Find it.
He saw the main chain.
Then the release pin.
The Prince grabbed his bow.
Nocked an arrow.
The Regent laughed.
“You cannot stop a gate with an arrow.”
The Prince aimed above him.
“Not the gate.”
He fired.
The arrow struck the release pin.
Metal snapped.
The counterweight dropped.
The chain reversed violently.
The Regent looked up.
“No!”
The sea gate crashed downward.
One ancient bronze prow was caught beneath it.
Metal screamed.
The impact shattered the ship’s forward mechanism.
Something inside ignited.
Blue-white fire flashed across the flooded vault.
The blast threw everyone to the ground.
Darkness.
Then silence.
The Prince opened his eyes.
Water covered the platform.
His ears rang.
The Regent lay several feet away.
The Queen crawled toward the King.
The Captain stood slowly.
The Royal Keeper coughed.
The sea gate remained closed.
Behind it, the First Fleet disappeared again into darkness.
The Prince smiled weakly.
The Regent saw.
“You destroyed it.”
The Prince shook his head.
“No.”
He rose.
“I closed it.”
The Regent screamed and attacked.
No soldiers.
No ceremony.
No leverage.
Just rage.
He drew a sword from the water.
The Prince barely blocked the first strike with his bow.
Wood cracked.
The Regent kicked him in the stomach.
The Prince hit the floor.
The Queen shouted.
The Regent raised the sword.
The King threw himself forward despite chains.
He struck the Regent from the side.
Both fell.
The Regent punched the King.
Once.
Twice.
The Prince saw his father’s head strike stone.
Something inside him went cold.
He grabbed the broken half of his bow.
The Regent rose.
The Prince swung.
The wooden limb struck the Regent’s wrist.
The sword fell.
The Regent slapped the Prince across the face.
The Prince staggered.
The Regent grabbed his throat.
“You think you are a king?”
The Prince clawed at his arm.
The Regent squeezed.
“You are a boy who broke a mask.”
The Prince looked over his shoulder.
The black key remained in the mechanism.
He smiled.
The Regent frowned.
The Prince kicked the Regent’s knee.
Hard.
The older man buckled.
The Prince shoved him backward.
Straight into the Captain.
The Captain caught him.
Twisted both arms behind him.
The Regent fought.
The Captain drove him face-first against the stone pillar.
“Enough.”
The Regent laughed.