Chapter 6

Jace looked back and forth sharply between the way they had come and the path in front of them.

Both of the ways were blocked by wolves. He wanted to curse but restrained himself as that wouldn't help him right now. Wolves weren't common to this area, so where on earth had a pack of them come from?

For a moment he regretted not bringing more men with him but then thought to himself that it was better this way. He didn't intend on any lives being lost and it would be more difficult to keep an eye on everyone if they were in a large group. Besides they had just been out for a leisurely trot and such a threat like this couldn't have been foreseen.

But that didn't matter at any rate.

Rhaenys made an uncertain sound in her throat and when Jace looked at her, he could see that her eyes had narrowed into slits, purple irises darting back and forth between the back as if she were looking for a way out.

"Everyone remain calm," Prince Lewyn called in a steady voice from the front of the small column. "We are obviously in the middle of the beast's hunting path. If we attempt a steady retreat, all should be well."

"I agree that they are hunting uncle," Oberyn said grimly. "But I rather think that we are less in their path and instead are the object of their pursuit.

"What are we going to do?" Aegon asked looking nervous.

Jace had a sudden idea then and took a deep breath. He didn't really want to do this so soon but it didn't seem as if he had a choice. He turned quickly and counted the number of wolves that were surrounding them, grimacing when he realized that there were eight.

He would need to be quick.

The wolf closest to Rhaenys' pony he would need to take out first as it was crouched on the stone path and looked ready to pounce.

"Stupefy," he muttered under his breath.

Barely a millisecond later, the wolf collapsed to the ground as if dead and there was a terrible silence.

Jace didn't wait a moment to see the damage but instead turned to the wolf that had been next to it and muttered the same spell.

There was a distinctive whine from the beast as it dropped like a stone next to its companion but otherwise no sound was made from them.

And that was when all hell broke loose.

Sensing the threat, a few of the beasts decided to move at the same time and leaped towards the horses.

"Protego," Jace hissed under his breath, and like a spotlight from on high there was a sudden dome of red light surrounding them.

Both Oberyn and Lewyn cursed at the sight of it, trying to keep their already nervous horses from rearing and throwing them.

Fortunately neither of them had seen Jace muttering under his breath….but Rhaenys had and she and Aegon gazed around them in amazement at the sight of the shield charm.

Jaime looked about wildly as if he had been woken violently from a deep slumber and cursed under his breath.

The shield charm had been timely executed as the moment it surrounded them, the three bodies of the large hairy creatures hit it in tandem causing them to bounce off and sent them flying into one of the nearby rock walls that lined the passage.

There was a decisive crunch as bones made connection with stone and Jace winced, hoping he hadn't hurt any of them. His motives had been defense and nothing else.

Sensing that they were outnumbered and realizing that they had tried to attack a larger threat than they, the rest of the pack wisely turned tail and fled, prompting Jace to release a quiet sigh of relief and muttered the charm to release the shield around them.

"What the bloody hell?" Jaime asked next to him. "How on earth….what was that?!"
"Some force of nature?" Lewyn suggested but he too looked stunned and more than a little shaken. Oberyn for the first time simply appeared speechless.

It was with some relief that Jace realized that none of the adults had seen his tricks and decided that he would say nothing about it.

It was then that he felt the eyes of Rhaenys on him and it was with some reluctance that he turned to look at her, almost dreading what he would see.

When he did so, he found himself face to face with wide purple eyes that bore nothing but astonishment.
And he knew then that she had seen.

He closed his eyes briefly and prayed for every ounce of luck and bravery that he possessed that his performance wouldn't do anything to stymie their growing friendship.
He looked at her deliberately and then slowly shook his head, wordlessly asking for her silence.

Her eyes seemed to narrow even further then but after a moment she gave him a tiny nod. Aegon had gone suspiciously quiet as well and Jace risked a glance at him only to realize that the other blonde was looking back and forth between him and his sister with narrowed eyes as if he sensed there was a secret being shared.

Jace shook his head at him too.

"It seems the luck of the gods have been with us on this day," Lewyn Martell declared turning his horse sharply about. "And as such I don't think we should press it. Come we will return to the Eyrie without delay!"

Oberyn and Jaime wasted no time in hurrying after him, their larger mounts tugging the ponies of the smaller children behind them.

All the way, Jace could feel the eyes of Rhaenys and Aegon upon him and knew he had a lot of explaining to do.

Ω

Later that evening after Princess Elia had checked them for injuries at least half a dozen times and was satisfied that they were alright, Jace was sitting alone in his room looking at the sword of Gryffindor.

I ought to write to father about what happened today, he mused to himself. He would want to know. Especially about someone else knowing about my magic. I know Rhae saw a lot and I'm not sure how much Aegon saw but I'm willing to wager that he saw enough.

