Chapter 6

Lady Sakura Tomoe was one of those young girls that hated custom, custom in her eyes was a bunch of politic machinations disguised as families wanting to preserve the purity of their line. Sadly, her father was one of those people who believed in customs. Her father, Lord Drafer of Tomoe was one of those closest to the King and as a consequence she had been given as a future bride to Prince Crawford. The biggest problem was that she was afraid of the Prince and hated him. The Prince had an aura that made her get cold shivers and the thought of having to lie with the man when they were married made her wish she were poor. It was a horrible feeling to know that her parents would rather see her miserable if that would get them closer to the crown. Sakura knew what her father was thinking, once she gave birth to a male heir Lord Tomoe would start pulling strings maybe even get her killed so no one interfered in his road to power. It was a sad existence that of knowing that you were only expected to give birth to a child and keep quiet after that.

The door to her drawing room opened to admit a quiet servant girl, " Lady Sakura, the Prince wishes to see you."

Getting up, Sakura smoothed her pale blue dress before flicking some of her soft mahogany brown hair out of her eyes. Not many people would say she was beautiful, cute was the word that came to mind. She still had a innocent face even though she had seen sixteen seasons, a petite girl that seemed like the Prince’s little sister instead of his bride to be. She walked through the hallway leading to the Prince’s room, Sakura began to realize just how much of a prisoner she really was.

"Lady? Are you ill?" The servant girl was watching her apprehensively, they were standing in front of the Prince’s door.

Sakura smiled trying to make the girl feel at ease, " Oh, no just thinking."

" Ah,"

Knocking the door three times the girl announced Sakura before the latter was left alone in the presence of the Prince.

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" Hello, my Lady. I hope you have been good?"

" I have my Lord."

Crawford was sitting at his desk. He smiled briefly at her before his eyes flickered to some chairs at the corner of the room. There sat Schuldich who was sitting beside a redheaded boy who he was urging to drink from a golden cup. Sakura frowned before turning to Crawford with a question in her eyes.

" Ah, my dear friend Lord Opheltes. He became quite ill a while ago."

"Oh." There was nothing she could say since Crawford’s tone implied he was done with the subject.

" Well as you can see my Lady, I’ve been fairly busy. The wedding will be held in thirty days. How are the arrangements coming?"

" Fairly well my Lord, as always you have made sure that I get everything I need."

Crawford smiled, "That is good to hear."

At that moment Schuldich chose stand up, lifting the body of the other redhead as he nodded briefly at Crawford before leaving the room. The Prince smiled when he noticed the curiosity reflected in Sakura’s eyes. She wanted to ask but did not want to dare Crawford’s wrath. He had been angry at her before and it was not pretty.

" Lord Opheltes has been sick lately, some might call it a sickness of the mind. He’s forgotten all about his past."

Sakura gasped, " That’s horrible."
" Yes..." drawled the Prince who seemed to be amused by the whole situation. " He will be staying with us for the time being until he can recover his memories. Do not bother him, let him be since he will also be working for me."

Sakura knew the underlying threat in the Prince’s statements, everything the Prince said had a threat, " I will do as you wish."

" Good. You will join me tonight for dinner."

" As you wish."

Then Crawford picked up some papers and started reading. That was Sakura’s signal that the meeting was over. A man of a few words, the man that would be her husband. Closing the door behind her, she thought about Lord Opheltes that could not remember his past. At least she had that. The young lady realized that there were worse things in life than a creepy fiancee.

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To say that Ran felt ill was an understatement. For the past hour he had been vomiting as if his life depended on it. He felt as if there was a band constricting him, making it hard to breathe. Lord Schuldich had been giving him some wine to mull the pain but it was not working very well. As it was Ran felt a bit odd at his behavior towards the Prince. He felt compelled to obey, had to obey which made him wonder why. He disliked the man and was wary of trusting him. The Prince said that he had fainted, Ran seriously doubted that since he felt as if his body had been severely beaten. Everything hurt but not so much as his head maybe he was running a fever. Bringing a hand to touch his forehead he realized that he did not seem ill in that respect. Everything seemed in order if he ignored the fact that Schuldich was treating him like broken glass. The man was hiding something, it was just a matter of time before Ran figured it out. Something was different, it was obvious when Ran was carried into his room by Schuldich. The wards no longer seemed to choke power out of him. A comforting feeling in face of all the things he was feeling at the moment. He felt stronger but weaker at the same time. The Prince did something to him but he could not remember and Schuldich was acting weird.

