Chapter 2 The Hunt!

Taeyang didn't even think twice before he grabbed Baekho by the sleeve and ran.

"There!" Yohan pointed at a narrow gap between two storage sheds, half-hidden behind a stack of rotting crates.

The four of them scrambled for it as fast as they could as the first Sunmaso guards poured through the main gate. Their Torchlight swept across the courtyard, dispatching the darkness.

Soohyun reached the opening first and squeezed himself through it, Yohan followed suit, then Baekho.

Taeyang shoved himself in, last. His robes caught on a splintered crate and with a firm jerk of the sleeve, he wrenched it free, the fabric tore with a splintering sound, before he finally stumbled through the whole into the yard.

The courtyard was a dead end, with three high walls and piles of rusted scrap iron and empty barrels blocking the exit.

"I pray they don't find us." Baekho said high-pitched, panicked voice. "We're literally trapped in here and if we're found out there's no escaping this time, we'll all get arrested.”

Taeyang grabbed his friend's shoulder and forced him against the wall. "Don't say such bullshit.”He broke off abruptly and whispered “Listen."

Through the gap, they could hear the guards. The captain was shouting orders. Buckets of water were being rushed toward the fire. But the flames had already jumped to the timber stack, and the guards' attention was fixed on containing the blaze. Not searching for arsonists. Not yet anyway.

"We're not trapped," Taeyang said quietly.

Yohan who was crouched by the gap, called over his shoulders "They're pulling back. The whole bucket line is forming. Nobody's watching the gate."

Soohyun moved beside him quickly, peering through. "He's right. The gate is clear. If we go now—"

"Then we go now." Taeyang straightened. "We'll mix with the guards and rush out."

"The smoke is going to choke us before we make it ten feet," Baekho snapped.

"Would you rather choke or face execution?"

Baekho looked conflicted for a moment before he blurted out "This is your fault. You dragged us here. You and your stupid obsession with making a sword. Not that you even knew how to do the thing right."

"I didn't drag you here remember? You agreed to come." Taeyang retorted

"That's because you didn't give us a choice!"

"Stop it." Soohyun shoved between them. "Both of you. There are guards fifty feet away. Do you want them to hear you?"

The quarrel died out, Taeyang could feel Baekho's glare even in the dark. But he ignored it and turned towards the gap decisively.

He crouched down beside Yohan and watched the guards haul water at the blazing fire, with no one paying any attention to them.

"We move on three," he said, straightening up.

"One. Two. Three."

They snuck out carefully and rushed into the crowd.

The smoke hit them immediately, making it difficult to breathe. Taeyang pulled his collar over his mouth and kept his eyes fixed on the gate ahead. He snuck through the guards who were all fawning over the fire with their backs turned against the gate.

They burst through the gate minutes later and didn't stop running till they were a good distance away from the workshop and fire.

Taeyang halted in his tracks gasping and breathing loudly through his nose. The others slowed into a walk and also began catching their breath with the danger passed.

Taeyang still breathing hard, habitually reached the brush the royal insignia he always wore on his right thumb— a nervous tic he'd had since childhood — and his thumb met bare skin.

He stopped dead in his tracks and his face turned pale.

His heart began racing again, this time not a flood of adrenaline but something stronger fear.

"Taeyang?" Yohan was the first to notice he had stopped walking. "What's wrong?"

"My ring." He blurted out in a weak and helpless voice. “I have lost it.”

Soohyun went still. Baekho, who had been walking ahead, turned slowly.

"Your insignia ring," Soohyun said. It wasn't a question.

Taeyang nodded and swallowed hard.

“I can't remember where it fell off at.” He said holding up his bare hand. The thin red mark across his knuckle seemed to glow in the moonlight. "It's still back there. In the courtyard probably, I don't know."

Baekho let out a breath that was almost a laugh. Almost. "So not only did we burn down an imperial workshop. We left the royal seal in the ashes for them to find."

"Baekho," Yohan warned sharply.

"No. No, this is exactly what I'm talking about. He doesn't think. He never thinks. He wanted to make a sword, so we broke into a workshop. He wanted to keep working, so we stayed too long. And now his ring is sitting in a pile of ash waiting for the Sunmaso patrol guards to pick it up and then we're all in a mess.”

"I'm sorry." Taeyang's said quietly. He couldn't look at any of them.

“That's all you have to say?"

