So this story has been a long while in the making. Definately one of my longer and more ambitious stories.
It's part of a larger whole that might be published eventually, but a good standalone about Richard Sonnac's younger brother which I theorize he has. (Well, that he has a brother. The rest is all stuff I came up with myself)
Comments and feedback are more then welcome.
Somewhere along the English countryside there's a school. A school not many people know about. Yet the prestige it collected over the decades and even centuries was impressive. It just depended on who you asked.
This was a school for Templars. It had been for centuries and very likely would be for many more to come. The oldest and most powerful families would send their children here to become pillars of the Templar society.
One of these students was Henry Sonnac. And though he was a bright young man, he couldn't help himself as he got into trouble. To the point his education was in peril.
So there he sat, waiting for the Headmaster to see him because he decided to climb the rooftops of the rather impressive school building. Again. His older brother was in there with them. Richard Sonnac. While no more than three years older than him, after their parents met their untimely demise, Richard became pretty much his parent. So when trouble arose, he usually was the one to talk him out of it. He was good at that. Better than Henry, anyway, who had a fast mouth, but usually his head didn't catch up to it before it was too late. Still, he wanted to at least try. He wasn't some kid, no matter how much they treated him as such. Not resisting the urge to know what was going on, he got up from his seat and placed his ear against the door.
"Yes, I understand." He could hear his brother say. "No. I'll talk to him." Footsteps. Henry quickly went away from the door and sat back in the chair, pretending as if he had been sitting there the whole time. As the door opened, Richard exited the office, took one look at him and sighed.
"What?" Henry said, trying to sound casual, running a hand through his long dreads. His brother just fixed his glasses before crossing his arms.
"I think you very well know 'what'." He said, sitting down next to his brother. "That was the third time they found you in restricted areas."
"Hey, they said that part of the library was restricted. Didn't say anything about the roof." This caused Richard to groan.
"The roof's a restricted area, too! It's dangerous up there. You could've fallen off and cracked your skull open. Again!" He snapped at his younger brother, before taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. "We're the last of the very prestigious 'Sonnac' bloodline. All eyes are on us to continue that legacy and honor it's name."
"Correction: all eyes are on YOU to do that." Henry said. "They could care less about me." This caused Richard to sigh and look away.
"Don't remind me…" He muttered, before turning back. "Ever since our parents died, all eyes turn to me every time you pull something like this. I get judged just as harshly, even worse, for YOUR actions. If you don't care about our legacy, could you at least give ME a break on this? Please?" Henry just looked away with crossed arms. "At least until I graduate? That's less than a few weeks away. Surely you can behave until then."
"As long as you get off my arse after that. Deal?" Henry said. Richard sighed again.
"Alright." He conceded. "Won't be that hard. I'll be away from this school after this. To Ealdwic. Temple Hall to be precise."
"Got it all planned out, do you?"
"Everyone has. Seems they picked a bright future at the Templars for me." He smiled, but Henry knew that it wasn't one of joy. "But that's the way the dice rolled for me."
"Sounds like a rigged game, if you ask me." Henry replied.
"I'm sure I can turn it to my advantage…" Richard said. "If I make it through school, that is."
"Don't tell me you're worried about that."
"Why shouldn't I be? Expectations are through the roof for me. Luckily I DO have something planned." Richard said, suddenly sporting a somewhat sly smile.
"What is it?" Henry said, previous squabbles in the back of his mind as curiosity took over. Sonnac just raised a finger to his lips.
"Not here. Come on, I'll show you in my study." He said, as the two of them headed away.
The name Sonnac, or 'de Sonnac' if one wanted to get technical, was a name with much clout among the Templars. Many before and expectedly, many after Richard and Henry would attend this University. This came with perks, like a rather impressive private study. Henry didn't make much use of it. Richard practically made it his second home. Rows upon rows of books of various academic pursuits on many shelves. In the middle was a rather grand, luxurious desk. Currently filled with many papers, books and notes for many subjects. Even the prim and proper Richard Sonnac couldn't keep tidy during final exams. Right in the middle laid a book. Heavy, made out of the darkest leather and covered in ancient foreboding symbols. Richard immediately picked it up.
"Do you know what this is?" He asked his brother.
"Of course I do. That's one of ours." Henry said. "For some reason, nobody can read it without…. Seriously bad things happening to them. Driving them to madness. Well, except our family. Somewhat. I think?"
