“All mages must,” Russell said. “It is your duty. I do not know where Jonathan found five mage women and I do not care. Your duty is to the Kingdom, all mages must come here by the order of the crown.”
“Mages must come here before they are twenty one,” Jonathan corrected. “Do not let him scare you. Trust me when I say you want to be good and married before you come to a place like this. I have plenty of friends and together we can build strong commoner mage families.”
“You will do no such thing,” Xalen said finally showing himself. Jonathan fought hard to conceal a smile. He knew the prince was around and once Farrah came out he was sure she had back up waiting somewhere.
“Your Highness,” Jonathan said with a smirk. “While you are our future ruler, you do not get to pick who gets married to whom. I am going to make one of these women mine and then facilitate them meeting my friends. Kirby will have strong commoner mages, one day we will even overtake the nobles.”
“There are men of means in here,” Xalen said. “Many with greater wealth and influence than this commoner.”
“Your Majesty you couldn't pay me to go to such a place,” Cassidy said. “If Jonathan doesn't want us going here this year, then we are not going to go. He is a great hero after all.”
“He held off the Raelin by himself,” Chloe said.
“He had plenty of help and Your King was who finished the battle,” Xalen said angrily.
“Kirby does not have a King,” Jonathan said as he could see Xalen ready to jump out at him. “And they don't need to meet whoever is inside of that Tower, they have me.”
“I command you all to present yourself to this Tower for training,” Xalen said as Jonathan let a fake look of shock play across his face.
“Y-you can't do that!” Jonathan said outraged. “Highness, they will all start together next year.”
“No they will not,” Xalen said triumphantly. “They will start this year!”
“There is no decree drawn up,” Jonathan said. “This isn't official. I will petition the Queen.”
“My decree will be drawn up well before then and it will be law,” Xalen said. “I am not going to let another one of you exist in this Kingdom. If any of you girls decide to leave this town before the decree is drawn up you will be deemed enemies of the Kingdom. The decree will be posted on the door of this Tower and all of you will receive an official copy in less than a mark. Until then the future Duke Golad would be happy to show you around if your friend Jonathan is too upset to.”
Jonathan said nothing as he passed by the nobles and went into the Tower. Jonathan was ready to burst, his laughter was hard to bury. Jonathan marched through the Tower and went out the back door. Jonathan entered the building and was not surprised to see his friends there. Out of all of them he figured he was closest to Red. Red was a poor mage with a big mouth and an even bigger heart. The boy would fight whoever, whenever. He had been burned horribly by Gerald Morningstar and feared the sinister mage but only for a few weeks. Red was the first of the friends he had made in the Tower to show up to help him fight off the Raelin. Red was talking to Terriel and Edgar. Terriel had been another one of Gerald’s victims and Gerald had given him two cuts spreading from the corners of his mouth all the way up to his ear like a sinister grin. Terriel was always a fearful boy, just like Edgar who he normally spent his time with.
“Looks like it is our turn now,” Red said with a smile. “We got four new lads here, none of them know nothing about no magicking. I was just giving them the lay of the land.”
“Well I already ran afoul of the Royal Asshole,” Jonathan said.
“You can't talk about our prince like that!” said one of the new mages. Jonathan thought this boy sounded like a noble, maybe it was his accent. The speaker had rich brown hair that was brushed and slicked back into a pony’s tail. Jonathan looked at his boots and could see they were also finely made. The last thing Jonathan noticed were his robes, they were not made out of cheap material most commoner mages received. These robes looked like they were made by a master.
“I think we have a plant,” Jonathan said and narrowed his eyes.
“Bradley just comes from money,” Red said. “Shocked his parents and everyone else that he has the talent. None of his siblings or anyone else in his family does. He hasn't been around Prince Xalen long enough to know what the boy is really like.”
“Well I showed up with five women,” Jonathan said. “I was going to let you all meet them but Xalen and Russell had other plans.”
“Come on now,” Red said smiling. “You know of my arrangement with Bill and his people. Edgar and Terriel got themselves married as soon as they left the front. Or haven't you noticed their fancy noble robes yet?”
“Married?” Jonathan said looking at them intently. “You are in noble robes!”
“Law says once we marry a noble we become one as long as our spouse lives,” Edgar said. “I wasn't going to wear them but news of my marriage spread quickly. Many people were angry I didn't try to woo a more influential girl.”
“Then why are you here instead of in the Tower?” Jonathan asked. “And where is everyone else?”
“Those tossers threw their lot in with Xalen and married whoever he put in front of them,” Red said. They are in the Tower now acting like they don't know any of us when just two months ago they were fighting with us staring down those undead bastards.”
“Don't be too angry,” Jonathan said. “They were there when I needed them.”
“Me or Terriel do not feel comfortable around Gerald,” Edgar said. “And I never will. They haven't had to fight him, we have.”
“No one will anymore,” Jonathan said. “Not unless he wants another go at me. I already promised him that no one will peel me off him like last time.”
“All you talk about is fighting,” Bradley said. “You should just be happy you are here.”
