The Hero's Peril (The Sorcerer's Saga Book 5)

by Rain Oxford

  “Until then, you must either tell the king and queen the truth, or sustain the deception by performing Yuri’s duties.”

  “I don’t want to tell the queen until we know what happened to her son. If we save him, we’ll never have to tell her.”

  “Maybe Yuri will share his mother since you had none.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That’s not what I want and you know it. Just because my mother tried to kill me and all my friends doesn’t mean all mothers are evil. Only sorceress mothers are. Besides, there was no way being a prince could be as bad as being the curse breaker of Mokora.”

  * * *

  “Ayden, wake up,” Merlin said. It was the sharpness in his tone, not the volume of his voice in my head that woke me with a start.

  “I’m awake!” I shouted, startling the stranger in front of me.

  “Yes, I should hope so,” the stranger said, eyeing me with warning.

  I ignored it.

  I was in the throne room with Merlin and two guards. The man standing in front of us was a citizen of the kingdom and demanded that I fix the problem with his crops. The problem being that it hadn’t rained in three weeks.

  Outside, there was a line of people waiting impatiently to have their problems magically solved by me. Me and my shiny metal hat.

  I motioned for Suko and he leaned closer. “Is it unusual for Ademora to go so long without rain?” I whispered.

  “No, Prince. It rained yesterday.”

  “It rained yesterday? Then why is he complaining that it hasn’t rained?”

  The frustrated citizen heard me and explained, “It’s because of those elementalists across the road from me! They won’t let my crops get any rain!”

  There are elementalists in the kingdom? That explains the nice weather. “Why not?”

  He flushed, half with anger and half with shame. “They don’t want my son courting their daughter.”

  “Well, it’s normal for parents to protect their little girls, so---”

  “She’s twenty-six! She’s been married to my son for the past five years, and they just won’t believe her! She’s carrying his child! They live together in a house my son built in Bradith!”

  I held up my hand the way Merlin would and the man fell silent.

  “I will deal with it.”

  “When?”

  “By the end of the month,” Merlin said.

  “That might not be enough time.”

  “If he comes back to you, you can tell him there was a mix-up on account of the full-moon/empty-moon/large-small moon.”

  That made sense, so I did as Merlin suggested. The man beamed with pride. “Thank you, Prince Yuri. I will bring you a gift after the harvest.”

  He left quickly. “Shall I inform the elementalists that they have to provide him with rain?” one of the guards asked.

  I sat up straight. “You mean I don’t have to do it? That’s great!”

  Merlin shook his head as if I was missing the point. “The prince’s job is to learn to take over the kingdom. The king— or the queen, in Caldaca’s case, is in charge of the entire kingdom, so he cannot be taking care of everyone’s problems himself. He delegates. Thus, it stands to reason that the prince can delegate tasks as well. After all, a prince has more training than a wizard or sorcerer.”

  “That sounds ominous.”

  “Do not fear; I will be judging you the entire time.”

  The guards let in another citizen.

  * * *

  Since word that I had lost my memory spread throughout the castle quickly, I was able to ask questions that would have otherwise been suspicious. Although no one had any information on the sorcerer or the magical item he stole, I did speak to someone who had seen him sneak out.

  Suko explained my duties, which included a day packed with lessons after a morning of council. My morning had started far too early and I feared it would end far too late.

  Yuri was trained in all kinds of skills, from carpentry to poetry. His mother had also encouraged him to spend time with all magic users, including sorcerers. Yuri was even known to argue his opinion, which was against wizard nature, as they tried to avoid conflict.

  Well, Mason argued, but he was a Sjau.

  “Your mother insisted you learn to argue so that you could stand up for yourself and the kingdom without a sorcerer,” Suko said.

  I was finding myself with a lot of respect for the queen. For a witch to teach her son to deny his nature for his own good took strength I didn’t know they had.