He wondered how they would take the news of his magic. He had never had a muggle friend or relative that he had had to explain this to, so this part of his life was all very original to him.

Jon had impressed upon him the need for caution in this matter and if there hadn't been the danger they had faced that afternoon, Jace would have been content to wait a few more years before revealing what he could do.

There was a part of him that was somewhat relieved though. It was a burden keeping a secret this big from two people he was quickly considering his best friends and he had hoped that he wouldn't have to keep the truth from them for too long.

Rhaenys had been coming out of her shell recently and revealed that she had quite an open mind about many things. She was also quite sarcastic and fiery when the need for it came and often compelled her brother down from his flights of imagination with just a few words.

Aegon would no doubt demand to know all his friend could do and Rhaenys would ground him to a halt with a few well placed words.

And speak of things that are well placed, a visit to father in the capital will be well placed I think. I'd love to see what it looks like and how he is doing. I'll see if I can go within the next few days.

He glanced back at the sword of Gryffindor and ran a finger down the flat of the blade, imagining what it would be like to wield such a weapon when he was older.

It had been extremely heavy when he had held it the first time in the forest but now he wondered if by casting a feather light charm on it he could make it easier to bear.

No time like the present to find out.

After placing his hand upon the blade and whispering the words to the charm, the small blonde waited a moment before grasping the hilt of the sword and lifting it into the air.

It was still a little heavy and unbalanced and awkward but Jace figured that was because he was little and now that the sword belonged to him he would need to handle it like any other man handling a sword.

After a few minutes of lifting it up and down he was just about to lower it again when all of a sudden there was a knock on the door.

He quickly dropped the sword onto the bed and disillusioned it. "Come in!"

The door was pushed open almost tentatively and sure enough Rhaenys and Aegon appeared on the threshold.

Their expressions were cautious but there was a burning curiosity in the depths of Rhaenys' eyes that Jace knew he was going to have to satisfy.

"Can we talk to you?" she asked.

Jace nodded and beckoned them in.

Aegon shut the door behind them and then the two turned to their best friend, a myriad of warring expressions crossing their features.

After a long silence Jace couldn't stand it anymore and opened his mouth. "Will one of you say something? I think I know why you're here but I'd like to hear it from your mouths first."

Brother and sister exchanged a long look before Aegon nudged the older girl and she nodded and cleared her throat.

"What….What did you do on the road Jace? I just heard you mutter something and then the wolves fell over like they were dead! How did you do that?"

"And can you tell us how to do it?" Aegon asked eagerly.

The heir to the Vale blew out a breath suddenly feeling some relief.

"I think you know that there's a word for it," he said. "And no I can't teach you…it has to be something you're born with."

Aegon looked disappointed but Rhaenys curiosity seemed only to grow.

"It's magic isn't it?" she asked and Jace's long silence brought a triumphant expression to her face.

"I knew it," she whispered sounding a little wiser than her age.

"But how? Aegon burst out.

"Keep your voice down!" Jace hissed. "I don't want the whole Eyrie to know!"

"Does anyone know?" Rhaenys pressed.

"Only my father," Jace replied. "I told him before he left and he told me not to tell anyone. But when we were cornered down there on the road…I decided maybe I didn't have a choice."

He glanced at the both of them. Aegon looked excited but not overly so and Rhaenys looked more thoughtful than anything else.

They were each taking this remarkably well. Once Hermione had told him about an encounter with one of her closest friends where she had had to tell her about her magic and she had been beyond astonished.

But the siblings, well they seemed a little too calm.

He frowned and jumped off his bed. "You don't look surprised."

Aegon glanced down at his feet a small smug little smile on his face and all of a sudden Jace felt horror steal over him. "You didn't already know did you?"

"No!" Rhaenys said. "No but….we wanted to know if your magic is like….like ours."

It took a moment for that to sink in.

Jace blinked and stared at them. "What do you mean your magic?"

"Well its not really magic," Aegon said nudging his sister. "But sometimes….sometimes we have dreams."

Jace frowned. "What kind of dreams?"

"Well," Rhaenys replied, "about a year ago Aegon and I were playing in mother's chambers in the keep and he grabbed onto a cloth on the table that was underneath a candle and pulled it and the candle off onto the floor. I reached out a hand to stop it and grabbed the candle, but I grabbed it at the top where the light was. And it didn't burn me."

"And then you dropped it," Aegon prompted. "And then I grabbed it but it didn't burn me either. We told mother about it, but she said not to say anything to anyone. But we didn't know what it meant. Grandfather talked a lot about magic but mother didn't like it.

Jace's mind was spinning. "Did you ever try touching fire again?"

