing again.