Ari's POV:

Ari knew something was wrong.

Summer had told him to trust his instincts. She had said that since he was still a child, they were unclouded by prejudice and the ugly truths of life. Ari was doubtful. After all, he had been through something ugly before, so he didn't think his instincts were as unclouded as Summer thought.

They had been on their way to Ari's wing when a guard stopped to inform them that the king had summoned them urgently.

"Your Majesty, please," the guard said, waving his hand towards his uncle's study.

Ari eyed the guard. He didn't know him, and Ari knew all the guards in this part of the castle. Was he new? His grandmother didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Perhaps because she never paid much attention to the staff.

She swept into the study, her hand on Ari's shoulder urging him in as well. Two more guards waited inside. Two more guards he didn't recognize. Ari stiffened.

"Where's the king?" his grandmother asked, her eyes narrowing.

"He'll be right with you," one of the guards said, approaching with a rope. Grandmother Aurora took one step back and caught herself.

"What is that?" she asked.

The guard grinned, revealing yellow-stained teeth. He must've eaten too many sweets when he was a child.

"Just something to ensure your cooperation," the guard said.

Grandmother Aurora stood straight. She glanced around the room, her expression even more severe than usual.

"Stop this instant," she said in a voice that made the three guards falter. Ari called it her evil queen voice. She used it when she was especially angry.

"Let's not make this any harder, your majesty," the guard said, brandishing the rope like a coat he intended to drape over her shoulders.

Grandmother Aurora's hand squeezed Ari's shoulder. She glanced at him. Then threw herself at the guard, snatching the rope out of his hands and clawing at his face. The other guards uttered words Ari did not know but realized they must be bad, and jumped in to immobilize her.

Ari stood frozen with panic.

"Run, Ari! Hide!" his grandmother cried out amid the three guards.

Ari's legs unglued from the floor, and he sprinted out of the study. Run. Hide. Memories of long ago attacked his mind. Of his mom pushing him out of the carriage.

"Run! Hide! Don't come out until your father gets here!"

Ari's breath came in short puffs. The hallway outside his uncle's study turned blurry. He shook his head and sprinted.

"When you're in danger, the first thing to do is to calm down. I know it's difficult, but everything else depends on your first reaction. Calm down. Evaluate your options: escape or fight. In your case, since you're still a kid, escape is your best bet."

Ari scowled. Summer thumped him on the head. "Don't sulk. I'm trying to keep you alive. You're inexperienced and small, that means you can't fight opponents three times your size. But your size will come in handy when hiding. And you're already good at sneaking. Think with your head, not your pride."

Footsteps echoed. The loud struggle of his grandmother drew more enemies.

Calm down. Hide. Ari slipped under a decorative table in the hallway when footsteps grew louder. Three more men pounded down the hallway, heading straight to his uncle's study. Ari eyed the alcove across the hallway where a statue of a roaring lion stood on two hind paws, the two front paws clawing at the air.

"How difficult it is to subdue an old hag!" one of the guards cried out.

Ari shot from under the table toward the statue in the alcove. He stretched on his tiptoes and reached for the Lion's left paw. His finger slipped. Why couldn't he have grown taller?!

"You come here and tell me- Ow! You bitch!"

"Get the boy! He escaped!" One of the enemies cried out.

Footsteps pounded out. Ari jumped. His hand closed around the paw. Yes! He pulled down and twisted, pushing with his other hand on the paw fixed on the marble pillar. A section on the bottom of the wall slid aside. Ari dropped and rolled into the wall as the section slid back in place, missing his head by a hair.

He froze, his breathing loud in the sudden darkness. Dust slipped into his nose. He put his hand on his mouth and nose, stifling a sneeze. The footsteps grew louder right outside the wall. Ari's heart was beating so loudly he could hardly hear them.

"Did you find the kid?"

"No. But the guards outside the wing won't let him leave, so he must be hiding somewhere here."

"Go check with the guards first."

Footsteps echoed away. Ari eased to his feet, blinking against the darkness. Cobwebs stuck to his face and hair, and he heard the scuttle of some insect by his feet.

He usually had a candle whenever he ventured into the maze, but he had been through it enough times to know his way even blind. He put his hands against the rough walls and edged his way deeper. He needed to know what was happening and find help.

Ari checked on his grandmother first.

