“Where?”
“Beyond the western reefs.”
The Old Archer’s face changed.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
The Prince asked, “You know it?”
The old man stared into the torch flame.
“I know why the fleet vanished.”
For seven years, the Old Archer had lied about the storm.
Now he told the truth.
The royal fleet had not been destroyed by weather.
It had reached the Black Star.
The island was a volcanic fortress controlling the narrow sea route between the kingdom and the western colonies.
Raiders had occupied it.
But the raiders were not acting alone.
Someone from the capital had supplied them with royal maps.
The King discovered the betrayal.
He divided the fleet.
Half attacked the harbor.
Half circled the island.
Then one of the royal commanders betrayed them.
Ships rammed ships beneath the same flag.
In the confusion, the King’s flagship disappeared into a sea cave beneath the cliffs.
The Old Archer had been wounded and dragged aboard another vessel.
He never saw the King again.
“Why hide this?” the Prince demanded.
“Because the commander who betrayed us was appointed by the Regent.”
The Queen stared.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“For seven years?”
“I had no proof.”
“You had a dead fleet.”
“And a kingdom one accusation away from civil war.”
The Queen turned away in fury.
The Prince looked at the carving.
“Father escaped the island.”
“Yes,” the Captain said.
“Then came home.”
“Yes.”
“And the Regent took him through this tunnel.”
No one answered.
The Prince traced the words.
Three waves beneath the Black Star.
“He was taken back.”
The Old Archer looked at him.
“Possibly.”
“No.”
The boy’s certainty surprised everyone.
“He left this message after the Regent captured him.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if he meant the island where he escaped, he would carve the Black Star first.”
The Queen frowned.
The Prince pointed.
“Three waves beneath.”
The Old Archer turned toward the bow.
Three waves.
The first symbol.
The Prince continued.
“It’s a route.”
Sun.
Broken crown.
Arrow.
“A sequence.”
The Old Archer’s eyes widened.
The Queen whispered, “Your father loved puzzles.”
The Prince looked at the bow.
“Three waves.”
The Captain said, “Sea.”
“Sun.”
The Queen answered.
“East?”
The Old Archer shook his head.
“Or dawn.”
The Prince touched the broken crown.
“An abandoned royal place.”
The Captain looked toward the sea.
“There is one.”
Everyone turned.
“A fortress on the western islands. Built by the Prince’s grandfather, then abandoned after an earthquake.”
The Prince touched the arrow symbol.
“And the arrow?”
The Old Archer looked at the bow.
“Perhaps what opens it.”
The Queen immediately said, “You are not going.”
The Prince looked at her.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”