" What did you do to me?" croaked the redhead. He was a bit surprised at the way his voice sounded, as if it hadn’t been used in a long time.

Schuldich smiled as he placed Ran on the bed before he sat on a chair across him, " Ah, so you’ve figured it out. Do you really want to know? My best advice would be to forget about the whole thing, would be a bit easier."

Ran narrowed his eyes. The bloody bastards had done something to him. " What did you do to me?"

Schuldich smiled broadly as if happy that Ran would ask, " Not me, the Prince. You are a mage, an elemental mage at that. To tell you the truth I never thought the Prince could do it, he raves about things that do not usually work."

" A what?"

"Elemental mage. Must have heard of them, have great powers but only live in myths? Well you are one of them, your power is water or anything that derives from water. That is not taking into account that it amplified your normal power. You are now invincible but for someone as powerful you are under the control of the Prince. He has you now, your power belongs to him and your body to me." At that moment Schuldich got up to caress Ran’s face, his fingers lingering on the redhead’s lips. Ran was too shocked to do anything but sit there and attempt to bring his breathing under control.

He was a mage under the control of a lunatic Prince. A bad time for this to have happened, now Zawquir had an advantage on their ally Salaks and their enemy Libertas. The Prince had said as much. He would try and seize power and once that was on his hands he would begin a war. Ran sighed sadly before becoming aware of Schuldich who was watching him.

" Stop touching me," hating himself for sounding so weak.

Schuldich eyed him with amusement. " Saving yourself for someone?"

Ran couldn’t help but blush. It was stupid to show weakness in the face of the enemy, but he couldn’t help it. Schuldich tapped the temple of his head with an index finger. " Must remember I can read your thoughts."

"Well stop it," this time Ran did manage to make his voice sound cold, but Schuldich was having none of it. He seized Ran’s jaw painfully making the redhead lean forward until Schuldich’s nose was almost touching his own.

" You belong to me, you might be Crawford’s little weapon but to me you are only my toy. You are no longer in Libertas, you are nothing here and nobody will come for you. You’re survival depends on me, do not forget that." Releasing him Schuldich smiled as he straightened his robes. Picking up Ran’s right arm he fastened a golden bracelet that had engraved the form of a hydra. Ran guessed it was Schuldich’s house symbol.

" Nicely guessed. This shows that you belong to me. Do not even try to take it off, it will only come off when I remove it. Now get some rest you have had a trying day."

As Schuldich closed the door behind him, Ran allowed himself to fall on the bed breathing harshly. He was trapped. A bitter laugh escaped his lips, first Taeba and now Schuldich, maybe his destiny was to be forever a prisoner.

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" The boy is waking. Do not startle him."

Ken slowly opened his eyes at the voices he was hearing. The last thing he remembered was making it up to the top of Sorcerers Mount only to be attacked by a huge tiger. Ken hadn’t seen the likes of it ever. It was either one of two things, the animal was no tiger but actually a man powerful enough to transform into such a big animal or a wizard that had enhanced an actual tiger, both things very difficult to do. Finally feeling that his limbs could move and all the pain that had accompanied him throughout most of his climb was gone, the brunette started to look around.

He was startled to see that he was in a room with bare concrete walls. In each corner there were some golden figurines representing the gods of the corners of the world, Kric the swordsman, northern god of wind, Nizca, the lyre player, southern god of sand, Mirna the archer, western goddess of fire, and Hiwqgar the flute player, eastern goddess of water with her twin brother Jawcar the club-bearer, the god of ice. It was said that since water was so unpredictable, both gods ruled the east, during fair weather Hiwqgar was ruling but when the weather turned bad and the waters were aggressive, that was the wrath of Jawcar. Apart from the weapons that their name sported, both gods sported two small swords that united to release an elemental weapon like the other gods had. The gods were also used as barriers to protect places which Ken was willing to wager was the reason the gods were placed in the room. There were some lamps and a small fire of purple flame in the room which was famous for being used by Safgher, the last elemental mage to ever live. Across his bed was a small table engraved with two silver serpents that were eating each other. Each serpent was eating the tail of the other forming a circle which represented the circle of life, how all things were a continuation of other things. On top of the table was a small basin of water as well as some washcloths and a small mirror. He was laying in what seemed to be a four poster bed, each post had the figure of one of the gods of the world.