He felt his way toward his uncle's study, almost tripping a few times. He edged the brick aside, peeking from the gap between a painting frame and the wall. He could only see his grandmother's side. She was bound to an armchair with so much rope. Her hair was a mess, strands of it going wild around her head. A red mark covered her cheek, and blood dripped down her brow.

Ari never knew his grandmother could be so fierce. His father had told him that she could be wild, but Ari hadn't believed him. Now he did. He liked her more like this.

One of the guards pressed a rag against his cheek and mouth. He removed it to speak, revealing three long gashes running from his eye to his upper lip. The blood glinted almost black under the lantern lights.

"Where's the boy, Your Majesty?"

"I do not know."

"Now, listen here-"

"Are you daft?" his grandmother snapped, looking at the man the way she looked at dirt on her favourite carpet. "I've been here the entire time. How am I to know where he is? If he is smart enough- and he is- he will hide and only ask for help from someone trustworthy, and he would not trust anyone."

Ari perked up. It sounded like... she was speaking to him? Did she know he was there? But how? She must know about the maze in the castle walls, but Ari didn't realize she knew that he knew about it.

The guard spat blood to the side. He looked away when a new voice said. "Nothing. The guards outside didn't let anyone out, so he must still be here."

"Well, search every nook and cranny for the brat! It's already bad enough that that monster prince is out of the castle. The General will not be pleased if the kid is gone too."

The general. Ari's heart shrank, his throat burning.

He was hiding under a bush. His mother's unseeing eyes stared right at him as she lay on the ground, blood spilling from her throat and painting the grass red. A man came into view, standing over his mother's body. Ari could not see his face; only a hand heavy with rings came into view. The rings glittered in the sun.

"Did you find the boy?" the man had asked in an angry voice. Ari pressed his hand to his mouth. If he stayed still and quiet, they wouldn't find him.

"No, Sir. But-"

There was a thud and a groan. "You had one mission. To get rid of the three. I forgave you your miscalculation for not getting Leon, and now you lost sight of the boy as well?!"

"Sir. Please, I will- please, sir! Please!"

The man turned. The whisper of metal. A cry that was cut short. And a spary of blood on his mother's face.

"Get rid of his body," the man said, his voice sounding far away to Ari's ears. "And find that damn kid before the end of the day."

"If we don't and the kid speaks..."

"I doubt he stayed around long enough to see anything. But if he did, he better not speak a word to his father or they will both join the princess."

Ari had remained under that bush. Even when he wanted to pee, he stayed there and did it in his pants. Too scared to move. Too scared to call for help. Staring at his mother's pale face, even as flies buzzed around her and landed on the blood on her face. Even as the sun came low.

His mother would be disappointed he had wet his pants. But she would be more disappointed if he moved from his hiding spot. He had to stay put until his father came. That was what she said. And he had to keep quiet, so quiet that the man with the rings on his fingers knew that Ari would never speak about what he'd seen. So quiet no one would think he had seen anything. He had to stay quiet and away from his father so the man with the heavy rings on his hand knew he hadn't told him anything. He had to stay quiet.

Ari blinked, the memories flickering through his head even though he hated reliving them. The general. Was it the same general? Did he want to finish the job?

Ari put the brick back in place and went looking. He found his uncle and the queen in his office. The queen sat in a chair, her body bound to it by rope. Less rope than his grandmother. His uncle was leaning on the couch, his eyes closed, his wrists bound in rope as well. Blood dripped from a gash in his forehead. Ari swallowed. He stared at his uncle's chest, straining his eyes to see more clearly through the dim light and the narrow gap in the wall.

It moved. He was breathing. He wasn't gone. Not like his mother. Ari breathed out in relief. Three guards paced around the room. Were they waiting for his uncle to wake up?

His uncle was the king. If something happened to him, Ari's father would be king. If something happened to his father, Ari would be king. Ari didn't want anything to do with being a king. And he knew his dad liked Uncle Victor as king.

Uncle Victor was firm and often serious. But he liked joking sometimes. And he sneaked sweets to Ari without his father's knowledge. Ari's valet disapproved, but he couldn't hold the sweets away because they were from the king, and nobody denied the king.

Ari began thinking about what could be happening. One of the men from earlier mentioned something about his father not being here. So they wanted everyone from the royal family.

