Karan, the twenty-six-year-old prince of the Pirun Kingdom, looked out to the Aku’andan cityscape from the royal suite, in the luxurious floating inn called the Golden Turtle Rock.
The name of the suite was very odd, he felt. Aku’anda hadn’t had royalty for decades, over a century, in fact. Aku’anda was the only Kingdom in Gan that wasn’t ruled by a single person.
Almost every issue was put up to a committee. Multiple committees in fact. There were Lord Mage Councils, Lady Mage Councils, as well as several other more specific Councils that deliberated every single day. It was a slow, slow government. It was a miracle they ever got anything done. It was an even bigger miracle that they had turned out to be the most successful kingdom in Gan.
He had spent the last few days thinking about his role as the next in line for the throne of Pirun, His mother hadn’t ruled well, perhaps she hadn’t even ruled at all. Pirun had stagnated a very long time ago. Was it because the royalty existed? Or was it because his mother was in charge?
There was a knock on his door.
“Come in!” he said.
The door opened and a couple of Pirun War mages, accompanied by one Aku’andan war mage, came in.
“Good Morning, Your highness.” The Aku’andan mage said. “I’m here to escort you to the Lord Mage Council meeting.”
He nodded and asked for some time to prepare. A few minutes later he joined them. He was familiar with the Pirun Mages, of course, but this Aku’andan was new.
“What’s your name?” He asked her.
“Segi, Your highness.” She replied. “Segi Arabambi.”
“Arabambi?” He asked. The name was familiar.
“Yes,” she replied. “I have some family among the Sungan elites.”
“Amazing,” he commented as they exited the building, walking towards the jetcoach that had docked against the floater. “A single family, Elite in multiple Kingdoms? Impressive.”
Segi gave a tight lipped smile and nodded.
They got into the coach and it floated down and northward, towards the yemaye district. Another thing Karan found absurd, and rather intriguing, was that the most powerful committee in Aku’anda met, not in an exalted floater, but a grounded hall located in an academy. He decided to ask Segi about it.
“Why does the Council of Lord Mages meet at a… School?”
She looked at him, puzzled.
“Where else would they meet?” She asked. He, and the pirunese mages were thrown aback, In Pirun, Answering a Prince’s question with another question was unthinkable.
“Hall Bolak is big,” She continued, unaware. “It has big windows and really great Magical air cooling, it’s very close to where a lot of the Lord Mages live, and it’s easy to get there really fast because there aren’t many big markets near there, which also makes the place really quiet.”
“Well, yes,” Karan replied. “But it’s… grounded. Why not construct a majestic floater laced with the most precious of metals and stone? One befitting the elites of a great kingdom such as yours?”
“Er…” Segi said, looking at the group with uncertainty… “We don’t… they don’t actually have the money to build that.”
Karan blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? Is Aku’anda not the richest kingdom in all these lands?”
“Yes...” Segi replied. “But that’s just the money of the citizens.”
“Well then, tax it?” Karan said.
“Er… in Aku’anda, Taxes are voluntary.” Segi replied glancing from face to face.
“What??” Karan asked in absolute bewilderment.
Segi didn’t have enough time to reply, the jetcoach landed and they had to alight. Segi stepped out and led the way to the Hovercoach that was waiting for them.
“I blame myself for not devoting more time into the politics of neighbouring kingdoms.” Karan said as they entered the hovercoach. “I devoted much of my youth to learning the art of warfare, so pardon my ignorance, But why on earth are taxes voluntary in your kingdom?”
“I honestly don’t know either.” Segi laughed nervously. “I’m not really an expert on laws and politics… I’m just a Warfare mage.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
There was a short silence, then she asked him to ask the Lord Mages, surely they would have a better answer.
They soon arrived at Hall Bolak and the council began quickly. Lord Defon, the Speaker of Aku’anda, was now back on the stage, bantering with other Lords who were making fun of him for fainting over news of an invasion. Karan watched the entire exchange with disbelief. These people had no sense of hierarchy or… order.
“Welcome, Prince Karan.” Lord Defon said after the hall had settled. “I trust you had a great time at Great Turtle Rock?”
“Golden Turtle Rock!” A lord offered.
“Ah, yes, yes.” Lord Defon replied, rolling his eyes.
