Hello, everybody. I haven't forgotten about Taming a Tiger, but the idea I
want hasn't come yet. It's constantly on my mind, don't worry. Thanks a
lot to all my new readers for Fire and Magic, you keep me inspired to
continue and to finish this little piece. Hope you like this new chapter.
My thanks to Sabbie, JML, anri, Laurika, Sessha's Crazy, CatH, and Trupana.
.............
"Misao, open the door." The snow prince knocked at the princess' royal bedroom. "Please?"
"So you could malign me a little more? No, Enishi, not anymore!" she answered from inside.
The kingdom of the snow prince had been tormented by the Eyes of Malice for two weeks, now entering into the third.
Word spread beyond the town and into the countryside. Much had changed in the palace. More than half of the servants were evicted for insensible reasons. Many trade negotiations had failed. Ambassadors had been treated badly, and could not be appeased. At least three neighboring states were now on the verge of declaring war on the snow prince.
Rumors were spreading that Lord Shishio was unifying the neighboring counties, to eliminate Prince Enishi from the throne. It was well known that Shishio was not a kind master, either, but right now, anything was better than the icy snow prince. Everyone was willing to try anything.
The princess had locked herself in her quarters over the last two days. She would have no more of his beatings, his taunts, his threats. She had chanted the Temporary Overwrite every half hour, and still it did not help the situation. As for the chief retainer, he was smiling more than usual, and in a creepy sort of way. The smile he had forced himself to keep, trying to console ruffled ambassador feathers, was now stuck on his face. Over the last few days, his left hand always gripped the handle of a concealed dagger.
The magician's guild was not aware of the cause of the problem, because they were either too scared to face Enishi's wrath, or they were too far away to receive accurate information. Only four mages and two non- mages knew the root, but none of the four mages had done anything about it. Megumi and Kaoru did not have the requirements or the rank. Aoshi, as the spellcaster, would not break it. The wizard of fiery hair still faltered and waited.
"I have to explain," the prince continued knocking. "Please let me in."
"Then you will attack me," the princess retorted. "No way."
"Let him in, your highness. I promise you it will be safe," another voice pleaded.
"Soujirou? Megumi?" Misao looked around and saw nobody. "Where are you?"
In the next instant, the bedroom was enveloped in a warm glow, and Misao was accompanied by two other people. She ran quickly toward one of them with a friendly embrace.
"Kaoru! I never thought I would welcome the sight of you so much!" She looked at her companion, and gasped. The former palace magician had found a wizard of fiery hair. He bowed before her highness.
"So....is Eni-chan already fine?" He was still knocking behind the princess' door.
"I apologize, your highness, but I have only applied a stronger version of the Overwrite," the wizard answered. "There is something I have to get from Aoshi first before I can completely destroy the Eyes of Malice. I can only promise his highness will be reasonable and normal for all of today."
"Why not everyday?"
"It only works while I am around," he frowned.
"So stay here, and help Kaoru be a good magician!" Misao was already hugging his knees.
"I cannot, your highness."
"Why ever not?"
"Please let his highness in first, before he gets normal-self mad," he answered with a grin, and cloaked himself and Kaoru in invisibility.
Misao shrugged, made herself a little more presentable, and opened the door.
He entered silently, without the dreaded spectacles and with newly brushed hair. He closed the door behind him and slowly approached her. He treaded with even steps, with.....courtesy? Apologetic respect?
The princess stood in place, and let him come. She neither advanced nor retreated. He had not been this way for so long, she did not know what to make of him now. So she neither rejected nor returned the embrace he gave at the next moment.
"I am sorry for how I've been treating you, Misao," he began. "I know I've hurt your feelings, so now I'm apologizing."
"I...don't know what to say, Enishi..." she looked up at a kind and handsome face she had not seen in a while.
"Say you'll get dressed and join me for lunch?" he smiled.
"Well...."
The door swung open with a rush and let in the chief retainer. In his arms were a large pile of papers and quills. His normally smooth hair was tousled over his head. "I'm sorry, Misao-hime, but I need his highness to these papers signed in a hurry."
"What about, Speedy?" Enishi asked calmly, much to the chief retainer's surprise.
