“What do you mean you don’t know!?!” Queen Mildred said yelling. “You are the damn King, I am assuming you went over our new Archmage’s head. You are having our men killed for what? Mundane commoners are on our border right now being slaughtered and you don’t have any answer for me other than blaming the person you took off the border! Now answer my question, what are you going to do?”
“Thunder you can go back to the border,” King Jeffrey said annoyed.
“You pulled him off the border!” Queen Mildred said as she stood in King Jeffrey’s face. “You were the sitting Archmage for a time, you should know anyone pulled from the border has a year reprieve before they have to go back if they were properly relieved through no fault of their own. Now what is your plan?”
“I don’t have a plan!” King Jeffrey screamed. “I just found this out!”
“You go around calling yourself a King, you are supposed to know, I do!” Queen Mildred said as she turned her back to the King.
“Thunder I am sorry you had to see this side of politics but I know you know it exists,” Queen Mildred said. “From what I have heard you have done an extraordinary job leading the mages against the Raelinians and even made the enemy wary of attacking us. The Kingdom gives you its thanks and much deserved rest. I may have need of you in another capacity but until then please go home and enjoy yourself. I will have my personal carriage take you.”
“The King has put me back in training at the Tower Your Majesty,” Jonathan said.
“The Archmage’s signature is on the document,” King Jeffrey said. “This commoner needs all of his education. While a student he is not allowed to challenge for any position.”
“Thunder the Tower is almost letting back in,” Queen Mildred said. “Just head there before classes start. Your King and I need to have a conversation.”
Jonathan smiled as he left the room. He could hear the Queen tearing into the King calling him an idiot and anything else she could think of. The last thing Jonathan heard was her telling him that he was going to personally lead mages on the Raelin border and not to return home until the war is over. Jonathan knew the war would be over quickly. King Jeffrey would bring the strongest mages he could find with him to the border and win by overwhelming force. If he was smart he would anyway, Jonathan would be happy just having the Raelinians crushed.
Jonathan decided to go back home first and pick up some things. The ride back to his home was nice. The carriage he was in was opulent and had the markings of the Archmage. Jonathan thought this was much better than the Queen’s personal carriage and made sure to stop in nearly every big town that he knew mages were at. The Queen paid for the trip along with food and any inns he might stay in. Jonathan took full advantage of her wealth and smiled when he came across mages. They at once recognized the markings on the carriage and were shocked to see him come out of it. Many did not know who he was until he relayed the fight with the Tower Mage with them. Jonathan had obliterated who was widely thought of as the second most powerful mage in the Kingdom at the time. The build up to the fight was great, the noble mages wanted to see a commoner put into his place. The mundane nobles were hoping Jonathan would win and of course the commoners both magical and mundane were rooting for him. Once Jonathan gave away his identity he either got free drinks or disdain. Anyone who had anything to say Jonathan offered to meet them in the arena and freely tossed insults their way. When Jonathan finally reached his home is when the hard part started.
Jonathan had not been to his home since before his parents were killed. Now he was the master of the house. Jonathan knew it would not be easy walking inside, his parents things were still there. Jonathan walked through the door and took a deep breath. He let it out when he recognized all new furniture was inside along with a note. Jonathan read the note and found out it was from his grandfather. The old man said he knew how hard it was cleaning up after a dead family member and did it for Jonathan. Everything belonging to his parents was neatly tucked away in a big storage building his grandfather had built around back. Jonathan sat down and cried at the gesture. His grandfather may not have had any magic but that didn’t make him any less powerful. Just being here sapped Jonathan’s energy, Jonathan had sent the carriage away and would make his own way to the Tower. He would stay in his home for a bit and try to remember the good times he had here.