“Does this prick remind you of anyone?” Red asked.
“Leave Bill alone, he is good people,” Jonathan said with a small laugh.
“Well now there are eight of us altogether and the new first years alone have twenty mages,” Terriel said. “Only one female, a noble.”
“Not if Xalen has his way,” Jonathan said. “He is trying to recruit five more first years. They already know a bit of magic and he is intent on not letting any of them end up with one of us.”
“You know Xalen had his people come by and try to woo us back at home,” Red said. “He couldn't find me because I was laying down anything that moved. The others were easy to find and the money and prestige was too much for them to turn down. Xalen offered them all jobs to turn their backs on you.”
“He offered me an Terriel the same,” Edgar spoke. “I was tempted Jonathan. You saved me from Gerald but I repaid you by risking my life in a war. We were even in my book, being around Gerald was a deal breaker though, just like I said.”
“Well this year ought to be interesting,” Jonathan said then looked around. “Other than Bradley here, who are the rest of you?”
“You think you are our boss or something just because you have been here longer?” Bradley asked. “I don't answer to you and neither does anyone else.”
“I am not your boss,” Jonathan said as he stepped up into Bradley’s face. Jonathan had him by a head and in a physical fight Jonathan liked his chances. “But if you want to step outside with me, we can go right now. If not you should really watch who you are talking to.”
“Bradley don't mean nothing by it,” Red said. “He is just used to dealing with nobles and wants to be one.”
“I am going to stay out of your business and won't even say your name again,” Jonathan said looking down. “If you have my name in your mouth I am sure we are going to have a problem. If you decide to barge into my conversation again we are also going to have a problem.”
“You want to fight because I put you in your place?” Bradley said.
“You heard me,” Jonathan said. “Now who
are the rest of you?”
“The short one is named Emmet,” Red said. “He used to be a street rat like myself. He looks like a good pickpocket, only missing a finger instead of the whole hand.”
“Nice to meet you,” Jonathan said and stuck out his hand. Emmet returned the shake with a smile, he reminded Jonathan of a shorter version of Red. Well a shorter tanned version of Red with brown curls instead of Red ones.
“These two came here together,” Red said and pointed to the last two boys. These boys were the same height as Jonathan but had half again as much weight as Jonathan had. They were both blonde, extremely light hair that reminded Jonathan of Russell and Farrah Golad.
“From the mountains?” Jonathan asked.
“We are,” the boy on the left said. “I am Calder, he is Einar.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Jonathan said and shook their hands. “Russell Golad is here, you would do yourself a favor to stay out of his way. He is not quite the tosser Prince Xalen is but he has a habit of talking down to people. He is not a fight anyone in this room wants.”
“We have already got a decent talk about the others here,” Einar said. “We are mountain folk, we live a simple life. We do not want or need any drama. Most of you probably think this magic is a blessing. To us it is a curse, we already had lives and girls we were sure wanted to marry us eventually. Now we have to be here and none of us want to risk angering the lord of our land.”
“I see your point,” Jonathan said. “Best thing you can do is to keep your head down and stay away from me outside of this building. I am sure there are plenty of people who will try you just to get to me.”
“You are Jonathan Thunder,” Calder said. “Hero to the simple folk. I’ll stand by you if you have trouble. Mountain people don't start any fights but we don't run from them either.”
“This ain't the mountain,” Red said. “Magic is something else, it can make the bravest man cower. Best anyone in this room can do is study and practice. I found this out the hard way, just look at my chest.”
Red took off his robes and the burns all over his chest and neck became visible. Jonathan still hated himself for not stopping the fight sooner. Red was too proud to call it off and as a friend Jonathan should have stopped him from taking any unnecessary punishment. Instead Red now had permanent scars that no one could really heal. All mages knew some healing magic but it had its limits, it was one of the spells you were either good at or you weren't. Russell and Farrah Golad were the best anyone had seen and was a big reason why Gerald Morningstar looked normal after Jonathan tried his best to break his face.
“They did that to you here?” Einar asked.
“The nobles did it,” Red said. “And at the time the Tower Mage thought it was okay. Well he thought it was okay until Jonathan beat the pit out of Gerald Morningstar then killed the Tower Mage. Tomorrow all of you first years will be tested to see what you know. It took me a long time to learn to read, I am still not good at it but I can get by.”
“I already know how to read,” Bradley said. “And my parents hired me a tutor as soon as they knew I had magic.”
“No one here is talking to you,” Jonathan said.
“I am just making a statement,” Bradley said. “I don't see why that is a problem.”
“It is,” Jonathan said. “I don't like you, I don't trust you and I don't mind beating the pit out of you. You said your peace and I said mine. My conversations don't include you, you should remember that. The Prince you love so much stood by and let Red get tortured and Edgar get a new smile. He laughed the entire time it was happening and thought it was good to teach us commoners some humility. This is the man you stick up for. You may think your money and your education makes you different but it doesn't, I already knew magic and how to read before I came here. I also come from money, none of that mattered.”
