The Child Prince (The Artifactor)

by Honor Raconteur

  He went still, almost motionless, with no trace of life in his face. “Otherwise I’ll never be fully rid of the curse and it will continue to affect me for the rest of my life. Is that what you mean?”

  “Oh, stop looking like a marble statue! And put that frown away while you’re at it. I stand by what I said. I can break this. It’s just going to either take longer than I first thought it would or it will be more troublesome than I planned.” Likely both. Hence her frustration.

  For some reason, he gave her a complex smile. “I really am going to end up bargaining with a water dragon, aren’t I?”

  “We don’t have enough gold to barter with,” she dismissed. She hadn’t been entirely joking earlier, either, when she said that they would eat you for lunch if they didn’t like your terms. If it did come down to that, she would only go when she had lots of gold on hand.

  “Do they really like gold that much?” he asked curiously.

  She snorted, almost amused at the question. “Oh yes. Dragons are the worst hoarders on earth. They’re nothing more than oversized magpies with a bad temper. You could give them all the gold in the world and they still wouldn’t be satisfied.” Heavens knew why. But back on topic. “I’m going to do more calculations and research when I get home, but I’m very afraid that this will be something of a long haul. And I’m uneasy about letting those old fools on the Council run the country for too long.”

  Bel grimaced in agreement. “You and me both. I say…look for a solution. If you can’t find it within a month’s time, then switch to finding a method that will allow me to grow. As long as I look like an adult, you can take all the time you need to find a way to break the curse completely. All I really need is the age necessary to ascend the throne.”

  A sensible plan. Sevana shrugged in assent. “Fine. We’ll do it that way.” She might work on both ideas simultaneously. Just because the curse was broken didn’t mean he’d automatically gain the growth he’d lost all in one go. He still had to gain height naturally, as every human did. That took time.

  But that problem could wait for tomorrow. Sevana shooed him out with one hand. “Off with you. We leave early in the morning.”

  “Certainly, my lady Artifactor.” He bounced off the bed and swept her a bow that would be perfectly acceptable in any court. Then with a wink, he turned and let himself out of the room.

  Rogue. He’d be impossible to live with once he turned sixteen, just like Kip had. But that wasn’t her problem. Sevana turned and lowered the wick on the lamp, shifted her book to the floor, and snuggled in for a good night’s sleep.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sevana dragged Bellomi home to Big via the far-see glasses the next day. They arrived late at night, so did nothing more industrious than go to bed. But after that, Sevana holed herself up in her research room, effectively leaving Bellomi to his own devices. He started for the training room, as he usually did, but didn’t get more than three steps down the hallway before Baby planted himself in his path.

  After spending a little time around the cat, Bellomi had sort of learned how to read the cat’s expressions. It helped that the mountain lion possessed more intelligence than the average cat. (He suspected Sevana’s influence in that.) “Yes, Baby?”

  Baby twitched an ear, half-turning in a clear gesture that he wanted Bel to follow.

  “Outside?” Bellomi asked in bemusement. “What for?”

  The cat let out a happy half-growl and acted as if he were pouncing on something. The gesture was so universally feline that Bellomi had no trouble deciphering it. “Hunting?”

  With at satisfied purr and twitch of the tail, Baby sauntered off, heading for the back door.

  The cat wanted to take him hunting? He had no idea what to think of that idea. But…on the other hand, as strange as the situation would be, he’d be able to learn a lot from the cat just by following and observing. If he could move as stealthily as a mountain cat…oh, the possibilities. Interest perked, he followed after his feline companion.

  But when they reached the outside of Big and started their way down the mountain, it became obvious to Bellomi that Baby didn’t intend to simply accompany him. He meant to teach the prince. The first time that Bellomi accidentally stepped on a twig, the cat gave him a glower and a sniff at making such noise. Ahhh. Right. Cats never made noise when they walked. Bellomi started taking more care with where he put his feet.

  Satisfied, Baby led him deeper into Noppers Woods.

