Chapter 6 - The Betrayal Beneath the Crown
The dead king raised his shadow sword, and hundreds of armored soldiers began marching toward Toby.
But the first person to betray him was not the king.
It was the man who had promised to protect his mother.
"Forgive me, Your Highness," Edrin whispered.
Then the old captain seized Mira, pressed a dagger against her throat, and dragged her away from Toby.
"EDRIN!"
Toby spun around, the Sunforged Blade blazing in his hands.
Mira struggled against the captain's grip.
"Let me go!"
"Don't move, boy," Edrin warned.
The rusted dagger trembled against her skin.
Toby could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Only moments earlier, Edrin had fought to keep them alive. He had warned them about the woman in white, revealed the secrets of the royal massacre, and nearly died trying to stop the Hollow King's return.
Now he stood between Toby and the only friend he had ever trusted.
"Why?" Toby whispered.
Edrin's single visible eye glistened.
"Because this is the only way to save you."
Behind them, the armored king stepped forward.
His black boots struck the broken stone with deliberate, measured steps.
"Captain Edrin," he said. "Still following orders after all these years?"
The old man flinched.
"Stay back."
The king smiled.
"Or what? Will you kill the girl you swore to protect?"
Mira stopped struggling.
She looked toward Edrin.
"You promised my mother you'd protect me?"
The captain's jaw tightened.
"I promised to protect the royal bloodline."
The king laughed softly.
"And how faithfully you have served it."
Toby noticed something strange.
The shadow soldiers had stopped advancing.
They stood perfectly still, their silver-crowned helmets turned toward Edrin.
As though waiting for a familiar commander.
Toby's stomach tightened.
"You know them," he whispered.
Edrin would not meet his eyes.
"You commanded them before," Toby continued. "Didn't you?"
The old captain remained silent.
The king answered for him.
"Of course he did. Captain Edrin was the man who led my personal guard into the palace on the night of the massacre."
Toby shook his head.
"No. He said he opened the gates by mistake."
"A mistake?" The king's smile widened. "How generous."
Edrin pressed the dagger closer to Mira's throat.
"One more word, and I swear—"
"You'll do what you did ten years ago?" the king interrupted. "Betray the people who trusted you?"
The old captain's face twisted.
"YOU GAVE ME YOUR WORD!"
The king stopped smiling.
For the first time, something cold and dangerous appeared behind his pale eyes.
"And you believed me."
The chamber began to shake.
The enormous hand of the Hollow King tightened around the golden seal, dragging more of the underground structure into the abyss.
Above them, broken stones crashed from the ceiling.
Toby could hear distant screams from the cathedral.
People were still alive up there.
Knights.
Servants.
Perhaps even the kitchen workers who had fed him scraps for years.
And Vaelthar remained silent.
That frightened Toby most of all.
"Let Mira go," he said.
Edrin shook his head.
"I cannot."
"She's bleeding."
The old captain glanced at the dark stain spreading across Mira's shoulder.
His expression softened.
Only for a moment.
Then he tightened his grip.
"Give me the Sunforged Blade."
Toby stared at him.
"What?"
"The sword, boy. Put it on the ground."
The armored king watched with open amusement.
Toby looked at Mira.
Her face was pale, but her eyes remained steady.
"Don't," she whispered.
Edrin pulled the dagger closer.
"Silence."
Toby felt anger rising beneath his fear.
He had obeyed adults his entire life.
He had obeyed the armory master when ordered to work through the night. He had obeyed soldiers who sent him into freezing rain to clean their equipment. He had obeyed Commander Vane because refusing meant punishment.
But every time he surrendered something, they demanded more.
And now Edrin wanted the only weapon capable of protecting them.
"No," Toby said.
The captain blinked.
"Toby—"
"I said no."
The black dragon mark on his wrist began to glow.
Edrin's expression changed.
"Do not force me."
Toby raised the sword.
"Then don't hurt her."
The golden runes brightened.
A low heartbeat pulsed through the chamber.
The king's smile faded.
He looked toward Toby's wrist.
"Interesting."
Toby barely heard him.
His attention remained fixed on Edrin.
"I don't want to fight you."
The captain's hand trembled.
"Neither do I."
"Then let her go."
For a heartbeat, Edrin seemed ready to obey.
Then Bishop Aldren spoke.
"Captain, remember the oath."
The old man went rigid.
Toby turned toward the bishop.
Aldren stood beside the hidden passage, clutching his silver sun pendant.
His expression was no longer frightened.
It was solemn.
Almost resigned.
"What oath?" Toby demanded.
