“Kid, why are you making this so hard on yourself? Many men would give their right nut to get the attention you are getting from the princess. Why not do whatever they ask of you and enjoy the perks of working here? We get days off every week, no other folks on commitment gets that type of love, plus we actually get paid a salary! Why screw with that? Even if you were back in whatever hell hole you crawled out of, you wouldn’t make this money here. On top of all that women want to marry a palace guardsman. My mother has had so many request she doesn’t know what to do with them all.” Liano said as he opened the door for Max.
“I would rather be in my hellhole and free. Protecting the Princess holds no special meaning for me when my mother is in harms way. I was promised freedom and it was not delivered. I cannot enjoy my existence here. I would trade with you in a second if I could. I don’t want to be someone’s attack dog. But I see I have no choice. Goodnight Sir” Xander said as he closed the door.
Xander retreated up to his bedroom where he took his book out of its hiding place in his boot and contacted his father.
“Father I am being held by the Queen of Rangel, they have discovered I am an enchanter”
My son it was bound to happen. Are you to be executed?
“No father she wants me to enchant for her. The witches and the royals do not get along. She wants me as insurance if they ever decide to attack.”
I don’t see a way out for you. You have to trust your own instincts, follow your own path. When you start enchanting though, I would try to be as vague as possible, only telling them the bare minimum of anything. What you should be worried about is if both parties would rather see you dead than in the others hands. You should start coming up with some type of protection for yourself. I believe teleportation is still possible, as I have seen a witch with great power do it before. You may want to look into this, as it could become a means of escape.
I will look into this father and we will talk more later.
Xander closed his book and laid down on his bed, which seemed to be made of the clouds themselves. Xander had a horrible night’s sleep as he worried about what tomorrow would bring. Xander had just started to drift off when he heard someone coming up his stairs.
“Alright boy” said Xander’s least favorite guard he decided he was going to call foul mouth. “Get up and follow me to the circle, I am supposed to take you to the armory but I don’t trust no child of war to make my armor, especially one that can’t fight without his magical doohickeys. Now get up and follow me.”
Xander rose to his feet and followed foul mouth a long ways around the palace until they came to a door leading outside. Xander could see the other guards were already up sparring each other. Taking a quick look at the competition, all of these men looked to be made out of granite and were at least a head and a half taller than Xander. Foul Mouth led him to an empty circle and tossed him a wooden practice sword as he grabbed one.
“Okay boy hopefully you know how to handle that thing you got in your hand, now come at me” Foul Mouth said as he didn't bother to take a stance at all.
Xander charged in quickly, delivering blows that would take out a novice, but still leave him time to recover if his opponent was setting a trap. Foul Mouth blocked the strike and immediately went on the offensive, using a combination of his superior speed and strength to keep Xander on the defensive. Xander had practice fighting those who were quicker than he was, though he had not fought many. Xander used his defense as much as he could and tried to move around, staying unpredictable. Foul Mouth started to grow frustrated and threw a punch at Xander, upon which Xander moved out of the way. Leaving himself over extended, Foul mouth brought up his sword to protect against Xander’s incoming sword strike, never seeing Xander’s real attack, a kick to the balls. Foul mouth went down in a heap as Xander walked out of the circle, leaving the man there as he let out a string of curse words.
“Ha it looks like you got lucky in there kid” said Max as he patted Xander on the back. “Care to spar against me?”
“I do not want to spar against any of you. I am a slave and I only wish to do the job Her Majesty laid out for me” Xander said as he pulled away from Max’s arm.
“Have it your way kid, continue to make yourself miserable. The armory is just down the way, you will run right into it.” Max said as he left to help up foul mouth.
Xander walked towards the direction Max pointed and came to a door. Opening it, Xander saw more weapons and armor than he had seen in his whole life. The weapons and armor were all segregated from each other based on the guard’s name. Xander thought about if he was a palace guard, what would be the first thing he would change if he could and kept coming to the same conclusion, the huge unwieldy shield. Actually trying to heft the thing for the first time, Xander could see it was almost impossible. Xander wondered if there was any way to make these items guard specific, like his sword was to him. That way anyone picking up an enchanted item could only use it normally, without any of his special attachments.
Xander decided he would use the gauntlets as sort of a key to unlock the power. Xander have never heard about his father trying such a thing but figured it couldn’t hurt. Xander enchanted Liano’s gauntlets first, seeing that Xander remembered he was left handed. On his right gauntlet Xander inscribed his name and poured his ether into it focusing on the enchantment unlock. On Liano’s shield on the inside, he inscribed Liano’s name along with the word lighter. Xander pictured the shield being much lighter as he poured his ether into the shield. Xander was not sure how long he had spent working, but figured it was at least an hour. Xander started to feel woozy as he tried to pick up the heavy shield. It didn't budge.
Next Xander put on Liano’s gauntlet and then tried to lift the shield, it was as light as a sword. Xander by this time was extremely tired, more so than he was when he enchanted items for enchanter use only or when it was for everyone. Xander held the huge tower shield over his head and walked out to the practice circles where it looked like the Guardsmen were packing up.
