King That Shalt Be

~the story of Roger of Conte~

Author's note: I've skipped ahead a little- okay, a lot- since the prologue. Roger has just turned seventeen and is returning from the Yamani Isles, escorted by some soldiers the King sent to pick him up. Just to clear that up. Get it? Got it? Good.

Disclaimer: Tammy's stuff is not mine. I wish it was. But it's not.

~

Roger was deep in thought as the small company made its way single-file down the narrow forest path. They had chosen to take the back roads in order to avoid the masses of people headed for the spring fair. This particular road wound through the hills, running parallel to the main road in places. The journey would have been quite unpleasant in the winter, but on a warm spring morning it was rather nice. Roger had let his mind wander, trusting his horse, Daystar, to follow the trail. At that particular moment, he was observing the incredible variety of trees and contemplating talking to Uncle about starting an arboretum. Suddenly, he was jolted out of his thoughts. The line of horses had halted abruptly. Roger tried to crane around the large soldier in front of him to see what was going on, nearly fell out of his saddle, and decided to dismount instead. He made his way to the head of the line. There was nothing blocking the path as far as he could see, but the horses had all stopped in their tracks. Roger picked up a small pebble, studied it for a moment, and tossed it a few feet ahead of him. It vanished in midair. He looked down and saw the pebble sitting in the same place he had originally found it. Roger frowned and put both hands on the ground, testing the path in front of him with his Gift. Orange fire settled over a patch or earth, eliciting a faint, dusty blue glow in response. He frowned at it again and withdrew his magic. The ground continued to shine softly. He looked up at the sergeant at the head of the party.

"It's a protection circle," he informed the man, "but it's the oddest one I've ever seen. Whoever cast this either doesn't know what they're doing or they're just weird."

"Can we get through it?" the sergeant asked.

"Well… I can break it, I think, but I'm not sure how long it will take. You'd better go back and take another path."

"Don't tell me you plan to stay here!" There was a hint of shock in the sergeant's voice.

"All right, I won't tell you," Roger agreed amiably. "But I do want to clean this spell up. Someone else might need to use this path."

"But we're supposed to escort you back to the palace," the sergeant argued. "We can't very well go there and tell the King we left you out in the wilderness!"

Roger rolled his eyes. "Oh, not this again. Listen, this isn't wilderness. The main road is just through those woods, and anyway, I am capable of looking out for myself. Just go on ahead, tell Uncle I'll be there later, and if he complains tell him it's on my orders."

The sergeant frowned at him. "Fine. Have it your way. Your Grace." He turned in his saddle to face the soldiers. "Right, men, about face and move out!" The men wheeled their horses around and trotted back down the path, the sergeant following. Daystar ambled up the path to meet Roger. He glanced at the still-glowing earth and sighed. "Get comfortable," he told his horse. "We're going to be here awhile."

Getting through the protection circle was tough going. Circles were usually easier to break at the sealing point, but this particular circle appeared to have no such point. Roger re-evaluated his strategy and decided to go through it. He stretched out a hand, orange fire gathering around it. Slowly, he put his hand through the edge of the circle. As soon as he let the spell go, his hand was thrown back out. Roger sighed, gathering power around him like a cloak, and stepped forward. The barrier was rather thicker than usual, and the air was almost solid. Moving through it took extreme concentration. Twice, he lost his grip on the spell and found himself on the outside again. Finally, Roger burst through the inside edge of the circle into a tiny clearing.

The clearing was little more than a space where some trees had been cleared by loggers, apparently some time ago. It was rather nondescript. Several seconds passed before he noticed the person under a large tree, covered in a dark blue traveling cloak. Cautiously, he moved closer. The person appeared to be asleep, but if they were a skilled mage they would sense his presence anyway. He knelt on the ground next to the sleeping figure and carefully pushed back the hood that covered their face. When he saw the person, he stifled a gasp.

It was a girl. She had very wavy dark brown hair, cropped short, long dark eyelashes, and smallish lips. The ear that was visible sported two small silver earrings. From her face, she looked to be about sixteen. Roger inched backwards. His mind raced with different things she might think if she awoke to find him staring at her, and none of them were good. He backed up to the edge of the circle, stood up, and reached for his Gift to go back through. Alarmed, he found only a little of it left. He had been concentrating so hard on keeping the spell intact, he hadn't noticed that he was using up most of his power. There was nothing else for it but to wait for the girl to wake up, or for his Gift to restore itself, whichever came first.