~
Jonathan had been in his home for a month now, he felt comfortable sleeping there but something wasn't right. Jonathan bolted upright from his sleep, he wasn’t sure why he was up but something told him to get up and do it right away. Jonathan’s heart raced as he tried to figure out if he had a bad dream or if he was in some kind of medical distress. Jonathan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong and got out of bed. His home was dark and Jonathan couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Jonathan was about to lay back down when he heard the sound of a floor board outside of his room creaking. Jonathan spun around while casting mage shield on himself. They came at him soon after that, his windows shattered and Jonathan could hear men running in the halls. Jonathan cast a strong bolt of lightning directly at one of his windows and wasn’t sure if it was one of the windows his attackers were coming through. Soon after the bolt dissipated Jonathan flew out of his window and into the night sky.
Jonathan could see there were at least ten men outside and flew higher. If they were mages they would have flown to reach his height. As soon as Jonathan heard the sound of bows twanging he knew he had them. Lightning started raining on Jonathan’s attackers and he made sure none of those he saw could get away. A fireball hit Jonathan in the back, the pain was intense but brief as Jonathan cast a water spell then flew higher and to the right. Jonathan spotted the mage who threw it and sent a lightning bolt his way. The bolt wasn’t his strongest and the mage threw up a shield which blocked the worst of it. Jonathan saw the remaining men try to use his home for cover and Jonathan had to make a hard decision. Jonathan set his home ablaze with fire magic then waited as the smoke had gotten too much for the attackers. After a few minutes men started pouring out of the blaze and were stunned by Jonathan and his lightning magic. Jonathan smiled a little as he could see he had even gotten the mage he had hit earlier. In all, five men survived and Jonathan was not sure how long they would be out but when they awoke they would wish they could take back their attack. Finding rope wasn’t hard, Jonathan went to his stable and grabbed all the rope he could. Jonathan began tying rope around the feet of his attackers and suspending them upside down in his stable. Jonathan used the same stone spike spell he used on the Blood Priests of Raelin, instead of a smooth stone floor now beneath his attackers were numerous stone spikes that would definitely injure if not kill anyone who managed to free themselves. Jonathan took a barrel he had and filled it with water. He shuddered thinking about the things he had seen Gerald Morningstar do but was now happy he had the knowledge.
“Wake up you,” Jonathan said to the first man as he began burning his arm. The man screamed long and loud and woke up the others. The mage went to free himself and was punched hard in the stomach. The man stopped immediately as all of Jonathan’s captives focused their eyes on him.
“Why did you attack me?” Jonathan asked the first man he had burned.
“I aint telling you shit!” the man screamed right before Jonathan set him ablaze. The man screamed louder and went to fumble at the ropes tying his feet as he burned. Jonathan willed his fire even hotter as the man eventually stopped struggling and burned to death. The rope eventually burned enough that it could not support the corpse and the body went crashing into the stone spikes.
“Who else wants to be brave?” Jonathan said looking at the mage. “Just what I thought. Now answer my question.” Jonathan finished as he looked at the man next to the burning man. That man stayed silent as Jonathan brought the barrel over. Jonathan lowered the man into the barrel and watched him struggle as he was drowning.
“You tried to kill me,” Jonathan said
as he looked at the remaining three. “I may be young but the ground outside is littered with your dead. I have no reason not to kill you right here and right now. I hope whoever you are protecting is worth you dying.”
“How do we know you will let us go if we tell you?” the man who was now next to feel Jonathan’s wrath said.
“You don’t,” Jonathan replied. “But you do know that I will kill you if you don’t tell me and I will not think anything of it. Do you really want to be burned to death or die struggling to breathe in a barrel of water? Because that is what is going to happen to you.”
“The King sent us!” the mage said as he hung upside down. “He will have us killed for telling.”
“You are dead anyway,” Jonathan replied. “I may be young but I did kill Quevin Wilson. Now here is how it is going to happen. I am going to take all of you from town to town until I get to the capital. I want you to tell the story to anyone that will listen as to why you are tied up and who sent you.”
“That would be suicide,” the mage said.