  They went past the ancient tree that he had sat on before, farther than Sevana had taken him several days ago. This time, the trip didn’t wind him nearly as badly, although he still puffed for breath now and again. His own breath sounded loud in his ears. The quiet stillness of the woods surrounded him, the light growing dimmer as the sunlight struggled to penetrate the thick canopy of leaves overhead.

  Baby took a single leap from the ground and lightly ascended to a wide branch in a nearby tree. He made it seem so effortless that Bel nearly misjudged the distance, which wasn’t anything laughable by human standards. The branch stood a good ten feet off the ground, after all. The mountain lion looked down just for a moment, as if to say, Well, come on. Don’t just stay down there.

  “Easy enough for you to say,” Bel grumbled, already looking for handholds somewhere in the tree trunk. “I’m not a great big cat, curse it.” Alright, maybe if he put his hands there, and his foot there, he could get enough leverage to pull himself up. Although even reaching those would require a bit of a running leap. Backing up three steps, he sprinted and jumped at the trunk. The rough edge of the bark scrapped his hands a little, and he nearly lost his footing when his boot didn’t quite fit in the lip of the bark, but he still managed to hang on. Biting his bottom lip in concentration, he heaved and scrambled and dragged himself upwards. Baby patiently waited at the top, watching his erstwhile student struggle until Bel managed to throw one arm over the branch the mountain lion perched on. Then the teacher grabbed his student by the back of the neck, helping to pull him up with his teeth sank firmly into Bel’s leather jacket.

  Puffing slightly, he didn’t pause until he had both feet firmly planted on the widest section of the branch. Fortunately, it was large enough to support both of their weight and then some. But the expression on Baby’s face clearly indicated that Bel hadn’t done very well in that climbing exercise and they would be covering this until he improved. Oh joy.

  But Baby let it slide for now and they continued onwards, hopping from one branch to the other in a sort of networked highway of crisscrossing limbs. Bel nearly swallowed his own tongue the first time he jumped lightly from one branch to the other. But Baby never had him jump more than a foot’s distance. As long as he didn’t look down, he could make it without getting vertigo.

  Bel felt they travelled through the forest like this for quite some time before Baby abruptly stopped, head cocked. He stopped too, crouching low like his teacher. He didn’t hear anything, but that didn’t mean much. Baby’s ears were sharper than his. Bel cautiously crouched a little lower and extended his neck out, craning his head in every direction, trying to see what Baby sensed. No, no such luck. But it could be anything here. They were near the heart of the forest, where only the most ancient of trees and magical of beings chose to dwell. The undergrowth here had a density to it that few mortal men ever saw, and no human would dare to violate this sanctity with an axe. If Baby weren’t guiding him here, Bel would never have dared venture this far.

  Still in a crouch, he slowly took in the area around him. Even the air felt different here, heavier, with almost a misty sensation that brushed along his skin. The way the light filtered in and out of the trees, casting everything in a mellow glow, made the area seem unreal for a moment as if he had wandered into some dream plane. Sevana had described these woods as enchanted. He believed her now.

  He tried listening, but that didn’t tell him much. A soft breeze rustled the leaves up top, and water trickled in a stream somewhere nearby, all mixed in wit
h the usual sounds of insects and birds. Typical forest sounds. Nothing that shouted ‘prey coming your way!’

  The cat lifted his head and sniffed the wind. Knowing he probably wouldn’t pick anything up, Bel nevertheless imitated him and took in a deep breath. Hmm. Normally the forest smelled of growing vegetation and earth and that peculiar scent of sunlight. But this time, he detected something slightly different.

  “Wet fur?” he whispered, barely audible even to himself.

  Baby’s head turned to him and gave a slight nod.

  Feeling obscurely proud of himself for being right, Bel flashed him a smile before going back to intently scouring the woods. Alright, so something nearby had gotten into some water. Quite a few small ponds and streams could be found hereabouts, so that didn’t help him narrow down the direction. But maybe if he paid attention to the scent, he could follow it.

