Darkness, falling, lights, swords, a voice, then I was awake. I took a deep breath, letting the imagery of my nightly dream fade as I swung my legs out of bed. I’d gotten back to my room and fallen asleep around half past nine, and according to the clock on my desk, it was four-thirty in the morning. Liza wasn’t supposed to come wake me for another thirty minutes, but since I was up, I decided to make sure everything was in order before she was watching my every move.
Thinking of my blonde-haired caretaker made me think of the fights I’d seen yesterday. I had known the twins were wind mages, but I didn’t know they could fight like that. At one point Liza was literally walking on air. That made me think of the butler, for most of the last fight I’d seen, he just floated in the background. I didn’t even know if my father could do that. There was so much occurring in the castle, and I’d finally found my way to uncover those secrets, once I returned.
With a sigh, I pushed myself off the bed and towards the vent. I couldn’t believe my plan had worked, not because I’d made it out of the room, but because I didn’t get caught. Looking at it after a night of sleep, the plan had been more than a bit risky, but I didn’t regret it. I’d finally seen the magic I’d dreamed of basically my entire life. Noting everything seemed to be correct, even the mana screws were still in place, I went to the washroom. Deciding showering could wait I made my way to the closet and took out my travel bag to double-check I had everything packed.
‘Books on magic, check.’
I had four books I could take with me, the three I’d taken from an Understudy library, and the one I’d received from Liza. The latter was definitely getting packed, but I couldn’t take all the other ones, especially not with the book the professor had recently given me. I decided to leave Your Core and More; I’d read through the thin book multiple times, and it wasn’t anything special. The History and Practical Uses of Magic, 80th Edition, would also have to stay. I was nowhere close to finishing the massive tome, but it just couldn’t fit with all the other stuff I wanted to bring. That left Deviant or Variant, How Special am I? The book was one I’d barely opened, since it wasn't possible to use any of the higher forms of magic in the epidermal stage. My mother could use variant magic, so there was hope that I would be able to as well one day.
‘Professor’s book, check. Notebooks, check. Aspen to Galog dictionary, check. Pebbles, check. Extra underclothes just in case, check.’
Finishing my mental list, I put everything sprawled on the bed into my bag. It was heavy but still manageable, at least to the carriage. As I was slipping into thoughts of what the carriage ride would be like, I heard a key inserted into the latch. Liza opening the door to me putting my bag against the wall seemed to surprise her, if the slight raise of her eyebrows was anything to go by.
“Ah, you’re up.”
“Yep.” It was the only answer I could give as I did my best not to ask her the million questions I had about her training session.
Continuing in, Liza made her way to the closet to see the clothes, a long-sleeved white button-down shirt and a pair of black pants she’d prepared, missing.
“Already on the bed,” I called out.
‘I might have to wake up early more often if she gets this surprised every time I do something,” I thought to myself.
“Well, I’ll be back in thirty minutes then, please be dressed by then.”
I nodded, doing my best not to smile, something that probably failed, as Liza closed the door with an audible click.
Running into the washroom, I took a quick shower and dressed. Checking my bag for the final time, I made sure to add my favorite pen and pencil, before going to my sitting room. I’d considered waiting in the hall, but I couldn’t go anywhere without Liza, so there was no point. That was why I was surprised to see my mother ten minutes later.
Opening the door, she jumped slightly at my presence.
“Oh, Ben, I wasn’t expecting you to be waiting in the solar.” She smiled. “Well, I see you’re all ready. Liza’s tired, so she’s a little behind this morning, but that means breakfast with me. You don’t need your bag; it can be transported to the carriage.”
“I’ll take it,” I said, denying her offer. Not wanting her to push the issue walked to give her a hug, the action made difficult by the bulging stomach.
I’d considered some probing questions as to why Liza was tired, but had realized, barring yesterday's expedition I was rarely as artful as I thought myself to be. Leaving my room, we were joined by Yoojin and Taeho who immediately gave a quiet salute – something I was grateful for – to the both of us. The pair looked well rested and ready for the journey. Taeho was the one with his spear out, and I supposed that was the reason for the slight annoyance when he looked at his fellow guard.
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We were joined by mother’s guards upon leaving my room. Their acknowledgement of us was through a much louder salute, earning them a wince from me. As I sighed, the six of us began walking, my mother and I continuing our conversation as we made our way to the Monarchical Suites.
Breakfast was nice and informal. There were just two of us so rather than sit in the royal dining room, my mother decided we would eat in the kitchen itself. There was a royal chef nearby, but we opted to make our own simple meal of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Cooking was a novel experience for me and while I managed not to burn the bacon or eggs, spilling half a cup of flour mid-stride had dampened my feelings of success. We talked the entire time: about the trip, my studies, magic, the baby. For nearly an hour after eating we just chatted, until my father joined us which led to more food making and talking.