Ken’s studying of the room was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

" I am glad you like it," said an amused voice. Ken watched a young man emerge from the shadows of the room. He may have seen twenty seasons maybe less. His hair the color of gold made him look ethereal as well as enhancing his amber colored eyes. He was completely dressed in red robes with several engraving that Ken did not understand. More than likely they were ancient spells, for the young man exuded power. Ken lifted his gaze to look at the man when he noticed that the young man was smiling again. " Well, will you tell me your name?"

Ken blushed. It was rude to leave someone waiting for an answer. " I..." he tried again taking a deep breath before speaking.

" My name is Ken Hidaka."

The young man lifted an eyebrow " From the Hidaka clan?"

"Yes," said Ken lowering his eyes.

" Ah a good clan. Too bad our gods are too petty in their likes. Well as you know you have reached the top of Sorcerers Mount and are now entitled to be a pupil of one of the ancient mages. It was decided that the best one to teach you would be I. People call me Master Reimel"

Ken blinked, the man almost seemed to be his age. What was going on?

" I am much older that I look I assure you. I have seen about two hundred seasons."

In his surprise Ken forgot all about propriety, " Two hundred?!"

" Yes my young Hidaka. Life can be a bit boring when not many people have the courage to climb the Mount. Why did you climb it?"

The piercing gaze Master Reimel was giving him was unnerving. It was as if the man could see his very soul.

" I promised a friend."

" Ah, the sacrifice. A sad event that his family was killed, enough of a misfortune to be held prisoner by Taeba."

Ken blinked again. How did the guy know? Then he had know who he was."

" I did know who you were since I have already talked to you."

Ken could only ask dumbly, " When?"

" At this moment, you have already told me all this. I have already seen you become a great mage and die at an old age."

" What?"

" The blessing and the curse great power brings. I can see the past, present and future. I am everywhere and no where at the same time." Master Reimel gently pushed Ken to lie down again. " Get some rest, your lessons will start tomorrow. Welcome home."

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"Your majesty, as you know the King of Zawquir becomes weaker each passing day and as such his son gains the power. If he were to become King it would be a disaster."

Yohji listened at what the advisor were telling his father. He knew all this by memory as well as his father but for appearances pretended to be listening. The only one that needed no pretending was Omi who sat across him. The genki Duke kept writing notes every time the advisors said something that seemed relevant, or an idea blossomed in his mind. Yohji preferred the advice of his brother than one of the advisors. At least his brother had no secret agenda.

" My prince, a matter that requires your personal attention," said one of the advisors. He was one of the older ones making him believe that he had the power to tell the Prince what he should do.

Yohji arched an eyebrow lifting his head from where he had been supporting it with his hand for the past fifteen minutes. He could also be bored even if he was a Prince.

" And that might be what?" There was a note of underlying threat to whatever the man said. If he wanted to make the Prince look like a fool it would not be tolerated.

The man stopped a bit at the tone of voice taking a deep breath before he spoke, " It has to do with the army."

" I gathered as much. What do you * think * I ought to do?"

" Well pardon me for being a bit forward but I do not think the size of our present army is enough to deter an army like that of Zawquir."

Yohji frowned deep in thought, " How many troops does the heir of Zawquir have?"

" As of now twenty thousand foot soldiers, ten thousand riders and about five hundred archers who might also be rangers."

" That much? I was given to understand two weeks ago that it was only about fifteen thousand, including riders and rangers."

The advisor blushed crimson before replying, " Yes, our sources made some mistakes in the numbers."

Yohji frowned becoming annoyed. No one could make that much of a mistake, " I would advice you to keep an eye on your sources. They might be playing both sides. If that is all this meeting is dismissed."

Yohji walked back to his room trailed by an overeager Duke, who after the meeting had decided that the best thing to do was to have a meeting with Prince Crawford.