"Close enough." Richard said.
"What does that have to do with your final exams?"
"Well, as a graduation project, I've decided to translate it." Richard said, smiling brightly. Henry was… sceptical.
"Are you sure that's a good idea? It's a book that drives people to madness by just reading it. Who knows what happens if you translate it."
"Think of the ancient, arcane knowledge within it.." Richard countered. "And there's a great chance the translation will have no ill effects, so it will be a process that will save people in the long run. Besides, our family has acquired partial immunity to it's effect."
"Key word being 'Partial'." Henry said, crossing his arms.
"Listen, I know you're worried. But don't worry, I'll be fine. I have top grades in Arcane Magic. I know what I'm doing." Richard reassured him. "And I know when to stop. That's a step above many mages." Henry just shrugged. If his brother had an idea in his head, it was hard to dissuade him from it.
"Just… be careful, okay?"
"That's usually my line." Richard joked. "But don't worry, I will."
A few days passed, as both brothers went about their own classes. Or at least, so Henry taught. He started to doubt it when a small group of Richard's classmates approached him.
"Hey…. Henry, was it?" The tallest of them, Jeannette, asked. "You know what happened to Richard?"
"What do you mean? I don't go to class with him." Henry said, shrugging.
"He's been acting weird lately." This made Henry frown. "You know what we're talking about."
That he did. Richard barely talked to him during the day. Always rushing past from class to class or to his study, seemingly not even taking a break to eat. But it was exams time. Final exams for some of them. This wasn't exactly rare. Henry just shrugged.
"He's working on a Graduation Project." He said. "Figured he'd work his arse off."
"Yes, but… I dunno, he's usually so social." She looked away. "Well, he's been far more distant ever since…" A silence fell. Henry knew exactly what they were talking about.
Sasha.
Just over a year ago, Richard Sonnac, in order to banish a rogue demon, sacrificed the soul of his friend. In theory, Sasha was still alive, but everyone knew that he wasn't there any more.
"I think you just answered your own question." Henry said.
"I know…" Jeanette sighed. "Still, he was getting better."
"Stuff like that isn't just upwards." Henry said.
"I guess…."
"Can I go now?" Henry said. His brother's friends weren't exactly his type of people. Too uptight. Still, he didn't know Richard himself was avoiding them… and despite saying he wasn't, he now too felt somewhat worried himself. So after classes and getting himself a coffee, he went straight to the study.
Only to find it locked.
This was new. Richard never locked doors. Closed doors meant a closed mind, or some such bollocks. Frowning, Henry decided to knock.
After a longer while then felt comfortable, his brother opened the door.
"What do you…. Oh, Henry!" He said, switching from annoyed to friendly rather fast. "Please make it quick, I'm busy."
"Just… trying to make sure you're alright." Henry said. "You've been acting strange lately."
"What are you talking about, I haven't…"
"Your door was locked."
"Which means…?"
"Something's wrong?"
"There isn't, trust me." Richard tried, but Henry wasn't buying it. "Listen, I… I'm just trying to do this project right. Which means no disturbances. Not even from you." He looked down. "I'm sorry that… sounded more harsh than I meant it."
"Listen, if this is because of Sasha…"
"It's not. I mean, it's not that I'm over that or something… Probably never will be. But you're pulling things out of proportion. I'm just giving this project my all." He smiled. "Please. I know you're worried and that warms my heart, but it's nothing. Really." Richard reassures him, before his gaze went downwards and noticed…. "Oh, you brought me coffee! Thanks!" With that he swiped Henry's cup before slamming the door shut before he could react.
"Hey! That was bloody mine!" Henry shouted at said locked door, before sighing and heading for their shared bedroom. Maybe he could talk to his brother when he went to sleep…
Which he didn't.
Henry waited the entire night and eventually fell asleep. And when he woke up, there wasn't any trace that his brother had even been there.
"Don't tell me he pulled an all-nighter…" Henry said, holding his head. For all his tendencies to study hard, Richard never did something like this. It was only a few moments later that Richard entered the room.
"Late for class…. Late for class…." He heard his brother mutter as he scrambled through the room.
"Richard?" Henry asked.
"Lady Humsworth is going to have my head…." His brother continued, not noticing him.
"Richard!" Henry tried again, placing a hand on his stressing brother's shoulder. This seemed to work as Richard startled and turned around. "Where were you all night?"