“Better than certain death,” Jonathan said. “I will not surrender you to the King, I will make sure you get away eventually.”
CHAPTER 3
Queen Mildred
“Just who do you think you are to summon me like some commoner?” King Jeffrey said angrily.
“Did you send assassins to kill Jonathan Thunder?” Queen Mildred asked.
“Who?”
“Don’t play stupid with me!” Queen Mildred said as she tapped her fingers on the table.
“Just who do you think you are talking to? I am your husband!”
“And your wife isn’t doing the talking, your Queen is! Now answer my question, did you send assassins to kill Jonathan Thunder?”
“What difference does it make? He is just some commoner.”
“Yes or no.”
“Don’t give me ultimatums. You wanted me on the border with Raelin and I am there along with Kevin and doing a better job than that boy ever could.”
“Jeffrey I don’t play these games when it comes to the Kingdom,” Queen Mildred said as she pulled out a scroll. “I am here by stripping you of any power that you have to control any entity that works for the crown. Anyone who does your bidding outside of the servants in the palace will be charged with treason and executed.”
“You can’t do that!” King Jeffrey said angrily.
“I am the Queen, I do what I want. You are also not to counsel, advise or anything else that could be taken as either to my Archmage. He alone will oversee the mages and if I hear you have a proxy doing your bidding it will not be pleasant. From now on your title will also change, I let you prance around here as King but you have taken it too far with your foolish vendetta. You will be known as His Royal Highness, Prince Jeffrey. Anyone who calls you otherwise will face my wrath. You are embarrassing this Kingdom.”
“Just because of that commoner?”
“You sent assassins to kill Jonathan Thunder and they died instead,” Queen Mildred said as she stood up and looked out the window. “Thunder killed the majority of them outright and tortured the rest. They named you as the person who sent them. Jonathan Thunder paraded them around the countryside and was on his way here to present your men back to you. Your assassins sang like nightingales about your part in the attempted assassination. They eventually escaped but the damage was done. The people believe you and Kevin were so scared of a commoner that you sent assassins rather than face him like a mage is supposed to. They are calling you the King who Hides now.”
“Even if he brought whoever they are right to my doorstep it means nothing. They can’t arrest me.”
“He doesn’t need to arrest you. He has slandered and smeared your name across the Kingdom.”
“Who would believe the words of a commoner?”
“One of the people he captured was an older mage named Jackson. The man told everyone what he knew. He is a noble, well he was a noble. If Thunder demands satisfaction from the man then I will sanction a match. I do not know where Jackson has fled to but I would not be surprised if he left the Kingdom entirely. Many people have listened to him and they believe him. Your actions on the border with Raelin only proved his point about you being a coward further.”
“How dare that commoner call me a coward! And you are just going to let him get away with it?”
“He did not call you a coward. He called Kevin Wilson a coward and the man had nothing to do with your foolishness. You and Kevin are already linked together, even a stupid person would infer you were a coward as well. You took every commoner mage you could find and tried throwing them at the Raelinians and got some of them killed. Thunder did not lose even one mage. While you were gone I know you heard the rumor that you needed commoner mages to fight because they are a lot braver than nobles. You then sent them away and put every noble mage you could summon to fight the Raelin. You won some battles but at what cost? Either way you look foolish for your rivalry with a seventeen year old boy. Your son was in a fight today with his friend David because of you. David wanted to know if Jordan would grow up to be a coward since you are one and let Jordan know that he would fight Thunder if Jordan was too scared to.”
“Jordan doesn’t understand anything, he isn’t even a mage.”
“You need to stop dismissing your son. He is thirteen now and his instructors have told me the only boy better they have ever seen at his age is his David. Your son now has a black eye from fighting with David. I don’t want you to say anything to David or his parents, you have embarrassed us enough.”
“You are really serious about stripping me because of some commoner?” Jeffrey said in disbelief.
