Chapter 24, Patching things up
"Your Majesty, we have come to ask for your protection for this child and the Mystic, for the monsters desire their enslavement and death."
The royal guards, chancellor and even the king himself was a bit taken aback by the blue-haired stranger's looks, the looks of his company, his words, and the way that he turned the bow to sitting down on one knee with his head lowered. His movement went so smoothly that it was hard to comprehend how he changed position. The fact that his kneeling was a perfect imitation of how the knights greeted the king wasn't taking anything off the surprise.
'Sweet talker,' two Flea's commented, one of them unaware of the other's existence.
'Whatever gets you in,' Janus mildly commented to the breathing one.
'Suppose you have a point.'
"And… what about yourself?" king Guardia finally wondered.
"I must continue my journey, Your Majesty," Janus explained, looking up but not standing, "but I can no longer protect Janus here as it seems. We were captured by the Mystics and would not be here now if it hadn't been for Flea's aid."
"You were what?!" most of the room exclaimed.
'Your turn,' Janus advised.
The monster mentally nodded and stepped forward.
"Your Majesty," he said too and bowed, "my name is Flea, a magician of the Mystics, though I finally cast off my allegiance with the monsters as I could not allow Ozzie to go through with his plans to enslave these two."
"What did those demons want with you?" the king grimly said, watching the child and the cat he held with concern.
The small Janus bit his lower lip and shuddered as he tried to speak.
"They… they…"
He trailed off and his grown version calmingly put his hand on the small shoulder.
"After Flea freed me from the dungeon we rushed to find Janus," the grown one grimly said, "he was being whipped."
The humans winced as the wizard carefully held up the child's robe to show the tears.
"Flea took a hit as well as he shielded Janus, then we managed to get out of there and the wounds were healed with our magic."
There was a silence.
"Your magic?" king Guardia said in disbelief.
The grown Janus nodded and held up his hand.
"The reason that Ozzie desires our enslavement is that he finds this fascinating," he said and a blue flame danced up from his palm.
Quite a few people were lightly said startled.
"Yes, I am a wizard," Janus softly said, "and so is Janus, apart from the fact that he doesn't know how to use his powers yet. He will need protection until he's strong enough to take care of himself."
"I thought only monsters could use magic!" the chancellor exclaimed, despite himself.
"Yes, it usually is so," Flea said and shook his head, "but we are loosing much of our knowledge of it. How these two can use magic is beyond me, however I sense that Janus will be more powerful than I am."
He bowed again.
"To my old friends I am dead," he continued with a hint of bitterness, "and I will be at first sight. Therefore I humbly asks for your protection, Your Majesty. My magical powers aren't what they should be, but I can heal."
"Magic or not," king Guardia kindly said as he finally had managed to swallow the worst surprise, "I wouldn't turn down a plea for help. You are both welcome to stay in the castle for a while."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," Flea gratefully said.
The boy managed to find his voice yet again and also thanked the king, very much despite himself. The grown Janus softly smiled as he stood.
"I will stay here for a short while and help Flea begin to teach Janus," he said, "then I must be going."
"That shouldn't be a problem," the king nodded with a smile, "but what is your name, then?"
"Cyrus, Your Majesty," Janus replied without blinking.
"I see."
Flea nervously played with his glasses.
"Your Majesty…" he hesitantly began, "there is something else, far more grave, but I didn't want to say it earlier to hold it against you…"
"What then?" king Guardia asked with a slight frown of worry.
"It's Ozzie," Flea said and bit his lip, "due to my bloodline from an ancient and great magician I had a fairly high position among the Mystics, and therefore I know that the monsters are planning sinister things as we speak. Ozzie's plan is to start a war to wipe out the humans, weapons are being forged in hidden caves below the ocean."
Most of the humans in the room either paled or caught deep frowns.
"Are you sure?" the king grimly asked.
A tad bit pale himself the magician nodded.
'He can't help but feel guilty for being a traitor,' the spirit Mystic almost fondly said.
