Chapter 2 - The Mother's Voice

# Chapter 2 - The Mother's Voice

The dead woman spoke again, and this time, everyone inside the basilica heard her.

"Tobias, my son... run."

The words rolled through the sanctuary like a cold wind passing through an open grave.

Toby stood motionless beside Brother Alden, staring at the second circular seal glowing crimson upon the ancient granite wall.

His mother.

For twelve years, he had imagined her voice.

Sometimes, in dreams, she sang to him beside a fireplace. Other nights, he imagined her calling his name from somewhere beyond the darkness.

But dreams had never made stone walls bleed light.

And dreams had never accused an ancient knight of murder.

The armored guardian stood between Toby and High Inquisitor Malrec, its enormous sword still burning with pale blue fire.

For the first time since emerging from the forbidden chamber, the knight appeared uncertain.

"That voice," it whispered. "It cannot be."

Malrec's expression changed.

His earlier triumph vanished, replaced by something far more dangerous.

Recognition.

"Seal the western doors!" he commanded. "Nobody leaves this sanctuary!"

The guards hesitated.

"Your Eminence," one captain protested, "the people have witnessed—"

"Do you want the entire kingdom to hear what happened here?"

The captain lowered his head.

Within moments, soldiers rushed toward the cathedral entrances.

Heavy chains rattled.

Iron bolts slammed into place.

Toby barely noticed.

He was watching the crimson seal.

"Mother?" he called.

The glowing symbols trembled.

Then the woman's voice returned.

"My little star..."

Toby's heart seemed to stop.

He knew those words.

He did not know how, but he knew them.

A memory flickered behind his eyes: a woman wrapping a blue blanket around his shoulders, pressing a warm hand against his cheek.

"My little star," she had whispered. "Even when the sky goes dark, you must remember how to shine."

Toby staggered backward.

"She's alive."

Brother Alden seized his wrist.

"No, child."

Toby turned toward him.

"You heard her!"

Alden's face twisted with pain.

"Yes."

"Then she's alive!"

The old monk closed his eyes.

"I wish that were true."

Before Toby could question him, the knight lowered its sword.

"Young prince, whatever speaks from that seal is not your mother."

The boy stared at the towering figure.

"How would you know?"

The knight remained silent.

"You said you waited four hundred years," Toby continued. "You don't even know me!"

"Tobias—"

"Don't call me that!"

His shout echoed through the sanctuary.

For a moment, even Malrec seemed surprised.

Toby's hands trembled.

All his life, he had been told that his parents were dead, that he had been abandoned outside the monastery gates as an infant, and that asking questions about his past would only bring disappointment.

Now a stranger in ancient armor called him a prince.

A powerful inquisitor claimed to have witnessed his execution.

And a dead woman was speaking through a wall.

He could no longer tell which truth frightened him most.

"Tell me your name," Toby demanded of the knight.

The guardian slowly placed its burning sword against the floor.

"I was once called Ser Kaelen Veyr."

Brother Alden opened his eyes.

"Kaelen Veyr?"

His voice carried unmistakable horror.

Malrec gave a short, bitter laugh.

"So the Butcher of the Seven Towers has finally returned."

Toby looked between them.

"The what?"

Ser Kaelen's helmet turned toward the inquisitor.

"That name was given to me by traitors."

"History remembers otherwise," Malrec replied.

"History was written by the men who survived."

The two stared at each other.

Toby sensed that their hatred was older than anything he could understand.

Then Brother Alden whispered, "The third stone."

Toby knelt beside him.

"What?"

"The western stairs. Your mother's gift."

Blood continued soaking the monk's robes.

Toby pressed both hands against the wound, trying desperately to stop it.

"Don't talk. You're hurt."

Alden managed a faint smile.

"You always worried about everyone except yourself."

Toby's throat tightened.

The old monk had been the closest thing he had ever known to a father.

When other servants stole his food, Alden shared his own.

When winter froze the sleeping quarters, Alden secretly brought him blankets.

And when Toby asked why no one wanted him, Alden always said the same thing.

Being unwanted and being forgotten are not the same.

Now Toby understood that the monk had known more than he admitted.

"Why didn't you tell me?" the boy whispered.

Alden looked away.

"Because I promised her you would have a childhood."

"Who?"

"Your mother."

The crimson seal suddenly flared.

"ALDEN!"

The woman's voice shook the entire basilica.

The old monk recoiled.

Toby looked toward the wall.

"Why is she angry with you?"

Alden did not answer.

Instead, he pulled Toby closer.

