Chapter 3 - Flight Through the Citadel
The courtyard erupted into absolute chaos as the wall of armored guards closed in on Lena like an iron jaw. Pikes gleamed menacingly, heavy boots hammered against the cobblestones, and the shouts of panic from the nobility created a deafening roar.
Lena didn't hesitate. With the fluid grace of a master predator, she loosed the arrow of pure sunlight.
CRACK!
The arrow didn't fly straight at a soldier; instead, it struck the center of the stone courtyard floor. The moment the light touched the stone, a blinding shockwave of golden energy blasted outward in a three-hundred-degree ring. The charging guards were thrown violently backward through the air like discarded toys, their armor clattering against the walls as they crashed into pillars and fountains.
The shockwave missed the terrified nobles by a hair's breadth, shattering stone benches and creating a gaping crater where the guards had stood moments before.
“After her!” King Adrian bellowed, his face twisted in fury as he steadied himself against a shattered column. “Shoot her down! Use the cross-bowmen on the ramparts!”
Lena turned on her heel and sprinted toward the inner archway leading into the grand halls of the citadel. Her bare feet slapped rapidly against the stone. Behind her, the sharp twang of heavy crossbows rang out, followed immediately by a hail of iron-tipped bolts splintering the oak doors right where her head had been a second prior.
She dove through the archway just as a volley buried itself deep into the masonry.
Inside, the shadows of the castle offered brief shelter, but the alarm bells began to toll overhead—a deep, bronze sound that echoed across the entire mountain peak of Eldoria, summoning every garrison soldier to arms.
Lena kept running, the Golden Bow clutched tightly in her right hand. Strangely, the weapon felt weightless, humming against her skin like a living thing whispering directions into her mind. Turn left, the hum seemed to say. Up the spiral stairs.
She took the spiral staircase three steps at a time, her lungs burning, her torn gray dress catching on the rough stone walls. Footsteps echoed from below—heavy, armored pursuers rushing up the narrow stairwell to cut her off.
“She’s heading for the high battlements!” a captain’s voice barked from below. “Block the bridge to the western tower!”
Lena reached the top of the stairs and burst out onto the open-air stone bridge connecting the main keep to the Sun Tower. Below her, thousands of feet of sheer cliff dropped down into the misty, impenetrable gorge known as the Devil’s Throat. Across the bridge stood a dozen elite guards with shields locked and spears leveled, their faces grim under their visors.
“Nowhere to run, kitchen rat!” the lead guard sneered, stepping forward.
Lena didn't slow down. She raised the Golden Bow, pulled the string back without an arrow, and channeled her own inner resolve. Instantly, a shaft of incandescent light materialized in her grip.
She aimed not at the guards, but at the massive stone support pillar high above the bridge.
Thwip!
The light-arrow struck the base of the pillar with a deafening explosion. Stone dust and rubble rained down as the massive support cracked down the middle. With a thunderous groan, the heavy stone arch of the bridge began to tilt and fracture.
The guards screamed as the footing beneath them gave way, tumbling backward into the misty abyss below. The bridge collapsed into rubble, cutting off pursuit completely.
Lena leaped across the widening chasm just as the final slab fell, landing hard on the safety of the Sun Tower balcony. She rolled, coming up on one knee, her chest heaving.
From across the broken gap, looking over from the safety of the main keep, King Adrian and Princess Aurora stared at her across the void. The king’s face was dark as a thundercloud, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white.
“You cannot hide forever, daughter of Katherine!” Adrian’s voice carried across the chasm on the howling wind. “The whole kingdom will hunt you down!”
Lena stood up tall, the golden bow glowing fiercely against the dark stone backdrop of the tower. She looked across the gap straight into her uncle’s terrified eyes.
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“Let them come,” she called out, her voice ringing clear and strong above the wind. “I’m done hiding.”
Without looking back, she turned and vanished into the dark, labyrinthine depths of the Sun Tower, leaving the royal family staring at a ruined bridge and a very uncertain future.