"I am absolutely sure," the living one assured, "they will be ready to attack within three years, maybe even earlier."
Janus dearly wanted to assure the king of the truth, but knew that it would complicate things since he'd have to explain himself. Therefore he left it.
But the boy then surprised the ones who knew him.
"I heard some monsters talk just before they… beat me," he said in a fairly steady voice, only hesitating a couple of times to pull himself together, "they said that… I could be useful in the war since I was even more powerful than Flea."
"It's alright," Janus calmingly said, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder again for reassurance while Alfador rubbed his head against the robed chest.
King Guardia exchanged worried looks with his chancellor.
"Please believe us," Flea grimly said, "if we were lying, what would we gain of such a lie?"
The king stood and gravely nodded.
"Though I cannot verify your information I must take it as the serious warning it is, and there will be preparations for an occasion of war. I thank you for letting me know."
He added the last in a kinder voice and continued:
"Now, I see that you are tired. I'm sure that there are some beds free in the hospital wing, and getting your own rooms shouldn't take long. We've got many unused chambers in this old castle."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
"Magic has a lot to do with imagination of what it will cause, you need a picture of what you want your powers to complete in order to make them work. They need something to hang on to while preparing for existence, get it?"
The boy nodded, fully focusing on his teacher. Flea also listened closely, sitting on a chair and absentmindedly petting the sleeping Alfador who had curled up in his lap.
"Alright," Janus said, "the easiest thing to do, strength wise, is an illusion. I know you've tried before, but now that your powers have awakened you will be able to do it, trust me."
"Okay," the child said, with determination.
Janus glanced at Flea, who innocently smiled.
'You teach us magic, mister, I handle his vocabulary for now,' the Mystic chuckled.
'He's a worse menace than Lucca!' the Prince grunted.
'Heh,' Janus neutrally said and turned back to the child.
"Good," he said aloud, "try something simple at first."
The wizard reached out and took one of the scrolls of middle classed magic he had given Flea to study while the boy learnt the basics.
"Try to make an illusion of this beside it," Janus instructed and put the closed roll on the floor, "I've noticed that it's easier to concentrate if you hold one or two fingers against your forehead."
The boy nodded and raised his hand, frowning in concentration as he glared at the book.
Slowly a ray of light flowed out from where the forehead met fingertips, tentative at first but as the student felt that something happened he gained confidence and the ray rushed down on the floor. A lightly transparent copy of the scroll appeared when the light touched the ground, and it stayed as the small Janus let his hand leave it's position in excitement.
"Yes!"
"Well done!" the wizard smiled.
"Great work, kiddo!" Flea cheered with a big grin.
'Somebody kill that… thing, pleeease!' the spirit Flea groaned, hanging on the Prince's arm even if he tried to shake him off.
'Let go before I kill you, again,' the oldest Janus growled.
'But I'm sure this treatment is good for my ba-a-ack!' the headache called, flapping almost like a leaf in storm.
'Threaten to start asking him personal questions again instead,' Janus suggested with an inner smirk.
'I'm calm, silent and leaving you alone! Yessir!'
The Pawn chuckled a bit as Flea moved off.
'Behave or I'll ask you how old you are,' he warned.
'You should never ask a lady about his age!' the spirit monster snorted, wrinkling his nose.
'Even if they've always looked the same, like you and your friends?' the Pawn mildly pointed out.
'Monsters age slower than humans,' the Prince said with a smirk, 'he was 57 when I killed him.'
'Jaaanus!' Flea cried, imitating a banshee quite well.
'Ozzie was 62 and Slash 54, I believe,' the old leader cruelly added.
'Hmph!'
'Now that's a bit surprising,' Janus said with raised eyebrows.
'Yes, making the only one with the ability to think straight the baby of the group,' the Pawn snickered.
"Hey, would you look at that?" the living Flea grinned.
Janus looked up and aside, meeting his own transparent eyes. He jumped a bit of the surprise, then smiled at the boy.
"You're doing great."