"Listen carefully. The pendant is not merely a royal emblem. It is a key. Without it, the second seal cannot be opened."

Toby glanced at Malrec.

The inquisitor still held the copper pendant.

"Then we have to get it back."

"No!" Alden gripped him harder. "Whatever happens, you must never open that second seal."

Toby frowned.

"But my mother—"

"Especially if she asks you to."

A terrible silence settled between them.

Then the monk whispered something that made Toby's blood run cold.

"I heard her die."

At the western end of the basilica, Lady Elara Voss watched the scene from behind a marble pillar.

She was seventeen, the youngest daughter of one of the kingdom's most influential noble houses, and she had been raised to believe that the Aurelian bloodline had vanished centuries earlier.

Yet she had seen the seal awaken.

She had seen the ancient guardian kneel.

And, more disturbingly, she had seen her father's reaction.

Lord Cassian Voss stood near the eastern gallery, speaking quietly with a man dressed in the black uniform of the Royal Intelligence Office.

Cassian was a broad-shouldered aristocrat with carefully groomed silver hair and a reputation for never making a threat he could not fulfill.

Elara had never seen him frightened.

Until today.

"Father?" she called.

He turned sharply.

"Elara. Come here."

She approached.

"What is happening?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

"A stone wall just declared a servant boy to be the king."

Cassian caught her arm.

"Lower your voice."

She pulled away.

"Is he truly an Aurelian?"

Her father studied her for several seconds.

Then he said, "If he is, he will not survive the afternoon."

Elara felt a chill.

"You're going to kill him?"

"I am going to prevent another civil war."

"He's a child."

"Children grow into men. Men become kings. And kings bury thousands to keep their crowns."

Elara had heard her father speak cruelly before.

But never with such certainty.

"How do you know he's dangerous?"

Cassian's expression darkened.

"Because I knew his mother."

Before Elara could ask another question, he turned to the intelligence officer.

"Send a rider to the palace. Inform the regent that the bloodline has been found."

The officer bowed.

"And the boy, my lord?"

Cassian looked toward Toby.

"Alive, if possible."

Elara caught the hesitation.

"And if not?"

Her father did not answer.

He did not need to.

Near the altar, Malrec raised the copper pendant.

"Enough of this theater!"

His voice cut through the frightened murmurs.

"The creature behind the first door claims to be a royal guardian. The voice behind the second claims to be a dead queen. And this child claims innocence."

"I never claimed to be a prince!" Toby shouted.

Malrec ignored him.

"All of them may be instruments of the same deception."

Ser Kaelen took one heavy step forward.

"Return the pendant."

Malrec smiled.

"Or what?"

The knight raised its sword.

The guards immediately aimed their crossbows.

"Do not test me, inquisitor."

Malrec's smile vanished.

"You have already failed your oath once, Kaelen."

The knight stopped.

Toby noticed.

Those words had wounded the guardian more deeply than any weapon.

Malrec leaned closer.

"Shall I tell the boy what happened at the Seven Towers?"

Ser Kaelen's voice became dangerously quiet.

"Do not."

"Shall I tell him how the royal nursery burned?"

"Silence."

"Or how his mother's screams echoed through the eastern passage while you stood outside her door?"

The knight lunged.

Its blade swept toward Malrec with terrifying speed.

But before the strike landed, the crimson seal flashed.

A chain of red light erupted from the wall and wrapped around Kaelen's sword.

The guardian roared.

The weapon was torn from its grasp and slammed into the granite floor.

A shock wave hurled several guards backward.

Toby covered his ears.

The woman's voice returned, louder than before.

"Kaelen Veyr. You will not silence me again."

The knight struggled against the glowing chains.

"Who are you?"

A soft laugh echoed through the basilica.

"You know exactly who I am."

"No."

"You held my child while they dragged me away."

Ser Kaelen went still.

Toby stared at him.

"Is that true?"

The knight did not answer.

"Did you know my mother?"

A long silence followed.

Then Kaelen lowered his head.

"Yes."

Toby felt tears burning behind his eyes.

"Did you kill her?"

The blue flames inside the helmet flickered.

"I failed to save her."

"That's not what I asked."

The knight looked at him.

And said nothing.

Toby stepped away.

For the first time, he understood why Brother Alden had warned him.

Every person inside the basilica knew something about his past.

Every one of them was hiding a piece of it.

And every one of them seemed willing to let someone else die to keep that piece buried.

A scream erupted from the western aisle.

A young guard had collapsed near the staircase.

