Rune Mage: The Rune Mystic: Book Two Read online

  A few servants gave them curious looks as they walked by, but no one interfered with their movement, not when they were being led by the captain of the royal guard.

  The place also felt huge. Sure, the domed building connecting the seven tall mage towers was vast as well, but most of that vastness was the center arena. In the castle there were hundreds of rooms, guest hallways, servants, officials, nobles, and of course the royal suites which was up on the seventh floor and highly secure.

  He lost count of the guards that he saw by the time they arrived in the royal dining room, which was separate from the public, and for the royal family only. Despite that, the table was large enough to seat twenty quite easily, and it was elaborately carved on the edges and legs.

  His earlier thoughts about the assignments were confirmed when the four of them relieved the four mages standing behind the princess, they were all female, as were the prince’s mage guards all male. It seemed the queen took whatever mix was left. They also had amused looks on their faces when he gave his pack over to one of them. It wasn’t a problem as far as he was concerned, but he hoped it wouldn’t become one for someone else as he pushed it out of his head.

  Queen Delphine was right around forty years old. She was five foot six, with extremely light blonde hair and blue eyes. The beauty she’d been in her youth still lingered strikingly on her fair face, and that was more than evident in her sixteen-year-old daughter Vida who’d inherited her hair and eyes.

  Vida’s beauty was still blossoming though, and she looked quite young even with the curves of a woman, the blush of her youth still very much present. Except for a curious but quick glance at all the new mages from the princess, the royal family didn’t even acknowledge them. Which interestingly enough, made him relax a little. He didn’t want their attention.

  He could be invisible for a month. He really wasn’t overly fussed about the assignment either, his only real worry was the appearance of it in the eyes of others. She was too young, despite being only two years younger, and he was taken, plus she was a princess. No thanks. It was just perception trumped truth, every single time.

  In short, it wasn’t a thing for him at all, he was just worried it would be a thing for others. Gossip fodder, if nothing else.

  Prince Jonah was twelve, and obviously took after his father. With black hair and green eyes. He was twelve at most, and Olin’s first impression was the boy was withdrawn, probably from the king’s death even though it was months ago. Or maybe, he was just the most well-behaved twelve-year-old ever, being raised as a prince.

  Might as well get started on his duties, he thought. Although he was sure the ones he relieved had already done so, since the family was already eating. He focused on the detect poison rune on his left bracer and sped up his channeling magic in his body, opening a shunt with his will from his forearm to the rune pressed against his skin.

  The spell encompassed the entire room looking for any signs of poison. Anything poisoned would’ve glowed obviously to him, in his mind, so only he’d be able to see it. Everything looked fine. He also realized that duty would be his and Lia’s alone, there weren’t any life mages on the other teams.

  Well, crap, now he had a question. What happened if the princess decided to eat a meal alone? None of the other mages with them could check for poisons. Though, the water mages might be able to sense impurities in wine, water, or mead. He’d worry about it if it came up.

  He released the spell, suppressed a sigh, and waited for something to happen.

  The princess was in the latter half of her sixteenth year. In just fifteen months she’d reach her majority, turn eighteen, and take over the reins of the kingdom. In short, while the prince was sent away to his tutors, both in swordplay and for education such as history, the princess followed the queen around to observe and learn the subtleties of how to rule. Though he suspected she already knew most of what she needed, she also needed to be aware of everything going on, or she’d be lost when she finally took over.

  As a result, much of that first day he spent in the throne room or war room, while the queen dealt with the issues of the war, from tactics, to supplying food and other issues her generals were having. Not to mention up to date reports as the generals briefed her on the war’s status. She also dealt with various requests and issues of her nobles, and various other things.

  The mage guards were ignored, much to his approval, except it was all dreadfully boring. Also to his approval, based on the general’s reports they’d managed to completely stall Vemor’s efforts to invade. There was blood and death on both sides, but it was also a stalemate.

  He concluded that war was a stupid endeavor. Though they didn’t have a choice, Vemor had invaded, not the other way around. They couldn’t just give up.

  He also found the assignment harder than he’d thought, it felt unnatural to stand next to Lia all day, and not talk to her and joke with her. Hopefully the next mission would put them on the road, or at least in roles where they could be themselves, and not be silent and seen, but not heard, guards.

  His only distraction at all was two-fold, that for five minutes an hour he channeled his magic through his body’s magical circulatory system as hard and fast as he could, while keeping it contained to his channels so that it didn’t damage his body. It was the new way to strengthen and push his magic to grow, instead of a straight hour a night before bed, per Cassandra. That way his growth in power didn’t suffer while he also was never low on power, too low perhaps to do his guard duties if an emergency came up.

  The second distraction was casting detect poison before the queen or princess ate or drank anything. He knew Lia was doing the same thing, but it was something to do besides stare at the wall. That also came up more than he thought it would, they drank tea or wine almost all day long, outside of meals. It also became clear to him they had food tasters, so if he wasn’t present for the prince’s afternoon glass of juice, or whatever, chances were that it wouldn’t be poisoned. At least, if it was poisoned, the taster would die, not the prince.