The bishop looked at him with sorrow.
"The one that must be fulfilled before dawn."
Mira suddenly drove her heel into Edrin's wounded leg.
The captain cried out.
His grip loosened.
She twisted away, but the dagger caught her sleeve, tearing the fabric.
Toby lunged forward.
The Sunforged Blade flashed.
Edrin threw himself backward.
Golden light struck the stone between them, carving a glowing trench across the floor.
Mira stumbled into Toby's arms.
He caught her.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"Not from that."
Her shoulder was bleeding again.
The dragonbone wound had reopened.
Thin black lines spread beneath her skin.
Toby stared at them.
"Mira..."
"I know."
She pressed a hand against the injury.
"It burns."
Across the chamber, the king slowly raised his shadow sword.
"Enough games."
The first shadow soldier advanced.
Its armor made no sound.
Toby stepped in front of Mira.
The creature swung a black spear.
He blocked it with the Sunforged Blade.
Golden sparks exploded through the darkness.
The impact drove him to one knee.
He had never been trained to fight.
Whatever strange power had guided his hands against Vane could not replace years of practice.
The soldier struck again.
Toby barely raised his blade in time.
A second soldier approached from his left.
Mira shouted a warning.
Toby turned too late.
The spear descended.
Then Edrin moved.
The old captain struck the soldier with his shoulder, knocking it aside.
"Behind me!" he shouted.
Toby stared.
"You just tried to kill her!"
"I was trying to stop what happens next!"
Edrin snatched a fallen sword from the floor.
His movements changed immediately.
The exhausted prisoner vanished.
In his place stood the captain who had once commanded the royal guard.
He parried a spear, twisted beneath another, and drove his weapon through the gap beneath a shadow soldier's helmet.
The creature dissolved into black smoke.
But the smoke did not disappear.
It flowed across the floor toward the abyss.
The king watched without concern.
"You cannot kill what is already dead."
Edrin backed toward Toby.
"I know."
"Then why resist?"
The captain glanced at the children.
"Because I made the wrong choice once."
His face hardened.
"I will not make it again."
The king tilted his head.
"Such a touching confession."
Then he lifted two fingers.
Every shadow soldier stopped.
The chamber fell silent.
The king looked directly at Edrin.
"Tell the boy about the nursery."
The old captain froze.
Toby felt cold spread through his chest.
"What nursery?"
The king smiled.
"The one where his mother begged you to save her children."
Edrin closed his eyes.
"Don't."
"Tell him what you carried out of that room."
Toby stepped toward the captain.
"Edrin?"
The old man's shoulders sagged.
"I carried a child."
"Which child?"
He said nothing.
The king answered.
"Not you, Toby."
Mira slowly looked up.
Edrin began shaking.
"The queen gave me orders."
The king laughed.
"She gave you a choice."
Toby's voice became barely audible.
"What choice?"
Edrin looked at him with unbearable grief.
"One child could escape through the old tunnels. There was only enough time to save one."
Mira's fingers tightened around Toby's arm.
The old captain continued.
"Your mother ordered me to take Seraphine."
Toby stared.
"And me?"
Edrin could not answer.
The king smiled.
"She left you behind."
The words were so cruel that Toby almost laughed.
They could not be true.
His mother had sung to him.
She had held him.
She had worn his copper pendant.
She had loved him.
Hadn't she?
"No," he whispered.
Edrin stepped forward.
"Toby, listen—"
"She left me?"
"She believed you would be safer."
"With soldiers coming to kill everyone?"
Edrin looked toward the woman in white.
"She had a plan."
"What plan?"
The woman remained chained near the abyss.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
"Toby..."
He turned toward her.
"Tell me he's lying."
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
That silence hurt more than any wound.
Toby stepped backward.
Mira reached for him.
He pulled away without thinking.
Her face crumpled.
"Toby, I didn't know."
He looked at her.
Of course she hadn't.
She had been a child.
Perhaps not even an ordinary child, if Edrin's story was true.
But something ugly and unfamiliar stirred inside him.
Jealousy.
His mother had chosen Mira.
Not him.
The thought filled him with shame.
Mira had protected him for years.
She had risked her life for him only moments earlier.
Yet some frightened part of him wanted to ask why she had been worth saving when he had not.
The Hollow King's voice entered his mind.
Now you understand.
Toby went still.
They chose her. They always choose her.
"Get out of my head," Toby whispered.
Your mother abandoned you. Your guardian betrayed you. Your kingdom made you a servant.
The words felt like fingers pressing into old wounds.
But I have never abandoned you.
