Chapter 2 - THE FORBIDDEN NAME
“Kill the lion.”
Commander Varro's order cut through the silence.
Four archers stepped onto the arena wall.
Lucan stared upward.
“No!”
Umbra growled.
The sound rolled through the arena like thunder.
The archers raised their bows.
Then thousands of spectators began shouting.
“STOP!”
“LET THE BOY LIVE!”
“The beast decided!”
King Cassian's own words had trapped him.
He had publicly declared that the lion would decide Lucan's fate.
And the lion had chosen mercy.
Killing the boy now would make the king look afraid.
Cassian understood immediately.
His expression hardened.
“Lower your bows.”
Varro turned.
“Your Majesty—”
“I said lower them.”
The archers obeyed.
Cassian looked down at Lucan.
“Bring the boy to me.”
Umbra moved with him when the guards entered the arena.
Every time a soldier approached, the lion growled.
Nobody dared touch Lucan.
Finally, Cassian ordered the gate leading beneath the royal balcony opened.
Lucan walked through it.
Umbra followed.
The tunnels beneath the arena were cold and dark.
Lucan could still hear thousands of people above them.
They were chanting now.
“AURELIUS!”
“AURELIUS!”
“AURELIUS!”
Lucan didn't understand.
He looked at Umbra.
“Who is Aurelius?”
The lion obviously couldn't answer.
But someone else did.
“Your father.”
Lucan spun around.
An old arena keeper stood behind a wooden gate.
He had a gray beard and one clouded eye.
Varro shoved him against the wall.
“Silence, old man.”
The keeper laughed.
“You can silence me.”
He pointed upward.
“Can you silence forty thousand people?”
Varro punched him.
Lucan flinched.
“Leave him alone!”
Varro slowly turned toward the boy.
For one terrible second, Lucan thought the commander would strike him too.
Instead, Varro smiled.
“You have your father's temper.”
Lucan froze.
“You knew him?”
Varro stepped closer.
“I watched him die.”
Umbra lunged forward.
Varro jumped backward.
The lion's teeth snapped inches from his arm.
The commander stared at Umbra.
“You remember me too, don't you?”
That sentence changed everything.
Umbra wasn't simply recognizing Lucan.
He recognized Varro.
And he hated him.
King Cassian appeared at the end of the tunnel with six guards.
“Take the boy to the palace.”
Lucan looked at him.
“Why?”
Cassian approached slowly.
“Because there are questions that need answers.”
“My mother will be looking for me.”
Cassian's eyes narrowed.
“Mara is alive?”
Lucan immediately regretted speaking.
The king exchanged a glance with Varro.
It lasted less than a second.
But Lucan saw it.
“Bring me the woman,” Cassian ordered.
Lucan stepped forward.
“No!”
Umbra roared.
The king retreated.
Lucan understood now.
His mother wasn't safe.
He turned toward the old keeper.
Their eyes met.
The old man quietly pointed toward a narrow drainage tunnel behind Lucan.
Then he shouted.
“For Aurelius!”
He kicked open the wooden gate.
Umbra attacked the nearest guard.
Chaos exploded.
Lucan ran.
He slipped into the drainage tunnel as soldiers shouted behind him.
“GET THE BOY!”
Lucan crawled through darkness.
Behind him came a heavy scraping sound.
Then a familiar growl.
Umbra had followed him.
Lucan crawled faster.
He had no idea where the tunnel led.
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He knew only one thing.
He had to reach his mother before the king did.