Rhaenys turned a guilty red but Aegon grinned giving Jace all the answer that he needed.

"When did you do it?" he asked.

"It was a week ago," Aegon said eagerly. "I was in Rhae's room and the fire was burning and I dropped one of my toys next to the fire."

"And he reached in and grabbed it without even thinking about it," Rhaenys said narrowing her eyes at the blonde.

"I wanted my toy back," Aegon protested. "But it didn't burn me and when Rhae tried it the same thing happened to her."

A thousand thoughts were going through Jace's mind but the primary one was that Targaryens had a history of magic. He was convinced it was how they had tamed their dragons and kept them almost as pets.

After the Dance a few centuries ago when most of the dragons had been killed, the remaining beasts grew smaller and smaller until there were none left and the remains had been kept in the throne room of the Red Keep until Aerys downfall.

He admitted to feeling both intrigued and confused. What did it mean?

"Did you feel anything when you put your hands in the fire?" he asked.

Aegon shook his head. "Nothing."

"Tell him what happened next," Aegon said nudging his sister.

Suddenly Rhaenys looked unsure.

"Well?" Jace asked. "What happened next?"

"I picked up some of it," Rhaenys muttered.

Jace frowned. "What do you mean you picked up some of it? You mean you picked up one of the logs on the fire?"

"No," Aegon said impatiently. "She touched the fire that was sitting atop the log….and she picked it up and held it in her hand!"

"But how?" Jace asked. Even though he was a reincarnated wizard, things like being able to hold fire in bare hands was new to him.

"I don't know," the brunette said. "But then Aegon got excited and did it too."

"You both can hold fire?" the blonde asked incredulously.

Aegon nodded so hard Jace worried his head would fall off his neck. "We've been trying it ever since."

"So you mean you picked it up in your hands and held it like it was a ball?" Jace asked incredulously.

Both siblings looked at each other and nodded.

While Jace was struggling for words, Aegon nudged his sister as if there was something she had forgotten to say.

"So what can you do with your magic?" Rhaenys asked suddenly looking eager.

Jace blinked and then laughed. "Well…"

He raised a hand and muttered the word to the accio charm under his breath. One of the books sitting on his desk flew across the room towards him and he somehow managed to catch it with both hands.

Aegon's eyes were the size of dinner plates but for some reason, Rhaenys didn't look surprised at all.

"What else can you do?" the blonde asked.

Jace grinned suddenly feeling a lot better about how his friends had taken everything. He strode over to the empty wash basin sitting on its table beside the door and picked it up before bringing it over. "Watch this."

He pointed to the middle of the bowl and muttered the word to conjure water.

A moment later the instrument filled with the silver liquid.

Rhaenys gasped and Aegon gave a quiet whoop. Jace grinned as their three heads met over the bowl.

"Just think of all the things we could do!" Aegon said gleefully.

"Now hold on," Jace said. "I told my father I would be very careful with this. I also told him I wouldn't tell anyone, but that's out the window now that you know."

"We won't tell anyone," Rhaenys said looking indignant. "Don't you trust us?"

"Of course I do!" Jace exclaimed. "I just think we should wait till we're older before we tell anyone else. Who knows what people would think?"

"Who cares what people would think?" Aegon asked.

King Robert might, Jace thought worriedly. And the last thing I want is to give him an excuse to think of both of you as dangerous and storm the Eyrie so he might do away with you. All he needs is one excuse to wipe the last of the Targaryens in Essos out.

"Let's just say that not everyone likes magic," he said slowly. "They think its dangerous. So we need to be careful."

Rhaenys nodded. "Alright Jace. But let's promise we'll only use magic around each other."

Aegon agreed. "I promise."

The two of them reached towards each other and to Jace's amusement linked pinkies in a sort of pseudo agreement.

"Jace?" Rhaenys asked looking up at him. "Do you agree too?"

The small blonde paused for a moment considering a few things. Oh hell, if I can't trust my best friends who can I trust?

"I agree," he said and locked his pinkie around theirs.

And with that they were sealed in a contract they would keep to which solidified them as friends for the rest of their lives.

Ω

So a shorter chapter for this update. But I've been having some writer's block with this story. However in the next one we'll be going to a time jump so hopefully things will begin to become more interesting. Also, you may have noticed that the picture attached to this story has changed at the top. The reason for this is that I have finally decided who I have going to have Jace look like in this story. He's going to appear like Jamie Dornan as the huntsman in Once Upon a Time. Since Jamie has blue eyes already, its a perfect combination and although his hair in the picture isn't really blonde, I can envision it being that way. The previous picture with Liam Neeson is how I imagined Jon Arryn to look. Anyway, just a bit of new information. Don't forget to review and happy reading everyone!