Chapter 4 - Whispers in the Dark
Within forty-eight hours, the capital city of Solas was placed under complete military martial law. Iron gates were sealed, curfews were enforced at spear-point, and posters bearing a roughly drawn sketch of Leo’s face were nailed to every wooden post. A reward of fifty thousand gold sovereigns was offered for his head—dead or alive.
Inside the royal palace, King Aldric was losing his grip on sanity. He paced the long marble corridors of the High Keep, flanked by six armored guards at all times.
"He's a ghost! A street rat with a cleverly burned scar!" Aldric screamed at his inner council, smashing his fist onto the council table. "Find the surgeon who made that mark on him! Find his associates! Hang ten peasants every hour until he is brought to me!"
"My King," murmured Grand Scholar Cassian, a frail man in crimson robes who had served the crown for thirty years. "The mark cannot be forged. You know the legend of the First King's lineage. The sword mark burns crimson when exposed to the High Flame during coronation. The nobles know this. The rumor has already spread to the Northern Lords."
"The Northern Lords are weak!" Aldric roared. "Send Lord Vane with four regiments to the northern border. If Duke Roger hesitates to pledge his full army to me, burn his castle!"
Meanwhile, deep in the subterranean catacombs beneath the city's ancient cathedral, Leo sat surrounded by dozens of rebels, rogue knights, and former officers loyal to his late mother.
Among them was an elderly man wrapped in a ragged cloak. When the man stepped into the torchlight, Lyra stood up in surprise.
"Master Evelyn?" Lyra gasped. "The late Queen's grand chancellor?"
The old man ignored the crowd and walked straight to Leo. He reached out with withered, trembling fingers and touched the scar on the young man's shoulder.
"It is him," Evelyn said, his voice cracking with emotion. "I delivered this child with my own hands. I saw this mark the moment he breathed his first air. You have your mother's eyes, Prince Caelen."
"Call me Leo," the boy said softly. "Caelen was a prince who lived in a palace. Leo is the man who will pull Aldric off that throne."
"If you wish to defeat him, Leo, you must know the truth of that night," Evelyn said, leaning heavily on his oak staff. "Aldric did not act alone fifteen years ago. He struck a bargain with the Dark Order of the Iron Sun. They gave him the poison that paralyzed the royal guards in exchange for the Ancient Codex stored in the royal vaults."
Leo’s eyes narrowed. "The Codex of Kings?"
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"Yes," Evelyn replied. "And inside that vault lies the Royal Broadsword—Sunfall. Only the true heir whose blood matches the seal can draw the blade from its sheath. Without Sunfall, the Northern Lords will never follow you into open battle."
Leo stood up, strapping two iron daggers to his belt. "Then we're breaking into the palace vaults tonight."