  * * *

  “You’re not as good at this as I was told,” my rude tutor accused. He was tall, but not particularly muscular. He also wasn’t particularly fast, coordinated, or respectful.

  “If I had my wand, I’d show you how to---”

  “Ayden,” Merlin warned.

  I forced myself to give him my best fake smile. He flinched.

  My father had tried to teach me to use a sword when I was too young. After leaving my mother, I was trained by a rich pirate and then a warrior who taught other warriors to fight. I wasn’t the best— I never would be because of my size— but I was fast and not nearly as awkward as I once was. I used the sword to defend myself, not kill.

  This tutor had a completely different style and insisted I relearn it “the right way,” which did not utilize my speed. I couldn’t tell him I had been taught by a warrior since Yuri hadn’t been. It wasn’t even Yuri’s normal teacher, because the castle sorcerer that normally trained him in swordsmanship was sick. I wondered why the mage didn’t help him before deciding it was rude to ask.

  To make matters worse, Yuri’s clothes were too stiff and constricting. Every time I tried to swing the blade, my arm caught on one of the vest’s gold clasps.

  “Do I really have to do this?” I asked Merlin.

  “Only if you want to spare the queen her misery.” He walked away, making the point that it was my choice. I stayed.

  * * *

  “You’d better not be asleep!” The shrill woman’s voice made me automatically check to see if my ears were bleeding.

  “Would you leave me alone? I can’t enjoy this with you shrieking in my ear.” We were in the castle library and I was supposed to be reading about the castle’s history, but my tutor wouldn’t leave me alone. She acted like reading was the most boring thing in the world and every time I really got into the book, she shouted at me.

  I had been looking forward to this “lesson” all day and I was tired of being yelled at. I didn’t believe they would yell at a prince, but Yuri was apparently one who loved swords and hated books. I was the opposite, as were most wizards.

  She stared at me, wide-eyed. “You were reading it?”

  “I’m trying to.”

  “Why?” she narrowed her eyes. “What are you up to?”

  “I want to know if Gredon Romanus married the princes or went into the thieves guild.”

  “But you hate reading.”

  “Merlin says that if you hate reading, it’s only because you haven’t found the right book.”

  “Who’s Merlin?”

  “My wolf.”

  She looked at Merlin.

  Merlin looked at her.

  She walked away, shaking her head and talking about the prince losing his mind.

  * * *

  Kalyn found me as I was being escorted to my room for food and privacy. Still in the servant disguise, she looped her hand around mine and told Suko she was borrowing me for a while.

  “What for?” Suko asked.

  “The queen ordered me to take him to the mage for more treatment.”

  “I didn’t get that order.”

  “Well, that’s strange. Maybe you should go and question her orders,” she said politely. When I opened my mouth to interject, she squeezed my arm hard enough to get the point across. And to add a few bruises to my collection.

  Suko’s face was conflicted. He knew better than to question his queen, but he also knew he shouldn’t take a servan
t’s word for it.

  Before he could make a decision, Kalyn pulled me toward her and down the hall. Suko started to follow at a distance. When we got to the end of the hall, we turned right and he turned left.

  “Did you make him think we went the other way,” I asked when he was out of sight.

  “Of course not. I can’t make anyone think something. I can only make them see something, and yes, I made him see us going in the other direction.”

  “Are you impersonating someone?”

  “Yuri’s personal servant, Lemi. She had nothing to do with the prince gone and was having to scrape by at the bottom of the servant hierarchy. I doubted you could fool her into thinking you were the prince, so I told her to go visit her family. She’ll return when Yuri does.”

  “Kalyn seems to have some knowledge in royal hierarchy and culture,” Merlin said. I asked her about it.

  “Magicians are in high demand for all castles, no matter who or what the royals are. Some kingdoms will try to steal good magicians away from others. You’ll finds schemes in every kingdom, even wizard ones like the Romanus castle.

  “If you have something nice, someone else wants it,” Merlin said, before stopping suddenly. “I trust you can find your way around if I leave you alone for a while?”

