Part One: What They've Sown

A Tale of Two Kingdoms

As the sun rose, Manu rose as well. He dressed in the mirror, watching as his short purple horns and eye markings faded out of sight. He put a hand on an ear as the pointed tip slowly changed to a rounded human one. His hands and feet grew new digits, and before long he was his normal, human self. He looked in the mirror at the form he was now more accustomed to seeing than his natural body. He was lucky to be able to change his appearance - he knew that there were women in the world who would kill for the power. He strayed from indulging in his looks too much - it seemed unfair. He could be the most attractive person alive if he desired, but he had no need of the attention. What would he do with it? He felt as though he could not take a lover while pretending to be human. Something about the deception in doing so revolted him.

When he finished dressing, he went to the stable and saddled his horse. Even the horse had never seen him in his elven form. Manu himself knew how easy it was to procure the snake's tongue and cast the dark magic that allowed one to speak with animals. The last thing he needed was someone talking to his horse and it giving away his secrets.

"But you wouldn't give me up, would you?" Manu asked. He ran a hand down the horse's face. With dark eyes, the animal seemed to concur. Manu tightened the saddle straps and a few minutes later, he was on his way down the mountain path. He enjoyed the solitude, away from the busy noise of the Palace. Even in the Magisterial College, there was always a dull murmur.

The College was his first destination that day, as he needed to check in with the Lord Magister as was his duty. As Court Magister, he was the representative of the College, and was tasked with assisting the kingdom with all needs magical. He also represented the interests of the College on the privy council, which he did to an extent. He viewed his position as more of a ceremonial one, given to the former Regent out of necessity for giving him due cause to remain at court. The relationship between the College and Queen Aanya was a strong alliance, based mostly out of necessity. The noble Houses of Duren viewed the College as privileged elites who enjoyed a life of luxury without any meaningful use to society, which was, oddly enough, how everyone else viewed the noble Houses.

An hour later, he arrived at the small town that encompassed the College. The town was a series of houses, basic shops, and inns that catered mainly to the residents and visitors to the main attraction in the center of the town. A massive castle, almost as large as the Duren Palace, rose out of the ground to scrape the sky with marble towers designed to look like trees. The entire College had an organic look, a style given by it's original elven owners. After the human and elven split, the elves had to leave behind all their incredible architecture for the humans to slowly inhabit. The College had remained standing for the last thousand years due to the enchantments woven into the stonework. It was impenetrable to any spell or weapon known to man or elf. Obviously, it made the perfect place to test extremely dangerous spells without fear of breaking something.

The robed guards nodded to Manu as he approached. He dismounted, giving his horse to a stable boy. His feet had yet to touch the ground when he heard his name called.

"Lord Regent Amin!" A voice chirped. He turned his head to see a woman, wearing a rainbow of colors on her robe, approach. She reminded him of a peacock, not for the first time.

"I am neither a Lord, nor Regent, Lady Ester." Manu bowed politely. "Merely Manu is appropriate."

Lady Ester bowed, noticeably doing so lower than Manu. "Of course, your Highness." Even here, in the meritocracy of the Magisterial College, did proper etiquette take precedence over social norms. Manu expected no less of Lady Ester, given his experiences with her before. She came from Katolis, and was the daughter of a highly-placed military officer there. Manu believed her father was on the High Council, as well.

"The Lord Magister is waiting for you in the garden, your Highness." Lady Ester continued. "I'm here to lead you to him."

Manu nodded. "You lead, I'll follow." He said.

Lady Ester appeared confused for a moment, probably going through her mind to think of the appropriate response, but Manu started walking towards her and she decided it was better for her to start moving rather than risk the ire of a Royal. Manu followed behind, clueless to what was going on in her head. His eyes moved with purpose, taking every thing in around him. After the past year, he looked for shadows in every corner, and had a very small reserve of trust left in him. He did not dare place any alarm charms in the College at risk of being found out. Dark magic he could easily explain, but not moon magic without a primal stone.

Lady Ester led him underneath a magnificent oaken arch and into a small flower garden. Within a bed of roses stood a hunched old man with a long white beard. The hair on top of his head had long since fallen out, and dark cracks of purple were permanently scarred into his scalp. He did not turn around as Manu and Lady Ester approached. Instead, he stood with the help of his ivory cane, and watched as two birds played in a bird bath. His head moved gently from side to side, reminding Manu of a ship drifting in the waves.

"Lord Magister," Lady Ester announced. "His Highness Lord Amin is here to see you."

