Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“She is going to kill you.”

“Shut up, Rowan.”

“No, seriously man, she is going to brutally murder you when she finds out.”

“I said SHUT UP!”

“Okay, okay. I heard you.”

We look at the horrific scene in front of us: three, small, innocent children dancing around a broken vase. They didn’t mean to break it, of course, and they didn’t know its family significance, but my mother is going to be furious if she has to vacuum my fathers ashes out of this expensive rug. Shit.

“What are we going to do,” I whine pathetically. 

“I dunno, Rix. They aren’t my three dead siblings I'm supposed to be watching,” he replies sarcastically. I roll my eyes. Rowan has been my best friend since we were kids. His father was second in command to mine, as he is to me, though we’ve always treated each other like equals. 

“Let's get them out of here. Maybe we can pass them off to Alice for a while and come back to clean this up,” I suggest. Alice is a close friend of my mother’s who looked after me and my siblings when we were younger. 

“Good idea,” Rowan nods, “Cyrus, Sable, Fraise! Lets race to find Miss Alice!” As he ushers them down the hall, the kids giggle and squeal. I look down at the urn, wishing I could undo time. The triplets probably don’t even remember my father. They were so young when they died. 

Luckily, I still get to have them around. That's the thing about the Catacombs Court: The people you love will die, but they will never go away. The only downside is you can only see them the way they died, like they are stuck in one form forever after death. It’s like ghosts, almost. A person's physical form could die, but you will still see them running errands or selling bread on the street months later. Travelers and strangers never stick around because the prospect of the dead being visible among the living is quite unsettling for most. Especially if that particular member of the dead is forever stuck with an axe in their head or a knife in their chest. 

I cannot dwell on the fact that I will never see my brothers and sisters grow up, though. Right now, I need to find a way to fix this carpet. ASAP.

“Honey? Did I hear a crash in here? Is everything alright?” Shit.

“Yup! Hi mom! Everything is completely okay in here! No problems at all! Don’t you have some advisoring stuff you need to be doing? Like, elsewhere?”

She isn’t buying that. She peeks over my shoulder and sighs. “What did I tell you about letting those troublemakers in the throne room? Erix, you’re going to be king soon. If you can’t watch over three little kids, how can I entrust our kingdom to you?”

“I know, Mom. I’m sorry” 

“Save what you can. Set it on my dresser and meet the rest of us for dinner.”

~~~~~~~~

The trees swish menacingly as I storm away from the castle, tears burning the backs of my eyes. “Erix! Wait up!” Rowan is rushing to keep up, putting everything he’s got into those little legs of his. “Hey. I know it’s a lot of pressure on you, but–”

“Rowan,” I gasped and collapsed then and there. He pulls me close to him and lets me cry. 

When I can finally breathe again, I become aware of my surroundings. Acutely aware. My head on his lap, his fingers running methodically through my hair, my frame lanky compared to his. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Rowan whispers.

“I just… I don’t even know. I don’t want to be king. Not after what happened to my dad.”

“That’s understandable. I’m assuming you haven’t voiced this to anyone?” 

“Mmph,” I sigh.

“Your mom would likely be understanding. She knows how stressful it is to lead. She–“ 

“She’s dying, Rowan. She doesn’t let her people know it. She’s so strong, but she needs someone to lead when she can’t anymore.”

“Damn. I’m so sorry, Rix. We’ll figure this out together. Like we always do.” He shifts to stand and pulls me up with him. “C’mon. Your mom will get worried if you skip dinner.”

Chapter Text

It's eerily quiet at dinner. Only the clink of forks and the clanks of glasses can be heard. I know the food is good, savory and warm, but I can’t taste anything. A sharp rap on the door drags me out of my thoughts.

“Queen Atlan,” the messenger kneels, “There has been a disturbance in the tombs. Please come quickly!”

She pushes away from the table and hurriedly scurries out the door with us scrambling after her. “Is anyone hurt? Is my husband alright?”

“Everything's fine, Your Majesty. We just had quite a scare. Frankly, we don't know what to make of it.”

“What's ‘it’?” I asked, pushing for more details, hoping to counteract the uncanny ominousness of the situation.

“We don't really know…” the guard responds shakily.

Our words echoed in the dank tunnels under the palace. The stony walls threw our voices back at us and twisted them to shreds. Every drip of condensation, every footfall or hiss of creatures in the shadows, everything could be heard.

“Just a warning, Your Highness. This might be a bit disturbing.”

“Open. The. Tomb.” My mother is not one for stalling and games.

With great strain, the guard heaved open the heavy stone door. My mother shoved her way through and gasped. I stepped in moments later and could see why.

The engravings glowed a chilling pale blue. How could someone have scrawled this omen in my fathers crypt unnoticed?

Two will go. One will return. They shall find me in the rubble of fate and consequence. Restore the era of tranquil war.

“WHO DID THI-”

“Mom!” She collapsed into a coughing fit, spatting blood into the dirt. “Mom, are you okay? Guards! Take her to her room to rest.”

“No. I need.. to find out… what happened.”

“I’ll figure it out, mom. You need to rest.”

