CHAPTER SIX

Jarvan, the prince of Demacia. Dead to a hairpin in the back. He slew dragons and made capes from the hides of great northern beasts, but a 3 inch hair decoration had ended his life.

Garen looked at the deadly instrument in question as one of the many court mages suspended it above his hands in magical stasis. The prince's blood was still on the pin - his body had long been removed from the room. The mage handed a floating sphere of light to a high ranking Demacian summoner, who would then take it to the security vault in the barracks. A pair of guards escorted him out of the room. Despite the variety of officials around him, Garen's thoughts were only introspective.

He knew Lux hadn't been happy here. Sitting in a chair, looking at the closet that his sister and his best friend had shared, he wondered what caused them to not get along. The three had been close their entire young lives. He remembered when Jarvan and himself would tease Lux by hiding her books on the arcane arts around the palace - or, on one occasion, on the very top shelf of the pantry. The head chef followed along, and after she couldn't find it for a while, served it to her on a silver platter, pulling back the lid to reveal the long lost volume beside her breakfast.

Still, despite their teasing, they were always there for Lux when she needed it. After delivering a magical distress signal to Demacian headquarters, the two of them had steeled themselves and traveled deep into Noxian territory, carrying the battered and starving Lux back to safety. When she was older, they would sit around the barracks bonfire and drink wine with her, talking about things that mattered - Lux's thoughts on joining the League of Legends with Garen, what Jarvan would change about Demacia when he was king, and the rumors that circulated about Garen and one particular redheaded Noxian.

On one such evening, he remembered Jarvan confiding in him about his feelings toward Lux. He had noticed him giving her affectionate looks from the other side of the fire. After she had gone to bed, Jarvan approached him.

"Garen, look-" he said, unsure how to continue.

Garen put a hand on his shoulder, "I know. Don't worry. I'm sure she'd be glad to know that you feel that way."

"I'm just not sure how to tell her," Jarvan said.

"The Prince of Demacia, slayer of dragons, and apparently no match for a small blonde girl. Come now. I'm sure it'll go over well. Just a warning though… she's kind of crazy," Garen said, slapping him on the back.

Unfortunately, the happy memories dissipated shortly afterward. Between the Institute and Garen's considerable responsibilities, he had little time to talk to either Jarvan or Lux. Lux and Jarvan's relationship was tense from the start, especially since she became very involved with Ezreal shortly after joining the Institute. As soon as he heard about the betrothal, Garen had a bad feeling about it. Even so, he didn't understand why Lux's mood toward his best friend had soured so much in the circumstances. Surely there were countless Demacian women who would have traded places with her in a heartbeat.

He focused his attention back on his surroundings, looking at the painting of the betrothed couple that had been commissioned. It was a lovely scene - Jarvan and Lux held hands and smiled at each other, sitting under a statue in the palace gardens. However, even the artist's brush had difficulty painting a genuine smile on Lux's rose red lips.

"Sir Crownguard," a guard said, ripping him from his reverie.

He responded with only a look.

"The King requests your presence immediately," he said, nodding and stepping away.

The Prodigal Explorer had been in the Demacian Royal Palace many times before, for a variety of reasons. He had never seen the place quite like this, though. The guards and other officials would sprint around, and then intentionally slow down around the throne room or family quarters, as if trying to hide the incident from them. Given the intense state of affairs, he was surprised he had been let in - even so, he was well known as a League champion and ally of Demacia.

He knew he had to find Lux, and to do that he had to talk with Garen - something he'd never do under any other circumstances. Walking past the throne room, he heard Garen's voice.

"...That's something I had briefly considered, my King. If you wish it, I will proudly accept the responsibility of becoming the Prince of Demacia," he said, kneeling. From his vantage point, Ezreal had difficulty hearing the King's voice - it was much lower and more sad than usual. He saw the King put a fatherly hand on Garen's shoulder and stand before walking off, leaving Garen there to contemplate what just happened. Ezreal considered approaching, but a guard brushed past him, walking quickly over to Garen.

"My liege, Lux's wand has been found in the gardens. The summoners suggest you come immediately," he said. Garen looked torn for a moment.

"I must attend to the King. Tell them I'll be there as soon as I can be," he said, saluting the guard and walking to follow King Lightshield. The guard returned the gesture and walked back. Ezreal considered this new information, following the guard.

His path led him through two doors and through the garden, where a group of mages, summoners, and guards were clustered around the place where Lux's wand had been found. No doubt they were looking for further clues - the wand itself was gone, however. One such summoner approached Ezreal.

"Ezreal, what are you doing here?" he asked, his voice skeptical. Ezreal's brow furrowed. He knew this summoner.