Toby clenched his teeth.
"You're lying."
Am I?
The armored king extended one hand.
Come to me, and I will show you everything.
The Sunforged Blade trembled.
Its golden runes flickered.
For a terrible instant, Toby wanted to go.
He wanted answers.
He wanted someone to choose him.
Then Mira spoke.
"Toby."
Her voice was quiet.
He turned.
She was crying, but she did not try to touch him.
"If you're angry with me, I understand."
His heart twisted.
"But don't listen to him. He wants you to hate everyone who loves you."
Toby stared at her.
The Hollow King's voice became colder.
She knows nothing of love. She was manufactured to obey.
Mira heard it too.
Her face went pale.
Toby looked at the frightened girl standing before him.
The girl who had saved his food.
Shared his blankets.
Defended him when stronger children attacked him.
Seven chickens, he remembered.
A small cottage.
A garden.
He lowered his sword.
"You're wrong," he whispered.
The voice fell silent.
Toby stepped beside Mira.
"She knows more about love than you ever will."
The mark on his wrist erupted with golden fire.
Far above the chamber, Vaelthar roared.
This time the sound was different.
Stronger.
A thunderous impact shook the mountain.
Then another.
Toby felt the dragon's presence return to his mind.
Little master!
"Vaelthar!"
The western tower is collapsing. I cannot reach you through the cathedral.
Toby looked toward the hidden passage.
"Can you get outside?"
Yes. But the creature beneath the mountain is drawing power from the old bindings.
"How do we stop it?"
A long silence followed.
Then Vaelthar answered.
The First Crown was forged from seven dragon oaths. Six were broken. One remains.
"Which one?"
Mine.
Toby's blood ran cold.
"What happens if it breaks?"
The Hollow King will be free.
"And how do we keep it from breaking?"
The dragon hesitated.
The sword must be returned to the place where the First Crown was forged.
"Where?"
The Ashen Forge. Beneath the northern mountains.
Toby stared at the Sunforged Blade.
"Then we'll go there."
You must reach it before the third sunrise.
"Why?"
Because when the sun rises for the third time, the binding will fail.
Toby looked toward the shadow soldiers.
The king was watching him.
Smiling.
As though he could hear every word.
And Toby, Vaelthar continued, do not trust anyone who carries the royal seal.
Toby glanced at Bishop Aldren's silver pendant.
Then at Edrin's torn robe.
Then at Mira's copper charm.
"Why?"
The dragon's voice became grave.
Because the Hollow King cannot cross the ancient wards without a living servant.
Toby's gaze slowly returned to the bishop.
Aldren was standing near the passage.
His hand rested against the wall.
He had been unusually quiet.
And beneath his fingers, a black symbol was beginning to glow.
"Edrin!" Toby shouted.
The captain turned.
"Get away from the bishop!"
Aldren closed his eyes.
"I am sorry."
Then he pressed his silver sun pendant against the wall.
The hidden passage slammed shut.
Mira screamed.
Stone thundered into place, sealing their only escape.
Edrin rushed toward the bishop.
"What have you done?"
Aldren stepped backward.
"Something I should have done ten years ago."
The king laughed.
At last, the bishop removed the silver sun pendant from his neck.
Beneath it lay a black mark shaped like a broken crown.
Toby stared at the symbol.
The same mark burned upon the Hollow King's enormous hand.
"You work for him."
Aldren looked at Toby with haunted eyes.
"Not willingly."
The king slowly approached.
"Tell them, Bishop."
Aldren's lips trembled.
"The Church of the Sun was founded to keep the Hollow King imprisoned. Every bishop of Sunspire inherited a binding oath."
Edrin lowered his sword.
"Then why are you helping him?"
"Because the oath was corrupted."
Aldren looked toward the woman in white.
"Ten years ago, Queen Elara discovered that the sacred rites had been altered. Every prayer offered to the Sun was feeding the prisoner beneath the mountain."
The woman's expression tightened.
"You promised you would destroy the false scriptures."
"I tried."
The bishop's voice broke.
"But the Hollow King already knew."
Toby stepped forward.
"What did he do?"
Aldren looked at him.
"He took my daughter."
Silence settled over the chamber.
The king smiled.
"A very obedient little girl."
Aldren closed his eyes.
"I was told she would live if I helped open the prison."
Edrin whispered, "You believed him?"
"I wanted to."
The king laughed softly.
"So did you, Captain."
Edrin's face darkened.
The bishop lifted his head.
For the first time, Toby saw the full weight of the man's guilt.
"I arranged the sacred trial. I convinced Vane the boy was ready. I opened the chamber."
