It was getting late in the afternoon when Lewis suggested that it might be a good idea to go and speak to Amanda again. Since they had left The Red Clover, they had spent a couple of hours wandering the streets of Eraea searching for Thomas. To their frustration, they hadn’t seen any sign of him since he had disappeared earlier in the day.

‘I don’t think we should do that,’ Emily said at his suggestion.

‘Why not?’ Lewis asked, turning to her.

‘He’s right there,’ Emily muttered, nodding her head in the direction of the garden on the other side of the street. Looking around, Lewis recognised the old man who had hurried out of the pub. Currently, he was busy working in the garden and hadn’t noticed them watching him.

‘I don’t believe it,’ Lewis muttered, shaking his head. ‘Let’s do this.’

Together, they walked across the street, stopping beside the waist-high white picket fence. ‘Excuse me,’ Emily said loudly. ‘Are you Thomas Vandemark?’

‘Who wants to know?’ He asked gruffly as he looked up from the shrub he was trimming with a pair of garden shears, his eyes fixing on Emily. ‘It’s you.’

‘I was wondering if we could talk to you for a minute,’ Emily said quickly.

‘So that good for nothing brother of mine finally told you, did he? Thomas asked as he leant on the spade that was stuck in the ground next to him. ‘He isn’t here right now.’

‘Told me what?’ Emily asked, her eyebrows crinkling in confusion.

‘Why are you here if it isn’t for him then?’ Thomas asked, the same confusion mirrored on his face.

‘Your brother, Edmund, sent us,’ Lewis said.

‘I want nothing to do with him. Sorry, I can’t help you,’ Thomas said as he turned away, heading towards his house.

‘It’s about The Prophecy of Days!’ Emily shouted after him.

At the mention of the prophecy, Thomas stopped in his tracks. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he replied after a moment in which he seemed to compose himself.

‘Yes, you do,’ Emily insisted desperately. ‘Sebastian would have told you. I know it.’

‘Well, why don’t you get him to help you then? Thomas said bitterly. ‘He always likes getting involved in everything without stopping to think about the consequences for everyone else.’

‘We can’t. He’s dead!’ Emily shouted after Thomas’ retreating figure. ‘Please.’

‘Sebastian’s dead?’ Thomas asked quietly.

‘He was poisoned,’ Emily said. ‘Please, you’re our last hope.’

‘Alright,’ he said reluctantly as he walked back over to them. ‘What do you need from me?’

‘The crown,’ Emily said. ‘We don’t know how to get into the tomb. Edmund thinks that Sebastian told you how to do it.’

‘I can’t tell you that,’ Thomas said. ‘If Anthony is now the heir to the throne, you would be better taking your chances with the prophecy.’

‘Anthony isn’t the heir to the throne. I am,’ Lewis said quietly.

‘Who are you?’ Thomas asked bluntly, his eyes leaving Emily for the first time.

‘My name is Lewis Hargrove,’ he replied.

‘I thought I saw a resemblance,’ Thomas muttered under his breath. ‘Your name isn’t Lewis Hargrove, it's Lewis Vandemark. You’re Dominic’s son, aren’t you?’

‘You knew my father?’ Lewis asked.

‘Of course, I spent more time with him than his own father did,’ Thomas said bitterly. ‘Then one day he disappeared off with that woman, Kathrine, I think her name was.’

Before Lewis could say anything, there was the sound of running footsteps behind them. Turning around, they found a boy about their age running towards them, his brown hair tinged with auburn that flashed in the fading sunlight.

‘Mercenaries! he breathed heavily as he skidded to a halt beside Lewis and Emily.

‘Where?’ Thomas asked, moving over to the boy.

‘In town,’ he replied. ‘They were heading this way.’

‘Do you know why they’re here, Arthur?’

‘No idea,’ Arthur said, holding his side. ‘Apparently they’re looking for someone, going from house to house.’

‘This is your fault,’ Thomas said, pointing accusingly at Lewis and Emily as he rounded on them. ‘I’ve spent the last twenty years here without any trouble, and then you show up with mercenaries chasing you.’

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‘We don’t know anything about any mercenaries,’ Lewis insisted, looking to Emily for help.

‘I don’t care!’ Thomas shouted. ‘Get out of my sight. I don’t want to see either of your faces again!’

With that, Thomas turned and stormed into his house, leaving them standing on the other side of the fence with Arthur. ‘I think it would be best if you left,’ he said apologetically. ‘If mercenaries are looking for you, then it’s best they don’t find you.’

‘I’m sorry, we didn’t know,’ Emily said as Lewis pulled her away from the fence.

‘I know,’ Arthur replied, opening the wooden gate and heading towards the house after Thomas.

‘What do we do now?’ Emily asked, glancing at Lewis as he guided her back down the street the way they had come. Before he could reply, there was a scream from somewhere nearby.

Slowly, a column of smoke began drifting skyward from behind the row of houses opposite them. ‘The Red Clover,’ he said as he took her hand, pulling her down an alleyway between two of the houses. ‘We should be safe there.’

The words had barely left his mouth when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Pulling her aside quickly, a huge axe just missed them, striking the stone wall next to them. In front of them, a huge man dressed in all black pulled the axe back for another swing, the look in his dark eyes just as wild as his black hair and beard.

‘Run! Lewis shouted, pushing her ahead of him as he dodged the second swing. Suddenly, he felt like he was back in Tristan again. The only difference this time was that he had no idea where he was going.

They had almost reached the end of the street when two figures in black appeared, blocking their escape. ‘Down here,’ someone called from Lewis’ right. Standing in the shadows was Arthur. Pulling Emily into the alleyway, it wasn’t until they were a few feet from Arthur that Lewis saw that he wasn’t alone.

