Fantasy Flash Collection - 4. To Be King

The sixteen-year-old boy shifted uncomfortably in the large chair as he waited for the man before him to finish his speech. The slight smile plastered on the teen’s face did not quite reach his eyes. The man, who continued to drone on undisturbed, took little notice of the leader to whom he was supposedly speaking. As best as the boy could tell, he seemed to be looking at the wall above and behind his head.

The man finally stopped his monotonous rumbling.

“Is there anything else on the agenda?” the boy asked, only a trace amount of irritation leaking into his voice. Still, his tone clearly stated that there had better not be anything else.

“No, Your Highness,” the Chief Secretary replied, after looking over his parchment.

“Very well then, the Council is adjourned,” the teen managed to keep his elation out of his voice.

The Prince watched as the people who had been in the room scattered quite quickly, leaving by several different doors to go off and do the Kingdom’s business. Kingdom’s business, in this case, no doubt was a euphemism for overtaxing the commoners and intruding in their lives.

As the Prince left the Council Chambers, the young men guarding the door snapped to attention. The Prince slowed long enough to give them both a smile and nod before continuing on his way. The two guards turned to look at one another, with some surprise.

As soon as everyone was out of range, one guard said to the other, “The rumor was true then?”

“It would appear so. His Highness has always treated everyone well, from what I’ve heard.”

“I’m glad that we got assigned here then.”

“Aye, me too.”

The Prince continued on his way through the castle. He made sure to acknowledge all who noticed him. He was in his own wing of the Palace when the slight discomfort he had felt earlier turned into real pain. The pain struck him so hard and fast that he didn’t have time to prepare for it. He fell straight to his knees in the center of the corridor. A servant boy, about fifteen or so, saw him fall and rushed to him in a dead run. He was just in time to stop the Prince from crashing face-first into the floor. The boy caught the Prince as the young heir started to convulse. The boy screamed for help and quite suddenly had half the castle down on him.

A few huge guards were the first to appear. They examined the situation and realized immediately that the more petite boy posed no threat to the Prince and, in fact, seemed to be preventing the heir from hurting himself. One guard stayed while the other ran off for the Healer.

The three minutes that passed seemed like an eternity for the guard and for the servant boy.

“What happened, boy?” the man dressed in light blue robes asked after he pushed his way through the crowd of servants, immediately bending down to study the Prince.

“He was walking towards his rooms when he fell to his knees. He looked like he was in tremendous pain, so I rushed forward to try to help him. I was just in time to catch him when he fell forward. He started twitching like this immediately,” William explained.

The Healer nodded to himself as he listened to the boy’s story. He laid his hand on the Prince’s chest for a moment and gasped. He quickly reached out to the servant boy and touched his side. The boy felt a wave of nausea hit him like a sledgehammer, and he collapsed backwards, almost smacking his head on the marble floor. The Healer caught him in time and gently lowered him to the floor.

“This is not good,” the old Healer muttered to himself before addressing one of the guards, “Bring them both to the Prince’s room immediately and place them on the Prince’s bed.”

“Sir? You want the serving boy on His Highness’s bed?”

The man ignored him, “Make sure that they stay in physical contact. I need to go get some things from Healer’s Tower.”

“But, sir, he is a servant boy.”

“I bloody well know what he is. Do as you're told, or you’ll be on sewer duty for the rest of your life.”

“Yes, sir,” the large man replied, carefully picking up both boys at once.

Once the Healer was satisfied that his instructions would be followed, he ran towards Healer’s Tower. He drew quite a lot of attention, but he ignored it.

The Healer ran all the way to the tower, and the noise of him bursting through the door roused his old friend from the book he was reading.

“What’s going on, Jesden?”

Jesden looked at his old wizard friend for a moment before replying, “His Highness Prince Caldur is suffering from spell seizure. Oh, he also went and wizard bonded to a serving boy.”

“He did what?!” the old man, Wizard Roluck, roared, jumping to his feet.

“You heard me.”

“How could we have missed this? He should have been displaying signs or leaking power by now.”

“Unless…”, the old Healer trailed off while looking significantly at his long-time friend.

“You’re not suggesting that… by the book! You are suggesting it.”

“It is the only explanation that fits the facts. There are enough wizards here to detect his power erupting early. No one noticed, and his power emerged today. Not only that, the boy in the hallway must have at least had a strong potential. Judging by the effect on them both, I’d say he had a powerful potential indeed. I thought you checked everyone for the mage gift?” the Healer demanded.

“We do. We even check servant boys, if that is what you are implying,” Roluck replied crossly.

“Very well. You now have a full-blown wizard Prince and wizard servant boy to deal with, Master Wizard,” Jesden replied dryly.

“You’re sure that they bonded?”

“Of that I have absolutely no doubt. It is one of the strongest bonds that I have ever seen. They won’t be able to leave each other’s presence for some time to come. In fact, I think it’ll be at least a week before they’ll even be able to tolerate physical separation.”