The child smiled carefully, for him it could pass as a wide grin.
"I think we can go on to a bit more useful things then," Janus said and picked the scroll from the floor, "first…"
He held out his arm and slammed the hard, wooden side of the aged script's base into his left upper arm.
"… Simple healing," he added with a wince, "that hurt… now I want you to make the pain go away. You saw me and Flea heal yesterday, think you can do it?"
"I'll try," the boy nodded, reaching out for the reddish mark.
"Healing requires that you are able to care for the victim and picture his pain, just a little bit is needed. It gets easier with time and practice, like everything else."
"I always regarded it as a way to make the big babies stop whining," Flea muttered to Alfador, who's tail twitched as he watched his young human friend.
"Powers of the world, lend me the power of Water, na matala sela!"
The boy closed his eyes in concentration, and a small snowstorm of stars completely covered Janus' arm. Needless to say the pain left.
"Oops," the child said in embarrassment, opening his eyes as he felt the exaggerated use of power.
"It's alright," Janus assured, "you'll learn control, first of all we need to get you started."
"I understand," the young one gravely nodded.
The steps going up the stair sounded so familiar, but at the same time they wouldn't truly be familiar in this castle just yet. It takes time to establish a homey feeling.
Janus allowed himself a light sigh.
'Homesick, are you?' the Pawn gently said.
'Suppose… and I've only been away from home for what, a week?'
'Six days of your life,' his teacher corrected, 'close enough.'
'Well, it's just that this place is my home, but at the same time it's not.'
"Sir Cyrus?" a voice said ahead of him.
"My liege?" Janus replied, automatically.
Oops.
'Damn my absent mind…'
'You're only human,' Flea cheerfully said.
'And grateful about it, too.'
'There are lots of great stuff about being a monster!'
'Like being dead?'
'Touché.'
King Guardia smiled.
"You bear no such close allegiance to me, do you?" he said in a friendly way, "no need to use that title."
"Call it a habit, Your Majesty," Janus mildly said and passed the last few steps, "what can I do for you?"
The king's smiled dropped and he frowned a bit.
"It considers young Janus," he said, "I hear the tale of him and also yourself has leaked out and the people in Truce seems to be a bit nervous since they're not used to people using magic."
Janus folded his arms lightly and nodded.
"Ah yes," he said, "figures. No, no, I understand. Nothing about Flea, though?"
The king shook his head, clearly a bit uncomfortable with the whole subject.
"Peaceful monsters have switched sides before," he said, "it's more common than magic."
"Janus is still learning but he's doing good in healing magic," the wizard thoughtfully said, "if he could get a chance to show that side of our powers somehow it should calm people."
King Guardia nodded.
"That's a good idea. I'll see if the town doctor needs any help. Nothing too gross, of course, he's still a child."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. Try to make sure there won't be a crowd though, I know he's a bit shy."
"So I've understood. I hope it's passing," the king kindly said.
"I'm pretty sure it is," Janus nodded with a smile.
They would have continued talking for a while, if it hadn't been for the young voice shouting.
"Cyrus!"
Quick steps came up the stair.
"Look!" the boy panted, smiling through the breathing.
The king blinked, though he had received a few glances at the mystical powers the freely floating Alfador took him by surprise.
"You're advancing almost quicker than I was," Janus softly said and reached up to scratch the cat behind the ears.
'He's making a worse process in cheerfulness too,' the Pawn chuckled, 'damn Flea.'
'Oh yeah, blame everything on Flea… oh, you mean the weird one. Okay, carry on…' the pink spirit muttered, at first pouting but then quickly changing.
"You never cease to amaze me," king Guardia commented and gave the boy a friendly smile.
The smallest Janus' troubles to smile were breaking apart very smooth and quickly. Flea sure was a threat to his coldness.
Weird indeed.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," he said.
At first the title had most probably just been spoken by him since he felt it was needed, but already he was doing it automatically.
'He's in good hands,' Janus softly thought.
'Indeed.'