  Still, boredom was better than excitement and death, when it came to real life and guarding the royal family. Or so he kept reminding himself.

  During meals they ate with the royal family, but they did so standing up, with simple meals that could be held in one hand. At least it was good food, usually wrapped up in thin but soft and moist bread.

  It was with great relief, when the end of the day came. After dinner, they were led to the princess’s suite of rooms. It was tastefully done in his opinion, there was plenty of indications of wealth, but the rooms were warm, not cloying.

  The outer room was a receiving room, that contained a few couches, a small table and chairs, as well as some portraits of family on the walls that were done by a very talented artist. The outer bedroom came next. It was a very large room, but the four beds in it made it looked a little small and cramped, although they were modest in size. Each bed had a small cedar wardrobe with drawers on the bottom next to it, so they unpacked their bags.

  There was also a vertically folding privacy screen with elaborate designed patterns of color on it, with a tub behind it, and some upholstered chairs. All the colors were neutral to feminine in the room, but not so much that it made Olin uncomfortable.

  He also figured he’d be spending a lot of time alone in the outer room with the royal guards posted there, while the three women mages bathed, privacy screen or not he felt that pushed the boundaries of propriety too far. He was already uncomfortable enough sleeping in the same room as three female mages, one of them being a woman he held abundant desire for and meant to spend the rest of his life with.

  Lia was a constant temptation for him, he’d probably explode if he was in the same room when she was naked and soaped up in hot water, privacy screen or not.

  He also figured by the smirk on her face in that moment, she knew the general direction of his thoughts in that moment, and she found them amusing. He also wasn’t the only one tempted.<
br />
  Although they could all use magic to stay clean, hot water and soap could be mentally cleansing as well. He was sure it would come up a few times over the next four weeks at least, if not every day.

  He wasn’t sure what Princess Vida’s inner bedroom looked like. When they’d arrived in the rooms, just Lia and Carolynn had checked to make sure the inner room was secure before allowing the princess to retire alone for the night, while he and Karina had remained with the princess to guard her for those short few moments.

  Regardless, for the first time that day the four of them had privacy, and no longer needed to hold their tongues.

  Lia said, “Interesting first day. We should probably discuss ideas and observed shortfalls from the day’s events.”

  He replied, “No life mages, is the obvious one. It’s up to Lia and I to make sure they aren’t poisoned. That is a shortfall with the prince, though the princess seems to spend all of her time with the queen to keep up with things in the kingdom, so hopefully won’t be a problem there.”

  It was pretty assured with his wards running, that even if he himself missed an infiltrator bent on causing harm his wards wouldn’t. if anyone meant violence, his shields would be activated clueing him into the problem.

  Karina grinned, “Water mages can check drinks, but I agree it’s a problem.”

  Carolynn shrugged, “We can only do what we can, and they have food tasters for when we aren’t present.”

  He nodded, “True, but the assassins got around that problem with the king, didn’t they?”

  Lia said reasonably, “It is a shortfall, but Carolynn’s also right, it’s not something we can fix, we just need to be aware of it and do the best we can.”

  Lia seemed to be in a better mood, generally speaking. Not that she’d been short with him at all, but he knew she’d been very worried about her parents being stationed at the village guarding that pass.

  He guessed that was probably because of having such recent, up to date, and complete information on the war. They might not have been able to speak, but they could listen, and Lia must be fairly confident her parents weren’t in serious danger, at least not that day.

  He sighed, “Another shortfall, is us.”

  Karina looked at him sharply, but Lia and even Carolynn looked amused as they waited for him to expand on that.

  He said, “None of us have done this before, and although today gave us a decent idea what to expect, who’s to say the princess doesn’t have separate duties on some days. The mission was assigned to us just last night, we didn’t even have a chance to get a briefing outside of the meet and greet in the castle front courtyard. None of us are familiar with the layout of the castle, nor do we know any of the emergency procedures from the royal guard side. I imagine most of the time, at least half the mages on this detail would have done it before and be more than able to mentor the rest. We have no lead to follow.

  “Of course, we’re not exactly in terrible shape. No non-mage threat will get past us, or likely even past the royal guard, and we’ll feel any enemy mages coming a mile away. It’s just our lack of knowledge will add confusion in an emergency situation, because we won’t be sure what to do outside of the vague plan to protect the princess from harm, and that’s never a good thing and helps our enemies.”

  About all they did know was the rules to keep their mouths shut, and never leave their charge.

  Karina nodded sharply, “He’s not wrong, but there’s not much we can do about it.”

  He shook his head, “No, just another of the be aware that the shortfall exists, kind of thing.”

  Lia smirked, “Not entirely true, the not being able to do something about it part, I mean. We could invite the royal guards in the outer room to join our conversation, and pick their brains, go over scenarios.”

  He grinned, “Good idea, if they’ll leave their post.”

  It turned out they wouldn’t, leave their posts that is, even if it was just one room away, but they did send a page to fetch a couple of royal guards that were off duty that night. The royal guards hadn’t exactly looked confident in their obvious inexperience, but at the same time they’d been pleased by the mages’ efforts to compensate for that gap.