"On my project, of course!" Richard answered as if it was obvious. "I got a little too much into it and before I knew it it was dawn."
"Don't you think it's time to take things a bit slower?" Henry tried.
"Absolutely not!" Richard said. "If anything, I should be speeding things up. It's almost time and I'm not even halfway!"
"That's a terrible idea." Henry said.
"Unsurprising answer, coming from you." Richard said, as Henry's face fell. Almost immediately he seemed to regret it. "That wasn't what I…"
"Piss off." Henry said, crossing his arms and turning away. "Drop dead for all I care." There was no answer, as his brother simply hurried away to class. Henry simply sighed. Why'd Richard say that? He knew that his lacking grades were a sore spot. He bloody KNEW.
This hung over him the entire rest of the day. To the point he nearly got into a fight with another student. However, when he was about to be disciplined for that his brother… wasn't there. To the point even the Headmaster found it odd.
"He's usually always there when you're making trouble." The Headmaster said. "Maybe he finally decided that you should take care of your own problems." Henry just looked away. "But then again, he also didn't show up for any of his classes… We're getting worried."
"He didn't?"
"Yes, quite unusual for him." The Headmaster said. "Nor did he show up for lunch. Do you have any idea where he might be?"
"I think I do…" Henry said, before getting up and hurrying out of the office, despite protesting sputters of the headmaster.
Soon enough, he reached the study. Still locked. Taking a deep breath, Henry started to rummage through his pockets.
"Sorry brother…" He muttered, before getting out a pocket knife, which he used to quickly open the locked door. "Alright, what's going on with…." He started, before he looked around and gasped.
The Study was a wreck. Bookcases were toppled over, leaving books and loose pages strewn across the floors, a great deal of them scorched. Ashen footprints came from the fireplace.
The wallpaper had been all but torn away, bloody trails betraying that it wasn't done by any sort of tool. "The hell?" Henry couldn't help but mutter, suddenly very afraid.
Amidst all this chaos and destruction, Richard sat at his desk, hunched over his work, writing feverishly with what looked like an old quil.
"Richard?" Henry carefully asked, slowly approaching. No answer as his brother kept frantically writing away. At first Henry was confused as to why his non-writing arm was at a rather strange angle… But then he saw it was gashed open, bleeding rather profusely. And Richard occasionally dipping his quill in the open wound to write down whatever he was translating from the book beside him..
"Richard?!" Henry now exclaimed. This seemed to snap his brother out of his almost trance-like state as he looked up from his work. His eyes were wide, yet still not all there.
"Henry?" He asked, voice also not all there, before smiling. "Hello."
"What's wrong with you?!" Henry shouted.
"Nothing's… nothing's wrong with me." Richard asked, seemingly unaware of what he was doing. "I'm just a little tired, but I'm sure that when I'm done with…"
"What are you doing? Are you… are you writing the thing in blood?"
"Oh, that's just for some extra authenticity." Richard said, as if it was some insignificant thing he did.
"You've sliced your bloody arm open!" Henry shouted back in shock.
"Well, it would be rude to use someone else's blood…" This answer and the overall calm tone his brother was using caused Henry to groan in frustration and grasp his head.
"What about the stuff you did to the room? Is that for 'authenticity', too?!"
"Oh, that…. Well, I've hit a few bumps and needed to let off some steam." He turned back to his grisly task, once more dipping the quill in his bleeding arm. "Could you please leave? I have quite some work to do."
"No. You're going to see someone for that gash." Henry said, grabbing his brother's shoulders, trying to drag him away from his desk.
"Don't you touch me!" Richard shouted, shoving Henry away. The anger in his eyes was… staggering. "Don't you EVER touch me."
"Brother…"
"LEAVE. I need to finish this and I don't need you as a distraction." Richard demanded, turning back and starting his work again. Henry looked at him fearfully, not knowing what to do, before getting up and running off.
The Headmaster had to know.
"Say what?" The Headmaster said as Henry told what happened.
"My brother has lost his mind." Henry tried, near panic by now. "He's… he's translating this fucking book that's in our family's possession and it's… it's messing with his mind."
"What book are you talking about?" The headmaster asked. "It's not… it's not that book, is it?"
"What do you mean? Didn't he tell what book he was using for his graduation project?"
