Chapter 4 - The Mentor Who Never Died

# Chapter 4 - The Mentor Who Never Died

Toby had watched Master Edrin die in a burning sanctuary.

He remembered the blood on the old man's robes, the smoke pouring through the chapel doors, and the terrible moment when Edrin pushed him toward the hidden tunnel and whispered his final command.

Run, Toby. Whatever you hear, do not come back.

Now, in a dark storage chamber beneath High Valen Castle, Toby held an execution order bearing his mentor's name.

And according to the document, Master Edrin was still alive.

"That's impossible," Toby whispered.

Lucan stood motionless before him.

"I saw the prisoner myself."

Toby looked up sharply.

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"I watched him die!"

His voice rose, echoing against the damp stone walls.

Garrick struggled to sit upright, his wounded shoulder bleeding through the makeshift bandage.

"Toby, lower your voice."

But the boy barely heard him.

He seized Lucan's sleeve.

"Was he old? Did he have gray hair? A scar on his left hand?"

Lucan nodded.

"And a missing finger on his right hand?"

"Yes."

Toby released him.

Master Edrin had lost that finger long before Toby was born. He always claimed a wolf had bitten it off, although Toby suspected the story was invented to entertain him.

There could be no mistake.

It was him.

Seraphine took the execution order and examined the royal seal.

"The document is genuine."

Garrick looked at her.

"How can you be certain?"

"Claudia changed the wax used for private executions after the palace fire. Ordinary royal orders carry the crowned lion. This one bears the serpent."

She turned the parchment toward the lantern.

A tiny silver serpent curled beneath the queen's signature.

"Only the Black Guard can authorize a sentence marked with this seal."

Lucan swallowed.

"Then you understand why I came."

Toby stared at him.

"Why would you help us?"

The young guard hesitated.

"Because I heard Queen Elara speaking to the man in the crimson hood."

Seraphine's expression tightened.

"What man?"

"I don't know his name. He came to the lower prison carrying a black vial."

Garrick's eyes narrowed.

"An executioner?"

"Maybe. But the guards were afraid of him."

Lucan looked toward the ceiling, as though expecting someone to hear.

"He told the queen that her usefulness had ended."

Seraphine went still.

"Her usefulness?"

Lucan nodded.

"And Queen Elara said something strange."

"What?"

"She said Claudia could kill her body, but she could never make the seventh seal obey."

For several seconds, nobody spoke.

Then the Sunforged Arc began to glow.

A faint golden pulse traveled along its carved limbs.

Toby looked down.

The dragon-shaped engravings were moving.

Not physically, exactly. Their shadows shifted beneath the metal, forming a pattern he had never noticed before.

Seven circles.

Six surrounding one.

The central circle was black.

Seraphine noticed it too.

"The seventh seal," she whispered.

Garrick's face darkened.

"If Claudia needs Elara alive to control it, why execute her?"

Seraphine looked at the document again.

"Perhaps Claudia no longer intends to control it."

A terrible possibility settled over the chamber.

Toby tightened his grip on the bow.

"Then what does she want?"

Seraphine answered quietly.

"To break it."

The underground prison of High Valen had once been a royal treasury.

Long before Queen Claudia's reign, its chambers held ceremonial armor, sacred relics, and the sealed records of the Old Dynasty.

Now its corridors smelled of damp stone, rust, and forgotten suffering.

In Cell Seven, Queen Elara sat beside an iron bed.

Her white hair fell over her shoulders, and the bronze ring she had worn for eleven years was gone.

She had given it to Lucan.

It was the only object she still possessed from her life before captivity.

A key turned in the lock.

Elara did not look up.

"Have you come to kill me?"

"No."

The voice was familiar.

Painfully familiar.

Elara slowly raised her head.

Queen Claudia stood in the doorway.

She wore a dark crimson gown beneath a black cloak. Her golden crown was absent, and without it, she looked less like a monarch than a woman who had not slept in years.

Two Black Guard soldiers waited outside.