“Xalen will become King one day. I cannot let him be influenced by you and your sloppiness. First you are throwing money away. Jonathan Thunder was doing the job for a small fraction of what you were spending. Then you got more people killed than he did. You finished by sending assassins who not only died but smeared your name in the process. When we are both dead Xalen will lose the Kingdom acting like that.”
“People will laugh at me,” Jeffrey said. “If you strip me of my titles I will be a man who can’t control his house.”
“No one controls the Queen and you brought this upon yourself. You do things without clearing them through me or any competent advisors on impulse. Jonathan Thunder isn’t going anywhere and now you have made a possible enemy of Duke Golad.”
“He wasn’t serious about making a match between Farrah and that commoner.”
“Why wouldn’t he be? The Golads have always been concerned with being the strongest mage family around. Only the Wilsons prevented them from taking their place at the top. Now Farrah and Russell are the two strongest mages around when it comes to raw power. Unlike most nobles Ryan Golad is only concerned with his children marrying the strongest individuals possible. Ryan wants that power in his family and has given his blessing already to Jonathan if he could woo Farrah.”
“He should listen to his wife,” Jeffrey said. “There is no way Daisy would consent to a match between some commoner and her daughter.”
“Ryan would demand all possible suitors fight for the honor. The Golads already have money so they are not looking to get rich. Unless a suitor is a landed noble I doubt Ryan would care about his daughter being with a commoner. The only thing he cares about is the bloodline and having strong mages in it.”
“Harlan Nettleton is a Baron and he is interested. That commoner you keep protecting has no chance with Farrah or any other girl of stature.”
“Doesn’t matter. He is no longer your problem. Your job until you die from now on is to act like my husband. You are the face the people should be cheering because of your good works and many charities. Instead you have done nothing but alienate a sizable population of my citizens.”
“You expect me to smile in the faces of commoners who want me removed? Let me keep my title and I will stay out of whatever politics you have.”
“You
got people killed Jeffrey, there is no going back from that. I told you to act like a King and you did not want to. If you want some semblance of respect I suggest you follow my instructions. I married you for your companionship, not because I needed help running my own Kingdom. You should remember that.”
CHAPTER 4
Jonathan was helping the people he hired clear the rubble and debris from his burned down home. He thought about telling his grandfather but didn't want the old man wrapped up in whatever the King had planned for him. The King would get angry once he found out his assassins had failed and then would get angrier once he found out Jonathan had paraded them around under the pretense of bringing them to the capital. Jonathan was sure the Queen had already knew, edicts were sent out saying Kirby had no King and King Jeffrey would now have the title His Royal Highness instead of His Majesty. He would now be Prince Jeffrey instead of King Jeffrey and Jonathan kenw when the man found out he would be out for blood. Jonathan couldn’t bring his grandfather into something like this, the man had already lost his daughter and Jonathan was the only family he had left. His grandfather would do something rash and probably try to assassinate Jeffrey if he thought it would save Jonathan. Even if he was successful his grandfather would be caught and executed, it just wasn't worth it.
As Jonathan looked at the rubble being cleared away, he wondered how would he rebuild? Would he build the same type of home or go for something different? Jonathan decided his new home would be built with defense in mind, if he had never woken up then he would have been killed. Jonathan also needed some allies, his friends Red, Thurman and Bill were okay but they were commoners. Bill planned on marrying a mundane noble and was in the process of being adopted by his bride’s family. Bill would technically be a noble but his family didn't have the clout Jonathan needed. Thurman was being matched up with some girl Russell knew. He would have a little power since his wife would also be a mage but Thurman did not have the killer instinct to be a real ally. Red was just a poor commoner who was on his way to offending the mage culture as a whole. Mages were expected to only be with other mages, the only exception was if the mundane was a noble. Red though was mixed up with Bill’s mother’s plan and was laying with every commoner girl he could. The women wanted mage children because they saw it as an easy way out. If they were successful then once mages like Kevin Wilson found out then Red would find himself in trouble.
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