"As a matter of fact he didn't…" The Headmaster answered. "Because if he did, we would refuse it. That book is dangerous." The older man sighed. "Now we have to step in, lest this will go the way of one of his forefathers…" With that he went away. "I will gather the other teachers. You stay here."
"Like Hell I am."
"Henry, this is far out of your depth…"
"He's my brother!" Henry said, as the Headmaster simply hurried out the door, locking it behind him. "Fucking hell… and the bugger's surprised that I hate him." Henry muttered, getting his knife out again.
This one took him a little longer than expected, and by the time he managed to get to the study, the Headmaster and three other teachers were already in there, apparently confronting Richard. Henry wasted no time and dashed in.
"What is this about? You're violating my privacy. All of you." Richard was telling them, sounding… angry.
Henry had to really tell himself that this was his brother. His calm, collected, charismatic brother who was currently looking positively wretched. Blood dripping from the gash in his arm, clothes all askew, restless, almost mad eyes surrounded by dark rings signifying little to no sleep.
"Richard. We're going to have to ask you to come with us." One of the teachers tried.
"Can this wait? I'm almost finished with the translation." Richard tried. "Just another hour, give or take. Then I'll have all the time in the world." He yawned. "After a quick nap, granted."
"Richard. You're not well." The other teacher tried. "This book is having some severe psychological effects on you."
"Nonsense. True, I have been a bit more worn out than usual, but that's just your standard final exam stress. If I finish this, I'll be fine."
"Richard, please. You have to see a doctor."
"But… I have to finish this. I have to." Richard tried, before turning to his brother. "Please, Henry. Tell them there's nothing wrong with me." His voice was gaining a desperate edge. "That I just… I have to finish this." Henry just stepped back, shaking his head.
"There's something wrong with you, brother." He said. "You need help."
"There's nothing wrong with me!" Richard retorted, what little calm he had slipping away. "You don't want me to finish it… You want me to fail!" His eyes roved over the people in the room. "You all want me to fail!" He clenched his fists.
"Richard, you're being unreasonable." Lady Humsworth, their Arcane Magic Teacher tried. "I've told you before, trying to read, let alone translate this book is dangerous." This had an unexpected result, as Richard started to laugh. As he did so, dark pools started to appear around him, making everyone back away.
"Dangerous to the likes of you, maybe." Richard said, as something started to rise from the pools. Sharp, menacing hooks attached to chains. "But it opened my eyes to so much. Knowledge. History. Power."
"Brother…?" Henry tried.
"Power you wanted to keep from me! From us!" Richard turned to Henry. "They're trying to hold us back, they always have. You know this also." He stretched out his hand, the hooks menacingly curling around him, over his arms and to his hand. "Let's show them we're not going to take this any more." Henry just looked at his brother, dark chains surrounding him and a mad smile, speechless before slowly shaking his head. This made the smile drop. "You… Why are you…?" Richard tried. However, whatever he wanted to say was cut short as he seized and fell forward, the chains around him instantly dissipating as the dark pools vanished.
"Alright, that's enough of that." Miss Humsworth said, arm outreached and smoking. Henry's gaze went from her, to his knocked out brother, shirt torn, a magic circle etched on his back. What little he knew of the subject made him realized it was some sort of seal. "That should keep his magic in check until we know how to quell the book's influence." She said as she knelt down next to Richard. The Headmaster approached Henry.
"We're going to have to ask you to leave…" He said.
"But… my brother."
"We'll take good care of him don't worry." The headmaster assured. "Why don't you… take the rest of the day off to recover from this, hm? I promise it won't get you into any trouble." By this point Henry just nodded, before taking one last glance at his brother, laying down and looking so much more worse for wear. "He'll be alright. We promise."
Henry spent the rest of the day in his room. Just… laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to come to terms with what just happened. His brother… possessed by the dark powers of a book… On one hand it sounded very obvious, considering his studious nature. On the other… his brother seemed to always be in control of himself. Excelled in almost everything he did, but knew when to quit. The perfect student… To see him lose grip and crash down so hard was... frightening. After a while he just couldn't take it any more as he got up and headed for the infirmary.
There he was greeted by a locked door and when he knocked, the nurse only opened a little crack.
"Oh, hello Henry. What are you doing here?" She asked.
"I want to see my brother." Henry answered, a bit perplexed that this didn't occur to her.
"Oh, I'm sorry Dear. He's currently unable to receive guests."