“Here is your shield Liano”, Xander said as he tossed it ten feet.
Max not believing what he just saw tried to yank it up and almost threw his shoulder out.
“By the Gods boy how did you do that?” said a palace guard Xander now knew was named Hawk, the fighter in the arena and the nicer one in his trip to the palace.
“I don’t feel good” was the last words Xander spoke as he blacked out.
When Xander awoke he was in his room with a wet towel over his head. His head felt like he had been kicked by ten mules over and over again and everything seemed too bright. Upon sitting up, Xander could make out Princess Aubrey in his room. Xander scrambled out of bed, not realizing he was in the nude. Not giving it a second thought he bowed on the floor and began to speak.
“Your highness, I am sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I will return to my duties at once” was all Xander said as he kept his eyes on the floor.
“That’s ridiculous Xander, you passed out pushing yourself too far and bumped your head pretty good. Get back in bed, besides it is night time, you have been out for over twelve hours” Aubrey said as she stood up.
“Well then that is twelve hours that I need to catch up on Your Highness.”
“Are you insane, you almost killed yourself pushing so hard” Aubrey asked not sure if she was hearing right.
“If I die, I die. I am just another slave Your Highness. I will work until I can’t work anymore.”
“That is unacceptable Xander, I don’t get you. The life of a slave isn’t that bad, think about it. You get to eat whatever your master is eating, you will always have food in your stomach and clothes on your back. If you do your job no one will mistreat you. Have you been mistreated here? Hurting yourself isn’t the answer. You have a good thing going, don’t mess it up. By the way I saw the shield you perfected. It took us a while before we realized you needed the gauntlet to make it work, but it is a thing of beauty. Liano right
now is unbeatable, even when fighting Hawk or Max, no way to get around his shield; which he now uses primarily as his main offensive weapon to throw his opponents of guard. He wants to thank you but he is busy right now with all the rest of the guards. I am having my birthday ball tonight, so you will have to stay in here. My mother had your sword brought up, you can find it in your sitting room. I will see you tomorrow morning, I have to get dressed.”
Xander stayed on the floor as Aubrey walked down the stairs. A little while later Xander heard his door shut and the heavy beam put in place. Xander still feeling the effects of his headache went down stairs and found his sword in an expensive looking scabbard with the royal coat of arms adorned up and down its length. Xander took his sword out of the scabbard and went upstairs gripping his sword close as he fell off to sleep.
Celeste
“Elizabeth” Celeste said addressing the high witch, take a walk with me. “What have you heard about the Inglish, rumor has it they are beginning to prepare for an invasion”
“I have not heard much Your Majesty, only that activity has been spotted near the border” the High Witch replied, frustrated she had to take orders from a woman she could snap like a twig.
“What about the rumor Thorn is ready to stop paying tribute and attack us instead along with Ingland?” Celeste asked trying to gage whether the Witch knew anything or not.
“I have not heard about that either Your Majesty, if I had I would bring the news straight to you.”
“Well Elizabeth let me keep you up to date. We are potentially facing a war on two fronts along with what I think is an attempt at a coup d’état. The bandits in the countryside are better organized than I had thought, and if my sources are correct are at least 300 men strong, more than enough to cause a ruckus. I want you to take your best witches along with a company of my military and stamp out this bandit threat. Afterwards I want you to personally travel to our border with Ingland. I do not want another war like we had with Thorn, I was young and inexperienced. Any Inglishmen cross the border I want them dealt with.”
“Your Majesty you want me personally to handle brigands in the woods? I wouldn’t know where to look! Besides it isn’t proper for the High Witch to dirty her hands, I could send the Second or Third witch to handle that task.” Elizabeth said still in shock the Queen would dare send her out like a common attack dog.
“They will be traveling with you. My sources tell me the Bandits have been on the move, where they are located I do not know but I know this city is their destination. This is not up for debate, I need others to fear the wrath of Rangel and all her fury.”
“Yes my Queen, I shall begin preparations right away” said Elizabeth.
“Nonsense, you can start in the morning, it is Aubrey’s 16th after all, and she has grown rather found of Patrick along with Toby Franks and the new slave you brought me. Tell Patrick I will not get in his way if he wishes to pursue however I refuse to marry my daughter off, I will let her pick the best suitor” Celeste said, knowing the wheels inside the high witch’s head were turning with delusions of putting her pathetic offspring alongside Aubrey.
“I will see you at dinner Your Majesty” Elizabeth said as she walked out of the room, eager to tell Patrick what she had learned. The bandits would be easy to control, some of them were already inside the castle posing as extra help. With so many nobles around no one would keep track of the others slaves. They could attack tonight, Patrick could kill a couple trying to go after the Princess and he would be her hero and the bandits would be destroyed.
Elizabeth didn’t like the idea of killing the bandits, after all they had there uses.
AUBREY
“Okay Aubrey spill, where is that boy the enchanter at?” Asked Emma hoping to meet him without him being in a cage.
“He is resting, came down with some sort of illness, nasty stuff, the royal physician forbids anyone from going in his cell.” Aubrey said, already feeling the effects of her mother’s prediction about Xander.
