Magician Prince (32 page)

The guardsmen banged on Janus’ cabin door and
were admitted entry along with Byrn and Kellen. Janus sat on a
massive wooden throne atop a dais so that he could look down on
everyone else. He smiled at Byrn’s approach, but that smile was
completely lacking of any warmth or sincerity. It was the grin of a
wolf, having cornered a rabbit. “I hope you are enjoying your stay
aboard my ship. The
Kingdom’s Key
is the finest vessel in
the fleet.”

It’s not much of a fleet anymore,
thought Byrn, but he held his tongue. He had not seen the battle
that raged at Wolfsbane for two days, but it was clear that the
kingdom found its victory on the ground. They had only a handful of
ships remaining in their navy.

“I have been wondering what to do with you,”
said Janus when Byrn did not answer. “At first, I planned to use
you against your own people. That would be a fitting reward for you
and for them for their betrayal of the crown, but the more I think
about it the more I wonder if it is a mistake keeping you alive.
What if you got out of that collar somehow? Then I will have
spoiled a golden opportunity to get rid of a great enemy. That
thought plagued me, but then I had an interesting thought. Why
don’t you tell me what you think I should do with you? And please
elaborate. I would love to know the details of your reasoning.”

It would have been a cruel joke if Byrn was
truly collared- to clinically weigh the advantages and
disadvantages of sparing him solely as it related to the king’s
well being. Would Kale Aurel have done that? The old king was known
to have a hard edge, but it was impossible to imagine him putting
someone in this position solely for his own amusement.

Janus waited for an answer. He leaned forward
in anticipation of what he might hear. Byrn knew he had to say
something, so he finally managed, “It would be a mistake to kill
me.” Of course, he had to say that. It was not evident if Janus had
any intention of following through on whatever Byrn told him or if
he was merely playing at a mind game, but it was better not to take
the chance. “I could be a powerful ally to you if we could be
persuaded to trust one another.”

“You misunderstand your position, Necros. You
are at best a weapon and nothing more than that.”

“I fully understand your intention. You asked
what was the most advantageous use of me and I gave it. If I were a
corpse, I would serve no use. If I were a slave, I am only useful
until the moment I get free. If I were an ally, then I would always
be of use to you.”

The room was silent for a minute as Janus
considered the new possibility presented before him. Never before
had he considered that a magician would willingly seek to ally with
him. He descended the dais and stood close enough to Byrn so that
he could see his captive’s eyes. Byrn held his skeptical gaze.

“Of your own free will, you would destroy
your own kind at my command?”

“Yes,” Byrn lied without hesitation. It was
an answer that Janus never would have expected to hear and never
would have believed if not for the collar around Byrn’s neck.
Indeed, if Byrn did not wear the collar, he never would have
attempted the deception to begin with, but knowing that Janus
believed him incapable of lying gave Byrn a tremendous advantage.
Even so, it was easy to read the conflict in Janus’ body
language.

“And what would be the price of your
loyalty?” the king’s tone was cutting; disgusted at the perceived
treachery of his own people, but Byrn sensed an eagerness in there
as well.

“Freedom to do as I please.”

“And if it pleases you to kill me?” asked
Janus venomously, but still intrigued.

It was Byrn’s turn to smile wolfishly. “That
would not be very loyal of me, now would it?”

Janus turned his back to Byrn and ascended
back to his throne. Once seated he addressed Kellen, “Take Necros
back to his cell.”

“At once, your majesty.” Kellen bowed and
escorted Byrn out. His steel gloved hand bit into Byrn’s arm
uncaringly. That would leave a series of bruises on the tender
flesh. A soft glow of anti-magic grew around Kellen. It was an
unconscious reaction to some mental queue and if not for Byrn’s own
attunement to magical properties, he would not have noticed the
lightest of drain’s against his magic. He studied that aura during
their brief return to Byrn’s compartment, but learned little from
it.