At least his dad wasn't here. He would come for him again, just like he'd done when his mother died. His father would come and save them all. Ari just had to wait, like his grandmother said.

But he couldn't stay still. Ari had to know where everyone was, in case his father needed his help.

"Assess the situation," Summer had said. "Know where every one of your enemies is. What are their goals and motivations? How do they affect you? Pay attention to details. Boyd used to say the devil is in the details."

Ari made his way through the entire king's wing. He counted twenty guards and three men he didn't recognize, one of them wearing a red earring in his left ear. And the general.

General Brodrick paced his uncle's library as two guards flipped through the drawers, his rings glinting under the lantern light. The glittering rings made Ari's chest tighten. His eyes seemed locked onto them. He couldn't look away.

Calm down.

Ari blinked, drawing strength from Summer's voice. He looked away, finding it easier to breathe again. The guards were looking for something. Just like the ones in the study and the office. But what?

Ari scanned the room, looking for hints. The devil is in the details. The men flipped through the books. Looking for something in the books. Whenever they found a loose piece of paper, they opened it to read it.

They were looking for a document.

A shadow shifted near the window. Ari blinked and focused his eyes. Not a shadow. A man! Ari hadn't even noticed him. It was as if he were part of the shadows. He had never seen anyone move like that. He was just like Summer!

"Can't you use that artifact to wake him up?" the general said. His voice made Ari shiver.

The shadow man spoke, his voice sounded like smoke would if it had a sound. "No. I cannot. Your men are the idiots for knocking him unconscious. And then getting the wrong artifact."

He sounded odd. Was he a foreigner?

"We have the right one, now, don't we?" The general snarled.

"Only because you threatened the prince's mother. Another lucky break since you had no idea where Prince Leon had been before."

Ari's stomach dropped. His father was here?

"My point is, do not blame this mess on me when the incompetence of your idiotic men is the sole reason," the shadow continued.

One of the guards searching the library dropped the book in his hand. "You Northern scum! Who are you calling idiots?"

The shadow smiled, a sharp flash of white teeth in the darkness. "I am only stating the obvious. The fact that being called an idiot bothered you more than being called incompetent proves my point."

"You-"

"Enough!" The general snapped.

Ari couldn't stay to hear anymore. Was his father really here? Did they catch him? He made his way through the dark, tight passages. Checking every room. In one of the sitting rooms, he found his valet, his personal guard, captain Holloway, the king's secretary and other men he didn't recognize. They were all sitting against the wall, but they weren't moving. Their eyes were open but they weren't moving. Ari swallowed, noticing the dark stains on their clothes. Blood.

They were dead.

Ari's hands shook, his eyes filling with tears. His valet was dead. He had been with him since before his mother died, and now he was gone as well.

Ari wiped his eyes against his sleeve. He had to move. He had to see if his father was really here.

He found him with his grandmother, bound to a chair. Five guards were in the room with them. Ari's shoulders slumped. If his father was here, who would save them? Ari's lungs felt like they were going to cave in. His father was going to die. His grandmother. His uncle and the queen. They were all going to die just like his mom did. Tears blurred his vision. He sat curled against the wall and put a hand on his mouth to stifle his sob. He shouldn't cry!

"Get up. If I were a real enemy, you would be dead."

"Assess the situation."

"I'm proud of you, son."

"Run! Hide!"

His mother's voice faded to the background. Ari took a deep breath. Hiding and running would be okay if he were the victim. Summer had said that. But he wasn't the only victim. Right now, he was the only one free enough to help his family. To help the kingdom.

Calm descended on him. Ari stood shakily to his feet. He had to find help. But who could he trust?

Screaming and fighting made him run toward the noise to investigate. In the hallway, Al and Ida stood back to back, their swords drawn. They were surrounded by four guards.

"What's the meaning of this?" Al asked.

Before he could answer, a guard stepped out of the room where his uncle was sleeping. The queen stood in front of him, his sword in front of her throat. Al and Ida froze.

"Drop your weapons. No need to make a fuss."

"What the hell are you doing, Raven?"

"What needs to be done. Drop your swords. Or do you want to be the reason the queen dies?"

He pressed the sword to the queen's throat. The queen's calm expression didn't falter, but her threat bobbed, cutting into the blade and drawing droplets of dark blood. Al and Ida's weapons clattered to the ground.