Soujirou began to pace all over the bedroom. "There's letters of apology to Lord Hiko, commission letters to Commander Saitou, trade agreements, negotia-----------UMPH!"
The poor chief retainer suddenly knocked into something solid but wasn't there, scattering papers around him.
"A mage!" The snow prince took out a dagger hidden under his royal coat. "Come out of hiding and identify yourself, mage! Are you friend or foe?"
A few feet from where Soujirou sat rearranging his papers, magic dust glistened and a cloak appeared, revealing a man and a woman both in magician's clothes. The woman brandished a wooden sword before her against the dagger, until the man pulled her down. "Friend, your highness," the redhaired magician answered, as they both kneeled and bowed before him.
"Kaoru!" He looked in surprise at the young lady. But as his eyes moved to the redhaired man, his face grew dark and angry. "Y....y.....YOU!"
The fiery-haired wizard could only bow his head.
"How DARE you show your face to me!" He said with burning eyes, as the other three watched in silence. Then he cooled down somewhat and his face formed a menacing smirk. "But I think I know why you're here."
The prince walked to the veranda of the bedroom with a sarcastic chuckle. He turned his back on the railing, and spread out his arms. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
The wizard looked up. His hands began to shake.
"Well, isn't that what you're here for? To assassinate me?" the prince closed his eyes and smirked. "Do it, then. Do it, the way you killed my sister. It's just fitting."
A long silence fell. The wizard had turned his back on the prince and faced the door. Kaoru thought she saw a tear trickle down from under the long auburn locks.
"No? You won't kill me?" The prince walked to the door, and took a good long look at the wizard. "Get far away from here, Kenshin, before I change my mind and have you executed."
"Enishi...." The wizard implored, as he stretched out an open palm.
"None of that odd chant from you," he snapped. "I forgot the goodness of my heart for you, a long time ago." He slammed the door behind him.
Misao and Kaoru looked at the fiery-haired wizard. He let out a sigh, then faced Misao and Soujirou.
"My lord the chief retainer, make full use of this day, and get all necessary documents finished. Your highness, you as well should take advantage, and do everything you can for him. At the end of 24 hours, he will be back as he was. There will be no window periods." He took up his cloak, and gave a final bow. "I apologize for disappointing you. I will be back in two days. When I return, I will break the spell."
"But, but...great wizard...." Misao interrupted.
"Farewell, your highness." He waved a hand, and dematerialized, without taking Kaoru with him.
Both women looked at each other, wondering what that was all about. Unfortunately, both shrugged.
Kaoru curtsied to the princess. "I guess I better go after him first, your highness. I'll see you again as soon as I can."
"Just tell him to hurry, alright?" Misao implored. Soujirou beside her also had the most imploring expression on his face.
Kaoru nodded, and waved her wand over herself. "Over valley and over hill, bring me where Kenshin is, if you will?" She disappeared with a poof.
She materialized five feet in the air over the entrance of the woods. Fully expecting to fall with a thud on the grass, she was surprised to drop into someone's arms. A redhaired someone, to be precise, just as surprised as she.
She slapped her forehead. "I said, if you will, over a hill, not over Kenshin! I'll NEVER get teleportation exactly right! Argh!"
The redhaired wizard chuckled, Kaoru still in his arms. "You have to focus on exactly where you want to land, milady."
She pouted. "I wouldn't have had to teleport if you took me with you! Why did you suddenly disappear?"
He put her down. "I apologize, Kaoru, milady, I totally forgot about you. It has been a while since I last saw Enishi....and he is still mad at me as ever...."
"The snow prince? Why would the snow prince have a grudge against you? You're such a nice person!"
"It is my fault why things are what they are right now."
"You?" Kaoru looked at him with raised eyebrows. "How?"
He sat on the grass, motioned for the young lady to follow suit. He took out his memory sapphire, and closed his eyes.
"I have known Enishi and his family for many years now. His sister, is Tomoe," he began, and showed her the woman of the stone. "She was a mage, he is not. They have the same mother but different fathers. Her father used to be the one who topped those lists in the book, but he died of a terrible sickness. The king took to liking her mother, and made her the queen. It is from this union that Enishi was born.