Claudia entered alone.

For a moment, the sisters-in-law regarded each other in silence.

"You've grown old," Claudia said.

Elara smiled faintly.

"Prison has that effect."

"You were always beautiful."

"And you were always jealous."

Claudia's jaw tightened.

"Still determined to insult me?"

"Still determined to pretend you came here for conversation?"

Claudia approached the bed.

"The boy has awakened the bow."

Elara's expression changed.

Only slightly.

But Claudia saw it.

"So you knew he survived."

Elara looked away.

"Children sometimes survive the mistakes of adults."

"Do not play games with me."

Claudia seized her wrist.

"Where is the seventh sanctuary?"

Elara glanced at the queen's hand.

"Still searching?"

Claudia released her.

"The six outer seals have awakened. The seventh remains dormant."

"Then perhaps it remembers who betrayed the kingdom."

Claudia struck her.

The sound echoed through the cell.

Elara slowly turned her face back.

Blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"Does that make you feel powerful?"

Claudia's breathing quickened.

"You think I wanted this?"

"I think you wanted the crown."

"I wanted to save us!"

Elara stared at her.

Claudia seemed to realize what she had said.

She stepped backward.

For a moment, the silence between them was unbearable.

Then Elara spoke.

"Save us from whom?"

Claudia looked toward the open doorway.

Her voice dropped.

"You know who."

Elara's expression hardened.

"Then the bargain is failing."

Claudia said nothing.

"The bells rang," Elara continued. "The Sunforged Arc awakened. And now your master has come to collect what you promised him."

"Be quiet."

"You cannot keep feeding him lies forever."

Claudia leaned close.

"If Tobias reaches the seventh sanctuary, everything Aldric sacrificed will be undone."

Elara froze.

"What did you say?"

Claudia straightened.

A faint smile appeared on her lips.

"Your husband never told you the whole truth, did he?"

Elara rose from the bed.

"What did Aldric sacrifice?"

But Claudia was already walking toward the door.

"At midnight, you will finally understand."

The guards closed the cell behind her.

Elara stood alone, trembling.

For eleven years, she had believed she understood why the kingdom fell.

Now she was no longer certain.

Beneath the castle kitchens, Garrick finally allowed Seraphine to examine his wound.

The crossbow bolt had pierced the muscle beneath his shoulder, narrowly missing the major blood vessels.

Seraphine cut away the torn fabric.

Garrick gritted his teeth.

"You learned medicine?"

"I learned how to keep people alive while hiding from my sister."

"Useful education."

She examined the bolt.

Then her expression changed.

"What is it?" Garrick asked.

Seraphine carefully touched the black metal tip.

"Nightglass."

Garrick went pale.

"Are you certain?"

"The metal is cold despite being inside your body."

She looked at the wound.

Dark veins had begun spreading beneath the skin.

"Kael's soldiers weren't using ordinary weapons."

Lucan stepped closer.

"What's Nightglass?"

Garrick answered through clenched teeth.

"Metal forged with the essence of the ancient prison. It weakens magic and poisons the blood."

Toby looked at the commander.

"Can you survive?"

Seraphine hesitated.

Garrick noticed.

"Tell him."

"The poison can be stopped," she said. "But only with a preparation made from dawnroot."

"Where do we find it?" Toby asked.

Seraphine looked toward the eastern wall.

"Mara Fen may have some."

Garrick nodded.

"Then we go to the old market."

Toby shook his head.

"No."

Everyone looked at him.

"We have to rescue my mother and Master Edrin."

Garrick struggled to stand.

"You can't fight an entire prison."

"Then help me."

"Toby—"

"You promised my father you'd protect me."

The commander's expression changed.

Toby stepped closer.

"Was that promise only about keeping me alive? Or did you promise to help me find the truth?"

Garrick lowered his eyes.

"I promised him I would never let the crown take you."

"Then don't let it take them."

The words struck something deep inside the older man.