  Baby’s ears perked, flattened, and then perked again. His head swiveled slightly to the right, and he sank even lower. The tip of his tail started swishing back and forth like a pendulum marking out time.

  He recognized the signs—Baby had spotted his prey. Grasping one sword hilt, he too leaned forward, ready to spring when Baby did. Oh. Wait. Um, how high up were they? From here, it looked like a good fifty feet. No, surely not. Even Baby couldn’t leap that kind of distance without risking injury. Or…could he? Maybe it just looked higher than it actually was. Yes, that must be it.

  Bel re-measured it with his eyes, but it still looked too far for a human boy to be thinking of jumping.

  Not concerned with his student’s deliberations, Baby simply sprung off the branch. He didn’t do a great leap forward and try to chase down his prey. He didn’t even attempt such an athletic move. He just jumped off.

  Startled at the abruptness of Baby’s departure, Bel grabbed onto a smaller side branch for balance and leaned forward to see the mountain lion. Baby had actually landed on his prey, squashing the…wait, what in the world? Bel cocked his head and leaned to the side, trying to get a better look. That simply couldn’t be a rabbit. Rabbits were cute and cuddly and about the size of a large housecat. This one looked to be a good forty pounds!

  The rabbit let out a squeak as it tried to weakly fight off this predator that had used it as a landing cushion. But of course, Baby had more weight and size to him and the rabbit didn’t stand a chance. Bel winced when the mountain lion calmly clamped the rabbit’s throat in between his jaws and chomped through. “I don’t care what he says, I am not killing anything with my teeth.”

  Satisfied, the lion looked back up at Bel and flicked an ear, indicating it was time to come down.

  “Look, I know you can leap this kind of distance without breaking a leg, but I certainly can’t,” Bel retorted. “And I’m not about to drag myself back to Big with a broken leg for Sevana to heal. She’ll never let either one of us hear the end of it.”

  Baby gave an exaggerated yawn.

  “Oh sure, act like you don’t care,” Bel muttered, already looking for a different way down. “It’s not your leg that will be broken.”

  It took a minute, but he finally saw a path of sorts. All he had to do was follow that branch to the end, jump to that one, and then sort of shimmy down the trunk the rest of the way to the ground. Easy. (Maybe.)

  Baby, with a distinct lack of concern for his student, started grooming and washing the blood from his mouth as he waited for Bel to join him on the ground. It took a harrowing few minutes for him to achieve this (during which Baby paid special attention to his right ear), but Bel finally managed it. As he walked toward the cat, he asked, “But is that really all you do to hunt? Just wait up on top of a branch and then ambush whatever walks by?”

  The cat gave him an amused glance, as if to say, Of course.

  “That’s a distinctly lazy way to hunt, you know,” Bel responded, half-bemused. “I mean, cats like you are the most athletic, fiercest fighters in the known world. Well, outside of the magical creatures. You could chase down anything you wanted to eat, right?”

  Baby’s ears flattened for a moment and then flicked backwards in annoyance.

  “Seriously? You think it’s too much trouble?” Bel rolled his eyes to the heavens. He was being taught how to hunt by a lazy mountain lion. Heaven preserve him. “But you do realize I can’t exactly emulate you, don’t you? I mean, if I tried, I’d end up not only breaking a leg, but probably being eaten by the thing I’m trying to hunt.”

  For a moment, Baby seemed to consider this. Thankfully, he realized Bel had a point, as he gave a judicious half-growl of consideration before flicking his tail in agreement. Standing, he nudged the dead rabbit with his paw before giving Bel a pointed look.

  Bel had expected from the beginning that he would be carrying all the game on this trip. After all, that’s how it always worked between student and teacher. The student always carried the burdens while the master taught. So he opened one of the never-ending bags that Sevana had lent him, stuffed the rabbit inside, and then slung it over his back. A little heavy, but not bad at all. Satisfied he could keep up, he nodded to Baby.

  The cat turned and started off, leading him directly to a nearby tree. This time, the cat moved with greater care in ascending, taking it in shorter leaps, showing Bel a way up that even a human could manage. Rubbing his palms together, Bel started upwards, following as best he could.

