The days since Edmund had stolen the crown had inched by. Lewis had spent almost all his waking hours in the infirmary at Emily's bedside, and it had taken until the third day that Matron Henare had convinced him that it was alright to go and sleep in his own bed rather than staying in the bed next to Emily. Not that he had gotten much sleep; the space where she would normally be sleeping was cold and empty.

Since she had been poisoned, he had been taking his reports to the infirmary, which was just as well, as from what Thomas had told him, the windows in the office were being repaired, and it was quite the mess. Over the days that had passed, many of the others who resided in the castle had come through, whether to pay Emily a visit or to discuss business with him.

'Good morning, Lewis,' Captain Caldwell said, striding in with Thomas at his side.

Lewis looked up from Emily's bedside, nodding to them both. 'It's okay; you don't need to leave,' he said quietly as the young Lillian made to get up. Aside from him, Thomas, and Arthur, she had spent the most time here with Emily. She took a moment before settling back into her chair, idly twiddling the tapestry she had shown him the night the star had fallen. 'Any news?'

'Not a squeak. Either he's given us the slip somewhere or he's managed to get a lot further than we thought,' Captain Caldwell said, biting his lip. 'I don't know how he could have though; I've spoken to everyone who was on duty around the castle that night and anyone who might have been around in the timeframe he left, and no one saw him anywhere. As far as I know, the last people to see him were those who told him to wait until the morning to start the journey to return the crown.'

'He can't have just vanished into thin air, though,' Thomas said. 'Someone must have seen something. We've searched everywhere in the castle, and he's not hiding out here.'

'Are there any secret passages or hidden entrances and exits to the castle that he could have used?' Lewis asked. He knew from experience how difficult it had been to avoid people in the castle when he wanted to move around uninterrupted.

'There's the dusty library; I found it last year,' Lillian piped up, looking up at Thomas.

'The library? We've already searched there,' Thomas said gently.

'Not that library,' she said with a shake of her head. 'The big dusty one underground I only found it by accident when I dropped my toy.'

'Where is it?' Thomas asked, glancing at Lewis.

Once the panic around Emily had subsided and it was clear that she was as far out of danger as she could be, Lewis told them about everything he had seen after he touched the sword. While the others had seen and heard the conversation he had had with Arden, it had been as if the two of them were just standing in the crater. The ruins of Oldiron and the Aeos Athenaeum that he had seen had been in his mind alone.

'Not far from the library, you know the long empty stretch of corridor near the garden? It's there; the entrance is hidden in the wall,' she said.

'If nobody has found it except for you in all the years the castle has been here, then it's unlikely that Edmund would have found it,' Captain Caldwell said. 'We should have a look by all means, but I think it would be best to expand our search, especially if we know that it is highly likely that he is heading for the desert. We have a chance to cut him off at the ports.'

'He does know about it; I'm sorry,' Lillian said quietly. 'After I first found it, I wanted to explore. I snuck out of bed late one night and had just opened the archway when he came around the corner with someone I didn't know.'

'Does this man know about the entrance too?' Thomas asked.

She nodded slowly. 'He doesn't know how to open it unless Edmund showed him. When he saw me, he sent the man off. He wanted to know what I had heard about their conversation, but I wasn't paying attention. If I told anyone about the archway, he would tell my mum that he had caught me sneaking about in the night, and then I'd get in lots of trouble.'

'It's okay,' Lewis tried to reassure her before Thomas or Captain Caldwell could jump in with any more questions or judgements. 'Can you show us how to get in?'

Lillian nodded again. 'I can take you there now if you like?’

'If that's okay, it would be really helpful,' Lewis said. Getting to his feet, he gave Emily's hand a quick squeeze in the hope that, if she could feel it, it would offer her a little reassurance.

'Do you want me to gather anyone else to join us?' Captain Caldwell asked as they headed for the door of the infirmary.

'Not yet; I think it's best that this knowledge be as limited as it can be for the time being,' Lewis said. If too many people knew about it, they might need to put guards in the area to make sure no one entered, depending on what they found inside. In the vision, it had mainly been books and trinkets on small cushions in cabinets, but he had no idea what they were or might do.

'I agree with Lewis. Edmund has been hiding in our midst for a long time; now more than ever, we should be selective with who we entrust any information to, no matter how trivial it seems.'