By the time Kellen shoved him into the hold
once more, Byrn had come to a decision. “Kellen, wait! We need to
talk,” he said as the door was closing. It slammed shut. Kellen
would not listen to a word Xander Necros had to say, but he might
listen to, “Byrn! I am Byrn!” He was almost giddy at saying those
words. After pretending to be someone else for so long it was an
unanticipated treasure to speak the truth.

The door did not immediately open and Byrn
thought that the knight had not heard him. Then the knob turned and
the door swung open of its own volition. Kellen stood there barring
the doorway. His warhammer was in his hands and it glowed
intensely. Byrn stepped back to the rear of his compartment without
thinking.

“You lied,” said Kellen and took a step into
the room. “Earlier you said you were Xander Necros. Now you say you
are Byrn Lightfoot. That collar does not work at all does it?” He
progressed slowly. His hatred was intense, but focused. The knight
would not be making any sloppy mistakes.

“I am Byrn. It is true. Xander cast an
ancient spell that switched our bodies. I know it is hard to
believe, but it is the truth.”

Kellen took another step forward. “It does
not matter to me who you are. Byrn or Xander, it makes little
difference to me and if the collar is no longer working then you
are too dangerous to be left alive.” He swung the warhammer and it
connected with a hastily constructed shield. If Byrn had not
already been pressed against the wall he would have been thrown
into it.

Another swing of the hammer forced Byrn into
the wall uncomfortably. He held tightly to his shield so that it
would not fall. “Listen to me! Xander was an old, dying man with an
unmatched knowledge of magic. Now he has my body and you know what
I was capable. Imagine if he had that much power at his
disposal.”

Kellen stopped before he could deliver a
third strike, but stood wary.

“I need your help to stop him.” Byrn went to
his knees and began to trace the rune on the ground again. As it
came to life, he looked up at the knight and saw a shocked
expression. His warhammer was no longer held at the ready. “I need
you to train me,” Byrn told him as the rune began to drain his
magic. He felt light-headed and his stomach turned. Powerful hands
grabbed him as he fell, but unconsciousness would not be
denied.

When Byrn woke Kellen was nowhere to be seen
and the compartment was once again locked.

The safehouse was set up a day’s ride outside
of Mollifas and upon their arrival Alia was heartened to see an
array of familiar faces from the Collective there to greet her.
Most notable among them was the presence of Byrn who had apparently
taken up the mantle of leadership with her father’s demise. When
she first saw him she was unsure of how to react or what his
reaction to her would be. The last time they spoke they came to the
decision to take their relationship slowly- would that they had
done that at the beginning, but Alia did not begrudge him over that
since those early nights of passion resulted in the creation of
Avelice and she could never think of that as a mistake. There were
hurt feelings and betrayals of trust, real or imagined, on both
sides and it would take time to sort those things out. Still she
found that she was glad to see him and to know that he was
well.

Their embrace when they first met was strong,
but grudging giving Alia the idea that Byrn was trying to hold her
at arm’s length. She resolved to ask him about it later when there
were not so many people around.

Byrn greeted Tomlin with a handshake and a
few pleasant words. Ryonus received a friendly hug and pat on the
back. Riona also received a hug, but it seemed to linger and an
instant of jealousy stung Alia though she would not have admitted
to it if asked.

To Kaleb, Byrn merely nodded and ruffled his
hair without a word before turning to speak with someone else. Not
to be dismissed so quickly, Kaleb tugged at Byrn’s cloak and
announced, “Alia has made me Avelice’s protector,” and stood there
beaming, waiting for praise.

At that declaration Byrn did turn and clasped
Kaleb on the shoulder. “I thought I was her protector,” he said
with a sidelong glance to Alia that she did not pick up the meaning
of as if he somehow took offense to that, but he must have thought
better of it, because he added, “Ah well, I guess it would not hurt
to have another watching out for her. She is very important, you
know.” To which Kaleb nodded and agreed emphatically.

It was not until that evening’s dinner that
the masters had a chance to sit down and discuss their strategy for
taking Mollifas, a conversation that Alia was very interested in
having. When Byrn came back to Wolfsbane he had advocated a
peaceful solution between the royal family and the Collective, but
now that the kingdom had seen fit to attack their home in a brazen
attempt to wipe them out she wondered if his position would change
and indeed it had.

