'Emily!' someone said forcefully. A moment later, the owner of the voice shook her roughly.

Opening her eyes slowly, Emily found herself slumped in the chair behind the desk she had been working at earlier. Around the room, the normally dim lamps seemed exceedingly bright. Blinking in the light, she looked up to see who had woken her. For a moment, she didn't recognise the girl before her. It wasn't until she noticed the guard uniform that she realised it was Louise, Lewis' friend from the guard, who had helped them sneak back into the city for Anthony's coronation.

'Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep here,' Emily said, stretching as she sat up. 'What time is it?'

'About half past three in the morning,' Louise replied.

'I was asleep for four hours? Is Lewis back yet?' Emily asked, taken aback.

'No,' Louise said, her eyes scanning Emily's face worriedly.

'Surely they should be back by now,' Emily said under Louise's intense gaze, aware that she was judging her reaction.

'They are,' she said. 'Thomas, Arthur, and Duncan came back about twenty minutes ago.'

'Where's Lewis?' Emily demanded, getting to her feet and heading for the door. Despite the fact that she had no idea where the others would be, she kept walking, with Louise hurrying to catch up with her.

'He wasn't with them; I'll let Thomas and Arthur explain what happened. They're in the dining room,' Louise said when Emily reached the staircase, unsure whether she should be heading up or down.

Taking the staircase that led down, she hurried down the stairs, breaking into a run when she reached the bottom. Behind her, Louise settled for a gentle jog, her footsteps echoing off the stone floor as they ran across the hallway and down the corridor towards the dining room. The two of them hadn't even made it halfway down the corridor when they heard raised voices from the dining room. It seemed that Thomas, Arthur, and Duncan weren't the only ones who knew what was going on.

'What's going on?' Emily demanded, throwing the door to the dining room open.

In the centre of the room, the long dining table that had been covered with food earlier that night was now adorned with piles of books and papers. At the far end of the table, Thomas stood, his hands on the table as he leant forward, his eyes locked on Edmund, who was sat half way down the table. Behind him were Arthur and Amanda, with a look of pure rage on Arthur's face.

'I don't remember you volunteering to come with us!' He shouted in Edmund's direction. 'Then again, why would you? You would much rather just sit in the castle and stuff your face while everyone else does all the work.'

'How dare you come here and tell me what to do in my city? Edmund snapped, knocking back his chair as he stood up. Grabbing the nearest book, he hurled it in Arthur's direction. Despite his best attempt to hit him, Arthur was too quick, ducking aside as the book sailed past him. 'You have no idea what I do; you're nothing but a filthy orphan who suddenly thinks he has the right to an opinion now that he has a place to live. You're just like your worthless sister!'

In the moment that followed, Emily was certain that she would have been able to hear a pin drop. Around the table, everyone was oblivious to the fact that she and Louise had just walked in. She had never particularly liked Edmund, but she had never thought she would hear him talk about her like that. She thought maybe it would have been better to have run him through with that knife in Whitecliff.

'What, like send me and Lewis off across the sea searching for Thomas on our own?' Emily asked, breaking the silence. 'Get out.'

'If it wasn't for me, you both would have been dead long ago,' Edmund hissed, rounding on Emily. 'You owe me.'

'Without Lewis, you would be floating in the sea somewhere off the coast of Whitecliff, I assure you,' Emily replied, striding towards him. 'I suggest you leave now.'

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

'Don't think I'll forget,' Edmund said as he turned to the door. 'I always collect on my debts.' With a snap, Edmund pulled the door shut behind him without another word, leaving the dining room in silence.

'He won't do anything,' Leo said quietly. Until now, Emily hadn't noticed him standing on the opposite side of the table from where Edmund had been.

'I'm not worried,' Emily said. 'As soon as Lewis gets back, I'm sure he'll crawl back into the hole he came from.'

'That might not be as soon as you hope,' Thomas said slowly. 'We have a bit of a problem.'

'What's going on?' Emily asked worriedly. Around the table, everyone seemed to exchange a nervous glance.