Captain Caldwell nodded, falling into step behind Lewis and Thomas as Lillian led the way towards the library and garden. Lewis couldn't count the number of times he must have walked right past it without noticing, especially with all the time he had spent in the library recently with Thomas preparing for the trade negotiations.

'It's here,' Lillian said quietly, stopping midway between two brackets on the wall, one of them holding a burning torch while the other sat empty. Before any of them could say anything, she knelt down on the floor in front of the wall, squeezing her small hand into a gap between two of the stones. From a distance, it was impossible to spot, and from where they stood, it looked as though her hand was simply sliding through the stone as if it weren't there.

There was a soft click. Lewis looked around, checking that there was no one else in sight, as the sound of grinding stones echoed down the empty corridor. He wasn't surprised that no one had been able to find this place before now. 'Thank you for showing this to us, Lillian,' Thomas said gently. 'Do you want to go back and keep Emily company? It might be dangerous if Edmund is hiding down here.'

Lewis could see the disappointment on her face as she nodded quietly; he knew that she was eager to explore what had been concealed for so long. 'Can I come back later when it's safe?'

'I don't see why not,' Lewis said, giving her a smile in the hope her disappointment would be short-lived.

Reluctantly, Lillian waved to them as she set off down the corridor, retracing her steps back towards the infirmary. 'Do you really think it's wise that she comes back later?' Captain Caldwell asked.

'She's curious,' Thomas said. 'If it weren't for that, we would be none the wiser as to where the entrance to the Athenaeum had been hidden. I know that she's very young but if she really is the younger version of the Lillian who came out of the tomb then she has a much bigger burden to bear soon.'

'I feel like we barely even get the time to register one thing before something else is happening these days,' Lewis said. The grinding of stone behind the wall stopped, and with a squeak, an archway of the stonework moved back into the wall before sliding aside to reveal a pitch-black staircase. 'Can you pass me that torch?'

Captain Caldwell took the torch to their right from its bracket, handing it over before he drew his sword. 'Can't be too careful,' he muttered when Lewis eyed the blade.

'Let's get moving as quietly as possible,' he replied.

'I've got something that might help us,' Thomas said, reaching for an inside pocket and producing a black velvet pouch. He carefully opened it, taking out a pinch of midnight blue powder and casting it on the stairs in front of them. 'Nightbloom powder sticks to the soles of your shoes and helps to dampen the sound of footsteps.'

'Where in the world did you get that? I thought it was supposed to be incredibly rare,’ Captain Caldwell asked, raising his eyebrows at Thomas before following Lewis on to the dark staircase.

'Other than raising Arthur, once I left the castle, I had a lot of time on my hands. I became quite fond of my garden and used to grow all sorts of useful plants,' he said matter-of-factly as he followed the two of them. The grinding of stones filled the air once again as the entrance closed behind them.

'I never had you down for the outdoor type,' Captain Caldwell grunted.

'We all have our least suspected hobbies. That reminds me, I managed to pick up some of that magenta pigment you wanted for your model village,' Thomas said.

Lewis walked in silence, listening to the conversation behind him, completely bewildered. It was in that moment that he realised how little he really knew about either of them. Yet, here they were, the two people he had relied on more than anyone else except Emily to help guide him.

The staircase twisted and turned, descending deeper and deeper beneath the castle, far below the dungeons. He was waiting for that moment when it opened out and he would find the scene he had seen in the vision Arden had shown him. 'What do you think Edmund would be doing down here?' Captain Caldwell asked.

'I think he's long gone,' Lewis said as he stepped off the bottom of the stairs, the huge chamber dimly lit by a greyish green light, almost like being underwater in a murky lake. 'If he's known about this place since he found Lillian opening it, then I imagine he's had a bit of time to explore and already found the waypoint.'

'That might explain why no one saw him leave the castle,' Captain Caldwell muttered.

'And why none of the search parties managed to turn up anything yet? Thomas said. 'Do you think he went straight to the temple?'

'I don't know,' Lewis said. 'I was hoping that he would turn up somewhere closer to the city. At least then we would have been able to travel through the leylines and get ahead of him so that we could set up an ambush.'

