Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (9 page)

Thad tried to think of an excuse but nothing came to mind he thought the girl would buy, so he decided to at least limit the damage done.
“They’re magic rings I dug up in an ancient tower in the woods.” He causally tossed her one of the light rings he had made the day before. “You can have this one just say Lumanare to turn it on and off.”

 
She looked skeptical but put on the ring that automatically resized itself to her finger, he was proud on that achievement it took a few extra hours of work but was well worth it. Holding out her hand she examined the ring then triggered it, her face turned to one of awe. “What else do you have?”

Rubbing the sides of his head he let out a heavy sigh. “Just the one that stops people, and the light rings, though I plan to make a trip back and see what else I can find.”

Thad was happy that instead of asking anymore questions the little princess sat playing with the magical light moving her hand around fast watching mystified as the light followed her hand. But the peace only lasted as long as the light did, as soon as the magic ran out so did the silence. “Why did it go out?”

Thad held out his hand for the ring and the princess hesitantly passed it to him. He used the key word code to turn it off. “Magic isn’t infinite Mari
a, the crystal here pulls it from around us and stores it until its needed, once that magic is used up it needs time to restore itself give it a few days it will be fully recharged.” Thad explained handing the ring back the wide eyed princess.

Looking at her now he had to admit though she hadn’t hit her woman hood yet she was still quite cute. With her long curly red hair slightly
disheveled her emerald green eyes and her ripped gossamer gown showing off the soft pale skin of her shoulder, left him no doubt that she would bloom into a beautiful woman. Catching him staring she furrowed her brow and drew her lips in a tight line. “What?”

“I thought it was about time to get you home.” He said quickly getting to his feet.

He took the young princess to one of the exits at the edge of the town. After checking to make sure no one was around he handed her his cloak that she took without comment and wrapped it tightly around herself with the hood pulled up the only thing that could be seen was her shoes.  As soon as the palace gates were in view he leaned down. “You should be safe from here.” He spoke quietly as not to draw unwanted attention

As he turned to leave Maria’s hand grasped his arm tightly. Turning he noticed she had tears in her eyes. “Please don’t leave me alone.” Her he words came out pleadingly. Against his better judgment he allowed the princess to drag him up to the main gate where two large and heavily armed guards greeted them with crossbows. Before he could object the princess
unwrapped herself from the folds of his cloak handing it back to his gently. He took and went to make his exist but was foiled as he was soon surrounded by dozens of palace guards.

Within seconds he was thrown to the ground and treated roughly until the princess steeped between him and the female guard who was accosting him. “This man saved me I don’t think my mother would approve of him being treated so even if he is a male.” She then turned and quickly made her way into the palace proper,
while he was helped up and led at sword point to a small but opulently decorated room room.

While he waited
a bath and change of clothes were prepared for him. The bath was welcomed as he had not been afforded the change to take one since he had been at the Double Dove inn. The clothes while elegant seemed a bit overdone to him. The doublet was a dark red, with a lighter red trim, and the pants were dyed as dark as night, with silver trim running down both sides and across the midsection. There was also a deep black pair of boots with silver buckles that fit him well if a tad too big, and to top it off his hair his hair was pulled back with silver string into a tight pony tail that pulled at his wound.

Even after the long bath and tedious dressing and pampering by the horde of slaves that kept checking and double checking him to make sure he was ready, he still had plenty of time for his own worries to make their way to his mind. By the time he was brought to stand before the gold trimmed double doors to the audience chambers he had his nerves strung tight.

He was marched into the room flanked on each side by three royal guards. The queen sat on a large dark wooden throne decorated in gold leaf, she was beautiful wearing a sheer white gown with small diamonds sewn all over it making her sparkle, while the princess, now wearing a dark green dress that looked nice if a bit extravagant, sat on a smaller throne to the queen's right. Remembering the proper protocols he readjusted his sight to the floor and went down to his knees placing his head upon the floor.

“You may rise,” the queen’s voice was soft yet stern,
who waited till he got to his feet. “I see, so you made your way to the capital young man, the name was Mark if I remember correctly.”

Thad tried to keep the fear from his face. “Your
Majesty my name is Thaddeus Torin.”

The queen gave out a short laugh. “My young man do you think I spend that kind of money and don’t remember the occasion, honestly I thought you would have taken up with the bandits that attacked us, I am glad to see that is not the case, but now that you are back with us you will have to be properly branded of course, but I supposed we can forgo the punishment for escaping seeing that you saved my daughter.”

Thad bowed low again silently triggering the group paralyzing spell of his ring. He went into a crouching position in case any other threats presented themselves. “I humbly apologize Your Majesty I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” he could see the queen’s eyes shaking in rage, “but I won’t be a slave.”

Thad braced himself prepared the most powerful area paralyzing spell he could muster, his head throbbing at the sheer amount
of magic pouring into him. Opening the door he had to brace himself against the frame as a multicolored array of colors danced on the edge of his vision. Outside everyone was frozen in place, as he made his way to the main corridor that led outside a loud alarm rang out throughout the palace.

Everyone was in a panic and no one stopped
him until he reached the iron gates, where four guards barred his path. “Stop!” one of the guards yelled leveling a spear at his chest. Thad obediently stopped and raised his hands above his head, cursing silently to himself. Having little choice he starting a spell and was happy that unlike the story books he didn’t have to wave his hands in silly circles and use long incantations.  He could hear the guard in front of him telling him something but in his current semi meditative state couldn’t understand what. The guard turned to one of his companions and said something and the other guard drew his sword and approached him. Hoping the spell was strong enough Thad let loose.

