I stood outside of the Nightly Hollow, the latest brothel in the month-long line that my brothers dragged me to, with a book in my hand. The feel of the leather binding, the smell of the ink-stained pages. I would enjoy the pure delight of the fictional world within the book held, if it wasn't for the persistent smell of sweat and stale perfume that wafted out of the brothel's front door. My brothers had insisted that I join them in the fun, but I strongly, and firmly, declined their offer. Don't get me wrong, I am attracted to women, I just prefer to wait for the right one. Unlike my brother, Roland, who would prefer being forced to marry, once he succeeds the throne of course. I guess it's his way of saving himself to further a diplomatic goal, I could never really understand that. But that's why we were here, one last hurrah before he is crowned prince and starts learning how to run the kingdom of Cyrus. I would have preferred to stay home and practice my magic, but Grant said that this was a family thing, so I was under obligation to go. So, I placed an enchantment on my pack, one that would allow me to store anything, and everything, I needed. All I had to do was reach into the bag, say the name of the object I wanted, and it would appear in my hand as if I grabbed it. I filled the pack with magical ingredients, books, both spell books and reading material, some tools I use for alchemy, astrology, and various other forms of magic. It was a useful tool, and I never left home without it.
As I stood there, reading my book, I almost didn't hear the sound of two pairs of militaries issued, leather boots, walking out of the entrance. I knew those boots automatically. Looking towards the entrance, I saw my brothers. They both wore large smiles as they adjusted their clothes. "Well, Markus," Roland said with a proud look on his face, "you ready to go?" With a sigh, I put my book back in my bag, and prepared a cure disease spell. For how careful they thought they were, they never really thought things through when it came to brothels. So, to protect the kingdom from their stupidity, I developed a kind of cure-all spell for them. It was one of the tasks I was given by my master, Master Varik. Holding out my hand, I closed my eyes, and recited the words to my spell, feeling the rush of power, traveling from the soles of my feet, straight to my fingertips. As soon as the spell was complete, I opened my eyes, only to see both Roland and Grant heading to the town stables. Of course, no need to thank me. I just protected everyone from some gods forbid disease that you two might have caught.
With a sigh, I decided to try and catch up with them. When I did, Grant finally noticed me. "I've always wanted to know something," Grant asked me. "How come you never come in to these kinds of places with us?" I knew this question was coming. For the past month, my brothers and I hit every brothel in Cyrus. Each time we did, I would either stand outside and wait for them, or, if there was something nearby that interested me, I would be off exploring. I knew why I did this. See, I decided to be the kind of guy that waits for the perfect woman, or at least what I thought was the perfect one. But I could never tell my brothers this, they wouldn't let me live it down. So, I settled with a half-truth.
"I don't join you two," I explained, "because I don't see a point in paying some random chick for meaningless sex. How you two do so is beyond me." This was true, but not my real reason.
"This coming from a guy that keeps Orbs of naked women playing with themselves." Roland said with a chuckle. This pissed me off. Roland had a way that made it very hard to hide anything from him. Being the crowned prince did have its advantages. If it wasn't that, then his fiery red hair, piercing blue eyes, and his tall stature made him the beacon of confidence. He always was clean cut when he was helping with the kingdom's needs. But when he cuts loose, you can be damn sure, he does with all he's got. Grant was somewhat like our older brother. Even though he was the youngest of the three, Grant was much taller and was built more for combat than Roland and me. His red hair was always cut in a military style, and his bluish-green eyes radiated strength. Currently, Grant serves in our military as a captain of the guard. But once Roland took the throne, the current commander of the Cyrus Military said he would hand the title over to Grant, something that Roland and I knew full well he could handle.
"That's different!" I almost shouted. "Besides. I told you about those in complete confidence!" My brothers loved holding these things over my head. It wasn't them being mean, it's just what we brothers do. We may fight like a pack of dogs, but we always looked out for each other. An example would have to be when I first discovered that I was a mage. I was ten, and my brothers and I were in the city of Paladera, the main town a mile south of my home, Castle Valera. I had just gotten into a fight with some bully who hated the fact that shrimp like me was a prince. Needless to say, thanks to my brothers insisting on training me on how to fight, I was able to hold my ground. That was until the jerk took a rock and smashed it across the right side of my face. Dazed, I fell to the ground, clutching where the rock hit. As I felt the sticky, hot liquid seep out of the gash under my hand, Roland and Grant ran up to the bully and started kicking his ass. After the bully ran away, my brothers turned to look at me. The look on their faces was looks of pure terror. Wondering what they were looking at, I took my hand off of the wound, which for some weird reason at the time didn't hurt any more, and, as my hand moved down, I saw it. A golden liquid had replaced the red liquid of blood, covering my entire hand. It was then that I had found out that I had mage blood. A week later, I began my mage training. I still kept up with the training my brothers wanted me to do, on Master Varki's request who said that such training was necessary for a mage, not only teaching them to fight, but also increasing the amount of magic a mage can use per day. With a sigh, I continued, "Either way. What I do in the sanctity of my tower is my business." My tower being my bedroom. Grant and Roland burst out laughing as we made our way to the stables where our horses were kept.
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"Hey Thrusk," I said as I walked up to him and patted his neck, "how are you buddy?"
