The room was on the second floor of the east wing, a secret chamber used for wartime strategy planning. It had been unused for years, but the servants had cleared the dust and lit the torches along the walls earlier that day.

A large wooden oak table sat at the center. Spread across it was a wide map of the realm, its corners held down by wooden markers.

The map was old, the parchment yellowed and creased from years of use. It showed the borders of Lycanthria, the surrounding territories, and lands beyond. Rivers were drawn in blue ink, mountains in brown, forests in green. Major areas were marked with a black star. The packs beyond the mountain range were labeled in purple ink. The dangerous lands were labeled simply as "The Wastes" or "The Bitterlands" and marked with red ink.

Aveloria stood on one side of the table, her hands resting lightly against its edge. Her focus remained on the map. Elder Eldric stood at one end of the table, his hands clamped together in front of him and his expression serious. Trovald stood near the door, his arms crossed. Galen was not far from the door, too, his posture rigid.

Across from Aveloria stood Eirene. She was no longer in chains. The guards had removed her bindings at Aveloria’s order, bringing her to the room.

She was staring down at the map, her lips moving in a low, continuous murmur. The words were not fully clear to anyone else in the room. It was a chant, spoken steadily and without pause. Her lips moved in a consistent rhythm, her eyes never leaving the map.

The air in the room shifted slightly. The torches along the walls flickered. The flames did not go out, but they rose higher, burning brighter than before.

Eirene’s voice rose and her eyes shut. She spoke the same words over and over, repeating them in a cycle that seemed to have no end. Her fingers traced every marking on the map.

The flames on the torches rose higher for a moment, then settled, then rose again. She stopped chanting and opened her eyes.

"Please come closer, elder Eldric." She said.

Eldric hesitated for a brief second. He looked at Aveloria, who gave a small nod. He walked around the table to stand beside Eirene.

She reached for his hand and turned his palm upward. She reached for the knife on the table and handed it to him.

Eldric inhaled sharply as he made a small cut on his palm. Blood welled up from it immediately. Eirene turned his hand over and held it above the map. A single drop of blood fell onto the parchment, landing near the center of Lycanthria. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Galen stepped forward immediately. He reached for a small jar of ointment and a strip of white cloth on the table. He took Eldric’s hand, applied the ointment, and wrapped the clothes around Eldric’s palm.

Eirene closed her eyes again. She resumed the chanting, but this time her voice was louder and more forceful.

The drop of blood on the map began to move. It did not soak into the parchment as blood should. Instead, it spread outward from the point where it had fallen, flowing across the surface in thin lines that branched and split like the roots of a tree. The lines moved with purpose, following the drawn paths of rivers and roads, tracing the contours of the lands.

Aveloria watched the blood move. Her hands remained flat on the table. She didn’t even blink.

The lines of blood reached every path Marek had been on for months. They paused at the areas for a moment, as if encountering resistance, then pushed past it into the space marked ’Lunareth Pack’.

Eirene’s voice rose to a shout. The torches flared so high that the flames nearly touched the ceiling. The heat in the room became intense.

The blood now covered the parchment with a web of thin red lines, and then it stopped moving. It has converged on a single point, a location marked on the map only by a small faded drawing of a mountain. The red lines pulsed once, twice, three times, and then they went still.

Eirene took a slow breath and opened her eyes fully. The torches dropped back to their normal height and intensity.

She looked down at the point where the blood had stopped. Her eyes widened.

Aveloria noticed immediately. "What is it?" she asked.

Eirene did not answer right away. Her eyes remained fixed on the map.

"Where is he?" Elder Eldric asked.

Then she spoke. "He’s headed towards a dangerous place."

"Where exactly?" Trovald asked.

"The Mourning Peaks," Eirene answered.

Elder Eldric leaned over the table to look at the location marked by the blood. His face went pale. "The Mourning Peaks are uninhabitable." He mumbled.

It was a dangerous part of the realm. The land there was known for instability, both in terrain and in what lived there.

Aveloria stepped closer to see it clearly. "Why would he go there?" she asked.

Eirene’s jaw tightened slightly. "He’s probably looking for someone." She answered.

"Who could it be?" Galen asked.

Eirene hesitated for a brief moment. "There’s a woman who lives in these mountains. She is a wanderer witch. A powerful one. And she possesses the ability to open passages between places.

Aveloria’s hands tightened on the table. "He is going to this woman to reach Drakwyne."

Eirene nodded once. "That would be his goal."

She did not say more. Eirene knew exactly who the witch was. But she kept that to herself. She chose not to tell them that the witch would not help Marek’s without a price, and that the price was always something the seeker could not afford to lose.

"If he is close to the Mourning Peaks, then it would take at least three days to reach the witch," Trovald said.

"It appears that it might take longer cause he has been avoiding the main roads all through his journey. If the riders are fast enough, they would reach him in five days." Eirene pointed at the areas on the map.

Aveloria looked at the map again, then back at Eirene. "Do you know this witch?"

"No." Eirene lied.

Aveloria studied her face for a long moment. She sensed something was being withheld, but she could not prove it, and the information she had received was enough for now.

"You have fulfilled a part of our deal. But this is not over. There is still the matter of your own crimes." Aveloria said.

Eirene stepped back from the table. She lowered herself to her knees on the stone floor. She kept her only hand on her thigh, her back straight, and her eyes on Aveloria.

"I submit to your judgment." She said.

Aveloria leaned up from the table. "By the laws of this kingdom, you have done a service by revealing the traitors in the king’s court. That service is noted. However, it does not pardon you for your own actions. You conspired with the enemy. You plotted against the crown. You killed the Queen." Aveloria swallowed as she said those words.

Aveloria looked at her for a moment before speaking again. "You held a position of trust and used it to work against the kingdom."

She paused.

"Your sentence is banishment. You will be taken to the southern border at dawn. You will cross into the neutral territories, and you will never return to Lycanthria. If you set foot on this kingdom’s soil again, I will end your life myself. I will not need the Slayer. I will not need a trial. I will do it with my own hands."

"I accept your fair judgment," Eirene said as she stood up.

Aveloria nodded once. "Take her away." She said to Galen.

Troval opened the door. Two guards entered the room, each holding chains. One guard fastened the iron cuffs around her wrists while the other secured a chain to her ankles. They let Eirene out of the room. Galen followed them.

Aveloria watched them go before she turned to look at Trovald.

"Select fifty men. Fast riders. Men who know the lands. They are to be mounted and ready to leave before nightfall. They will ride hard to the Mourning Peaks and find Marek before he reaches this wanderer witch."

Trovald nodded and was about to leave the room when Eldric stopped him.

"Beta Trovald, please, he should be unharmed." Eldric said, his eyes pleading.

Trovald nodded and left the room without a word.

"You should go home and have a good rest. I will go to the king and let him know about it." Aveloria said.

"Thank you for helping me, Heiress. And I am sorry if I have ever wronged you." He bowed his head slightly.

"Rise, Elder Eldric. You’ve done nothing to me."

Eldric straightened. He moved toward the door and left the room.

Aveloria looked back at the map still spread out on the table. She studied the locations where Marek had stepped in, and it appeared he had been moving in circles all these months in his search for Rowena.