For eleven years, Garrick had lived with the memory of the burning palace.

The screaming servants.

The shattered royal banners.

The infant he had been ordered to carry through the western gate.

And the moment he had turned back because someone called his name.

That single decision had haunted him ever since.

He looked at Toby.

"There's another entrance to the lower prison."

Seraphine turned sharply.

"Garrick."

"The old treasury passage."

"That route was sealed."

"Not completely."

He looked toward Lucan.

"Can you get us past the first guard station?"

Lucan swallowed.

"I think so."

"Thinking won't be enough."

The young guard straightened.

"I can do it."

Garrick studied him.

Then nodded.

"Good."

Seraphine looked at the commander.

"You're poisoned. You can barely stand."

"Then we'd better move quickly."

Across the city, Kael Valcrest stood before a basin filled with black water.

His sword rested beside him.

The silver line along its blade pulsed faintly.

He removed his gloves and examined the burn across his palm.

The Sunforged Arc had injured him.

That should have been impossible.

Nightglass was supposed to consume solar magic.

Yet Toby's power had passed through his defenses.

Kael clenched his fist.

A knock sounded at the door.

"Enter."

A young woman stepped inside.

She wore a dark green traveling cloak and carried a leather satchel filled with maps.

Her name was Lyra Ashcombe.

She had served as Kael's intelligence courier for three years.

And she was the only person in Claudia's service who dared speak to him without fear.

"You failed," she said.

Kael gave her a cold look.

"Careful."

"The queen has already sent another unit."

"Then she can waste more soldiers."

Lyra closed the door.

"I heard your mother was there."

Kael's expression hardened.

"Don't."

"Did you speak to her?"

"Yes."

"And?"

"She lied."

Lyra studied him.

"How do you know?"

Kael turned away.

"Because Claudia told me what happened."

Lyra said nothing.

He looked back.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Say it."

She hesitated.

"Have you ever considered that Claudia might have lied too?"

Kael crossed the room so quickly that Lyra barely had time to react.

He seized her wrist.

"Do not question the queen."

Lyra looked down at his hand.

"You're hurting me."

He released her immediately.

For a moment, guilt crossed his face.

"I'm sorry."

She rubbed her wrist.

"Kael, I found something."

He frowned.

"What?"

Lyra opened her satchel and removed a thin leather-bound ledger.

"The Black Guard recruitment records."

"Those are classified."

"Not all of them."

She turned to a page marked with a faded red ribbon.

"Your name appears here."

Kael glanced down.

Kael Valcrest. Age nine. Transferred from Western Palace Nursery.

He frowned.

"That proves nothing."

"Look at the date."

He did.

The transfer had occurred six days before the palace fire.

Kael stared at the page.

"Impossible."

Lyra spoke softly.

"Claudia told you she rescued you from the burning nursery."

He looked up.

"Yes."

"But according to this, you were already in her custody."

Kael's face drained of color.

Lyra turned another page.

There was a second entry.

Subject transferred under Royal Directive Seven. Memory conditioning authorized.

Kael stopped breathing.

"Memory conditioning?"

Lyra nodded.

"I think someone altered what you remember."

He stared at the words.

Then, suddenly, an image flashed through his mind.

A dark room.

A woman's voice.

A small boy crying.

And Queen Claudia standing beside a bed, holding a silver cup.

Kael staggered backward.

Lyra reached for him.

"Kael?"

He pressed both hands against his temples.

A sharp pain tore through his skull.

Then he heard a voice from his childhood.

Drink this, little prince. Tomorrow, you won't remember why you cried.

Kael opened his eyes.

For the first time in eleven years, he was afraid of the woman who had raised him.

The entrance to the old treasury passage lay beneath an abandoned chapel near the western wall.

Garrick led the group through narrow streets while Seraphine supported his injured arm.

Lucan walked ahead in his prison uniform.

Toby followed, carrying the Sunforged Arc beneath a rough cloak.

The city was strangely quiet.