Al and Ida and his father were here. Ari had seen them leave earlier during the ball with Summer. If they were here, then Summer must be as well! She wasn't caught yet, she was too sneaky to be caught.

Ari left the king's wing in search of Summer. She was his only hope. Summer would know exactly what to do to save them.

***

Summer caught her punch before it struck Ari. She stared at the boy, standing in the darkness of an alcove. No, he stood behind the alcove. Part of the alcove's inner wall was open.

"Ari, you're okay," Summer breathed out. He looked fine. Summer could breathe easier now.

But Ari shook his head and mouthed, "help."

He tugged her into the maze and slid the wall in place. Summer blinked in a vain attempt to get used to the darkness. Ari tugged on her hand, and she let him lead the way through the tight maze. Cobwebs stuck to her hair. Mice and insects scurried around. And the stuffy scent of dust and mold stung her nose.

Ari finally stopped, and Summer could hear voices beyond the walls. A sliver of light spilled into the maze as Ari slid something aside. He urged Summer to peek. When she did, her heart dropped.

She had been right. Leon was in trouble. He sat bound in an armchair, on the nearby couch was his mother. Now Summer didn't like the dowager queen much, but the sight of the old woman bound with ropes and her hair in tangles around her head made Summer's heart hurt. She looked so exhausted and vulnerable, as if it took all her strength to maintain a straight back.

Summer scanned the room through the slit in the wall. Five guards here. All armed with swords that she could see, probably more that she couldn't. The only way in or out was the door and the window, which was closed, the curtains drawn. Three of the guards were looking through the drawers and every single document available.

How in the world could she help Leon? And where were Ida and Al?

They had succeeded in isolating the king's wing. No one could get in or out without their knowledge, and no one would suspect the guards on the entrance to the king's wing were up to no good.

Ari tugged on Summer's hand. He showed her all the other rooms in the king's wing. The king was passed out in an office, next to the queen. Five more guards were with them, three were searching through the office. What were they looking for?

Ari showed her the library where General Brodrick was sitting comfortably in a chair while his men scoured the place. He held something in his hand, the lantern lights glimmering in his rings. The Artifact.

A shadow shifted. Summer's eyes latched onto the man slithering along the wall. She had to blink twice to focus on him. It almost felt like he was part of the darkness. He was good. He was also looking at the artifact in the general's hands as if he wanted nothing more than to cut the man's hand for daring to sully it with his touch.

The man's hair was fair and long, held in place by a black tie. With his light hair and tall frame, one would expect he would stand out. Wrong. He moved like a liquiefied shadow. Summer had an inkling that man would pose the most trouble if she were to fight these goons.

The man with the red earring came into the room. Summer strained her ear as he leaned in to speak to the general.

"The youngest prince is nowhere to be found, sir. We're still combing the castle."

The general sneered, his hand tightening on the artifact. "Make sure to find him, or all my plans will be for naught."

Summer took Ari's hand and wrote with her finger: Ida?

Ari tugged on her hand and took her to a room where Al and Ida were tied, gagged, blinded and stripped of their attire down to their undergarments.

On the other side of the room, a stack of bodies was piled on top of each other. Summer's heart clenched. She recognized Captain Holloway, Ari's valet, and a few more guards she'd seen around.

"You think he'll let us have some fun with her before we end them?" one of the guards asked, nodding his head towards Ida. Summer's stomach roiled.

"Don't touch anyone until the general says so," his friend grumbled. "You can have your fun if he decides we kill them."

Summer clenched her fists. She had counted twenty guards, probably more outside, considering the general had this many. They were obviously waiting for the general to give them the okay. Otherwise, they would've killed Ida and Al as well. He was keeping Leon and the royal family alive for his own agenda. This place was also the room with the fewest guards. She had to start here.

Summer and Ari moved away until it was safe to speak. The darkness in the maze was almost absolute, how the boy knew his way so smoothly told her just how much time he'd spent here.

"I'm going to start with Al and Ida. You have to stay hidden. If they find you, their plan would be complete, and your father and uncle will die. Do you understand?"

She felt the shivers running down his body. Summer was sorry that the child had to go through this, that she had to tell him something like this. But this was his life and reality at the moment. They had to find a way to move through it.

