She shook her head.
“He wants everyone else to think it’s good.”
Elias remembered Aldric’s face.
Fear.
“Where do I go?”
Mira pointed east.
“Old aqueduct.”
“It collapsed.”
“Half.”
“You know a way?”
“Yes.”
Of course she did.
Mira survived by stealing from places adults believed inaccessible.
She led him through a tunnel behind the cellar.
The Forgotten Army spread across the city above.
Valorian soldiers fought street by street.
The golden Guardian and its corrupted brother collided in the Royal Square.
The impact shattered windows six streets away.
Elias heard it underground.
BOOM.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Mira whispered, “That thing came for you.”
“Yes.”
“What are you?”
“I said I don’t know.”
She stopped.
“You always heard it.”
Elias looked at her.
“You believed me?”
“No.”
Mira smiled faintly.
“But apparently I was wrong.”
They reached the eastern aqueduct near dusk.
Half the stone channel had collapsed years earlier, leaving a narrow passage through the foundations.
Mira removed an iron grate.
Elias stared.
“How?”
“I’ve had time.”
Behind them came shouting.
Royal Guards entered the lower street.
Mira shoved Elias toward the gap.
“Go.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll tell them you went south.”
“They’ll arrest you.”
“They already do.”
“No.”
Mira’s face hardened.
“Elias.”
He hesitated.
Then the stone beneath them trembled.
The Guardian’s voice.
Go to the mountain.
“What mountain?”
The answer entered not as words but an image.
A white peak east of Valoria.
Mount Arken.
Elias knew it.
Everyone did.
No one climbed it.
The summit remained snow-covered even in summer.
He crawled through the aqueduct.
Mira caught his wrist.
“Come back.”
Elias looked at her.
“I’ll try.”
“That isn’t good enough.”
“It’s all I have.”
She released him.
Elias disappeared into darkness.
Hours later, he emerged outside the eastern wall.
The countryside beyond Valoria burned orange beneath sunset.
Behind him, smoke covered the capital.
The Guardian still fought.
Each impact shook the valley.
Elias wanted to turn back.
Then he saw riders leaving the eastern gate.
Royal cavalry.
Searching.
He ran toward the forest.
By midnight, exhaustion caught him.
He collapsed beneath pine roots.
The last thing he remembered was golden eyes inside a dream.
Then a voice.
You are not safe.
Elias woke with a knife against his throat.
A woman stood above him.
Gray cloak.
Long dark braid threaded with silver.
Scar across one eyebrow.
Around forty.
“Name.”
“Elias.”
“Family?”
“None.”
The knife pressed closer.
“Wrong answer.”
Elias stared.
“I don’t have one.”
The woman studied him.