His body convulsed violently, crimson light spilling from his eyes and mouth.

The symbols on the second seal pulsed faster.

Malrec spun around.

"Get away from him!"

Too late.

The guard rose unnaturally, his limbs moving as though invisible strings were pulling them.

He turned toward Toby.

Then he spoke in the woman's voice.

"My son."

Toby stumbled backward.

The guard smiled.

Blood trickled from his lips.

"Come to me."

Brother Alden struggled to stand.

"Don't listen!"

The possessed guard moved.

He crossed the aisle with impossible speed, knocking two soldiers aside.

Ser Kaelen tried to intervene, but the crimson chains tightened around his armor.

Toby ran.

He slipped between the columns, heart pounding, while the guard pursued him through the panicked crowd.

People screamed and scattered.

A crossbow fired.

The bolt struck the guard's chest.

He did not slow.

Toby reached the western staircase.

There was nowhere left to run.

The guard advanced, smiling with someone else's mouth.

"Your mother has waited so long."

Toby backed against the stone steps.

"You're not her."

The smile widened.

"Are you certain?"

The guard extended one hand.

Toby's fingers brushed the edge of the staircase.

The third stone.

Brother Alden's warning flashed through his mind.

He dropped to his knees and pushed against the stone block.

It moved.

A narrow compartment opened beneath the stairs.

Inside lay a small wooden box wrapped in faded blue cloth.

Toby grabbed it.

The possessed guard suddenly screamed.

His body jerked backward as a silver dagger pierced his shoulder.

Lady Elara stood behind him, holding the hilt.

"Run!" she shouted.

Toby stared at her.

He had seen the noble girl before, always walking beside her father with her chin raised and her beautiful gowns untouched by dust.

He had never imagined she would help him.

"Go!" she shouted again.

The guard turned toward her.

Toby seized her hand.

Together, they fled down the narrow passage behind the western staircase.

Behind them, the possessed guard shrieked.

Then something struck the passage entrance with enough force to crack the stone.

Elara pulled Toby into a small storage chamber.

They slammed the door.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Both were breathing hard.

"Who are you?" Toby finally asked.

"Someone who doesn't want to watch a child get murdered."

She looked at the box in his hands.

"What's that?"

"I don't know."

He placed it on a dusty table.

The blue cloth was embroidered with tiny silver stars.

His breath caught.

He remembered that pattern.

The blanket from his dreams.

With trembling fingers, he unfolded the fabric.

Inside the box lay three objects.

A narrow silver ring.

A folded letter.

And a miniature portrait.

Toby picked up the portrait first.

It showed a beautiful young woman with dark chestnut hair and warm hazel eyes.

His eyes.

She wore a simple blue dress rather than royal robes.

In her arms rested a sleeping infant.

Toby touched the painted face.

"Mother..."

Elara leaned closer.

Then she went rigid.

"That's impossible."

Toby looked at her.

"What?"

"I've seen that woman before."

"Where?"

Elara swallowed.

"In my father's private study."

Toby's pulse quickened.

"Your father knew her?"

Elara nodded slowly.

"There's a portrait of her hidden behind his desk."

Toby stared at the miniature.

"Why?"

Elara hesitated.

"Because my father says she was the woman who destroyed our family."

A heavy impact shook the door.

Dust fell from the ceiling.

Toby unfolded the letter.

The handwriting was elegant but hurried.

My beloved Tobias,

If you are reading this, the seal has awakened, and the men who stole your future have found you.

You must not trust the crown.

You must not trust the inquisitor.

And above all, you must not trust the voice that calls itself your mother.

Toby stopped reading.

His hands began to shake.

Elara leaned closer.

"Keep going."

Another blow struck the door.

Wood splintered around the hinges.

Toby forced himself to read the final lines.

The woman whose voice you hear is not me.

She is the reason I was condemned.

She has waited four hundred years for someone of our blood to release her.

And Tobias, my darling boy, there is one truth you must understand before she finds you.

Toby's eyes moved to the final sentence.

His breath caught.

The letter slipped from his fingers.

Elara picked it up.

She read the words aloud.

"The woman imprisoned beneath Saint Valerius is the first Queen Aurelian—and she is still alive."

A terrible crash shattered the chamber door.

The possessed guard stepped through the broken wood.

But he was no longer smiling.

His face twisted into an expression of pure hatred.

And when he spoke, the woman's voice was gone.

A man's voice emerged instead.

"Give me the letter, Prince Tobias."

Toby stared at him.

Because the voice belonged to Brother Alden.