The second bell tolled.
Its echo rippled through the stone like a heartbeat, hollow and deliberate. Seren opened his eyes. Elara was already standing, lamp dimmed to a coal's glow, the wedge and spoon tucked away.
"Ready?" she whispered.
He nodded. Calm.
The note still lay on the table, the ink dark as dried blood. Come to the river stairs…
Elara tied the linen cord beneath Seren's shirt again, anchoring him to her wrist this time instead of the cot. "If they pull, I pull back," she murmured.
They slipped into the corridor. The castle slept the way predators sleep—eyes closed, ears open.
---
The path to the river stairs wound downward, beneath the kitchens, past stores of salted meat and barrels of wine. The air grew damper with each turn, walls beading with condensation. The silence pressed harder here.
At the last corner, Elara stopped. She knelt before Seren, pressing his small hand with hers.
"If they try to drown you, do not fight the water. Let it take you under, then rise when they think you're gone."
He met her gaze. Calm. "And you?"
"I'll be between you and them."
---
They descended.
The stairs spiraled down the outer wall, stone slick with moss, the river's roar rising from below. Torches burned here, but faintly, their flames tired against the mist.
Seren counted each step, small feet careful on the wet stone. Elara's hand stayed near his shoulder, her other wrist bound to him with the cord.
Halfway down, the river glimmered, black, restless, wide. Its spray kissed their faces, cold as steel.
And then they weren't alone.
---
Three figures stood at the base.
Hoods low. Cloaks damp. Too poised for servants, too lean for guards.
Elara froze. Her grip on Seren's shoulder tightened.
One figure stepped forward, lowering their hood. A girl's face, beautiful as carved glass, her eyes like shards of night.
Selene Drakoria.
"Sister," Elara hissed.
Selene's smile curved, sweet as poison. "Nanny. You should've stayed upstairs. This is family business."
Her gaze slid to Seren. "Come, little brother. The river waits for you."
---
Elara stepped between them. "He's under Lord Zephyros's decree. Exile at three. Not death now."
Selene tilted her head. "Do you truly think Father cares how it happens? He said he will cast the boy out. Whether by hand, wolf, or water… what's the difference?"
The other two cloaked figures shifted. One held a coil of rope. The other, a sack weighted with stones.
Seren's mind catalogued details:
Selene controls the scene.
Two assistants, not siblings—mercenaries or servants bound by fear.
No alarm raised. This is meant to be quiet. Final.
His heart pounded. His breath stayed steady.
---
Selene raised her hand. "Do it."
The two moved up the stairs fast, closing the space.
Elara shoved Seren behind her, drawing the kitchen knife she'd hidden in her sleeve. Steel gleamed faint in torchlight. "You'll have to carve through me first."
The rope-holder lunged. Elara slashed. The blade scored across fabric and arm, a grunt escaping the man. He stumbled back, but the second attacker swung the sack low, heavy with stones. It cracked against her ribs, forcing her sideways against the wall.
The rope flashed toward Seren.
---
He ducked. Small. Quick. The loop snagged air instead of throat.
The man cursed, lunging again. Seren stepped back, heel finding moss. His body tilted dangerously toward the drop. The river roared below, waiting.
Elara caught the rope, yanking it sideways. The attacker staggered, nearly dragging Seren over the edge. The linen cord between boy and guardian pulled taut, straining.
Selene's laugh echoed. "Struggle all you like. The river doesn't care."
---
Seren's calm cracked only inside. Options. Rope. Cord. Knife. Gravity.
His eyes flicked to the wall: ivy clung to cracks between stones. Thin, but roots deep. The kind that held longer than men thought.
He moved before thought could sour.
Instead of pulling away from the rope, he stepped into it, twisting small arms and shoulders through the loop until it cinched around his chest instead of his neck.
The attacker yanked, expecting slack. Instead, Seren fell toward him, headbutting his hip. The man lost balance, slipping on moss. His body crashed sideways, slamming against the stair's edge with a curse.
Elara seized the moment, knife plunging into his thigh. Blood sprayed, hot and fast. The man screamed, dropping the rope.
---
The second attacker swung the sack again. Elara blocked with her forearm, pain bursting across her face as bone crunched. She staggered, knife barely held.
Selene descended a step, watching, her shadows swirling faintly around her fingers.
"Pathetic," she muttered.
Seren scrambled to his feet, chest heaving. He grabbed the fallen rope and whipped it toward the sack-holder's ankles. It snagged just enough. The man stumbled, sack swinging wide. The weight yanked him off balance.
For a moment, his arms pinwheeled. Then he toppled sideways, over the stair's edge.
The rope snapped taut against the railing, holding him a breath. Then it frayed and broke.
He vanished into the river's roar.
---
Selene's smile thinned. "Well. That saves me a coin."
She raised her hand. Shadows writhed into a lance.
Elara staggered in front of Seren, knife raised though her arm shook.
The lance flew, straight and sharp.
Seren moved. He pulled the cord linking him to Elara, yanking her down just as the shadow spear sliced past, gouging stone.
Selene hissed. "Clever little rat."
---
Boots struck stone behind them. Heavy, deliberate.
Master Eldrin stepped from the stair's shadow above, lantern in hand. His white beard gleamed, eyes hard.
"Selene." His voice was steel wrapped in dust. "Back to your chambers."
Selene's lips curled. "Old man, this doesn't concern you."
"It does," Eldrin said, raising the lantern high. Its light scattered the shadows around her hand. "You've forgotten the rule. No killing in the Lord's hall without his command."
Selene's smile faltered, just a hair.
---
"You'll pay for this," she whispered, melting back into the mist. Her cloak swallowed her as she vanished into the higher stairs.
The bleeding man limped after her, cursing.
The river swallowed the other.
---
Elara exhaled, collapsing against the wall, clutching her ribs. Blood seeped between her fingers.
Seren knelt beside her, calm eyes scanning, memorizing. "Broken?"
"Cracked," she hissed. "Not broken."
Eldrin handed her a strip of cloth. "Bind it. Slowly."
Then his eyes met Seren's. For a heartbeat, silence stretched.
"You," Eldrin said softly, "do not think like a child."
Seren said nothing. Calm. Silent. But his small hand clenched the rope he'd turned into a weapon.
---
That night, as he lay back in the nursery, the system flickered again.
Status Window Update:
Agility: +1
Intelligence: +1
Hidden Trait Progression: Unyielding Spirit (Stage 1 → 2)
And a new whisper appeared:
Quest Updated:
Ashes of Astralith, Survive the Wolves (Part 1 Complete).
---
But outside the chamber, on the roof of the eastern wing, a hooded silhouette crouched. Their eyes followed the nursery window, gleaming with interest.
Not an enemy. Not yet.
They murmured to the night. "So the bastard has teeth…"
The raven beside them croaked once and took flight.