(Table of Contents with links at the bottom)
In the middle of a cold autumn night, the Four Little Palaces — where the crown prince of Láokoth and his three body doubles are housed — are attacked by an overwhelming force. By the time the sun rises in the morning, three of the little princes are dead and the fourth is missing.
Now the surviving prince, an intelligent, but timid young man of nineteen, is on the run, his last guards dying one by one, until finally he is alone and on the brink of death. At that moment he is saved by a street smart beggar who manages to hide the prince temporarily.
But the beggar is harboring his own dangerous secrets. Desperate for purpose and for release from his miserable existence, he agrees to help the prince escape his assassins and return to his father’s palace in exchange for a chance at a new life.
Their journey will not be as simple as they think, however. Trekking through the bitter Láokoth winter, the beggar and the prince encounter friends and foes, blood feuds and dangerous schemers, mysterious figures who seem to have stepped out of the ancient tales, and noble souls struggling against the corruption that has begun to fester in the heart of Láokoth. And all the while they are still being hunted.
As their journey takes them across Láokoth, they must also face the darkness within themselves. Their resolve in their purpose and their trust in each other will be sorely tried.
As the prince and his grudging new guard try to survive the unpredictable world outside the Palace, within it a political battle has quietly begun. Powerful Houses will fall while nameless figures hidden in the shadows move their pieces across the capital’s bloody game board. War is brewing, but who is at the center? And what do they want?
Can the last little prince find a way to survive and return to the Royal Palace before war destroys the whole country? What can one weak prince and a world-weary beggar possibly do against the powerful evil that is growing in the heart of Láokoth?
A note on language pronunciation and naming is here.
A map of Láokoth is available here.
Chapter Three: The Spring Courtyard
Chapter Seven: The Grand Steward
Chapter Eight: The Masked Prince
Chapter Thirteen: The Silk Purse
Chapter Fifteen: A Desperate Blade
Chapter Sixteen: No One is Born Houseless
Chapter Seventeen: The End of the Path
Chapter Eighteen: Private Fight
Chapter Nineteen: The Right Path
Chapter Twenty: The Last of the Four
Chapter Twenty-One: Friends and Foes
Chapter Twenty-Two: Among the Dead
Your YouTube series has been no small revelation to me, Hilary! Exited to get stuck into your own writing 😇
I found your site through your youtube channel. I was pleasantly surprised. As an avid fantasy reader, this story looks like it may scratch that itch. I am always looking for new kinds of stories, even if it turns out to not be fantasy. Though having a map, clues me in.