" You know I am right. There’s no way he can refuse you and if the meeting is in a neutral place the chances of an attack are greatly reduced."

Yohji turned to look at his brother while removing his robes. Today the Prince had been wearing simple black robes since it was the eighth anniversary of his mother’s death. Omi was also wearing black robes as a symbol of gratitude since it was the Queen’s pleading that had made the King adopt him.

" What are you thinking?"

" Well I was thinking we could ask Oedgar if we could have the meeting in their country. It would be the perfect place since apart of having one of the strongest armies they also have Hades and Tartarus."

Yohji chuckled," I remember those devil dogs, I saw them when I was younger. Scared the wits out of me when Father took me there."

Omi’s eyes opened as he sat down on Yohji’s chair behind his mahogany desk. The genki had always been fascinated by fantastical animals and figures. If one wanted information on a mythical creature Omi was your man to see. "What did they look like? I have only read accounts of them, are the frighteningly huge? Horrible?"

Yohji had to laugh at that. It was times like this that Omi showed that he was still a kid in some regards. " Nothing as dramatic as that. Actually they look like puppies, one red the other black. Think of them as a mix of a tiger and a wild dog. Their eyes are amber but turn a crystal green when they focus on you, that’s also a threat that they may attack if you want to hurt their master. They breathe fire and also control other elements like thunder. Beautiful dangerous creatures. You’ll love them."

Omi sat fascinated, " I wish I could see them. The only fantastical animal I’ve seen is the golden bull that Father keeps in the pastures."

" You should know that the King of Oedgar gave Father that bull. Maybe if he likes you he’ll give you something."

Omi lowered his head saddened, "I cannot be nice to a person only because I want something in return. It should be beneath a person to do that."

Yohji grinned as he walked up to Omi lifting his chin up, " And that’s why I like you."

That night Yohji could not sleep. Omi had convinced the King to send a messenger to Oedgar and see if they could have a small meeting in the country. It was then that he started remembering Ran and Ken. Both of them had been missing now for about six weeks. There were reports that the wizard was up in Sorcerer’s Mount training with the wizards up there. Upon hearing this Omi tried to send a falcon to take a letter but the falcon came back badly bruised with no letter in sight. They didn’t even know if the falcon had made it to the top of the mount. Ran was another matter entirely, there had been sightings of him in the vicinity of Salaks and Quitzar a country southeast of Salaks. Nothing was concrete, Omi was beginning to believe that maybe Ran had met an unfortunate end, but Yohji knew that Ran was alive. He could feel it. He just hoped Ran hadn’t forgotten his promise.

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"Get up. You must have realized by now that our country is becoming involved in a war." Master Reimel was standing above Ken with a frown marring his features. Lately the wizard had become a bit more demanding with the brunette. Making him learn more difficult spells as if they were working against a deadline.

" Our country? I thought that mages usually stayed out of wars," gasped Ken from where he was sprawled on the ground. The simple brown robes he wore did nothing to protect him from the spells of his master. His whole body ached from the earlier blast he had received Master Reimel. There were times that Ken forgot where the old hurts ended and the new ones began, but at the moment he knew exactly where the new pains were. According to Master Reimel his attacks were getting the brunette’s body used to withstand pain, a good thing if you were in battle. Ken wasn’t so sure.

" Usually mages stay out of war but this time is different. The Prince we are dealing with is unnaturally power hungry and might have mages working for him. You might be called to aid the royals."

Ken blinked, " Me? Why me?"

Reimel smiled his enigmatic smile that usually meant ‘I know something you don’t’. It annoyed Ken to no ends making him wonder if Reimel was actually as old as he claimed. He acted like a child often enough.

" Well because the only one that can leave the Mount to fight is my Master who is quite old and you. I am being pressured to turn you into a powerful mage. I am thankful you have some talent."

Ken’s eyebrow twitched, " Some?"

" Yes, some. You are not as great as you think you are. You have barely begun to learn how to block my magic. You will be a good magician when we fight as equals but will only be a great magician when you surpass me."

Ken sighed as he carefully clutched his ribs, " Surpass my master? I do not think that is possible."

Reimel’s eyes shone with a surge of anger and annoyance, "You come from a line of wizards all of them great. You dishonor their memory by saying such things."

