Chapter 7 - Leap in the Dark
The heavy oak door of the guest chamber burst open with a resounding crash.
Captain Vane strode into the room, his broadsword drawn, the steel gleaming coldly in the flickering torchlight. Two heavily armed guards flanked him, their crossbows notched and aimed squarely at the center of the room.
Vane stopped, his eyes sweeping the empty chamber. The silver goblet sat untouched on the bedside table, the spiced wine sending up thin wisps of steam. The balcony doors stood wide open, letting in a gust of cold night wind that billowed the velvet curtains.
"He's gone," one of the guards muttered, lowering his crossbow slightly.
Vane walked swiftly to the balcony, leaning over the stone railing. Down in the courtyard below, bathed in the pale light of the rising moon, a small figure was scrambling across the cobblestones toward the lower stables, moving with frantic, desperate speed.
"There!" Vane snarled, pointing a armored finger. "The little rat thinks he can run. Sound the alarm! Seal the gates! If he reaches the stables, the beast will protect him!"
"Captain!" the second guard shouted, pointing back inside the room.
Vane spun around. Standing in the doorway behind them, blocking the exit entirely, was King Aldric.
The king’s face was dark as a thunderstorm. His short dagger was still unsheathed in his hand, droplets of fresh blood staining the edge of the blade. Behind him, four royal guards stood with their weapons drawn, their expressions grim and absolute.
"Going somewhere, Captain?" Aldric asked, his voice dangerously soft.
Vane’s face paled beneath his tanned skin, but he forced himself to stand at attention, raising his sword in a crisp military salute. "Your Majesty. We... we found the boy's room empty. We feared he had been abducted by assassins, so we came to secure the perimeter."
"Assassins?" Aldric stepped further into the room, his pale blue eyes locking onto the silver goblet of poisoned wine on the table. He walked over, picked up the goblet, and sniffed the contents. A grim smile touched the corner of his mouth. "Strange. The only poison in this room seems to be the one you ordered the kitchen staff to brew, Vane."
Vane swallowed hard, his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "Your Majesty, I am only acting in the best interest of the Crown. That boy is a threat to Eldoria. If we allow an untested peasant to—"
"You do not speak for the Crown," Aldric interrupted, his voice rising in volume, echoing off the stone walls with absolute authority. "You speak for my son's cowardice. You speak for a nobility terrified that their centuries of theft and tyranny are coming to an end."
Aldric raised his dagger. "Seize him."
The royal guards surged forward, their halberds clashing against Vane's broadsword in a violent explosion of sparks. The narrow room instantly became a slaughterhouse of grinding iron and shouted curses. Vane fought with the desperate ferocity of a trapped animal, parrying two blows at once and kicking a guard back against the wall, but he was outnumbered and outmatched.
In the middle of the melee, Aldric didn't look back at the fight. He walked straight to the balcony, looking down into the vast, sprawling courtyards of Castle Eldoria.
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Far below, near the dark timber doors of the grand stables, a familiar, towering shape moved out of the shadows. The Royal Black Horse stood waiting, its silver armor catching the moonlight, its eyes glowing with an impossible, ancient intelligence.
And standing right beside it, small and shivering in the cold night air, was Elias.