There were seven masters among them who sat
and discussed the coming power grab. Besides them there was another
twelve magicians at the safehouse of lesser, but still formidable
talents. In addition to theirs, there were three other safehouses.
One was outside of the capital and two were located within it. Each
one housed about twenty magicians of adept or master abilities.
That was only eighty magicians, but they were a collection of the
most powerful magicians that the Collective had to offer. The
Collective’s tactics up to now had always been to harass the
kingdom forces in small hit and run skirmishes, driving them to
fear and distraction while forcing them to spread their armies
thin. Such tactics were usually only carried out by three or four
magicians at a time, but now they planned a concentrated assault
with twenty times that number at the seat of power in Aurelia while
most of the kingdom’s fighting forces were still making the long
trek back from Wolfsbane.

Byrn went over the battle plan, readily
receiving agreement from all of the masters besides Alia. “We have
the advantage of surprise on our side,” he told them. “My brother
believes that we are defeated, possibly decimated, and according to
reports he is within a day of the capital by sea and without the
majority of his army that still marches. Janus would not expect an
attack on the magnitude that we have planned. Once we are sure of
the king’s return we will gather in secret in front of the castle
gates and once they have been opened for the kingdom’s daily court
we will simply walk in. There will be some resistance from gate
guardsmen and the like, and they will be treated with prejudice.
Any who stand before us will be killed. Is that understood?”

Byrn was answered with nods, some of them
were emphatic, from around the room, but Alia stood and stared at
him in shock. She had seen him angry before, but the way he talked
of casually killing people was completely unexpected especially
considering that he could not personally kill anyone thanks to
Ashura’s curse. She looked to Ryonus and Riona, who seemed to
firmly agree with his plan.

Byrn continued. “We will make our way through
the keep to the throne room. Hopefully King Janus and his mother
will be in attendance for court business, but most likely they will
flee to a safer location once news of our arrival begins to spread.
For that reason we must find them quickly and secure them or we
could end up in a long, drawn out battle and we don’t want that. I
have no doubt that we would be triumphant, but we have lost enough
members already.

“The king and queen-mother are not to be
killed under any circumstances. We need them and the noble
representatives from the various regions alive so that they can
swear fealty to me.”

“A subtler approach may be best,” Alia found
herself suggesting. “Something that would get us closer to Janus
without being detected and even into the presence of the nobles
before we reveal ourselves. It would be safer for
everyone
involved.” She expected that he would pick up on the connotation
that by “everyone” she really meant him.

Byrn leaned forward. “I am listening.”

***

“When the battle begins I want you safely out
of harm’s way,” Byrn told Alia.

Dinner had just ended and the two spent a
quiet minute alone after Byrn had asked to speak with her
privately.

“I am flattered that you care about my well
being, but I cannot sit idly by while everyone else puts their
lives in danger. Kaleb can stay behind with Avelice, and Tomlin
too, but I will not sit out this last battle. I have been through
too much to just stay behind now.”

“You are so headstrong. It is one of the
things that I love about you, but sometimes it can be very
frustrating,” he told her, irritably, but Alia did not note his
mood only his use of the word “love.”

“So you admit that you still love me?” asked
Alia.

Byrn’s face contorted into a pained
expression. He looked away. “I’m not in love with you. That is not
what I meant.”

“But that is what you said.”

“Alia…” frustration was creeping into Byrn’s
voice. “You’re not listening. There can never be anything romantic
between us.” He went to leave the dining room, but stopped short
when Alia grabbed his hand.

“Why are you acting like this?”

Byrn shook her hand loose roughly. He turned
and looked angry like he was about to yell at her, but Alia must
have as heart broken as she felt, because his expression softened
and he took a calming breath before he spoke. “My dear, I have
something important to tell you,” he said regretfully. “I had
thought that I could lie to you about who I was or drive you away
by making you hate me, but when I look at you I know that I cannot
continue this farce- not with you. The others must believe that I
am Byrn Aurel, but I am not.” He exhaled heavily and took in
another deep breath. “I am really your father.”