"Gomen, I never meant...I just think that maybe I do not have as much talent as I thought I did."

" You do. The spells you are learning are usually thought after three months, you have grasped them within weeks. You have the talent you just need to be a bit more focused."

Ken smiled wryly, "You and Ran would get along beautifully."

" Well if you die you’ll never be able to tell your friend that, ne? Now, let’s continue."

Lifting his arms, Reimel’s body started to shine a deep blue as waves of energy started emanating from his body. The air around them became cold as a small ball of energy became concentrated in the wizard’s hands. Rapidly bringing his arms in front of him, Reimel summoned, "Eternal sleep!"

Ken lifted his arms in front of him, " Mirror!" The spell Reimel had used was an ice spell, a very powerful one at that since Ken could feel the spell breaking through his spell. The spell the brunette had cast was to return the spell to the caster but a wizard needed to be powerful in order to do that since the wizard casting it had to lend some of his own force to make the spell have some effect. Feeling thin shards of ice cutting his hands and face, the young wizard decided to change tactics. Still using one arm to keep the mirror spell up, the brunette got out an ofuda in the other hand in order to have a bit more energy backing his spell.

" Phoenix breath!" The spell was in the form of a fire phoenix flying toward his Master. Reimel had his smile again and without even moving his hands from where they were keeping his spell going said, " Mirror!"

The spell that Ken had been fighting suddenly turned into the phoenix he had sent his Master. Before he even had a chance to summon a shield, Ken was on his back staring at the sky as he tried to breathe.

Reimel stood over him again smiling, " You did good young wizard. Keep this up and you will surpass me."

Ken smiled. [Just you wait Ran, I will prove I can become as great as the ancients.]

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Ran woke up in a cold sweat, he was disoriented enough that he didn’t know if he was still dreaming. It had been nice but it had made him nervous. It was as if he knew the person but couldn’t remember.

That was one of the things he had been noticing for the past few days, his memory was slipping. Little by little his past was becoming a indistinct fog, every time he tried to remember somebody he came against a concrete wall.

Crawford had been amused when Schuldich told him that Ran couldn’t remember who Aya was. Ran on the other hand was panicking. He should know who Aya was, in his heart he knew the name was very important but for the life of him he couldn’t remember. And then there was the dream he had just woken up from. There was this person, a blond man who seemed to be at least related to royalty considering the type pf clothes he was wearing. Black embroidered robes with a satin black shirt underneath. It was too much clothes even for a lord. Then there was the room and the other blond boy who by the way he was speaking to the older man he might have been a relative or a very good friend.

" You should frowning. You’ll get wrinkles."

Ran jumped at hearing the other voice in his room. It angered him that everybody could get into his room like it was the public market. He was sure he had locked the door, damn it.

Schuldich laughed, "My dear orchid they’re other ways to get into a room without using a door."

Ran scowled. It was too bloody early to be speaking to the weinker.

" Do you have a reason for being in my room or do you like being bloody annoying?"

The lord lifted a perfectly sculpted eyebrow before grinning. " Hmm, a bit feisty, ne? I see. Well our dear Prince requests your immediate presence. So I suggest not to keep him waiting." Hugging his dark robes a bit around his body, Schuldich left the room expecting Ran to follow.

Picking up some pale blue robes Ran followed Schuldich as a feeling of apprehension stsrted to spread throughout his body. The castle at night was dead quiet, their silent footsteps echoing through the stone halls. The fires illuminating the passage flickered when small gusts of wind passed them. From where the wind came from Ran had no idea.

Finally arriving at the heavily adorned mahogany door of the Prince’s chambers, Schuldich gave a light knock before entering.

" My Lord, your pretty weapon is here."

Crawford frowned at Schuldich’s joke but said nothing. Instead turning to see Ran he smiled which was disturbing since the Prince never smiled.

"We have been invited to have some peace negotiations with Libertas. The meeting will be held in Oedgar, which is a neutral country."

Schuldich grinned, " Are we going to attack?"

"No. The King of Oedgar is very powerful, not a good person to have as an enemy. Instead we will just go and see what Libertas Prince is offering."

" I see. So what do you need the redhead for?"

Crawford grinned, " I might need protection." That was the last thing Ran heard before the world went completely black.

TBC

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