“Ahh, Ben,” my father said, picking me up as if I weighed nothing. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
Raising her hand to my head, my mother added, “I know it’ll only be a month and a half; I just wish that blasted-” She sighed, the squint her eyes had formed lessening. “No, I know this is what you want.” She leaned in and kissed me on my cheek before my father put me down.
Looking at the clock on the wall, he announced it was time for me to go, and, after I put on my jacket, we began making our way to the residential wing’s exit. Now a group of nine as we reached the doors outside, me, my parents, and our entourage walked another five minutes until we reached a group of three carriages.
The trip itself wasn’t exactly a secret, but the details weren’t known by many. It had been explained to me and, from what I understood, not many were meant to know I was leaving the castle. Only one of the coaches had the royal crest, a silver laurel made from the thorny stem of the red rose it housed, and officially the carriage was for Liza alone. She was known to be one of the sudo-adopted children of the King and Queen, so it was expected. Due to her not being in the line of succession however, we weren’t given an honor guard, just a contingent of royal knights as protection.
Liza was standing towards the center, telling everyone where to go and what to do. Taking my bag from my father, I handed it to one of the helpers to put inside before inspecting our ride. There were three carriages, all wooden with a polished but simple lacquer finish. All held surprisingly little royal ornament, barring a crest on the centermost one and though I couldn’t see any runes, I swore I could feel the mana radiating off them. Each carriage was led by what my father called Zema, a horse type mana beast with striped black and white fur. They looked to be larger than the horses I’d seen in books, but having never seen a normal horse, I had nothing to compare it to.
“Why not use those bear beast that Duke used?” I asked my father.
“I’m surprised you remember that,” he said, his eyebrows rising, “Well several reason but the main one is it’s not practical. Very few use more violent mana beast as pack animals unless trying to show off status. ‘That Duke’ as you called him, is the brother of the current Emperor of Meraki, I’m sure the emperor wanted him to show us strength. Besides that, certain mana beasts are just better choices, especially for your purposes.”
Supposing that made sense, I continued to look around my surroundings as the carriages were being packed and spotted two familiar faces approaching. A loud chest pounding salute marked the arrival of Brinx and Keeler, the two guards who had watched the door of the space I’d live in for the first few months of my life.
“King, Queen, Prince Benjamin!” the pair said in unison. We were all spread out by this point, so I supposed the volume was understandable. Looking at me, the taller of the two began to speak, his accent was similar to that of the dwarves of the Eastern Flanter Mountains, if I remembered correctly, and I had rarely heard it before.
“Well hello there Young Prince, I don’t know if you remember us, but this is Brinx,” he said, pointing at the muscular man to his left, “and I’m-”
“Keeler,” I interrupted, excited by seeing some of the first people I’d ever met.
The person I assumed was Keeler shook his head, moppy brown hair bouncing as he did so, and laughed.
“I mean no disrespect, Your Grace, but I’m just surprised you remember us. Well actually my name was Keeler but when Brinx and I got married I changed it. Originally, we couldn’t decide if we were just going to keep our birth names or who was going to take whose name when Brinx, sorry, Leonard.” Formerly Keeler pointed, and always Brinx waved, “Said that we could open a Bed and Breakfast and call it B&B’s B&B. I just loved the idea so much that I changed my name the next day. That’s actually why we’re coming with, we figured there might be some nice inns for sale up north.”
I nodded mutely, surprised at the number of words I’d received from my small mistake.
“Aww, by the gods that’s just the cutest thing, I hope to visit one day,” Lisa said from my right, having approached at some point.”
Bri- Leonard smiled, “Maybe within the next year, we’re looking to retire soon, adopt, all that!”
Not knowing what to say, I gave my congratulations after Lisa and headed toward my carriage.
“All the carriages are set, ma’am,” Liza said to my mother as I approached.
“Then I suppose.” Her words trailed off as she looked at me and smiled. “I suppose you are both ready to go. Liza, I hope you find what you're looking for.” They hugged. “Ben, ah, I am going to miss you.” As we said our goodbyes, I began to tear up, I was going to miss my parents.
“Bah, they’ll be back soon,” Father said, hugging both of us in turn.
“Says the one who gets to see them in first,” my mother quickly shot back.
“Indeed, I will see them first,” he responded, with no hint of pity.
My mom rolled her eyes, and we all, joined by Lisa, said one last goodbye. As much as I was excited to leave, I couldn’t wait to be coming back home.