They made a hasty plan, and he led her back to Ida and Al.

"Now," Summer whispered, and Ari pulled on some bricks in a specific order. The grating sound of rock against rock couldn't be muted, and Summer heard the guards' voices.

"What the hell was that?"

"It's coming from the wall."

"The wall?"

Ari strained and pushed a section of the wall out. Light spilled into the maze, illuminating the cobwebs, dust, and bare rocks. Ari slid deeper into the labyrinth, out of sight.

"Who's there?"

Summer stayed hidden, her hand tight on her knives.

Footsteps approached to the beat of her heart. They paused right at the entrance of the labyrinth, the man's shadow falling against the labyrinth's wall. Summer held her breath, and just when he stuck his head inside, she hit him with the knife with one hand and jerked him into the labyrinth with the other.

He lost his balance and crashed his front against the wall with a cry, but he didn't lose consciousness. He grabbed for her leg and pulled her into the light. The other guard was rushing over. Summer made the split-second decision. She stabbed the man's pulse in quick succession and turned to face the other. His sword glinted in the light. Summer dodged, but the space was tight, and the sword nicked her arm. Summer slipped inside the man's space so he couldn't use his sword, hugged him, and stuck both knives in his back. He swayed. Summer zipped behind him and gave a swift kick to the back of his knee. He fell on his knees, his blood darkening the back of his jacket.

"H-help-" the man began, trying to call for help. Summer kicked him in the throat.

Al and Ida were struggling with their bounds. Summer's knife slipped in her hand, slicked with sweat and blood. She cut Ida and Al's bounds. They removed their blinds and looked at her.

"I've never been so happy to see you," Al told Summer.

"And it took almost dying," Summer joked. She hurried back into the labyrinth, jumping over two dead bodies. Bodies she'd made the conscious decision to kill. She would deal with that elephant later.

Ari appeared, a spray of blood peppered his cheek. The guard was no longer breathing; his blood formed a quick puddle around him.

Summer jumped over the man and hugged Ari, hiding his view from the gory scene. However, he must've seen it all.

"Sorry," she whispered.

A knock sounded on the door of the room. They all froze.

"Hey, is everything alright there? The general told us not to kill anyone without his permission, you know that, right? Crawford?" a voice asked. Al took the dead guard's sword and pressed his back against the wall by the door. The door was locked from the inside.

Al made a face at Ida. Then he took a deep breath and called out in a voice unlike his own."It's all good, Rowan."

There was a pause. Then the man said, "Alright. The general should be here soon. He's still stuck searching for the Will. That damn northerner is of no use."

Al winced. "Yeah, I know."

Thankfully, the man decided not to chat any longer and left. Summer exchanged glances with Al and Ida. They had very little time.

Al quickly went to a corner of the room where their clothes and weapons were stashed.

"Cover the kid's eyes, for me, will you?" Ida said, pulling on her shirt and buttoning her trousers. Ari frowned but didn't object when Summer covered his eyes.

Ida went over to the man Summer had stabbed in the back. He was still alive, barely, and his throat looked like it was swelling to twice its size.

Ida kicked him in the balls. Once. Twice. Then stepped over him and went to the other man, half lying between the room and the maze, and kicked him in the balls as well.

"Um-I think that one's already gone, Ida," Summer said.

"I know," Ida said and kicked him again in the groin. "How does that feel now, jerk?"

Summer looked at Ari, to find that he had leaned his head aside and was peeking at Ida with wide, amazed eyes. He saw Summer looking and closed his eyes. Summer couldn't help but chuckle despite their situation.

They dragged the two men into the maze.

"Couldn't you have killed them with less mess?" Al grumbled.

"And he's back," Summer mumbled. Though he was right. The throat stab had left a shower of blood.

"Your Highness, do you know the way to the other rooms?" Al asked, fastening the dagger sheaths he'd found on the dead guards to his legs and arms.

Ari nodded, his eyes flickering to where Captain Holloway, his valet, and other guards were dead in a corner. Bitterness coated Summer's tongue. If only she had been earlier. If only...

His lips quivered, but he pursed them and nodded. Summer's heart broke for the poor boy. How would he recover from this again?

--- ---- ---

Thoughts? Did you enjoy Ari's POV?

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Much love <3 <3 <3

M.B.