~~~~~~~~

“Two will go. One will return?” Rowan sighs, “This sounds hella ominous.”

“Who had the audacity to vandalize my dads grave? Someones got some balls.”

“Have you considered it wasn’t someone's doing? We do live in a kingdom of dead people magic. It could’ve been some sort of supernatural sign or prophecy.”

“It was my dad’s crypt. Could it have been him talking to us? Could he… still be here?” In the Catacombs Court, the dead walk. The only exception is my dad. When he died, he didn’t come back like everyone else. I watched as his soul floated in the air and disappeared. I held his hand as it disintegrated under my touch. But his ghost never returned. It was like he was taken. Can you kidnap the dead?

“If it really is your dad talking to us, then maybe he’ll give us another message. Tell the guards to report to us immediately if something happens.” Leave it to Rowan to keep a clear head when my mom has an episode and my dead dad speaks. “Lets rest. We can find the best course of action in the morning.” He gives my hand a little squeeze and leaves for his room.

Chapter Text

               It’s been three days with no new messages from the crypt. Three days. Even Rowan doesn’t know where to go from here.

               My mothers slow recovery has the whole kingdom panicked. We decided to keep the message under wraps for now, but the word got out anyways. Likely one of the guards has a wife with a pension for gossip.

               Two will go. One will return.

               The message haunts me. It has to be about me, right? Who else would my dad be talking to. Surely he wouldn’t send my mother away. But who would the other person be? Who would I have to sacrifice?

               Rowan bursts into my room without knocking. “I brought you some food,” he says, chucking an apple at my head. “The cook said she hadn’t seen you eat in a while.”

               “Ugh. How am I supposed to eat when I haven’t figured anything out yet?! How am I supposed to explain to my mom that I have no idea how to fix this? I just-” I feel sick to my stomach.

               “Hey. Erix. No one is expecting you to fix this. No one knows what’s going on. This isn’t all on you. Just breathe.”

               “But it is, Ro. It has to be me in the prophecy. I have to figure this out.”

              “But you can’t do anything until we have more information. I know it’s stressful, but let’s take a bit to clear our heads, yeah?” Rowan puts a gentle hand on my back, comforting me. “Come on. Let’s take a walk. Bring your apple.”

~~~~~~~~

In the crypt: 

Rustling

Tap tap tap

Whoosh

Pale blue light

The dead are awake

The dead are trapped

Must

Send

A message

Tap tap tap

Whoosh

Glow

Chapter Text

The messenger arrived with news from the crypt. Another message. Another sign. Erix practically dragged me down there as soon as he heard. Once again down the dank hallway we travel, this time leaving his mother behind, not wanting to risk another episode. Once again, we pull open the hefty stone door, revealing the pale blue cast over the walls of the tomb. 

“A map?” Erix wonders aloud. “I guess that explains where I’m supposed to be going.”

“It looks kind of..”

“Familiar? Right?” he finishes my sentence.

“Like from…”

“THE BOOK!”

He grabs my hand and takes the stairs two by two until we reach the library. He scours the bookshelves, muttering "where is it; where is it!” Eventually he pulls a dusty book of fairy tales and folk stories off the shelf.  He frantically flips through the pages, dislodging ages of grime in the process, finally arriving at an ink drawn map in the back of the book.

“It's the map from the Elmridge Valley story, remember?” he beams, “my dad used to read it to us all the time!”

“But why would that map be relevant? It's not real. How does that help tell us where to go?” I can’t help being frustrated. Yet another pointless clue. Of course it would just be some made up reference to a storybook. 

“But didn’t you see? There was an extra label on the map in the crypt. The edge of the map where the forest starts was labeled Thornwick Hollow . As in the forest Thornwick Hollow at the edge of our kingdom!”

Our kingdom. Not gonna think about that right now. I grab a scroll with a map of the kingdom off the shelf and place it next to the map in the book. Sure enough it lines up. The place from our favorite folk tale might not be so made up after all. 

“That's it! I have to travel through the forest to complete my dads quest!” He suddenly looked dejected. “ Two will go, one will return… Who am I supposed to take, Ro? How can I knowingly take someone along knowing that they won’t make it back?”

“Erix, you know I'm going. I'm not letting you go alone. I'm with you, okay.”

“NO!” he objects, “your mum won’t allow it! She knows the prophecy. I'm not sacrificing you!”

“You're my best friend. I'm going. You don't seriously expect me to let you go on an adventure without me, do you?” He gives me a knowing smile, remembering the days when we ran amuck, pretending to go on grand escapades around the castle grounds. 

“Okay…” he relents. “That's a lot of information for one day. We can discuss with the queen in the morning and start preparations after that.”

We retire to bed, leaving everything unsaid. One will return. One will return. One will return.