“You have him in a cell?” asked Mellony.
“Well he could be dangerous, you know what the last enchanter did while he was in Rangel” said Aubrey.
“Well I am prepared to offer you 500 gold crowns for that slave” said Emma looking at Aubrey.
“I will offer you six hundred crowns for his ownership” said Mellony.
“There are going to be so many nobles and palace guardsmen at the ball and you two want to buy a slave?” asked Aubrey trying to make them see Xander isn’t worth it.
“Truth is my mother wants to either own that slave or match him up with me” said Mellony before continuing. “I would rather die than date a child of war, but he could have his uses. Not all of us are going to be the ruler of the realm, him being allied with my house would rid me of enemies.”
“Looks like we were both sent after the same thing” said Emma. “I was to sweep him off his feet tonight, make him want me in the worse way. Him being sick and all sort of put a damper on that and he is an enemy to the crown?”
“He is not an enemy, he is there for his own protection. I don’t think my mother wishes to sell him just yet” Aubrey said as she led the girls towards the dining hall.
Aubrey could see many guests had arrived and also counted at least 20 witches among this number, their young faces meant they more than likely were students. She could see the boys in their normal habit, playing hard to get giggling to themselves in a corner, trying to get a Lady to notice and hopefully marry them down the line, absolving their mothers of the problem of what to do with them. Aubrey stood at her chair as the Queen walked in. Aubrey took a seat as the first course was served.
The slave who brought the food smelled unbearably horrid, something that made her nose wrinkle. Looking up at him, she could see he was missing some teeth. All of the royal slaves were made to bathe once a day, failure to do so could earn them a whipping. Aubrey started breathing through her mouth to avoid the smell and noticed she did not know many of the servants bringing food.
As one servant bent over, Aubrey could clearly see the pommel of a sword. No one else seemed to notice, and everyone still looked very relaxed. Aubrey looked for Patrick and could see he was seated at the far end of the table, no doubt because of her mother. Having him closer would make her feel safer, especially since the guard was dressed only in their showy uniforms armed with only ceremonial swords, more for show than for go.
Aubrey saw her mother begin eating and started to eat herself. If they were poisoners, then the invaders would have no need for a sword. Aubrey ate dinner silently mostly avoiding the conversation of Toby Franks and looking at all the new faces. She did not drink any wine this day and waited to find an opportunity to tell her mother her fears. Soon the tables were cleared for the dancing as Patrick walked up to her.
“Oh Patrick, I think there is going to be an attack. I don’t recognize many of these servants and at least one of them is armed, I am going to tell my mother and alert the watch.”
Patrick silently cursed that she was so perceptive. The attack was to still be at least 30 minutes away where he could find be seen as a hero while all the others were drunk or to slow to know what was happening. Seeing his chance slipping away Patrick had to think quickly.
“Tell me where they are at Your Highness and I shall dispose of them immediately, no harm will come to you” said Patrick as he needed to tell his mother their plan was discovered prematurely.
“That one over there in the courner, he smells too bad to be a palace slave. Go check his belt and you will find a weapon, I am going to inform my mother.”
As Patrick walked towards the man, Aubrey could see one of the men making a move towards her mother with his hand in his coat. “Assassin” Aubrey cried out, “They are trying to kill the Queen!”
Hawk and Lucas instantly sprang into action surrounding the Queen, they did not know where the attack was to come from, but they were ready as they backed the Queen into a secret room with a passage le
ading to her quarters. Mayhem started to spread as Aubrey saw men coming for her while she could see her personal guards Max and Liano battling with the intruders. Aubrey ran off into a small side door and headed down the hallway with three men behind her.
Aubrey could hear them coming up from behind her just as she reached the door leading to the north tower. Aubrey struggled to push the heavy beam off of the door, just as it fell one of the men grabbed her.
“We should kill this bitch” said one of the men, a fellow who looked to be in his forties with balding hair followed by a scruffy moustache.
“Nah, keep the bitch. We need to get out of here first, she is insurance” said a younger man.
“Help, Help they have me” screamed the princess as she was backhanded into unconsciousness.
Frowley the guard had just come around the corner and could see the princess being taken out a side door close to where the boy enchanter was kept. As he ran towards the door, he could see the boy open up the door.
CHAPTER
Xander had a hard time sleeping and was still dealing with his massive headache. Taking out his book Xander opened it to talk to his father.
“Dad I tried enchanting today and passed out, what’s wrong with me.”
“What enchantment did you use son?”
“I completed a two part enchantment, making a shield lighter only when lifted with a gauntlet. The strain from that wiped me out.”
“I have never attempted such an undertaking. I think you depleted your supply of ether although I am not sure if it is because of your quantity you are capable of or inexperience.”
“Inexperience father?”
“Yes my son, your enchanting is like a muscle, the more you work with it, the better you will become. Do not worry, whether depleted or not, your stores will always return unless you have pushed a massive amount the way I did to create this book with the help of an artifact. I would only try to do half as much as you did today when you recover, then make sure to enchant every day.”
The Enchanter of Rangel: Child of War Book 1 Page 13