Standing behind him, attempting to melt into the surroundings, was an elderly woman. At her shoulder was Amanda. When she saw Lewis, she stepped forward. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Mercenaries,’ Arthur replied, despite the fact that she had aimed the question at Lewis. ‘We need to get out of here,’ he said when there was a shout from the street Lewis and Emily had been running down.

‘Where do we go?’ Amanda asked, glancing at the elderly woman. There was no chance that she would be able to run anywhere.

‘What about The Red Clover?’ Lewis asked. ‘That was where we were heading.’

‘The Red Clover is gone,’ Amanda said softly, placing a hand on Lewis’ arm, a gesture that Emily didn’t miss.

‘That’s a shame,’ Emily muttered harshly.

‘That place is like my home,’ Amanda said angrily, turning to Emily.

‘That’s enough,’ Lewis and Arthur said together, Arthur pulling Amanda back as Lewis put an arm across Emily to stop her from moving towards Amanda.

‘Where do we go?’ Lewis asked, turning to Arthur as he pushed Amanda back into the shadows.

‘The Council Chambers should be safe,’ Arthur said. ‘I saw people heading in that direction.’

‘Let’s go,’ Lewis said, turning to Emily.

‘We’ll find our own way,’ she said, her eyes focused on Amanda.

‘There they are!’ shouted someone behind them. Spinning around, Lewis found the axe-wielding man standing at the end of the alleyway.

‘Go,’ Arthur said quickly, pushing Amanda and the elderly lady ahead of them as he turned to Lewis and Emily. ‘We don’t have time to fight about this.’ Without a word, Lewis grabbed Emily’s arm, pulling her along as he hurried after Arthur.

Reluctantly, Emily allowed him to pull her along. ‘What are you doing?’ Lewis demanded, turning to her when she resisted. ‘Would you rather we got caught here?’

‘Fine,’ she snapped, pulling her arm out of his hand and setting off after Arthur.

‘Come on! Arthur called from the end of the alleyway. By the time they caught up with him, Amanda and the elderly woman had disappeared from view.

‘Where did the other two go?’ Lewis asked as Arthur beckoned them after him.

‘They went on ahead,’ he said, breathing heavily as they ran through the streets.

Just as they were reaching the end of a narrow street, he stopped. Grabbing them both roughly, he threw them against the wall of a house in the shadows. Before Lewis could ask what he was doing, half a dozen people dressed in all black ran past the end of the street, a variety of weapons glinting in the sunlight.

‘I don’t know what they want with you, but I doubt it would be a good idea to find out,’ Arthur said quietly as he released them.

‘Why are you helping us?’ Emily asked. ‘Thomas wouldn’t.’

‘I’m helping anyone I find out here. No one deserves what the mercenaries will do to them if they get caught,’ Arthur said. ‘Let’s go.’

Pausing at the end of each new street, Arthur would check that the coast was clear. On more than one occasion, they were forced to duck into the shadows as a group of mercenaries ran past.

‘Where is this place we’re going?’ Emily asked quietly as more than a dozen mercenaries ran past.

‘Do you see that stone arch in the hillside at the other end of the street?’ Arthur asked.

Before he got a chance to look at what Arthur was pointing at, Lewis heard the sound of a boot scuffing on the ground behind them. Whirling around, he pulled the bow from his shoulder. The arrow was already notched and pulled back before he realised it was aimed at Thomas’ chest.

‘Watch where you point that,’ Thomas said angrily, pushing the bow down towards the ground. Lewis hadn’t even had a chance to apologise before Thomas breezed past him. ‘What are you waiting for?’

‘A dozen or so mercenaries just went past,’ Arthur replied without looking away from the street.

‘Where’s Amanda? I couldn’t find her at The Red Clover.’

‘She was with us for a little bit, but I sent her on ahead with old Mrs. Addison,’ Arthur said, beckoning for them to follow him as he stepped out into the street.

Despite throwing a dirty look in Lewis and Emily’s direction, Thomas didn’t make any comment as they followed him and Arthur down the street. Returning the arrow to his quiver, Lewis shouldered the bow once more. Up ahead, he could see a stone archway that had been cut into the side of the hill. This must have been what Arthur had been pointing out to Emily.

‘It feels like we’re back in Tristan,’ Emily muttered to him as she glanced behind her.

‘I know,’ Lewis agreed. He had been thinking the same thing since he first heard Arthur talk about the mercenaries. Surely the mercenaries couldn’t have been sent by someone in Tristan. No one knew where they were now. It wasn’t as if anyone they had met since they had arrived in Arcis knew who they were.

‘Get inside,’ Thomas said gruffly, pushing Lewis and Emily through the archway after Arthur.

For a couple of minutes, they followed a narrow tunnel in silence until the rock walls opened out into a huge room. Before Lewis could ask Arthur or Thomas where they were, both had disappeared among the crowds of people.

‘I know this place,’ Emily whispered as they were buffeted aside by a group of women as they hurried past.

‘How?’ he asked. In reply, she just pointed upward. They stood beneath a huge glass ceiling, sunlight filtering through what looked like a layer of moss. ‘This is the place in your vision?’

‘I think so,’ she replied. ‘It’s more crowded than it was when I saw it, though.’

‘We need to find Thomas. Did you see where he went?’ Lewis said.

‘No,’ she said with a shake of her head. ‘I thought he was right behind you.’

‘I thought he was,’ Lewis sighed as he wandered forward into the crowd, Emily following him closely. ‘We might as well start looking.’