'Lewis is gone,' Arthur said slowly. 'The creatures that have been attacking the city were here because of him.'

'So he left? That stupid noble git!' Emily snapped, running her hand through her hair in frustration.

'I don't think he had much choice,' Thomas said.

'What happened out there?'

'Well, we found one of the creatures. It turns out they are linked to Lewis' power,' Thomas said.

'We got separated in the forest,' Arthur explained. 'When we found him again, he was standing in a clearing with three people. He told us that the creatures were coming to Tristan because of his power, whatever that might be. Then they just disappeared, all of them.'

'How can they just disappear?' Emily asked, looking to Thomas for an explanation. 'Surely we should be out there looking for him.'

'We can't go after him,' Thomas said. 'That is the problem.'

'What? Why not?'

'Before they disappeared, Lewis told us that we couldn't go looking for him because your life was on the line,' Thomas said.

'I don't understand; how could my life be on the line? Surely it's his life on the line if these creatures are coming after him? Emily asked.

'The people in the forest belonged to an ancient cult known as 'The Dawn',' Thomas explained. 'According to history, they used to be responsible for the training of precursors before Arcadia was destroyed in the war. I had no idea that they still existed.'

'But why can't we go after Lewis?'

'It is incredibly dangerous to be around an untrained precursor,' Thomas said. 'That is why The Dawn was created. They offered a place to train the precursors. More often than not, they refused to submit to life with The Dawn; that was when they created the bond.'

'What's the bond?'

'The bond binds the life of whichever member of The Dawn captures the precursor to whoever they are closest to,' Thomas said. 'That way they could guarantee their safety as well as the cooperation of the precursor they had captured.'

'Surely the bond can be broken, though?' Emily asked.

'I don't know,' Thomas admitted. 'The Dawn are an ancient institution in the precursor world; they have many, many secrets. All we can do is wait.'

'So my life is in the hands of some person who belongs to a deranged cult that goes around kidnapping people? Fantastic,' Emily snapped.

'Emily, I understand what you must be going through right now, but there isn't anything we can do,' Thomas said calmly.

'You could have started by not letting him wander off on his own!' she shouted. For a moment, her eyes met Thomas' before she dropped her gaze. 'I'm sorry.'

'It's alright,' Thomas assured her gently. 'Perhaps it's best if we all get some sleep; we'll all reconvene after lunch to try and work out where we go from here.'

With a nod and muttered agreement, those who had been gathered around the table began to disperse, each muttering a half-hearted 'goodnight ' as they left. It didn't take long before it was only Emily, Thomas, Arthur, and Amanda who remained.

'What do you think is going to happen? Honestly? Emily asked, looking up at Thomas as the door shut behind the last person.

'I don't know,' he sighed. 'There is a lot that we don't know about The Dawn.'

'Will he come back?' she asked, her voice cracking as a tear rolled down her cheek.

'As soon as he finds a way to come back without putting you in danger, I'm sure he will,' Thomas assured her. 'Until then, all we can do is wait.'

For several minutes, the four of them stood in silence around the table, each lost in their own thoughts. How far could The Dawn have gotten with Lewis already? Perhaps they could catch up with him if they left now. Emily wondered in which direction they would be heading.

'I'm going to head to bed,' Thomas muttered, breaking the silence at last. 'There isn't anything else we can do right now,' he added with a pointed look in Emily's direction. It was as if he knew what she had been thinking. Could she really be that easy to read?

'It's probably best to call it a night, to be honest,' Arthur agreed. 'It looks like we're going to have a busy day tomorrow now.'

One by one, Thomas, Arthur, and Amanda filed out of the dining room until Emily was left alone, staring vacantly at where they had been standing. She needed to find out more about The Dawn. Who could she ask, though? Thomas didn't appear to know much about them, and Edmund was definitely out of the question, at least for now. Surely Sebastian would have known something; he always seemed to have the answers. Perhaps it was in one of these books, Emily thought as she scoured the table, looking for a place to start. Pulling out the chair nearest to her, Emily sat down, pulling one of the old leather-bound books towards her. She might as well start somewhere.