“Of all the cursed times for this to happen. His Majesty is at least a month out of the capital. He needed the Prince here to rule and watch over the Prime Minister. The Council is going to raise unholy hell over having a peasant sitting in the Council Chambers on our esteemed Highness’s lap.”

“Well, the bonding should have taken care of the seizures, I think. We need to go talk to the Prince when he wakes up. No doubt we will be able to take care of any problems as they arise.”

The other man nodded.

The guard placed both boys directly on the Prince’s bed. He made sure that they were lying tightly together before he stepped away from them both. Not knowing what to do next, he walked over to the door and stood guard. That was standing order number one: when in doubt, guard the door.

William was the first to wake up and felt very disoriented for a moment. He realized suddenly that he was in the Prince’s sleeping chambers. He immediately panicked. This was a place that he was most certainly not supposed to be. He trembled heavily as he slowly inched towards the edge of the large bed he was on. As he started to move, he realized that he was lying next to another boy. Or rather, he was lying almost on top of another boy. He turned to see who he was lying upon and went into shock. He was lying with the Prince on the Prince’s bed. He could be put to death for this offense. He started to shake violently and managed to pull away from the Prince. As soon as he did, his head erupted in immense pain. The pain was so intense that he fell backwards and landed on the Prince again. As soon as he had contact with the older boy, the pain subsided.

The Prince solved his immediate dilemma of being in the Prince’s bed uninvited when the older boy wrapped an arm around him and held him close. William felt panicked again and struggled to get out of his grasp, only to remember who was holding him.

“What is going on?” Prince Caldur asked the room in general.

“I don’t know, your highness,” the boy’s voice quivered as his body trembled.

The Prince’s voice contained confusion when he responded, “What has you so afraid?”

“Your Highness? I’m only a serving boy, and we are in your bed.”

“William… there is no such thing as ‘just a serving boy’.”

“You know my name?” he asked in surprise and then added a hasty “Highness.”

The Prince snorted, “I know everyone in this wing of the Palace.”

“I didn’t know that Your Highness.”

“I don’t think anyone does. People of my station are not supposed to notice people of yours.”

“No, your Highness,” William agreed with the Prince.

“That’s not right. You are one of the smartest boys in the Palace, and you are forced to do menial work instead of putting your intellect to work for the Kingdom, all because of who your parents are.”

“My parents are both dead, Highness. They died of the plague when I was only a baby. I was visiting my grandmum at the time. She worked here in the Palace as a cook. The Judicate gave her custody of me. When she died last year, I was already a page here. The Judicate decided that, as an orphan, I could earn my keep by continuing to work. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be sharing all this with you.”

Caldur pulled the younger boy closer to him again before replying, “That is quite all right, William. Do your friends call you something besides William?”

“I don’t really have any friends, your Highness.”

“Call me Caldur. What would you like to be called?”

“My grandmother called me Will.”

“May I call you Will, too?”

“If it pleases you, highness.”

“I was asking what pleased you, and please call me Caldur.”

“I’d think I’d like that… Caldur.”

The Prince smiled and ruffled Will’s hair a little.

“Ah. Good. You're awake, your Highness.”

“Master Roluck, Master Jesden. Is this what I think it is?”

“I’m afraid that is quite likely,” Master Jesden replied.

“Shush,” Caldur told the boy as he forced him back down. “We need to stay in physical contact for a while. You’re just going to have to get used to it, Will. Now hold still.”

Will, who had been squirming uncomfortably since the two older men arrived, ceased his motions and stayed sheltered under the arm of the Prince.

“What Master Jesden was trying to say was that you two have wizard-bonded. It is a potent bond, and frankly, we’re not sure how we could have missed the potential, since you have both been tested regularly for power. For the next several days, you two will not be able to stand being physically separated at all. After that, you’ll still need to be within arm’s reach at most. After a month, you should be strong enough on your own to be on opposite sides of a room.”

Prince Caldur took the whole thing in stride and never said a word. The young serving boy under his arm looked scared to death. The Prince absentmindedly rubbed the more petite teen’s shoulder as he thought about what was happening to them.

“There isn’t anything else to do, except to train you in the powers you have.”

“I understand, and I’ll make sure that Will does as well. You two are dismissed,” the Prince told the two older men with a finality that was accorded royalty.

The two men looked at each other before bowing their heads to the Prince and leaving the room quietly.

Master Roluck stopped at the large, burly guard. “Please see to it that no one disturbs His Highness or his friend.”

“Of course, sir,” the man replied politely.

The two old men went back to their tower to begin the planning required to train two powerful, bonded wizards.

Caldur watched wearily as the two old men left. He felt ill at ease over the talk he was about to have with his servant. It would be difficult for both of them in the end. He sighed quietly, and Willy shifted next to him.

“What’s going on, Caldur?”