He looked directly at Toby.
"And I kept you in the armory because the king's agents wanted you dead."
Toby frowned.
"Then why did you threaten to have me punished?"
"Because Vane needed to believe you were worthless."
The bishop swallowed.
"I protected you by allowing others to hurt you."
Toby felt his hands trembling.
It was a terrible kind of protection.
One he had never asked for.
"And now?" he whispered.
Aldren looked toward the king.
"Now I must choose between you and my daughter."
The armored king raised one hand.
A small golden sphere appeared above his palm.
Inside it floated the image of a little girl.
She could not have been more than six.
Her hair was pale gold.
Her eyes were closed.
Around her neck hung a tiny silver sun.
Aldren fell to his knees.
"Lysa..."
The king smiled.
"She has waited patiently, Bishop."
The little girl's eyes opened.
"Father?"
Aldren began to sob.
"Sweetheart..."
"Father, it's dark here."
The bishop reached toward her.
The king closed his fist.
The image vanished.
Aldren cried out.
"NO!"
"Complete your task," the king said, "and she will be returned."
Toby stared at the bishop.
He understood the choice.
He hated it.
But he understood.
For five years, he had dreamed of finding someone who would risk everything to save him.
Aldren had a daughter.
And now the Hollow King was using that love against him.
The bishop slowly stood.
He looked at Toby.
"Forgive me."
Then he raised his staff.
Golden chains erupted from the floor.
They wrapped around Toby's wrists, ankles, and throat.
He gasped.
The Sunforged Blade fell from his hand.
Mira lunged forward.
"Toby!"
Edrin intercepted her.
"Stay back!"
She struggled against him.
"LET ME GO!"
But this time the captain was not threatening her.
He was trying to keep her away from the magical chains.
The king walked toward Toby.
His face looked almost kind.
"At last."
Toby struggled desperately.
The chains tightened.
His vision darkened.
The king knelt before him.
"You have your mother's courage," he whispered.
Toby spat at him.
The king wiped his cheek with two fingers.
Then he laughed.
"And perhaps your father's temper."
He placed one cold hand against Toby's chest.
The dragon mark on the boy's wrist flared.
The golden chains brightened.
Far above them, Vaelthar screamed.
Toby felt something tearing inside him.
Not flesh.
Something deeper.
A connection.
The dragon's voice became faint.
Little master...
"Vaelthar!"
Do not... let him...
The voice vanished.
Toby screamed.
The king closed his eyes in satisfaction.
A black flame appeared above his palm.
Within it pulsed a tiny golden spark.
The spark beat like a heart.
The king smiled.
"The final oath."
Mira stopped struggling.
Her silver eyes widened.
"No..."
The king rose.
"The dragon's bond is mine."
He turned toward the abyss.
The enormous black hand below began to move.
Chains shattered.
Stone split.
Deep beneath the mountain, something impossibly large drew its first breath in seven hundred years.
Then Toby heard a voice.
Not Vaelthar's.
Not the Hollow King's.
A woman's voice.
Quiet.
Familiar.
My son.
His eyes widened.
If you can hear me, the final seal has already been broken.
Toby looked toward the woman in white.
She remained chained near the abyss, unconscious.
The voice was not coming from her.
There is one truth they have hidden from you.
Toby's heart hammered.
The man wearing Alaric's face is not your father.
The chains around his throat tightened.
He could barely breathe.
And the woman standing in that chamber is not your mother.
Toby's eyes filled with tears.
"Who... are you?"
The voice trembled.
I am Elara.
A golden light appeared inside the Sunforged Blade.
The woman's voice whispered one final warning.
And Toby...
The black sword in the armored king's hand began to crack.
Do not let Mira remember who killed the real king.
Toby stared at his friend.
Mira stood frozen beside Edrin.
Her eyes had turned silver again.
Her expression was changing.
Recognition.
Horror.
Then something darker.
Slowly, she lifted her hand.
Every shadow soldier in the chamber turned toward her.
One by one, they knelt.
The armored king spun around.
For the first time, genuine terror crossed his face.
"No..."
Mira looked directly at him.
Her voice no longer sounded like a frightened girl.
It carried the weight of centuries.
"You stole my father's face."
The king staggered backward.
"You cannot remember!"
Mira raised her hand higher.
The black crown fragment erupted from the floor and floated toward her.
Then she spoke a name no one in the chamber had heard for seven hundred years.
"Caedric, First Betrayer of the Dragon Throne, kneel before your queen."
And the man wearing King Alaric's face dropped to his knees.