“I had an excellent time, thank you.” Prince Karan replied, taking a seat.
“Splendid, now to the order of business.” Lord Defon began. “Firstly, No, we still do not have a solution to the field bending problem. We now have over a dozen people working on it, including Roska and Mullam, but it’s a much harder problem. Some of you accosted me this morning asking for updates, now you know.”
“Is there anything we can do to help?” A lord asked.
“We can only wait. I fear. The mages working on the problem have everything they need. I’ve been told they may never succeed, so our best option is bolstering our field spell reserves to counter any potential attack.”
“You can’t have field spells blowing around on top of a city for goodness sake!” A lord interjected. “People could die!”
“Oh really? I had no idea!” Lord Defon replied sarcastically. “Lord Winfey, I don’t assume YOU have a solution to the problem, so like I said, we’ll wait, and as a last resort, use field spells.”
A murmur grew in the hall, but Lord Defon was an expert at crowd control, without missing a beat, he moved on to the next topic, silencing the hall.
“We have reports that Ganz was spotted at a dock in Seyrule.” Lord Defon began. “We have people working on that lead as well, in a week’s time We should have a more concrete idea.”
He continued through the list.
“Mage Roska did an analysis and concluded that a rehearsed war play or communication based on handsigns or sparking spells is more likely than the twelve way wave link that some of our Mages claim to have observed on the battlefield. They disagree.”
“You know I think I would trust the actual war mages that have experience on battle strategies.” A lord said.
“What about the world’s foremost expert on wave link magic? She would know what’s possible, no?” Another lord replied.
“Gentlemen,” Lord Defon interjected. “This is merely news. It’s not up for us to speculate. The truth will be made apparent eventually.”
He continued. “Prince Karan has accepted the mantle of King and Ruler of Pirun City. The Noble of Pirun have finally agreed to let him return.”
There was a round of applause from the Hall.
“Yes.” Lord Defon said, Nodding as the applause died down. “We’ve found no evidence that Arcanite can strip a person of magic. That’s an absurd claim Ganz no doubt used as blackmail."
"We have been unsuccessful so far at extricating the Arcanite from these nobles, but we have stemmed its growth. " He continued. "The Noble’s are safe and on our side once more!”
There was another applause.
“Prince Karan is here, Alongside his entire retinue, which includes every single surviving member of Pirun’s Elite Warfare Mages, whom we have graciously hosted for the past two months.” Lord Defon continued. Another applause.
“He will address us now.” Lord Defon said and beckoned him to come to the podium.
As Karan took up the stage, he couldn’t help but notice a particular Lord Mage on the council that was quiet and contemplative. He didn’t clap or interject throughout the meeting and actually seemed worried. Karan made a mental note to talk to him as soon as the council was over.
Thirty minutes later, as the Lord Mages started to leave, he went straight for the man and introduced himself.
“I know who you are.” The Mage laughed. “I am Lord Daron Fulba.”
“Oh! I’ve heard of you!” Karan said. “My Mages have told me all the things that you’ve done for us. I’m grateful.”
Lord Daron nodded.
“But I couldn’t help but notice, you weren’t very happy or excited throughout this meeting.” Karan said.
Lord Daron took a deep breath. “Well, Prince Karan. I am the only mage here who witnessed Ganz’s escape. I went to Pirun multiple times, and I’ve had him described to me in great detail by many mages from our side that have contacted or seen him at close range.”
“And?” Karan asked.
“I think we may have won the battle, but not the war.” Lord Daron replied.
“You think he will return.” Karn prodded.
“That he will return is not up for question.” Lord Daron chuckled. “What is up for question is if we will be able to resist him when he returns. I mean his main attack, the crushing of the Spell dampener, remains uncounterable, despite weeks of research.”
Lord Daron took a deep breath and continued. “The last time he used a field spell, it was a flawless execution of an old, yet complex spell called a starblast, in fact I have a sneaking suspicion that he did not have that starblast prepared before that day. He most likely made it in the first few hours of that attack.”
“My goodness.” Karan gasped.
“We are dealing with a monster.” Lord Daron said. “I cannot clap.”
He left Karan shellshocked and scared. he began rethinking his whole decision to assume the throne again. What if Ganz attacked pirun again and killed him to get the throne back?”
In his paranoia he forgot to ask why the taxes were voluntary.