'We might still be able to,' Thomas said. 'I doubt he ever would have expected us to find this place, much less have any idea where he might be going and know how to travel through the leylines.'

'But we don't know how to travel through the leylines,' Lewis said as he took in the huge pillars supporting the cavernous ceiling as he retraced the steps he had taken in his vision with Arden.

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'I had been doing some reading, actually, while you were at the infirmary,' he said. 'There's not that much on the topic, but it doesn't seem too difficult if you know where you're going and there is an active waypoint at the other end.'

'Isn't the waypoint Arden was talking about beyond Oria and had been dormant for centuries?' Captain Caldwell asked, running a hand along one of the dusty bookshelves.

'It might be a little trickier then,' he replied. 'At least the journey as far as Oria should be simple enough, though. If we knew where the temple was, we could travel there and then set off above ground and try to catch up to Edmund.'

'If Edmund went to Oria, then he probably has a four or five-day head start on us, assuming he isn't already at the temple. For all we know, Tristan might be back and heading this way by now. I should have tried to find the athenaeum the moment we realised the crown was gone,' Lewis said as he cast his eyes over a display case that had broken glass. Inside were a necklace and bracelet sitting on one cushion, a lantern on another, and, judging by the dusty outline, a third that had once held a dagger of some sort. 'Any ideas what Sorrow's Blade might do?' he asked as he picked up the little card that sat beside the cushion.

'No idea. This one is The All-Seeing Eye,' he said, picking up the lantern as he turned the card over. Lewis looked over his shoulder. Scrawled on the back of the card was a note. "Cast me out into the dark where you cannot see. I reveal all that hides within—what could be seen and what should not."

'Could be useful?' Captain Caldwell shrugged. 'Is there anything on the back of the card for the other two?'

'Nothing on the dagger,' Thomas said as he flipped it over. 'This one is "The Void Castle, a place of sanctuary beyond the reach of any who do not possess a key." What do you want to do with them?'

'We might as well take them; they're only collecting dust down here,' Lewis said. 'Arden said there were treasures that he managed to smuggle out of Arcadia before he left that were powerful. Before I go after Edmund, we should probably have a look around for any weapons that might be useful.'

'What do you mean, "Before you go after Edmund?"? Thomas and Captain Caldwell asked in unison, stopping abruptly while Lewis continued on towards the dais.

'I've got to stop him from bringing Tristan back,' he said. 'Assuming I can get to this temple before them.'

'No,' Thomas said. 'You're not going there alone; if nothing else, George and Edmund would outnumber you, and that's assuming there are just the two of them.'

'They've already got enough of a head start; I might be able to travel through the leylines quicker on my own and beat them to the temple,' Lewis said, stopping at the base of the steps that led up to the dais and turning to face the pair of them.

'Lewis,' Thomas said calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder. 'If you go there alone, you could well be throwing your life away for nothing. You're allowed to ask people to help you; I'm sure Emily would say the same.'

'Well, she's not here, is she? he shouted. Thomas obviously hadn't been expecting him to shout as he took a quick step back, the hand that had been on Lewis' shoulder dropping to his side. It caught Lewis off guard as well, with a tear rolling down his cheek as all the bottled-up emotion from the last few days began to spill over. He slid down the pillar next to him, sitting on the step of the dais.

'Lewis,' Thomas said, gently placing a hand on his shoulder once more. 'What happened isn't your fault; you can't blame yourself. She has the most capable hands there are looking after her, but that doesn't mean you can throw yourself headlong into danger without a second thought.'

'You've seen Oldiron; if he comes back, this city could go the same way,' he said.

'I agree. I don't know how Arden knew or was able to foresee the moment when his message would need to arrive, but he did. If he was able to do that, then there must be a reason for it; he must have believed that you would be the one who could lead the stand against Tristan,' Thomas said. 'In this moment, it might be hard to see it, but charging through the leylines to confront them without any help might be the only sure way to guarantee that this city ends up going the same way as all those that opposed Tristan and Arcadia in the Precursor War.'

'Who is there to come with me, though? If the worst happens, then you need to be here to keep control of the city. Captain Caldwell, you have the city guard to think of. Who else do we trust enough for something like this except for Arthur, David, and Louise?'