"Enishi's mother died when he was very young. Therefore, while there were numerous nursemaids and nannies, Enishi considered his half-sister as his mother. He would follow her everywhere, even when she entered the school for mages..and met me. He liked me well enough back then. I picked apples for him." He smiled. "He lived a pampered life, so he grew up rather spoilt, but he did not have an evil nature. But things got out of hand between him and me.
He looked into the distance, and took a deep breath.
"Tomoe and I had just graduated from school. Everything was quite in our favor; we were soon to be married. But we were commissioned to assist defending against an attack on the castle. The prince was beside me, under my protection.
"I delivered electric blasts from one of the towers, as part of the army's special forces. I noticed one of the enemy soldiers had managed to climb one of the other towers, and was lowering a ladder for other soldiers. I was getting tired by then. The battle had worn on into the afternoon, so I think my eyes started to deceive me. Nonetheless, I aimed at the man on the other tower. And I fired the electric blast.
"But I miscast the spell for the electric blast, and sent out a more dangerous one instead. I lost control of the blast, and it did not hit the target. Instead, it hit the person beside.
"She never saw it coming. She was not able to teleport or float away. She fell from more than a hundred feet. She hit her head, broke her neck, died instantly.
"Enishi saw the whole thing. Accident or not, he knew I was responsible. He first stared in disbelief at the ground where his sister lay, then back at me. He broke into tears and screams. He then told me, in his most royal tone, to leave the kingdom and never come back, because when he saw me again he would have my head cut off.
"Thus, for the last few years, I have not actively practiced my trade, for fear of what I might do, and for fear that he will find me." He then gave the young lady a sorrowful smile.
"But why did you stay in the kingdom?" Kaoru asked.
"It was because of her," he looked at the stone again. "Her eyes begged me to keep an eye on him, even from a distance. Still, I wanted to forget about him, and about being a mage, so I lived as a stableman. What I knew about the prince, I learned from gossip. I did not need to use magic for that."
Kaoru did not know what else to say. Now she understood why it took him so long to decide. He wanted to help. He could not simply muster enough of himself to do so.
She took up his hand, and held it in her own. He did not object.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, both watching the sun but thinking about the magician beside. He then smiled, and stood up.
"Thank you, milady. Now, come. We have to finish this."
..........
Well, that's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you come back!
.............
"Misao, open the door." The snow prince knocked at the princess' royal bedroom. "Please?"
"So you could malign me a little more? No, Enishi, not anymore!" she answered from inside.
The kingdom of the snow prince had been tormented by the Eyes of Malice for two weeks, now entering into the third.
Word spread beyond the town and into the countryside. Much had changed in the palace. More than half of the servants were evicted for insensible reasons. Many trade negotiations had failed. Ambassadors had been treated badly, and could not be appeased. At least three neighboring states were now on the verge of declaring war on the snow prince.
Rumors were spreading that Lord Shishio was unifying the neighboring counties, to eliminate Prince Enishi from the throne. It was well known that Shishio was not a kind master, either, but right now, anything was better than the icy snow prince. Everyone was willing to try anything.
The princess had locked herself in her quarters over the last two days. She would have no more of his beatings, his taunts, his threats. She had chanted the Temporary Overwrite every half hour, and still it did not help the situation. As for the chief retainer, he was smiling more than usual, and in a creepy sort of way. The smile he had forced himself to keep, trying to console ruffled ambassador feathers, was now stuck on his face. Over the last few days, his left hand always gripped the handle of a concealed dagger.
The magician's guild was not aware of the cause of the problem, because they were either too scared to face Enishi's wrath, or they were too far away to receive accurate information. Only four mages and two non- mages knew the root, but none of the four mages had done anything about it. Megumi and Kaoru did not have the requirements or the rank. Aoshi, as the spellcaster, would not break it. The wizard of fiery hair still faltered and waited.
"I have to explain," the prince continued knocking. "Please let me in."
"Then you will attack me," the princess retorted. "No way."
"Let him in, your highness. I promise you it will be safe," another voice pleaded.
"Soujirou? Megumi?" Misao looked around and saw nobody. "Where are you?"
In the next instant, the bedroom was enveloped in a warm glow, and Misao was accompanied by two other people. She ran quickly toward one of them with a friendly embrace.