“Well your situation is a bit different if we are being honest,” Red said. “Your parents were both mages which everyone hated and you threatened to lay down Farrah and show her a good time.”
“You were trying to lay down the Duke’s own lass?” Einar said. “Do you know what kind of trouble that could bring you?”
“I didn't say that until after I beat the pit out of Morningstar,” Jonathan said. “And I doubt I could pull that off even if I really wanted to. The Duchess hates me and her brother has threatened to kill me if I try for her. She stopped writing me a few months ago, I think she is being courted by a Baron. Don't matter to me none, I have bigger problems to see too.”
“The King?” Terriel asked. “I heard something about people being sent to kill you but I didn't know how to bring it up.”
“The King tried,” Jonathan said. “I don't know what his problem is with me. I know the Queen stripping him of his title probably has made him angrier.”
“Well no need to worry about that,” Red said. “At least not right now. We have this year to worry about.”
“I think you and your enemies should just sit down and talk things out like gentlemen,” Bradley said. “You have talked about hurting people since I met you and they probably feel the same way. You are not children anymore, you should be able to sit down and talk things through.”
“You…,” Jonathan said and shook his head.
“Now you see why I gave up being angry at Bradley,” Red said laughing. “He is who he is for better or worse.”
“I can respect that,” Jonathan said. “We should spend the rest of today preparing the first years for the entrance exam. Any little help is better than none. I along with every other experienced person in this room will be available for tutoring after classes let out for the day for the entirety of this year. I will not force anyone to come, but it helped out those of us that were struggling.”
“Bill did it for me and I will do it for the rest of you,” Red said. “I still need help with my numbers and reading. I ain't too proud to admit that.”
“Everyone in the mountains have to learn to read by order of the Duke,” Calder said. “Me and Einar already know the basics. The Duke provided education to all up to age eleven. We know our numbers a little bit as well. We may not be on the same level as many others but we know the basics. Once we were found to have magic the Duke himself has seen to our education this past year.”
“That sounds like the man,” Jonathan said. “When he heard I was flirting with his little girl, the only thing he cared about was if I was strong enough. Told me if I could beat back all comers then he would give his blessing. The Duchess of course forbid the whole thing but Duke Golad is a good man.”
“I just wish I didn't have to be here,” Calder said. “I already was making my way.”
CHAPTER 4
“You all know who each other are but I have no idea,” Mage Tabitha said as she sipped her tea. Jonathan thought his instructor was around forty, her brown hair had graying streaks and he could spot lines around the corners of her mouth and eyes. Jonathan had never seen her before, he was positive she was not at the Tower last year. “Since last year there has been a lot of turnover of staff here. Your Tower Mage brought me here especially to deal with this group. You might have noticed that are no third years here either, the Tower Mage didn't care about their bloodline and from now on will only take the best of the best to stay on. You there up front, who are you and what do you hope to accomplish?”
“My name is Jonathan Thunder,” Jonathan replied. “I just hope to stop needlessly sending commoner mages to die because some noble is scared to fight.”
“It is your duty!” Xalen said.
“My duty is to serve the Kingdom, not cowards,” Jonathan said. “Anyone who thinks otherwise can meet me in the arena.”
“Young man do not speak out in my class again unless you are called upon,” Mage Tabitha said. “It is rude and not tolerated in my class.”
“Do you know who you are talking to?” Xalen said angrily.
“If you are not either the Archmage, the Tower Mage or Queen Mildre
d I do not care,” Mage Tabitha said. “Now sit down and let Initiate Thunder continue.”
“I just want equality,” Jonathan said. “I am not the best mage in Kirby but I have proved myself over and over again. I can count on both hands the amount of mages in the Kingdom that could be better than I am.”
“You are the boy who killed Quevin Wilson?” Mage Tabitha asked.
“I am and he had it coming to him,” Jonathan said.
“I was under the impression that you consider yourself the best mage in the Kingdom,” Mage Tabitha said.
“I think I am one of the best fighters in the Kingdom,” Jonathan said. “Doesn't make me the best mage though. In this room there are two people who could heal better than I can and one who is more resourceful. I am sure there are others out there with more powers and better abilities. I can just kill people in a hurry.”
“A little humility goes a long way,” Mage Tabitha said. “And how do you plan on accomplishing these goals?”
“By crushing everyone in front of me,” Jonathan said. “I will be someone important one day. Either Champion, Tower Mage or Archmage.”
“No desire to be Mage Commander?” Mage Tabitha asked.
“I still don't even know what that is and I have met the current Mage Commander,” Jonathan said. “It doesn't impress me.”
“Very well,” Mage Tabitha said. “What about you, the boy next to him.”
“I just plan on making as much money as possible and fading into the shadows,” Red said. “In this class right now the only commoners are me and Jonathan. The rest all went off and got themselves married. I plan on just keeping my head down unless ole Johnny gets himself in a bit of a pickle. And making money, lots of money.”
“And your name?” Mage Tabitha asked.
“Red,” Red replied. “I ain't got no family name.”
“Very well,” Mage Tabitha said. “How many of you young people in the room are already married?”
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