'The city guard is more than capable with the other captains. Since you became king, I've mainly taken on the role as part of the house guard, so I'm much more removed from the city guard. They could continue to operate well enough in my absence,' Captain Caldwell said. 'I do agree that trust is likely a big issue here. Not only do we need the right people with us, but we also need the right story once people begin asking questions if they notice we've gone.'

'What about Emperor El-Farha? Thomas asked. 'Him and his delegation have already left for Oria; could we say that you've gone to continue negotiations in Oria now that Emily is in a stable condition?'

'That's good, as much as I can't stand that man,' Lewis said. 'You've stayed behind to run the day-to-day business while we're gone as well. Maybe that can buy us enough time to get to the temple, put a stop to this, and then get back. If it goes well, then no one ever needs to know what took place in the desert.'

'Agreed, the less people know about this, the better. We still need some extra hands to go with you, though. If you trust them, David and Louise are experienced guards,' Thomas said. 'Edward was with us when we found Koen; he already knows a lot of what's going on, so it would make sense to have at least one other precursor there. Are there any others that you trust?'

Olivia was the only other precursor that he had come across that he was sure he would be able to trust. 'No, at least not from the ones who are in the city now.'

'We could just pick a couple from the group that Edward thinks are the most capable?' Captain Caldwell suggested

Thomas shook his head. 'I do wish we could send a couple more, but I think we need to be discreet with what we're doing. I don't know much about the leylines, but I would think a larger group might attract more attention.'

'Just the five of us, then. Arthur should stay and help out on this end in case Emily wakes up,' Lewis said. 'Captain Caldwell, can you fetch the other three and bring them down here? I want to have a look at some of the other things down here before we go, in case there is anything useful.'

He nodded, Captain Caldwell turning and striding back the way they had come quickly, his armour clanking slightly as he went. 'I know I don't need to tell you to be careful, Lewis. But, please, if things are not going well, get out of there, even if you have to leave the others behind.'

'I'm not leaving any of them there,' Lewis said quickly.

'You heard what Arden said; stopping Tristan's return might not be possible at this point. We need you back if we're going to have to fight an all-out war,' Thomas said.

'Do you think he has a lot of followers?'

'Right now, probably not. Once word gets around, though, I'm sure there are many who will bend the knee and serve him. In all my years, I've rarely found a historical text that touches on Arcadia and Tristan, but some have suggested that he was able to create a horde of warriors from his fallen enemies and use them to fight his battles.'

'I didn't know it was possible to bring people back to life,' Lewis said, his own thoughts selfishly going straight to his father, who had been killed in what he now knew was not an accident while out hunting.

'What Tristan is said to have done is very different from bringing people back to life. To put it simply, it is forcing his will upon a corpse through necromancy,' Thomas said, a look of sheer contempt crossing his face. 'I know a little about precursor powers, beyond my own, of course, but there is so much that was lost from that era, both good and terrible.'

'Maybe some of it is hidden down here,' Lewis said as he looked around the cavernous room at all the trinkets and stacked bookshelves. If all the shelves were full, it could have restocked the castle library upstairs twice over and then some.

'That's certainly what I'm hoping. We might only have a handful of precursors at our disposal right now, but if we can find some old secrets to help them train, then we might be able to catch them off guard a little, if we need to fight, of course,' he said. 'I sincerely hope we never need to take up arms to defend the city, but it can never hurt to be prepared.'

'Do you think there's anything worth salvaging at the other end of the leyline?' asked Lewis, running a finger along one of the dusty shelves, trying to read some of the book spines.

'If the ruins have been lost for as long as they suggest, then it's anyone's guess. Be very careful what you touch, though. It might not have been inhabited for centuries, but that doesn't mean there aren't still traps or other things that are still active there that could do a lot of damage or worse.'

They both fell silent for a while, each lost in their own thoughts as they browsed the shelves. From time to time, Thomas would take down a book, clean off the cover, and flick through some of the pages before returning it to where he had picked it up from. Lewis had no idea what to expect. It felt like he had always been running towards something or away from it, and now that he stood around waiting for the others to return, he found it strange. He was anxious to get going, aware that with each passing minute Edmund might be getting closer to the temple and Tristan's return. On the other hand, he was worried about what exactly they would find within the leylines.