  While they waited for those guards to arrive, they continued their brainstorm session.

  Lia asked, “Any more shortfalls?”

  Karina sighed, “Probably, the most dangerous ones, the ones we haven’t encountered or realized even exist yet. Hopefully your idea to talk to the guards will take care of those as well.”

  Carolynn agreed, “Nothing right now, no.”

  Lia smirked, looked around the room, “Personal problems or expectations?”

  Karina looked at him guiltily, “Sorry, Olin, but while we’re all new to the castle, you’ve never even been on a mission before,” she turned to Lia, “You’re rather young too Lia, but you’ve been on missions the last six months, and grew up in the tower.”

  Lia nodded, “As you saw yesterday morning when he took down three fire mages on his own, with multiple times his experience. He’s quite handy with that sword. He’s also a natural when it comes to magic, his only real lack is his power, and as you said his experience.”

  He interjected, “I’ll follow your lead, because it’s the smart play, but inexperienced doesn’t mean stupid, my ideas will be heard if it isn’t an emergency situation requiring immediate action.”

  Karina shook her head, “That’s not what I meant. Although that’s a concern too, and I’m happy to hear you’ll be so reasonable. The real world is different than the arena, no matter how much you enjoy the visceral experience there in the end the violence there is harmless. A game. A serious game maybe, but at the end of the day everyone lives and goes back to their towers. You’ve still to face the first time when you have to choose to take a life to save your own, or to save another mage or innocent.

  “It’s not an easy decision to make. Taking a life changes you, and despite knowing it’s the right action to take, to end life in defense of yourself and others, people can still falter in that moment. Hesitate. Especially on the second one. They say your first kill is the hardest, well, they are wrong. It’s the second one that’s hardest, after you’ve taken a life the first time, and it hits you what you’ve done. To make that decision again based on morals and beliefs, against the emptiness in your soul the act creates.”

  He frowned, “I won’t hesitate.”

  Lia shook her head, “I haven’t either. None of my missions have been violent, or have needed violence, but that won’t stop me if it’s the right thing to do.”

  Carolynn sighed, “Both of you tell us that again, when it happens.”

  Maybe they were right, he couldn’t know until it came up, but he didn’t think so. If he hesitated it could put Lia in danger. He’d take the life of someone evil intending to kill the princess, for the princess and the royal family as well, even Carolynn and Karina he would safeguard zealously as members of his team. But… for Lia, his whole being would cry out against putting her in danger, he’d do anything to safeguard her life, lie, cheat, steal, die, and kill, and he knew she’d do the same for him.

  Of course, that motivation was deeply personal, and he wasn’t about to share it with two strangers, mages on his team or not. He wasn’t sure they’d believe it anyway, that they would think it would matter when he was faced with that decision for the first time.

  In truth, he didn’t want to take a life, but often that was the only option when greedy and ambitious people ruled kingdoms. War, assassination, all those things had to be stood against. Appeasing evil was impossible, and to live as a willing victim would be worse and truly destroy a person’s soul. A harmed soul from taking a life was clearly the lesser of two evils, and intentions did matter.

  Karina shrugged, “It’s a concern, but like I said, it doesn’t mean I don’t think you’re not competent, I know you are. If you weren’t, you wouldn’t be here, even without all the masters not in the comp
etition this past month.”

  Carolynn said, “Moving on. I’m used to unconventional sleeping arrangements from past missions, anyone concerned about that?”

  Karina shook her head, “Not in the least, though he needs to step out when we bathe.”

  He nodded, “I already decided that, it won’t be a problem. Just don’t forget to come get me when you’re done.”

  Lia giggled.

  Carolynn sighed, looked him over, and said mock regretfully, “I suppose we can do the same for him.”

  Lia mock glared, as if to say hands off, but he knew she really wasn’t jealous. Cross tower relationships weren’t allowed, even if he hadn’t been completely hers at that point anyway.

  Karina grinned at him salaciously, “Our Lia has done rather well for herself, hasn’t she?”

  The door knocked, thank the gods, before their conversation deteriorated even further.

  They stayed up around another hour, going over various procedures based on the level of threat. The only time they wouldn’t be surrounding the princess and leaving quickly when an attacker was taken down, was if it was a magical attack. They learned most attempts at assassination, outside of poisoning, were two-fold, and the first attacker was usually a distraction, if a deadly one. So, leaving quickly for the royal apartments which were locked down better than most vaults, was one of their counters for that.

  They also agreed on somewhat of a pecking order, they’d all follow Carolynn’s lead as the oldest and most experienced in an emergency situation. But, if any one of them shouted a counter order that order would be obeyed, under the assumption they noticed something Carolynn didn’t which would make her orders dangerous in some way.

  However, if that option was abused or used frivolously, there’d be an accounting later.

  Carolynn had also agreed to follow the lead of the senior royal guard. Not for combat of course, the guards didn’t know their capabilities, but during a protective retreat they’d know the best route through the castle to take.