"Kaoru! I never thought I would welcome the sight of you so much!" She looked at her companion, and gasped. The former palace magician had found a wizard of fiery hair. He bowed before her highness.
"So....is Eni-chan already fine?" He was still knocking behind the princess' door.
"I apologize, your highness, but I have only applied a stronger version of the Overwrite," the wizard answered. "There is something I have to get from Aoshi first before I can completely destroy the Eyes of Malice. I can only promise his highness will be reasonable and normal for all of today."
"Why not everyday?"
"It only works while I am around," he frowned.
"So stay here, and help Kaoru be a good magician!" Misao was already hugging his knees.
"I cannot, your highness."
"Why ever not?"
"Please let his highness in first, before he gets normal-self mad," he answered with a grin, and cloaked himself and Kaoru in invisibility.
Misao shrugged, made herself a little more presentable, and opened the door.
He entered silently, without the dreaded spectacles and with newly brushed hair. He closed the door behind him and slowly approached her. He treaded with even steps, with.....courtesy? Apologetic respect?
The princess stood in place, and let him come. She neither advanced nor retreated. He had not been this way for so long, she did not know what to make of him now. So she neither rejected nor returned the embrace he gave at the next moment.
"I am sorry for how I've been treating you, Misao," he began. "I know I've hurt your feelings, so now I'm apologizing."
"I...don't know what to say, Enishi..." she looked up at a kind and handsome face she had not seen in a while.
"Say you'll get dressed and join me for lunch?" he smiled.
"Well...."
The door swung open with a rush and let in the chief retainer. In his arms were a large pile of papers and quills. His normally smooth hair was tousled over his head. "I'm sorry, Misao-hime, but I need his highness to these papers signed in a hurry."
"What about, Speedy?" Enishi asked calmly, much to the chief retainer's surprise.
Soujirou began to pace all over the bedroom. "There's letters of apology to Lord Hiko, commission letters to Commander Saitou, trade agreements, negotia-----------UMPH!"
The poor chief retainer suddenly knocked into something solid but wasn't there, scattering papers around him.
"A mage!" The snow prince took out a dagger hidden under his royal coat. "Come out of hiding and identify yourself, mage! Are you friend or foe?"
A few feet from where Soujirou sat rearranging his papers, magic dust glistened and a cloak appeared, revealing a man and a woman both in magician's clothes. The woman brandished a wooden sword before her against the dagger, until the man pulled her down. "Friend, your highness," the redhaired magician answered, as they both kneeled and bowed before him.
"Kaoru!" He looked in surprise at the young lady. But as his eyes moved to the redhaired man, his face grew dark and angry. "Y....y.....YOU!"
The fiery-haired wizard could only bow his head.
"How DARE you show your face to me!" He said with burning eyes, as the other three watched in silence. Then he cooled down somewhat and his face formed a menacing smirk. "But I think I know why you're here."
The prince walked to the veranda of the bedroom with a sarcastic chuckle. He turned his back on the railing, and spread out his arms. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
The wizard looked up. His hands began to shake.
"Well, isn't that what you're here for? To assassinate me?" the prince closed his eyes and smirked. "Do it, then. Do it, the way you killed my sister. It's just fitting."
A long silence fell. The wizard had turned his back on the prince and faced the door. Kaoru thought she saw a tear trickle down from under the long auburn locks.
"No? You won't kill me?" The prince walked to the door, and took a good long look at the wizard. "Get far away from here, Kenshin, before I change my mind and have you executed."
"Enishi...." The wizard implored, as he stretched out an open palm.
"None of that odd chant from you," he snapped. "I forgot the goodness of my heart for you, a long time ago." He slammed the door behind him.
Misao and Kaoru looked at the fiery-haired wizard. He let out a sigh, then faced Misao and Soujirou.
"My lord the chief retainer, make full use of this day, and get all necessary documents finished. Your highness, you as well should take advantage, and do everything you can for him. At the end of 24 hours, he will be back as he was. There will be no window periods." He took up his cloak, and gave a final bow. "I apologize for disappointing you. I will be back in two days. When I return, I will break the spell."