  “Sure. Why are you leaving, though?”

  “I have an errand to run.” With that, he disappeared down another hallway.

  “So, where are we going?” I asked.

  “We need to quell some doubt as to your identity.”

  “People doubt me?”

  “Yes, you could say that.” At that point, she led me through a door into the courtyard. There, a mob of around three dozen people surrounded us.

  “Show us proof!”

  “We want proof that you’re really Yuri!”

  “Of course I am. Don’t I look the same?”

  “You don’t act like the prince!”

  I tried my hardest. I thought I was pretty good at it.

  “Looking the part is most of the battle,” Kalyn whispered to me. “Most people don’t question their eyes. Stay calm.”

  That would have been good advice if she had also told me what she was going to do beforehand.

  “If you all want proof that this is Yuri Romanus, you shall have it,” Kalyn said to the crowd. When she led me to another side of the courtyard, I trusted her not to endanger my life. Thus, it was quite a shock that she led me to a pile of sticks and straw with a large wooden stake sticking out of the middle. It was blatantly obvious what it was used for.

  “Everyone knows that the prince is immortal, so we will set him on fire and when he emerges unscathed, you will know it is him.”

  The crowd cheered their agreement.

  I was less enthused. “Maybe you haven’t realized this, but I’m not immortal,” I whispered to Kalyn. It was at this point I realized I didn’t know her as well as I thought I did.

  “Trust me,” she whispered back, still smiling at the crowd confidently.

  I wanted Merlin there to tell me I wasn’t being overly paranoid, but he was off doing his wolf duties, apparently. Kalyn began strapping me to the stake with its attached metal shackles. I figured she had some kind of plan to cause a distraction and enable me to escape. Instead… she set me on fire.

  I didn’t see what she was doing behind me, but I did see a small fire catch in the straw at my feet and smoke blow towards me, caught in the wind. The crowd increased their cheering when the flames reached my boots. I lost hope that Kalyn would let me go.

  Only, it wasn’t real fire.

  It absolutely looked like my feet were being consumed in flames, but I felt nothing. The more it enveloped me, the calmer I became. I was in no danger. It was an impressive show and completely convinced the crowd. Eventually, I felt the cuffs releasing my wrists and I stepped out of the harmless flames. Kalyn was holding a wand. This was not just any wand, though; it was mine.

  My first thought was that it was an illusion she had created to convince everyone she was a witch and therefore couldn’t have been a magician. However, when she joined my side, I sensed the power of the tool and recognized it. It was definitely real, and I wanted nothing more than to take it, but that was not the sensible thing to do. I could wait until we were alone.

  It took way too long to get Kalyn back in my room, were we found Merlin and Goat. All four of Goat’s feet were bound with two pairs of trousers and she was on her back. “How did you manage that?” I asked.

  “Perseverance,” Merlin answered.

  Goat bleated miserably.

  “Your staff is on your bed,” Kalyn said, handing me my wand.

  I didn’t see it, but I patted the bed anyway. Sure enough, I felt it. As soon as I touched it, the invisibility illusion fell away from it. I understood that the king and queen took my tools because they were afraid their son would run away again. It didn’t stop me from being irritated that they did.

  Before I took my hand away, my robe also appeared, its deep red a stark contrast against the dark blue bedspread.

  “Transporting us to the sorcerer’s castle could be extremely strenuous. If it’s far, I’m going to need to sleep and eat before I can fight anyone.” Not that I could fight in Yuri’s clothes anyway.

  Kalyn pointed to the nightstand, where a cloth bag rested on a folded stack of my normal clothes. “I figured as much, so I snuck some food out of the kitchen for you.”

  “Meat?” They hadn’t given me meat on account of Yuri being a wizard and not eating it. Although I never craved meat, the fastest way to develop such a craving was to be denied it.

  “Lots of it. Your clothes have also been cleaned and repaired. They wanted to throw them away, but I convinced them not to. I didn’t think Yuri’s style was to your tastes.”