"I'm not a guest, I'm his brother!" Henry shouted. "And I want to see him."
"That will not be possible at the moment. Please return to your dorm." And with that, she closed the door. Henry couldn't help himself as he kicked it. What was it with people and locking him out? This was his brother it was happening to. With a book that belonged to their family. It just wasn't fair!
No lockpicking this time. He figured they'd be on that by now. No, this time he had to be a bit more…. Bold.
At midnight the next night, Henry decided to make his move. The infirmary was on the third floor of the school building, with one window. He could easily reach it via the roof. So after a short climb and some fiddling with the window, he found himself inside. He took a quick look around if anyone of the staff was here. Apparently not. It was dark, but considering there was only one bed, it wasn't hard to find who he was looking for.
"Richard?" He carefully whispered, approaching his brother, who appeared to be sleeping. His anger flared again when he saw the leather restraints. At least they patched up his arm… Closing in, he carefully shook his brother's shoulder. It made him startle awake.
"Henry?" He asked, sounding… scared. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to know how you were doing…" Henry said, releasing the restraints. "Not good, I imagine." And despite the situation, Richard managed a smile as he slowly sat up. It soon faded.
"You'd be correct. I… I lost myself." He said. "That book, it…" He looked down at his bandaged arm. "It needs to be stopped."
"Pretty sure the teachers are right on that." Henry said. Richard just shook his head.
"They can't… It has to be us. It's our family's magic." He said. "We need to… " He tried to get up, but stumbled. "My back…"
"Miss Humsworth put some sort of seal on you…" Henry said, supporting his brother.
"Of course. What kind of seal?"
"A magic one." Richard gave him a look that read like his patience was running out.
"I got that far. What kind of magic one?" He asked, as Henry wanted to answer, but came up short. "Just look at it and tell me how it looks." Richard eventually said, lifting up his shirt.
"It's…. A circle." Henry started. "With a bunch of smaller circles inside."
"How many smaller circles?"
"Four. And they're overlapping. But not all of them. Like… two are overlapping and so are the two others…." He described.
"That's enough, thanks." Richard said. "That's probably the strongest seal she could make without placing me into a vegetative state. No wonder I feel terrible." Richard said, holding his head.
"Listen, maybe we should wait until later…"
"We can't wait!" Richard insisted. "The longer we wait, the stronger its influence will become. We have to act NOW." Henry just nodded. "We can do this. Together."
"You think it's still in the study?"
"Only one way to find out…"
Apparently it still was. But so were the teachers.
This was what Henry managed to discover as he and his brother hid in a smaller classroom near the study.
"There's three of them there." He said. Richard sighed, holding his head. "Including the Headmaster."
"They probably haven't even touched it… fearful of what it might do." Richard said, brow furrowing. "We need to get them out somehow…" This caused Henry to smile despite the situation.
"I think I have an idea." Henry said.
"What is it?"
"If I told you, you'd hate it. Just be ready to get into that room, alright?" Henry said. Richard just nodded.
"I trust you." He said as Henry hurried out the door, making a few detours to make sure it appeared as if he came from the other side and…
"Headmaster!" He called out as the three teachers' heads immediately popped out of the door.
"Henry? What are you doing? Go back to bed." The Headmaster ordered.
"It's Richard! He…. he….!" Henry started, feigning panic. "I-I went to check on him and he just… he doesn't wake up!" The three teachers just looked at each other.
"I told you that seal was too strong for someone that young…." The Headmaster muttered, before all of them hurried to the infirmary. Henry waited a bit, before hurrying back to the study where his brother already was, closing the door behind him, quickly.
"That'll probably get them off our arses for, like, ten minutes, you think that's enough?" Henry asked as Richard was already rushing towards his desk. As predicted, the book and it's near-finished translation were still there.
"More than enough." Richard said, smiling. "We're going to need fire…" With that he headed to the fireplace as Henry looked over the two books. Their words… didn't quite make sense to him. But he could feel a certain pull. A desire to continue on…
Whatever thoughts were in his head though, were shattered as something cold and metal slammed into it with enough force to knock him down.
Looking up, he tried very hard to see what just happened, despite his now almost exploding head.
The thing he saw was his brother standing over him with a fireplace poker, a wicked grin across his face.
"Now it can be finished." Richard said, before he lifted the poker over his head and it came back down in a blow that was powerful enough to black Henry out.
