Ifan suddenly woke up, letting out a short breath. It was still the middle of the night as his still dozing eyes looked at the glass dome ceiling where he could see the night sky with its glittering stars. The moon’s crescent glowed with its pale creamy light. 

Ifan realized he was still in the library. He must have fallen asleep while reading as the book was laying open on him. He rubbed his face with his hands to wake himself as he grabbed the book and managed to sit on the velvet sofa despite his tiredness and desire to simply go back to sleep.

The Elf Prince then delicately put the book on the small table in front of him. He should go back to his room. It wasn’t the first time he had fallen asleep on the library’s couch, but the maids would probably still be scared to find him here in the early morning whilst they’ll be starting their daily tasks. Again.

The embers in the fireplace had turned into coal and only the soft orange light of the crystal lit the place. Ifan then stood up, still feeling a little bit drowsy. He gently slapped his cheeks with both of his hands to help him stay awake and walked towards the massive wooden doors. He opened them slowly and closed them as softly as to make no sound, he didn’t want to alert the guards. The doors made a faint clic as they fully shut and headed towards his bedroom.

The Elf Prince went down the spiral marble stairs and reached the hallway leading to his room. The castle was so quiet at night, it was almost both frightening and enchanting. No one could tell this place was buzzing with people during the day. But as he walked, he noticed that he hadn’t seen any guards at all.

It was odd… Usually, he would have to sneak around the guards guarding the entrance of the hallway leading to his personal chambers and some would be patrolling the castle… 

Ifan started getting slightly anxious as he continued walking. Where were they?

He couldn’t help but slow his pace as he tried to find any sign of the royal guards. No one. Not even the night maids that would usually do some small chores. Not a single soul except his own was here. Did something happen that needed them to all gather at the same place? But it was unlikely as they would have sought for the Elf Prince to put him to safety.

Ifan was now fully awake, and he couldn’t lie to himself, he was getting anxious. This was not normal, and he had that strong heavy feeling in his stomach that told him something was wrong. His anxiousness turned into fright as he suddenly heard a loud scream coming from right after the corner of the corridor that led to his chambers’ doors.

Ifan jumped out of alarm as he turned his head towards where he just heard that horrible cry. What was that?! A scream? He wasn’t sure what to do. But then, the Elf prince heard more screaming, muffled this time.

Was there… someone in danger? Part of him wanted to run away and find anyone that could help. What could he possibly do if someone was indeed in danger? He was magicless and didn’t know how to defend himself.

But the other part of him couldn’t let that person suffer either. He needed to go and help, but he was not so foolish as to simply run over there, not knowing what could be waiting for him on the other side of the corridor. 

Despite his fright, he still managed to cautiously approach the corner of the hallway. Luckily for him, it was dark inside and he could hide easily behind a statue of an Elder Master Wizard Soveryn. He crouched and leaned himself forward to see what was going on.

Ifan heard indistinct voices, one male and one female. However, he couldn’t see very well as it was pitch black despite the moonlight shining through the tall windows. Suddenly, one of the people that were talking took a glowing crystal out and he could now see the two figures that were standing in front of his bedroom. No… there were… three?

As he squinted his eyes to be able to see better, they widened right back open as soon as he saw the corpse on the ground. A pool of blood was growing as seconds were passing around it. By the looks of the clothes, the person laying on the floor was a maid. He was able to distinct her agonizing twisted face as blood was pouring out of her bare chest, showing her markings.

Ifan suppressed a gasp coming out as he put a hand on his mouth, backing away from the view. His heart was pounding in his chest, his members trembled as he was frozen by fear. He had never seen a dead person before. All his body was shivering and he retained himself to not throw up.

That poor maid was probably one of the late workers and to have died in such a dishonorable way… was painful and saddening to witness. 

He needed to see who did it so the murderers could be arrested and punished properly. But as he silently approached back the corner, leaning again to have a better view of the two culprits, his eyes widened yet again in total shock.

They were… Those two people were… Royal guards! He couldn’t miss it, their silvery armor shimmered with the light of the moon. He would recognize it anywhere as he had seen it every day of his life.

Ifan’s breath was shaky, his heart beating even faster. Why did they kill a servant? Perhaps they were not even guards? Perhaps they were bandits that infiltrated the palace and stole royal guards’ armors?

But… no guards were patrolling the castle… Was this a coup? Were they here, in front of his chambers’ doors to... kill him?

But why would there be a coup? His father was respected and loved by all! He was a kind King! Or was it because of him…? Because he was the heir and people didn’t want him to ascend to the throne, so the only way they found to stop that from happening was to organize a coup?

So many questions were going through Ifan’s mind as he cursed himself for being magicless. He could have punished those murderers this instant, stopping them from attacking anyone else. But he couldn’t. Ifan bit his lower lip. He was completely powerless in this situation and he hated that.

But he couldn’t do anything for that poor woman that just died. Now, his father might be in danger. His entire family was in danger if what Ifan thought was right. He needed to get to them before the guards, or whoever they might be if they weren’t guards, get to any of them.

His father would know what to do. Ifan will have to get to his father’s personal quarters without being spotted. He felt like it was not a good idea to thrust the guards if he ever encountered them. 

As he was about to leave, he overheard the two guards standing in front of his chambers conversing. They were loud and didn’t seem to care if someone heard them at all.

“By the Gods! Did you really need to do that to her?” the female guard spoke.

“He said no witnesses. She saw us, I had to kill her.” The male guard answered back.

“Yeah, I know that. But we don’t have time for that. We need to find the Prince since he’s not in his bedroom.” She retorted back, although she sounded unfazed by what the man had done to that poor maid, just annoyed that they lost precious time.

“Yeah, yeah!” the male said nonchalantly. “Where do you think the brat is?”

“I think he’s in the library. He told us that the Prince might be there if he wasn’t in his room.” The female told.

“Let’s go then and get this done with.” The male guard replied.

“We are just here to capture him, remember.” The woman warned her accomplice. “He instructed us to deliver the Prince to him.”

“Yeah, I know that! I’ll try not to harm our precious, pretty Prince.” He sniggered. “How hard could it be? He has no magic anyway.”

“Let’s just go. He doesn’t like to wait, and you know it.” The female simply said as they both started walking towards where Ifan was hiding.

He needed to think fast otherwise they would find him! This was an empty hallway and there was not much furniture for Ifan to hide behind. Only the tall windows with their curtains… The curtains!

But he needed to be quick as they approached the corner. He silently ran towards the closest window and hid behind one of the tall blue curtains. They weren’t closed, so there was a heap of fabric that allowed him to hide his shape easily.

The guards were approaching, he didn’t move a single muscle, he didn’t even breathe.

“Do you think the others have already brought the rest of the royals to the throne room?” the male guard asked as they passed where Ifan was hiding.

“Let’s hope not. Imagine how he’ll get mad at us for being the last one to get back.” The female guard nervously chuckled.

“Yeah… Let’s just go and (…)”

Ifan wasn’t able to hear the rest as they turned the hallway from where he came from. He waited a moment before moving, he had to be sure they were gone. And once he was sure, he let out a sharp gasp as he had been holding his breath for some time now.

He planned to get to his father, but now he was worried sick at what he just heard from the two guards. They weren’t alone and their goal was to capture his entire family. He knew Athelan and his parents could defend themselves, however, his little siblings couldn’t. He had to get to Ilithya and Kolthen’s room before they would. He prayed to the Gods that those murderous guards hadn’t reached them before he did.