We had met in a field west of Paladera when I was 15. He was a light brown mustang with patches of white and black, making him, in my opinion, quite unique. At first, he was a bit skittish of me, he never really met a human that could understand him. After we talked for a while, he began to trust me. Years later, he became one of my closest friends. Which was the main reason he trusted me enough to let me saddle and ride him. As we entered the stable, I made my way over to Thrusk. Patting him on the neck, I moved to where his saddle was, lifted it up, and placed it onto his back. As I began to buckle the saddle, I overheard some of the stable hands talking. "Did you hear the news?" One of them asked the two in front of him. This caught my attention. Moving to get a better view of who was talking, I began to listen in.
"No, Jon," one of the other's replied, "what news?"
"About that bathhouse near Paladera," the man named Jon said.
"The one at the foot of the mountain?" The third man asked.
"Yeah," Jon looked towards the second man. "What was it called again, Morti?"
"Haven's Crest Bathhouse?" Morti replied.
"What about it?" The third guy said, seeming to get impatient.
"I was just getting to that, Pike." Jon replied. Taking a deep breath, he continued. "From what I heard, Haven's Crest posted a job on the board, saying that a monster attacked one of the baths there."
"Did it say what kind?" Morti asked.
"Nah," Jon shook his head, "just that three people were already hurt. Not to mention the people who've gone missing."
"The Hell is goin' on there?" Pike said, asking no one in particular as he rubs the back of his neck.
"No one's sure." Jon replied. "But they say, the person who kills the beast, gets 500 gold." Now that was a lot of money. Truthfully, as a prince, I have a monthly allowance, but I hardly ever touch it. I believe in making my own way. After all, there was a lot of money to be made in monster hunting, and a bounty this big could be very useful. Not to mention that the bathhouse was in Cyrus. If this is a threat to the people, it's a threat to the entire kingdom. The problem... trying to convince my brothers to take part in my scheme without them actually knowing. Smirking, I reached into my bag and pulled out my map.
Out of all my magic items, my map is one of the most useful. I picked it up on a diplomatic trip to Central City, the Heart of the Western Alliance. Master Varik sent me with my father in hopes to let me learn some magic from the mages at the Mage College there. But to be honest, I was more interested in the magic the street performers were using. While my father was off dealing with the Semiannual Meeting of Kings, I was off looking around the market place. There were so many stalls holding many interesting items, but my attention went straight for one stall in particular. As I approached it, I could feel the magic radiating off of each of the items, mostly off of an old tattered scroll. The man running the stall had no magic at all, which made it painfully obvious that he had no idea what he had, nor how valuable each item was. So, I bought the scroll for a few copper coins, and began work to figure out what it was. It took a couple of weeks, but when I did, I was surprised. The scroll, which happened to be my map, was enchanted to show where a person was, how to get where they want to be, and the surrounding area. Since then, I found it to be a very useful tool, and kept it with me. Looks like it was time for me to use it once again.
Unfurling it on my saddle, I spoke the command carefully and clearly. "Show me Haven's Crest Mountain." At my command, the map sprung to life. Ink began to appear as if a pen was moving across the parchment, as a top-down view of the mountain appeared on its previously blank surface. Soon, words began to form, marking the name of the mountain, and the notable spots, including the bathhouse. "Enlarge radius." I commanded, making the mountain disappear, replaced by another drawing of the mountain, but at a further distance. Scanning the map, my eyes rested on Paladera. It seemed that the bathhouse was set on the fastest route from here to the capital city. Smiling, I rolled up the map, placed it back in my bag. I finished buckling the saddle to Thrusk, hopped up onto his back, and made my way to where Grant and Roland were waiting at the main gate.
"'Bout time you got here." Grant said with a smirk as he sat upon his horse, a large, grey war stallion with black hair on its mane and legs.
"Ready to head home?" Roland asked, sitting on his white horse.
"Just about." I replied. "But before we go can I ask you guy's something?" They looked at each other, then Roland gave a quick nod to tell me to go ahead. "Since we're on our way home, and we have two days left of our holiday. I thought that it would be about time for me to pick a place to go."
"Not another library..." Grant said defeatedly. "I can't stand those places. They smell like old people and loneliness."
"No." I retorted, ignoring his comment. "I was thinking of a bathhouse at the base of Haven's Crest. It's supposed to be the best from what I heard."
"Really now?" Roland asked. "Why would you want to go there?" I could tell he was trying to figure out my plan. So, I decided to give him a good reason.
"Bathhouses help with regeneration." I replied. "Not just that, the combination of elements that go into it, makes an excellent place for a mage to replenish their magic." I hoped that would be enough to keep them from asking too many questions. To be honest, this wasn't the first time I told them a half-truth, and definitely not gonna be the last.
"My, my, Little Brother," Roland said with a smile, "I didn't know you had it in you. Taking the initiative and choosing a fun place. I almost gave up hope on you."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah..." I hated it when he did that. Sure, I didn't like going out much, and when I did, it was only to places that I liked to go to. But I was entitled to a good idea every once in a while. "So, are we gonna go?"
"Why not?" Roland said with a shrug. "After all, it would be nice to end this trip with a bang." Grant nodded. "Then it's settled." Roland reared his horse. "We're off to Haven's Crest Bathhouse!" Always the showboat. But I wasn't gonna complain. They were going to the bathhouse without any hesitation, and I was gonna be able to make some extra coins. The only problem... I had no idea what was in store for me when I arrived.