People had gathered in small groups beneath shuttered windows, whispering about the bells.

Some claimed the Old Dynasty had returned.

Others believed the kingdom was cursed.

A few had already begun painting golden suns on their doors.

Toby noticed one such symbol outside a bakery.

An elderly woman standing nearby saw him looking.

She smiled sadly.

"My grandmother used to say the sun would return when the kingdom needed it most."

Toby lowered his head.

He did not know what to say.

Garrick gently guided him onward.

"Keep moving."

They reached the chapel shortly before sunset.

Its roof had partially collapsed, and weeds grew between the broken pews.

Behind the altar, Garrick located a loose stone.

He pressed it.

A narrow staircase opened beneath the floor.

Lucan raised his lantern.

"The treasury passage."

Garrick nodded.

"Stay close."

They descended.

The air grew colder with every step.

After several minutes, they reached an iron door marked with the symbol of a white rose.

Toby stopped.

The same flower from his dreams.

The same symbol on his mother's ring.

He reached toward it.

The golden mark on his wrist warmed.

The door clicked.

Garrick stared.

"I've never seen it open without a key."

Toby pushed.

The ancient hinges groaned.

Beyond lay a circular chamber lined with statues of forgotten kings.

At its center stood a stone pedestal.

And upon that pedestal rested a small wooden box.

Seraphine approached cautiously.

"This wasn't here before."

Garrick examined the lid.

A message had been carved into the wood.

FOR THE CHILD WHO SURVIVED THE SUN.

Toby's heart began to pound.

He opened the box.

Inside lay a folded letter and a tiny silver whistle.

The handwriting was familiar.

Master Edrin's.

Toby unfolded the letter with trembling hands.

My dear Toby,

If you are reading this, then the bow has awakened, and the secrets I tried to keep from you have finally found their way into the light.

Forgive me for the lies.

Forgive me for leaving you alone.

Most of all, forgive me for what I did to your father.

Toby stopped reading.

His fingers tightened around the parchment.

Seraphine leaned closer.

"What does it say?"

He continued.

King Aldric trusted me with two things: his son and the truth about the seventh seal.

I protected one.

I betrayed the other.

The night the palace fell, I made a bargain to keep you alive.

That bargain cost your father his freedom.

Toby's eyes filled with tears.

Garrick whispered, "Edrin..."

The final lines were written in darker ink.

If I am still alive when you find this letter, do not rescue me until you know why Claudia has kept me breathing.

There is something beneath the royal prison.

Something that wears the face of a man.

And it knows your name.

Toby lowered the letter.

The chamber seemed suddenly colder.

Then a voice echoed from the darkness beyond the statues.

"How touching."

Everyone turned.

A man in crimson robes stood at the far entrance.

His hood concealed his face.

In one hand, he held a glass vial filled with black liquid.

In the other, a silver chain.

Attached to the chain was an iron collar.

Garrick drew his sword.

"Who are you?"

The man ignored him.

His hidden gaze remained fixed on Toby.

"Your mentor was always sentimental."

Toby raised the bow.

"Where is he?"

The stranger laughed softly.

"Alive. For the moment."

Seraphine stepped forward.

"Move away from the door."

The man tilted his head.

"Lady Seraphine. Still trying to repair the damage you caused?"

She went pale.

"You know me?"

"Oh, very well."

He slowly removed his hood.

Beneath it was the face of a middle-aged man with dark hair, pale skin, and a thin scar running across his forehead.

Garrick stumbled backward.

His sword nearly slipped from his hand.

Seraphine covered her mouth.

Toby looked between them.

"Who is he?"

Neither answered.

The stranger smiled.

"Come now. Surely someone has told the boy what his father looked like."

Toby's blood turned cold.

The man's hazel eyes were identical to his own.

The same eyes he had seen in the magical recording.

The same face.

The same voice.

The stranger opened his arms.

"Hello, Tobias."

He smiled.

"I am King Aldric. And I am the reason your mother is going to die tonight."