With a loud roar the ground below the gates exploded sending dirt and metal in all directions.
Thad had barely got his shield in place in time before the shock wave washed over him. The guards not being so luckily were thrown down to the ground and the one with the spear had been impaled by a stray length of iron. Thad felt bad for the guard but his body was already feeling the effects from his overuse of magic.

He wasn’t sure how but one moment he was staggering through the streets and the next he was laying down on the hard floor of his home, with a small read
headed form leaning over him. He panicked sitting up and backing against the wall. Looking around he noticed he was home and not in the palace dungeons. “What are you doing here?”

Ignoring him the princess sat aside the washcloth she held in her hand and began making a plate of food out of his stores. “You know mother is quite livid, she has every guard and soldier searching the town for you. They are to detain you only though, she won’t admit it she was quite impressed
with you, but more importantly you lied to me.”

He futilely tried to stand finally giving up as the princess walked over and handed him the plate of food. “First you lied about your name, then about being a mage. Don’t try to lie again I may be young but I’m not stupid.”

“I didn’t lie about my name it really is Thaddeus, I left my old name behind. As for the magic, I’m sorry, but I won’t be a slave.”

The princess put her hands on her hips and tried making a stern face that looked more cute then fierce. “I know, I tried reasoning with mother even if they dragged you back we would never be able to control you without your cooperation, you already proved you could have easily killed us all yesterday.”

An uncomfortable silence filled the room until he let out a heavy sigh. “Guess it’s time for me to leave
Arith.” He could follow the route Monique had left him in the hopes of meeting up with her, or he could make his was to Rane and wait on her.

“NO!” The princess’s shout
ed. “I won’t tell her where you’re at, and I can bring you some food from the palace.” Maria’s voice started to break and a tear ran down her cheek. “I promise I’ll get mother to grant you your freedom, just please don’t leave.”

To say he was stunned was an understatement. He couldn’t understand why the princess cared if he left or not, in truth he wasn’t sure why a host of guards weren’t already clasping him in chains. He could ask but for some reason that felt wrong too, finally giving up trying to understand the princess motives he just smiled. “Ok I’ll stay around, but I would like to know how you got down here without anyone following you.”

Maria ducked her hear her face turning a bright red. “There is a secret passage into the sewers in the basement of the palace. It’s so the royal family can escape in case the palace is ever under siege.”

It made sense to him, though he was sure he had searched every inch of the sewer. Shrugging his shoulder he took another bight from his plate. The princess nattered on about how boring the palace was, sneaking in questions about his magic in from time to time. He answered the questions as best he could, and when he mentioned that most people once trained could learn magic she became insistent that he teach her.

“Why won’t you teach me?” She huffed after the third time he politely refused her request.

He really didn’t want to tell her but it didn’t seem she was going to give her much of a choice. “From my understanding you shouldn’t train in magic until you have matured.”

At first the princess’s face was confused, then as understanding of what he meant sunk in her face reddened. “Oh.”

After making him promise to teach her as soon as she was “ready” she left happily promising to come back as soon as she could with food and supplies to last him until things settled down.

Maria was nothing like what he thought a princess would be like. She was outspoken, demanding, manipulative, self-important, but also kind. Laying back down he found himself oddly looking forward to her next visit.

The princess visited every day; her visits were always erratic, sometimes staying for hours other time just for a few minutes. She always brought the latest news, and the past few days all she talked about was the big party her mother had planned for her eleventh birthday. On her last visit she had let him know that with all the commotion over the party she wouldn’t be able to visit for a while, but also that the hunt for him had dwindled down to nothing, the queen sure that he had left the city and well on his way out of the Queendom.

The party was still four days away and he wanted to do something special for the princess. He had an idea for a gift but he was out of materials to enchant with, so he decided it was time to risk a trip into town.

  The fresh air felt great outside compared to the dank air of the sewers. His first stop was at a shop where he purchased a small wooden box with a hinged lid, then to the jewelry store where he bought a small bar of silver, a small diamond, two emeralds, three rubies and a handful of amethysts, costing him a little
over four gold.

Knowing he also needed more for Monique he stopped by the blacksmith getting a few bars of steel, then before heading back home he stopped at the small trinket shop buying enough crystals to last him a long time, as well as a few glass orbs.

Back in his lair Thad emptied his coin pouch into his hands. Three gold, a few silvers and a handful of iron pennies. At the rate he was going through gold he would be broke in no time. Resigning himself to cut down on his spending he began working on the princess’s present.

The box was simple but made of a dark purple wood that was very catching to the eye. Using a small amount of steel he made settings for the gems, and arranged them in the box. The rubies and emeralds circling the diamond and lastly the amethysts circling the rest, once everything was sat out he began focusing on the silver bar forcing it to thin itself out paper thin.

Magical manipulating metal was always draining and took the majority of his energy when enchanting. His head starting to throb he placed the silver sheet on top of the gems concentrating again allowing it to melt around them covering the entire bottom of the box, but still allowing the gems to be seen. With nothing else to do while he waited for his mind to rest he grabbed a block of wood and his dagger and began whittling.

It took him two days to complete the box but he was happy with the finished product. Unlike his other items the box didn’t use a key command but keyed so that when the lid was opened it triggered the magic. While the spells used were simple he was very proud of the core design; the rubies and emeralds fed magic to the amethysts and the diamond was set to
regulate the overall magic flow.  When the lid opened twenty small lights of a myriad of colors filled the area dancing around in a random pattern.