"But, but...great wizard...." Misao interrupted.
"Farewell, your highness." He waved a hand, and dematerialized, without taking Kaoru with him.
Both women looked at each other, wondering what that was all about. Unfortunately, both shrugged.
Kaoru curtsied to the princess. "I guess I better go after him first, your highness. I'll see you again as soon as I can."
"Just tell him to hurry, alright?" Misao implored. Soujirou beside her also had the most imploring expression on his face.
Kaoru nodded, and waved her wand over herself. "Over valley and over hill, bring me where Kenshin is, if you will?" She disappeared with a poof.
She materialized five feet in the air over the entrance of the woods. Fully expecting to fall with a thud on the grass, she was surprised to drop into someone's arms. A redhaired someone, to be precise, just as surprised as she.
She slapped her forehead. "I said, if you will, over a hill, not over Kenshin! I'll NEVER get teleportation exactly right! Argh!"
The redhaired wizard chuckled, Kaoru still in his arms. "You have to focus on exactly where you want to land, milady."
She pouted. "I wouldn't have had to teleport if you took me with you! Why did you suddenly disappear?"
He put her down. "I apologize, Kaoru, milady, I totally forgot about you. It has been a while since I last saw Enishi....and he is still mad at me as ever...."
"The snow prince? Why would the snow prince have a grudge against you? You're such a nice person!"
"It is my fault why things are what they are right now."
"You?" Kaoru looked at him with raised eyebrows. "How?"
He sat on the grass, motioned for the young lady to follow suit. He took out his memory sapphire, and closed his eyes.
"I have known Enishi and his family for many years now. His sister, is Tomoe," he began, and showed her the woman of the stone. "She was a mage, he is not. They have the same mother but different fathers. Her father used to be the one who topped those lists in the book, but he died of a terrible sickness. The king took to liking her mother, and made her the queen. It is from this union that Enishi was born.
"Enishi's mother died when he was very young. Therefore, while there were numerous nursemaids and nannies, Enishi considered his half-sister as his mother. He would follow her everywhere, even when she entered the school for mages..and met me. He liked me well enough back then. I picked apples for him." He smiled. "He lived a pampered life, so he grew up rather spoilt, but he did not have an evil nature. But things got out of hand between him and me.
He looked into the distance, and took a deep breath.
"Tomoe and I had just graduated from school. Everything was quite in our favor; we were soon to be married. But we were commissioned to assist defending against an attack on the castle. The prince was beside me, under my protection.
"I delivered electric blasts from one of the towers, as part of the army's special forces. I noticed one of the enemy soldiers had managed to climb one of the other towers, and was lowering a ladder for other soldiers. I was getting tired by then. The battle had worn on into the afternoon, so I think my eyes started to deceive me. Nonetheless, I aimed at the man on the other tower. And I fired the electric blast.
"But I miscast the spell for the electric blast, and sent out a more dangerous one instead. I lost control of the blast, and it did not hit the target. Instead, it hit the person beside.
"She never saw it coming. She was not able to teleport or float away. She fell from more than a hundred feet. She hit her head, broke her neck, died instantly.
"Enishi saw the whole thing. Accident or not, he knew I was responsible. He first stared in disbelief at the ground where his sister lay, then back at me. He broke into tears and screams. He then told me, in his most royal tone, to leave the kingdom and never come back, because when he saw me again he would have my head cut off.
"Thus, for the last few years, I have not actively practiced my trade, for fear of what I might do, and for fear that he will find me." He then gave the young lady a sorrowful smile.
"But why did you stay in the kingdom?" Kaoru asked.
"It was because of her," he looked at the stone again. "Her eyes begged me to keep an eye on him, even from a distance. Still, I wanted to forget about him, and about being a mage, so I lived as a stableman. What I knew about the prince, I learned from gossip. I did not need to use magic for that."
Kaoru did not know what else to say. Now she understood why it took him so long to decide. He wanted to help. He could not simply muster enough of himself to do so.
She took up his hand, and held it in her own. He did not object.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, both watching the sun but thinking about the magician beside. He then smiled, and stood up.
"Thank you, milady. Now, come. We have to finish this."
..........
Well, that's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading and I hope you come back!