"What do you want me to say? I already said I'm sorry. What else do you want? I know I should have listened to you and all but none of that changes the fact that my ring is back there and we need to get it out before it's found and also get inside before anyone sees us standing in the street."

Baekho shook his head. “If you had only listened.”

“We can still come back to find it in the morning, let's go," Soohyun said quietly. "We can't do anything about the ring now. We'll deal with it in the morning."

With that they moved through the back streets in silence. No one spoke. Taeyang was lost in thoughts

His mind temporarily forgot about the ring and the deep trouble they could be in if it was found and moved instead to the fire.

He had started the fire through resonance!

But eight years ago, he had been sitting in the testing chamber. Holding the cold wood of the Gimaek-ui beneath his hands. While the nine council members watched from above.

"Left wrist." The Maekgwan had said

He had held out his trembling arm to the Elder, who had pressed the cylinder against his skin.

For Ten seconds.

Then Twenty.

And Thirty.

At Forty, he was already sweating profusely and a cold dread was curling in his stomach amplified by his heartbeat.

But the Gilmaek-ui had shown nothing.

The Maekgwan had tried it again on his right wrist, then his elbow but still nothing had happened. That had made the Maekgwan puzzled. He'd checked the instrument, tilted it to confirm the liquid wasn't frozen. It moved freely. The equipment was perfect.

"Let's do it one more time."

Something warm had surged inside him at that. On the second trial though, The liquid had risen — only for a second, but it had risen. The Maekgwan had seen it. Taeyang had felt it.

But a second wasn't enough.

"Bring in the other Hyeolmaek-gi." The Elder had waved attendants.

They brought in the larger cylinder, the one had a denser liquid.

This time, when the Maekgwan pressed it to his wrist, the liquid shot up. Fast. Faster than anyone expected. The colors that bloomed through it were a mix of amber, gold, blue, silver, all the colors, all at once, something that had never ever been recorded in any of the historical records. The liquid made the frame rattle and then the cylinder had cracked in a clean vertical split.

The liquid poured across the Maekgwan's hand.

"It is clear," an Elder had said immediately. "The boy has no resonance ability. Such a waste."

He had fought back. "But the Hyeolmaek-gi rose."

"That's because it was tampered with." Another Elder had dismissed.

"No one tampered with it!"

"That's enough.” The Maekgwan had snapped. “The test result is clear, Your Highness. You have no classifiable ability."

“What?” The shock had kept him rooted in the chair for several minutes.

Yohan's hand on his shoulder pulled him back to the present. They were at the entrance of the servants’ quarters.

They slipped inside without a word. The palace corridors were nearly deserted.

They reached Taeyang's chambers without being seen, and Yohan locked the door behind them.

Baekho collapsed into a chair immediately. Soohyun fell down on another chair shutting his eyes tiredly immediately only Yohan stood by the door, listening.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

Then

"We made it," Baekho said, his voice thick with exhaustion.

"We made it," Yohan echoed.

Soohyun pried his eyes open and looked at Taeyang. "You started that fire with your hand, Taeyang."

Taeyang looked down at the hand, seemingly surprised himself.

"How could you do that?" Soohyun asked. "You were tested. The Hyeolmaek-gi broke. They said you had nothing."

"I don't know."

"But you started that fire. And it didn't burn your skin—"

"Yes."

Silence enveloped the room. The three friends were watching the prince with surprised, disbelieving eyes.

"The test," Baekho said slowly. "The Hyeolmaek-gi rose, didn't it? You told us. The liquid rose, and then the cylinder broke. What if it wasn't faulty? What if—"

"Don't." Taeyang's voice was sharper than he intended. "Whatever happened tonight, it doesn't change anything. The test was years ago. The court decided what I was. And I agree, I don't have any resonance. None of this—"

A knock at the door interupted him immediately. The words died in Taeyang's throat at three deliberate, slow heavy strikes.

All four of them froze.

The knock came again, harder now, more insistent. A voice from the other side called loudly.

"First Prince Taeyang. By order of His Imperial Majesty, open the door."

Thump!

It was like a heavy drum had been dropped into the room at once.

Taeyang looked at his friends. Soohyun's face was pale, his hands were gripping the edge of the chair. Yohan's hand had moved to the knife at his belt, but even he looked shaken. Baekho looked like he was about to be sick.

The knock came a third time.

"Your Highness. Open the door immediately. His Imperial Majesty has commanded we escort you to the throne room, immediately."