It was nearly dark when Roger decided that he had enough power to get out. He reasoned that if he could just step into the barrier, letting go of the spell would take him back to the outside. He realized he should replace the cloak over the girl's face, so she wouldn't know he had been there. As he bent over her, she suddenly awoke. With a yell of surprise, the girl was on her feet, knocking Roger backward onto the ground. Before he knew what was happening, the girl was leveling a long staff at him. He blinked at it several times- there was a crystal embedded in the end not two inches from his face.

"Is that a-"

"Yes, it's a magic staff, no I don't have a clue how to use it, but I can still hurt you with it!"

Roger looked up into clear gray eyes snapping with fury. "I believe you… but please don't."

"Right. First things first… who are you, what are you doing here, and how did you even get in?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Roger pointed out. "One doesn't usually find young women casting spells-gone-wrong all over the forest."

The girl glared at him. "What do you mean, gone wrong?"

Roger raised an eyebrow. "You weren't aware that your circle had- er- expanded?"

"I don't know who you think you are," she said suspiciously, "but you better start explaining things. Right now." She poked him hard with the staff.

"Ouch. Alright. This circle you've cast has too much power in it. It soaked into the ground and now it's blocking the trail."

"Right… and why do you care?"

"Well, let's just say I have an insatiable curiosity… also, I'd like to get past. So if you'll be so kind as to undo the spell, I'll just be on my way. That is, unless you need help with anything?"

The girl glared again. "I don't need your help. I can do fine by myself, thank you."

Roger half-smiled. In a flash, he snatched the staff and leapt to his feet. He backed up to the edge of the circle. Tossing the staff back, he remarked, "I'll just be going, then." He drew his Gift around him and turned to step through the circle.

The girl stepped forward suddenly. "Wait!"

Roger looked back at her, one foot already through the barrier. "Yes?"

"Come back," the girl said quietly. "Please?"

He pulled his foot out of the circle and let go of the spell. "Changed your mind?"

She looked at the ground. "Will you… will you teach me magic?" she asked.

Roger grinned. "Of course. Far be it from me to deny another person knowledge… and as it happens, I need an assistant."

The girl looked up. "Oh, thank you!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so much! You won't be disappointed, I promise, I'll work really hard and not run away or pick fights or steal or- or- I still don't know your name."

"Roger of Conte, at your service. And you are…?"

"Erinys Cooper. My friends call me Erin, or at least they would if I had friends." A flicker of sadness crossed her face, but vanished quickly. "You can call me that. Yeah."

"Erin, then." Roger yawned. "All right- first lesson."

"What, now?"

"Yes, now. Just a short one." He held out his hand. "I'm a bit tired… will you give me some energy?"

Erin took his hand. She closed her eyes, concentrating, and almost suddenly their clasped hands glowed blue and a jolt shot up his arm. Roger winced as his hair stood on end. She released his hand, looking guilty.

"Oops," she said. "I didn't mean to do that."

Roger shook his head to clear it and smoothed his hair back down. "Quite all right. We'll work on this later. Let's get going."

"'Kay." Erin knelt on the ground in the center of the circle and closed her eyes. The air around her colored a dark dusty blue, followed shortly by the land covered by the protection circle. She held her arms out to either side. The glow around her brightened and the circle began to shrink inward, first slowly, then quicker. Roger was so fascinated by her unusual process that he forgot to cast his own spell around him. It wasn't necessary- the blue glow washed over him harmlessly. The circle of light shrank to a brilliant sphere surrounding Erin. She seemed to absorb the magic slowly until the light had faded from the clearing. Erin opened her eyes. They glowed dark blue for a split second before fading back to clear gray.

Roger blinked at her as she stood up. "That was… interesting. Do you do that often?"

Erin looked at the ground again. "Every day. I have to. There are… things… out there…" She collected her staff and a worn leather pack off the ground. "But now I don't have to, you know…" Waving her hand vaguely in a circle, she grinned. "You have no idea how glad I am that you found me." She started to walk toward him, stumbled, and collapsed. Roger quickly darted forward to catch her. He helped her sit down against the trunk of the nearest tree. She smiled weakly.

"I usually don't have this… problem," she said softly. "I just need to rest…"

"All right," Roger replied. "We'll stay here the rest of the night, all right?" Erin nodded. "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." She nodded again. Roger stood, quickly cast a small circle around her, and picked his way through the trees to the path. When he led Daystar, carrying his packs, back to the clearing, Erin had fallen asleep, wrapped in her cloak. Roger sighed and started to arrange his bedroll, a proper distance away from where Erin slept. He could see that life was going to get much more interesting.