corlis
In the back alley, between dark walls suffocated by the stench of mold and dampness, the shadow of Nile garow appeared, not as a knight in armor, but as a specter walking the edge of caution.
He crept with precise steps, balancing lightness and speed, as if the ground itself might become an enemy if he made a sound too loud. It wasn't just about avoiding detection. he moved with the deeper awareness that he no longer had the right to fail. Every step carried his weight and the weight of those depending on him.
Every muscle in his body was tense, not just from anxiety, but from the barrage of scenarios running through his head: vortex, the throne, blood, the prince, his family behind bars, everything. There was no room for hesitation, and nothing was certain anymore, except that a single mistake could destroy it all.
He reached an old underground waterway, a narrow passage barely wide enough for his body, filled with the stench of mold mixed with old lantern oil. He crawled through cautiously, hand on his sword, eyes alert to every faint light reflection, ears attuned to the trembling of dripping water.
Then he stood before a rusty door wrapped in silence, its frame like a forgotten piece of the city's history, one that only opens on nights when hope returns either to flee or to fight.
He reached out and didn't hesitate. He pushed it slowly, the sound of rusted iron shifting like a blade slicing through the curtain of time.
He entered the narrow corridor of the prison cells beneath the palace. The light there was dim. Moisture seeped from the walls, and the cold crept under the skin.
A strange stillness filled the place. A lone lamp at the end of the hallway cast a flickering shadow on the stone walls. Two guards stood with boredom near the iron door. One, a weary-faced teenager, was yawning. The other, older, was chewing something loudly.
Nile emerged from a side corridor, slipping from the darkness like a piece of shadow. He picked up a small stone and threw it toward the end of the hall. It hit the wall with a faint thud. The younger guard turned quickly, "Did you hear that?"
The older one muttered in annoyance, "Maybe a rat. Get back in position." But the boy wasn't convinced. He slowly approached the source of the sound.
Nile took advantage of his curiosity and slipped behind him with deadly silence. Once he was within arm's reach, he spun swiftly and struck with his elbow just below the skull.
The blow hit just behind the ear, where the nerves are weakest. The guard collapsed silently, Nile had caught him before he fell and gently laid him on the ground.
The older guard sensed the danger too late. When he turned, he saw Nile coming at him, fast. A punch to the gut, just below the rib cage. The man's breath was cut off.
Before he could scream, he took a palm strike to the throat, followed by a blow to the side of the head. He collapsed, gasping like a dried-out fish, then went completely unconscious. Nile whispered, "I'm sorry."
From inside the cell, Clara's voice whispered, "Did you hear something?" But Lion, who had been staring at the ceiling for minutes, said calmly, "No… that's not just something… that's Nile." And Nile stood before his family, separated only by iron bars. Lion spoke as he stepped toward him, "Finally stepped out of the shadows?"
His mother was the first to approach him, teary-eyed, placing her hands on his face as if to confirm he was real, not another illusion in this nightmare. Clara, with a trembling whisper: "Nile … you're alright."
Nile nodded, then asked, "Are you all okay?" His mother replied quickly, gesturing to the others: "We're fine… but what happened? They're accusing you of assassinating the queen! How did this happen?"
Nile ran a hand through his damp hair, exhaled, and said, "I'll explain everything later… right now, we need to get out of here. Immediately."
The silence in the cell shattered like a hammer blow on a brittle wall. Lion garow spoke, his voice dry as stone, not hesitant, but sharply rejecting, like a knife: "We're not going anywhere."
Nile froze. He turned slowly, as if the movement itself was unbearable. "Father?" he said, his voice more uncertain than hopeful.
Lion glanced over his family like a general counting what he'd lost and what remained : "We committed no crime. Running now is a betrayal of the truth, an implicit admission of guilt. If I am to die, let it be standing… not crawling in the shadows. We are the garow family."
Nile replied immediately, his voice carrying a trace of barely contained emotion: "Now is not the time for principles, Father… they won't give us a trial, won't give us a chance. This is all a performance. vortex knows we're corlis's last hope, that's why he wants us gone."
Lion stared at him for a moment, then said, "So, Prince Corlis is safe."
"He's secure," Nile replied, then added in a low voice, "But not for long."
Lion slowly raised his hand to his temple, as if trying to catch his thoughts before they slipped away. He pressed his fingers against his temple, closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and spoke with labored words: "We heard vortex's version… a play woven from one side only. But you still haven't told us your version… what really happened that night?"
Nile sighed like someone diving into an unseen depth, then stepped closer to the bars, resting his forehead on the cold iron: "It was a distorted moment… a sensation of emptiness. I was near the Queen. Suddenly… I saw nothing. As if the world went dark for a second. Then it came back… and the arrow had already pierced her neck.
I didn't understand what happened. It all happened in a blink. Like someone had stolen my sight."
Lion, torn between doubt and astonishment, spoke in a faint whisper beneath his heavy breath: "You mean you were literally blind for a moment?"
Nile nodded and lowered his gaze to the ground. His voice came out wounded, like an untreated injury: "I don't know what happened. But if I had stayed alert… if I hadn't lowered my guard, maybe… I could've saved her. Maybe none of this would've happened. I was a fool. vortex hinted at it in front of me, and I ignored it."
Lion paused for a moment, then said in a calm tone, though not without sternness: "Self-blame changes nothing now. What's done is done.
But tell me… the guard who was killed, was it really you who ended his life?"
Nile raised his head, fire still burning in his eyes, and said: "The Queen's guards were part of the betrayal too. They had sold their loyalty to vortex… and tried to kill the prince right in front of me."
Lion garow stroked his beard calmly, his fingers moving slowly like someone trying to piece together an old puzzle. His eyes were half-closed, as if diving into a scene no one else could see.
A moment of silence passed, as though the whole place had paused to listen to him. He finally spoke, in a quiet but piercing voice: "Now I understand."
He lifted his head, his eyes fixed on an unseen point in the void. He added: "I kept wondering… why did vortex use a Hierarchy arrow specifically? An arrow known to be linked to House garow. If he wanted to frame us, this was a blatant mistake, no sane person would use a weapon that directly incriminates himself."
He paused, dropped his hand from his chin, and his eyes wandered slowly as if reanalyzing the details. Then he spoke with more certainty, as if the idea had solidified in his mind: "It's deeper than that. vortex didn't just want to kill the queen… he wanted to paint a visible rift within House garow. He framed it so that Nile, the family's son, appeared to be the one who killed the queen, and blamed the family by using the Hierarchyarrow."
He took a slow breath, then continued: "But the guards ruined the plan. And that's why… he kidnapped Corlis, as his last card."
"He was trying to make Nile look like the mastermind behind all of this, and House garow just a victim of Nile garow's coup."
Nile furrowed his brows, his eyes like deep hollows in his weary face: "That doesn't sound coherent. Why would he want to get rid of only me, when he could've wiped out the entire garow family?"
Lion replied: "Because he believes House garow is still bendable. He thinks he can still use us, convince us to join his side… and he wants to pin the blame on you alone, because you're the most convenient scapegoat, due to your closeness to the prince."
Lion's face formed into an expression of puzzled thought. He furrowed his thick eyebrows and said: "But what I still can't grasp… how did vortex get his hands on the Hierarchy arrow? No one knew where it was except me. And the vault I placed it in can only be opened with my eyeprint. The vault hasn't been broken, it's still intact. So how did he do it?"