"Summoner… Valerias, was it?" Ezreal asked. The summoner nodded.

"We know you were close to Lux, Ezreal, but this is an official Demacian investigation, and I must ask you not to interfere," he responded, his voice doing little to hide his clear reluctance to say such a thing.

"But I can help! If I could just see her wand…" Ezreal said.

Valerias considered this for a second, running a hand through his hair, "Look, Ez, I want to let you help out, I really do, but I have orders here-"

A few guards approached Ezreal from behind Valerias and said, "Ezreal, please remain inside the palace for now. Valerias can't be distracted by champions right now, we need his expertise."

Ezreal frowned, but realized that he would only cause trouble out there now. Valerias shook his head and gave Ezreal a helpless wave as he walked away. However, his eyes sparked with sudden inspiration.

"Why are we still here? Shouldn't we be getting back to the barracks? The Security Vault there contains the wand, surely I should be there!" Valerias said, a little more loudly than necessary. The guards looked at him quizzically, and then reminded him that they needed to be here for now to look for further evidence.

Ezreal gave him a sly smile and walked off through the palace. He knew the layout of the palace ground well - the barracks was in the southwestern corner, near the gardens. Going this way would prove futile, but Ezreal knew a better way. Given his unique talents, he wouldn't need to walk through the garden, simply over it. It's something he had done quite a few times. The hedges were grown around solid wooden posts, and arcane shifting through a window would easily allow him to traverse the garden this way. The garden was easily big enough that avoiding the officials would be easy, even if he had to take a roundabout way to the barracks to do so.

Eventually, he ended up on the barracks roof. Trying to recall the position of the security vault, he took a few steps inward, and then focused his mental energies three stories directly downward. With no windows, he'd just have to hope he didn't arcane shift inside of a shelf, and hope the vault wasn't currently occupied. Normally he wouldn't take such risks, but this was important. He closed his eyes and raised his gauntlet, combining his innate sorcery with the magic of his amulet.

The flash of yellow light and the sound of his shoes hitting the floor at least confirmed that the arcane shift had not gone horribly wrong. He remained quiet, looking around.

"Hmm?" he heard someone say on the other side of the shelves, walking closer to him. Holding his breath, he waited until the sound drew closer before deftly shifting on top of one of the shelves in the corner of the room, crouching to avoid detection. The guard walked back to the front of the room, unsure exactly what happened.

Waiting a few seconds to recover his energy, he quietly crawled along the top of the shelves, looking for her wand. Given that it was a newer piece of evidence, it would likely be closer to the front of the room. He merely had to touch it once, for a few seconds. If his idea worked, that is…

Knowing he didn't have much time, he moved as fast as he could along the old wooden shelf tops, attempting to avoid causing any creaking sounds, testing each step gingerly before fully committing. Finally, he saw it. Swearing inwardly, he realized avoiding detection would be impossible - it was on the guard's desk, no doubt awaiting inspection from Valerias or some other official.

He sighed, and then decided that he didn't have a choice. He jumped down from the shelf and grabbed the wand. The guard stood up immediately.

"Wha-Hey!" said the guard, drawing his sword. But it was too late for him to stop Ezreal from doing anything.

Having memorized what he needed to do before, he lost himself in an arcane bond with Lux's weapon, hoping it would contain some fragment of her last memories before she had dropped it.

He saw nothing except indistinct shapes and colors, but their message was clear: sadness, rage, and terror. He heard Lux's voice, struggling with someone. Her words were unclear and muffled, but the emotions he felt were strangely precise, as if he could feel what she felt at that time - she hadn't wanted to leave, in addition to shock and sadness at her recent loss. He felt the blade against her skin. Her kidnapper was a man - he felt his presence like she did; leather clad, hooded, his voice deep. He had forced her into dropping her wand in the garden before fleeing… somewhere. Toward Noxus. Lux's mental image at the time was some battered room in a rat ridden Noxian slum. Ezreal knew that such a place was likely based on speculation. Then again, she had been to Noxus…

Ezreal withdrew himself from magical contact with Lux's wand and put it back on the desk. He realized that in the thirty or so seconds that had passed, four more guards had entered the room and were surrounding him. He looked back at them with a sheepish grin.

"Uh… Is that a Janna pinup?" he stammered, gesturing toward a random shelf behind the guards before arcane shifting back above the building. Unfortunately, due to his nerves, he overestimated by about four feet, and fell the remaining distance.

"Damn, that could've gone better," he said, sprinting off into the night, hoping that he could find Lux. And if it happened to bring along the Demacian guard on his tail, perhaps it was better that way.