Manu did not correct her this time, having given up.

"Good, good." The Lord Magister said, his voice coarse with age. "Leave us."

Lady Ester scurried away, her robes trailing behind her like a peacock's tail. Manu clasped his hands behind his back and waited for the Lord Magister to turn around.

A few minutes passed, with no noise besides the chirping of the birds as they played in the cool water.

Finally, the Lord Magister began to hum. After a few minutes of this, and Manu's growing impatience, he finally turned around.

Manu blinked, but that was his only recognition of the scarred and deformed face that now looked at him. Decades of practicing dark magic had left the Lord Magister's face blotched with purple marks, and his eyes were pitch black voids into which all knowledge seemed to fall in. Lightning bolt veins of deep purple stretched out from the skin around his eyes, making him appear as some sort of ancient storm god. If there was any motivation for Manu to slow his practice of dark magic, this image was more than enough.

"Lord Magister," Manu said, bowing deeply. "Always an honor."

"Hmm." The Lord Magister grunted. "Ester got you here in one piece. Good. Sometimes I worry that woman will peck at my visitors and scare them away." He turned back around to look at the birds. Manu celebrated the reprieve from having to look at the old mage's deformed face. He reminded himself that as an illusionist, he took his own appearance for granted.

"Lord Viren has been stripped of his power as Court Mage and Regent of Katolis and imprisoned for plotting to overthrow the Katolis High Council." The Lord Magister reported. He held out a hand and showed Manu a pile of dust that he left fall into the flowerbed. "The message arrived by pheonix feather just this morning."

Manu nodded. Phoenix feathers, incredibly rare, were used in dark magic to send incredibly swift messages across long distances. When the spell was cast, one need only say the name of a recipient and the message, and the feather would soar with the speed of an arrow and find it's mark, and then burst into flames with the message precisely repeated. The rarity of feathers made it only worthwhile for messages that were of the utmost importance. An attempted coup by the Court Mage of Katolis? Manu agreed with the necessity.

"That must have happened just last night, then." Manu reasoned. "It has only been a few days since the summit."

"Aye." The Lord Magister said. "I remember when Viren was a pupil her at the College. He rose so fast to greatness, but he was always a bit too zealous with his ambition. When I heard he had fallen in love with that Del Bar woman, I figured he would slow himself. It seems that a messy separation and the loss of his friend the King did just the opposite."

"The higher you are, the farther the fall." Manu replied. "Would you like me to inform the Queen? I suspect she has yet to hear."

The Lord Magister nodded, the remaining pale spots on his head catching the sun. "Naturally." He turned around. "I would also like you to inform her that she should consider the matter of marriage."

Manu bowed his head, using the movement to hide the brief expression of shock that hit his face. He knew this conversation was long overdue, but he expected one of the privy council to be the first to mention it, not the Lord Magister, and certainly not the Lord Magister instructing Manu to be the one to raise the topic. "Do you not think the Queen is too young, too new to consider a spouse?"

The Lord Magister coughed. Manu looked up in to his black eyes, and felt as though he were falling in to those endless pits. "The failure of the prior Queens Amin to produce a legitimate heir," he started. "Which was of course their choice as a result of the nature of their love-"

Manu bit his tongue and kept from speaking out of turn. Society had clearly changed since the Lord Magister was young. "Of course." Was all he allowed himself to say.

"It causes problems for the stability of House Amin. If the Queen were to produce a true heir, of her own blood, with a husband, then she could have a true claim to the Satin."

Manu had heard this before, from the older nobles in the royal court, and he supposed it would be only natural to hear it from the oldest man in Duren, perhaps the five kingdoms. "I can see how that would strengthen the Queen's claim on the throne, but I still do not see how now is the appropriate time for such a conversation."

The Lord Magister took a step forward, and pointed at Manu's chest with his pale cane. "It is the perfect time for the conversation!" He decreed. "King Harrow of Katolis is dead, Lord Viren has been imprisoned, and a new king will soon be coronated!"

Manu saw an important problem with this plan. "A marriage to the new king, however, would mean that any children from the marriage would be of the king's house. That would mean the end of House Amin."

"Nonsense," The Lord Magister retorted."You could easily have a child, and then House Amin would live on. But, more importantly, if the Queen were to be married to the new king, then after the succession in both kingdoms-"

Manu suddenly saw where the conversation was going. "Then they would be the ruler of both kingdoms."

The Lord Magister nodded. "And that, your Highness, would put the Kingdom of Duren in a very, very strong position indeed."