'You'll keep them safe, won't you? All the people, if things don't go as planned,

'Of course, you have my word,' Thomas said as he tucked a heavy, green leather-covered book under his arm.

'If they come for the city, get as many people out through the leylines as possible and take them to Oldiron,' Lewis said. He didn't know where else to suggest, but he was sure Oldiron would also have been built on a leyline, and, with a large sliver of luck, it might be somewhere that Tristan wouldn't think of looking, at least not immediately.

'Oldiron,' he nodded approvingly. 'They say it once had an enormous underground labyrinth there; it wouldn't be a bad place to regroup.' He paused, staring at one of the bookcases for a moment. 'I wonder, he muttered to himself.

'What are you wondering?'

'You said that in the vision Arden showed you, there were people fleeing who had been encased in crystal. That's like nothing I've ever heard of, but what if it was an old power?' he wondered out loud. 'It might be possible. Maybe not, but it's worth a try. If these books are from Arcadia and that era, then they might reference the power that was used to trap the people inside, and it could be reversible.'

Lewis blinked, stunned for a moment, as he watched Thomas trot down the aisle, running a hand along one shelf and then looking at the bookcase opposite. 'Do you think all those people could be saved?'

'Not sure, possibly. I expect it was an old power, though, likely something that wouldn't be simple, especially to have so many targets,' he said, Lewis struggling to keep up with him as he moved from one aisle to the next. Reversing it might not be so difficult, though. If it can be targeted at a handful of people at a time, then it would only be a matter of time before you were able to restore all of them to their pre-crystalized selves.'

‘Oldiron was full of precursors; it was what made the fall of the city so terrifying. This city was relatively new at the time, and everyone knew when the war started that it wouldn't stand much chance against Arcadia. The people here had planned to flee to Oldiron, but it fell before they even had the chance to leave.'

'What are we looking for? I can help you while we wait for Captain Caldwell to come back with the others,' Lewis said, following Thomas around yet another bookshelf.

'I'm not entirely sure; our best bet is probably books to do with metamorphosis. Failing that, there are powers that can trap and contain creatures or protect them from something,' Thomas said. Grabbing a chair from a nearby desk, he pulled it over to one of the bookcases and climbed on top of it so that he could pull down a thick black book that looked to have the best part of a thousand pages to it.

Lewis stood in awe as he watched Thomas flick through the pages, running a finger down each one as he scanned the text at lightning speed. 'How do you even manage to take anything in at that speed?' he asked. He could barely scan the spines of all the books on one shelf before Thomas had rifled through a quarter of the book.

'In my younger days, I spent a lot of time doing research in the Vault of Oria. They had the most magnificent library I have ever seen there, along with all the vaults where the wealthy used to hide their trinkets, amongst other things,' Thomas said.

Yet again, for who knows how many times in the last few days, Lewis found himself stunned by how little he knew about the people who were now his closest friends and most trusted allies. 'What were you researching there?'

'Lots of bits and pieces. The Precursor War, long-lost artefacts, unsolved mysteries, medicine, and gardening tips, to name a few,' he said, tucking another book back in its place. 'We're getting closer, I think.'

'Lewis, Thomas? Where are you two?' Captain Caldwell called in the distance.

'You keep looking; I'll go and find them,' Lewis said, only to find that Thomas had already disappeared around another corner, deeper into the bookshelves in the opposite direction of Captain Caldwell's voice.

'I'm just coming!' he called back, leaving Thomas to his books.

It took him a couple of minutes to find his way back out from among the bookshelves and onto the central aisle. Captain Caldwell stood waiting at the base of the dais with David, Louise, and Edward off to one side, each with their weapons sheathed and a backpack over one shoulder. 'Where's Thomas?' he asked as Lewis approached.

'He's doing some research into something,' Lewis said. 'Did you explain to everyone what we're doing and where we're going?'

Captain Caldwell nodded. 'As best as I could.'

'I'm not really sure how this is supposed to work; in the vision I had, Arden was looking at a book on the plinth; he said that would have directions on how to use the waypoint,' he said, taking the two steps up so that he stood beneath the golden dome with pinpricks of light shining through it. One by one, the other four followed him, gathering around the plinth as Lewis looked down at the dusty tome that had been left open.