  Maybe having a mountain lion as a teacher was unorthodox, but there was no better predator in the known world, and if he was willing to teach, then Bel would certainly do his best to learn.

  ~ ~ ~

  Sevana holed herself up in her research room, running numbers and thinking of different combinations. Unfortunately, everything she thought of either wouldn’t be sufficient to do the job, was dangerous, or outrageously expensive.

  She lost all track of time as she did this, with no thought to how many days passed while she worked. But after failing to get an epiphany, Sevana set the idea aside for a time and gave herself a mental break from it all. She wandered out of her research room and found that evening had come at some point.

  “Big, where’s Bel?” She hadn’t seen him for hours.

  The mountain whispered, Outside.

  Really? Hadn’t he mentioned something about doing his own research at the library? Although that was probably an excuse to see Hana. Not that it really mattered, either way.

  Shrugging, she went and fixed herself something quick and easy for dinner before snagging a book and heading for her favorite comfortable chair in the main room. She snuggled in with a blanket around her legs, letting the warmth of the fire chase the chill away, and settled into her book.

  A good amount of time passed before she heard the front door open and close. Big didn’t announce anyone to her, so she assumed it to be Bel, finally returning from his outing. Then the door to the room opened with a whoosh of displaced air. Sevana looked up in surprise as Bel came into the room. He looked tired, clothes covered in mud and grass stains…and did she spy leaves caught in his hair? Last she checked, the library didn’t have leaves or mud. “Where have you been?”

  “Outside,” he answered as he wearily dropped into the couch, slinging his swords off automatically as he moved, setting them on the ground so he could sprawl sideways.

  “That’s obvious,” she informed him, pointing at the state of his clothes. “Doing what, wrestling a bear?”

  “Learning how to hunt, actually. Baby’s teaching me.”

  For a moment that sentence didn’t compute at all. A mountain lion was teaching a prince how to hunt…that had to be the strangest thing she’d ever heard of. Well, aside from a boy falling prey to the Sleeping Princess curse. “And how is that going?”

  He thought about it for a moment before answering, “Quite well. He’s a good teacher. I caught two quails and a rabbit today.”

  With what? His bare hands? Baby didn’t use traps or anything like that, after all.

  “Baby had me release them, though,” Bel contin
ued with his eyes closed, already half-asleep. “He won’t let me kill anything that I won’t eat.”

  After living with the cat for almost thirteen years, Sevana knew good and well that Baby could communicate even without being able to talk. But few people could read the cat’s expression and body language well enough to understand him. She, Big and Kip were the only three. Or so she’d thought before now. So Bel had learned how to truly pay attention to people, eh? Well enough to have a cat as a teacher.

  Baby sauntered into the room and came close enough to rub up against her legs. She scratched at his chin and told him, “Your student is asleep on the chair. What are you going to do about that?”

  With one last rub up against her, he casually walked over to the chair and jumped up lightly into it. Somehow, he managed to fold up so that he could squeeze into the open space behind Bel’s legs with his head pillowed on Bel’s chest. With a long sigh, the cat closed his eyes, breath evening out into a deep rhythm.

  “Snuggle in with him, of course,” she murmured to herself in amusement. Cats. They just couldn’t resist a good snuggle, could they? Well, she had considered moving Bel to his bed so that he could sleep without getting a crick in his neck, but there was no way she was going to shift both prince and cat. They were on their own.

  Shrugging, she went back to her book.

  It had been something of a peaceful morning. Ever since Baby took Bel on as a student, they spent a good portion of the morning outside hunting…or stalking things…or whatever it was they were doing out there. It left Sevana a clear window of time each day to work without distractions.

  She holed herself up in her workroom, for once focusing on something other than Bel’s problem as she dealt with some of the other orders that were piling up. There were the usual potions orders, a few of which she would need to brew and not rely on what she had in stock. Then a selection of charms, two warding spells, and—