Page 211 of The Fifth Heir

Beyond them, lines of black script formed across the common-room wall.

THE FINAL TRIAL AWAITS ITS HEIRS.

A second line appeared beneath the first.

ENTRY AT FIRST LIGHT.

Talia read the summons in silence.

Rafe looked toward the windows. Dusk already darkened the academy grounds.

“Malcolm’s authority was suspended,” he said. “He can’t call a Trial.”

“He didn’t,” I replied.

The words on the wall had not been written in modern rune-work. They carried the same ancient magical structure as the hidden inscription.

The Trial itself had issued the summons.

The territorial councils intended to decide tomorrow whether Talia could enter another Trial. Something older than their laws had answered first.

A final line appeared.

FIVE SHALL ENTER.

The message ended there.

Whatever came out had been left unwritten.

Chapter 27

Talia

The Final Trial had summoned us for first light.

None of us intended to wait that long.

Sebastian secured the restored inscription inside the warded case with the original Trial evidence. Leander sent an emergency message to the headmaster. Rafe searched every historical account he could find for a description of the final chamber, while Torren checked the weapons stored in the Fifth Wing.

I stood before the words glowing across the common-room wall.

FIVE SHALL ENTER.

The message had not faded.

“What if we refuse?” I asked.

Leander looked up from the communication panel. “An heir may challenge the conditions of a Trial, but the Accords assume the Trial is administered by a Keeper. They say nothing about refusing a summons issued by the Trial itself.”

“So no one has ever tried.”

“So no one recorded trying.”

Rafe turned another page. “The cheerful news is that most accounts of the Final Trial don’t mention anyone dying.”

“Most?” Torren asked.

“The less cheerful news is that several accounts end before the heirs enter.”