UNFINISHED: Prince of Madness

∞ Chapter 15

"Will my family be okay?" the young prince asked as he squeezed the knight's hand.
"I cannot... be sure." the knight replied after some silence. The boy was thirteen, and old enough now to understand that real life was very different from a fairytale.
"But you will be alright? You'll stay alive long enough for me to come and find you?"
"My Prince... are you aware what will happen to you here?"
"You will put me to sleep, yes. I know."
"So..." the protector laughed, but it sounded forced and on the verge of breaking. "You'll have to wake up rather swiftly in order to save me."
"I will. You can seal me away here like you promised my father, but I will wake up when you need saving. Which I'm sure will be a considerable amount of years in the future. You can stay alive that long."
"Ha. I'll try."
The prince said his name and he froze, not because of the cold in the air but of the cold in his voice.
"You will seal yourself away too, won't you?"
The knight felt like breaking down. "Yes. It's part of the promise I made to your parents."
"What good will it do, though? Anatolia needs warriors! We can't afford to simply hide selected people to keep them safe-"
"I know, I know. I don't agree with it either. But the King's orders are final. Who am I to argue?"
"We can't!" The prince fell to his knees, the muffled sound of the impact against the half-melted ice echoing around the stone corridor. "We can't."
His guardian took him by the shoulders firmly. "We should respect your father's decision. He no doubt has some master plan in position already. So stop lamenting over it because you don't agree."
"...Of course. You're right." the prince stood and forced a smile, just as he did during combat lessons. Even now, it was truly angelic, truly a beacon of hope-
"Yes. The room is... near here now. Let's..."
The prince held the knight's hand tightly.
They were equals, now. Brothers. Soon, the student would rise above the master, to the throne that had been rejected by all the royal princesses who had come before him.
That day would come, the knight promised himself.
"Let's..."
Breathing had become difficult; the air, even though it had come through the coffin from the outside world, trapped itself in the young knight's lungs as he murmured the word.
"I'm sorry this isn't the most extravagant of coffins, my Prince. But it's been here for centuries, as a hiding place for... such situations."
"It's alright. After all, this isn't the end... is it?"
"I hope not." The sentence was no more than a whisper - a squeak. "I hope not."
The main cavern glittered with faint blue and white, a beautiful room decorated with stalactites and stalagmites that were almost too pure to be real. A fitting resting place for a prince, if it was to be his last after all.
"T... Take this." For some reason, the knight couldn't bring himself to finish the word, at first. As if some unknown force was compelling him to remain silent; because that way, he wouldn't cry. With hands he willed to be strong and unshaking, he pulled the pendant and its' white gold chain from his own neck.
"This... is it yours?"
"Yours now, my Prince. Though I regret having to place myself to rest so far away, it's too dangerous to attempt the rite without a container. And so I will provide a way for you to reach me, should you need it."
The pendant was an odd shape of shiny bronze, like a band of metal with a single twist in it.
"I've imbued it with a portion of my soul. So whether I am alive or otherwise, I'll..."
"Don't say that, please." The prince placed a hand on his teacher's shoulder. "You will survive."
There was pain and begging in those words, and sorrow and regret in the knight's heart.
"I'll remember the rite. Please get into the coffin at the far end, there."
By the far wall, there was an open vertical box made of steel and silver. The inside was lavished in grey velvet, but not much else. The boy did so, not so much as glancing back to him.
His guardian took a deep breath, hot tears now beginning to sting.
But he had promised himself not to cry.

"Goodbye," said the knight.
"May we meet again soon," said the prince.
The knight closed the lid and began to draw on the symbols, willing his hand and voice not to shake. 
There was a glow of light from the markings he had traced, and then a still quiet that was eerie and sad.

The knight and protector walked away, and did not look back.