He didn't know how much time had passed when he came to… but it was too early. Black spots drifted in his vision to the point of almost completely blinding him. His hand instinctively went to the spot it seemed to originate from… It felt wet. That wasn't good.
Richard….. Richard!
Slowly, things started to clear more. The first thing he noticed was a mad laughter. Richard's laughter…
Forcing his head up, he looked over at what he figured was his brother, downright cackling.
"It's done. It's finally done!" That… that wasn't good.
"B-brother…" He tried. It didn't seem to register, as Richard simply took the translation, ready to leave.
"Now it can spread…" He said. Henry didn't really think about what that meant. Just that he couldn't let that happen. Putting his all into it, he lept forward, managing to tackle his brother as the two of them toppled over, the translation falling down to the floor. "What are you doing?!" Richard hissed.
"Saving you!" Henry said, looking at Richard, then at the dropped book, before his eyes were set on the fireplace. Richard caught on as he started to protest, but Henry was quicker as he grabbed the translation and tossed it into the fire.
The reaction of his brother was immediate and violent as he started to writhe and screech, as if he himself was on fire. This made Henry back away, scared. What did he do? Did he just… No!
"Oh God…" Henry muttered, backing away until he couldn't any more, as the blow to his head finally started to get to him. "I'm sorry…" Was the last thing he managed before blacking out.
"Yes, I understand…"
"No. I just want to see him. Please… I need to see him."
This woke Henry up. At first he was confused. He was no longer in the study… unless the study now had a bed. Head still hurt… but bringing his hand to it revealed that it was bandaged now. What was going on? Richard… he had to help his brother! This made him instantly shoot up from the bed.
"Henry!" He could hear his brother call, before he was almost tackled back onto the bed. "Thank God." He backed away.
"B-brother? Are you… alright?" Henry asked.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Richard answered. "I'm more worried about you. After the translation was burned I came to my senses and I…" He stopped. "Did I…?" His brother said, eyes aghast as they focussed on the bandage around his head. "Oh God…"
"C'mon. It's not that bad. It was worse when I fell off the balcony, remember that? I actually fractured something with that."
"But I assaulted you! Deceived you, then hit you over the head with a metal rod. Twice!" He held his head as he looked away. "All because I wanted to translate that book. Because I was enough of a fool to think…."
"It messed with your head. You didn't do that. I know you. That wasn't you." Henry said. Richard just sighed.
"I wish that was the truth…" He muttered, before rubbing his face. "At least it's over for now…" Richard said, sighing. Henry just quietly got a hold of his hand.
"Yeah…" He quietly agreed.
After a few days, they found themselves back at the study. Richard had lit the fireplace again, as if to make doubly sure that the translation was nothing but a pile of ashes.
"I reckon it won't be a threat now." Henry said.
"I'm just glad it's over with…" Richard said.
"What are you going to do with the actual book? I get the feeling that one might want a good burning as well."
"While I usually don't condone book burning… You might be right." Richard said. "That said, something tells me that if it was that simple, it would've been done a long time ago."
"Or maybe they haven't thought of it before." Henry said, heading towards the book on the desk and picking it up. "Shouldn't be too hard." With that, he made a motion to throw it into the fire… Only to stop halfway through. "Like I said…" He attempted it again, but try as he might, he couldn't let go of the book. "Alright, different approach." With that Henry took some distance and attempted to throw it from there. Still, he couldn't let go. "Oh come ON!"
"I loathe to go 'I told you so', but it's a proper response." Richard said, taking the book. "But don't worry, I've taken other precautions." With that he headed back to the desk. On it sat what looked like some sort of chest with a large, round keyhole. "This will make sure no one will ever open it again." With that he placed the book in the chest before he took a key and placed it into the keyhole. Twisting it caused the chest to form around the book. "There." Richard said, taking the key out. "Now only this key will be able to open it."
"Better keep it somewhere safe then." Henry said.
"I will." Richard said, smiling, as he placed the key into his brother's hand,
"Me? But… why? Wouldn't it be safer with you?" Henry tried, looking at the key in his hand. Richard just looked at him.
"After what happened? Would you trust me with something like this?" Richard said, looking down. "No. You're the best person to keep this key." Henry looked at his brother, before looking at the key again, feeling his determination rise.
"I will." He said, closing his fist around the key. "That's a promise."