The crowd laughed.
Someone near the front called, “Throw him outside!”
The first guard stormed onto the platform.
“That blade belongs to kings.”
Aren pushed himself up.
The guard kicked the base of the sword.
Metal rang.
Aren felt the sound inside his bones.
“Get your filthy hands away from it.”
Aren looked at him.
Then toward the king.
King Aldric watched from the stairs.
For one strange instant, their eyes met.
The king went pale.
Aren did not understand why.
Master Oren did.
“No.”
The old historian whispered it.
Queen Maris heard.
“What?”
Master Oren stared at Aren.
“That face.”
Prince Corvin frowned.
“What face?”
The guard reached for Aren again.
Aren slapped his armored hand aside.
The sound was ridiculous against steel.
But the guard stopped from surprise.
Aren ran.
He wrapped both hands around the ancient sword.
Nothing happened.
The laughter returned.
Louder.
One noble said, “Perhaps the little king will pull it free.”
Aren’s cheeks burned.
Then he heard the voice.
Not above.
Below.
Turn.
Aren looked down.
“What?”
Turn me.
He tightened both hands around the leather-wrapped grip.
He did not pull.
He twisted.
The sword rotated.
Only a few inches.
The laughter died.
A sound like a giant lock turning beneath the world rolled through the palace.
BOOM.
Every window shook.
The black marble platform split beneath Aren’s feet.
Golden light erupted from the cracks.
People screamed.
A Royal Guard rushed toward Aren.
“Let go!”
He grabbed the boy.
The blue gemstone in the sword ignited.
A pulse of force exploded outward.
The guard flew backward, slid across the marble, and crashed into a ceremonial shield rack.
Weapons clattered.
No blood.
But the entire court froze.
Aren stared at his own hands.
Golden symbols moved beneath his skin.
The same symbol from the reflection spread across his right palm.
A circle crossed by three rising lines.
King Aldric touched his crown.
The great blue gemstone at its center had gone dark.
Master Oren whispered, “Merciful heavens.”
The King spun toward him.
“What?”
The old man did not answer.
Another BOOM rolled beneath the palace.
Then another.
Far outside the city, the mountains began to move.
At first people thought the tremor was an earthquake.
Birds erupted from rooftops.
Horses screamed.
Market tents collapsed.
Then someone pointed beyond the palace towers.
“Look!”
A mountain ridge split.
Stone slid down its face in a roaring avalanche.
Behind the falling rock appeared something shaped like an eye.
An enormous golden eye.
It opened.
The entire city became silent.