  “I really appreciate that.”

  “They might not be in Yuri’s tastes, either,” Merlin said. “I doubt the prince has any say in what he can wear. This is the castle we need to go to.” As he said it, an image came to mind of a castle, as if I was remembering it for myself.

  At that point, Kalyn created an illusion over herself of me. It was creepy, like I was looking into a mirror, except she was moving independently. “That’s a little too perfect.”

  “People rarely question their eyes,” she said with my voice.

  That was even weirder. I grabbed my things. “Be safe,” I said, right before transporting Merlin and me to the sorcerer’s castle.

  Chapter 4

  Transportation was dangerous magic. If I didn’t have a clear image of where I wanted to go in my mind, if my thoughts strayed, or if I didn’t have enough energy to get there, then I could end up transporting only parts of my body. Or worse.

  Distance was a factor, as was how many people I was transporting or what I was carrying. For example, if I was in good condition, carrying nothing, and alone, I was pretty sure I could transport myself from Mokora to Akadema. If, however, I was exhausted, had more than two people with me, and was carrying everything I owned, I probably couldn’t transport myself across a road.

  In this case, I felt the strain immediately when the world formed around us, because we had traveled a fair distance. Fortunately, the image of the castle in Merlin’s mind was accurate enough that we didn’t lose any pieces of ourselves. We were on top of a hill, standing just far enough back to take in the grandness of the castle without having to stop to make camp before reaching the front door.

  The castle was similar to Magnus’s in shape, but whereas the wizard’s was silver and white, this one was red and black. The stone walls were old and the color of rust, while the roof and doors were black. Even the cobweb-covered windows were black. Thick vines crawled up the walls as if the ground was slowly trying to swallow it whole. Around it, the few unfortunate trees that had grown on the hill were dead.

  I found a spot behind one of the dead trees where I didn’t think anyone could see me from the windows before changing into my regular clothes and
robe. Then I sat in the grass, pulled out the food, and started eating the bread. I wasn’t hungry; I was only eating to get enough energy for the fight with the sorcerer I was expecting. There was also roasted bird, so I gave half of it to Merlin. If we had to switch again, he would need more food afterwards.

  Once we were done, I braced myself for a violent attack and we headed towards the castle. No mad sorcerer burst out and attacked us. I opened the door without knocking, surprised to find that it was unlocked, and a dusty old hat flew out.

  “That was weird.”

  “I have learned to expect the unexpected on Caldaca.”

  “Hello?” I called. “Sorcerer? I’m here to find Yuri Romanus. If you tell me where he is, I will save him and leave without trouble.”

  There was no answer.

  The room was massive, full of dusty furniture, and looked abandoned. Who would abandon a castle, though? The furniture was definitely outdated. There were no scuffs on the floor or worn fabric on the chairs. It was as if someone had built the castle and never used it; the only damage was caused by time.

  One thing that didn’t belong was a massive mirror. I studied it for a moment, but it didn’t do anything that was unlike a mirror, so I decided to explore the rest of the castle. The sorcerer must be the most egotistical man on Caldaca. There were mirrors everywhere; at least two on every single wall in the castle. Some were massive, while some could fit in my hand.

  I wasn’t a complete fool; I realized there was something more to them. I figured they were magic mirrors, or that one was and the rest were there to hide it.

  After a while, I stopped looking for Yuri and the sorcerer and started looking for Merlin, who had went off to search on his own. I found him in the main room, staring at the first mirror we had seen. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “I think I saw this mirror in a vision. It was hundreds of years ago, though, so I may be confused.”

  “Do you want to…” I trailed off as he stood… and walked straight through the mirror. Like the surface of a calm lake, the reflective mirror rippled and gave to his solid form. Part of me panicked. The last time I walked through a mirror, I ended up facing a sorcerer version of myself. A bigger part of me was more afraid of getting separated from Merlin again. I rushed forth into the mirror.