The Prince

"I am the Prince of Rijero, and the only two around here that can tell me what to do are my father and Fuldon. If I do not want to do the spell practice, you cannot force me to do so," a haughty, sixteen-year-old boy calmly told the tutor in front of him.

The tutor looked a little offset, "Now young man, your normal tutor may not be here, but that does not mean total sloth and anarchy."

The boy looked the tutor dead in the eyes, "Don't force me to do magic," his voice was cold, and his hands began to softly glow, "The consequences may not be happy for you."

The tutor had more than a little fear showing in his eyes, "Miashgon, is that a threat? I do not think that Fuldon would be glad to hear that in my report. Or that you refused to do the work."

Miashgon's hands immediately stopped their glow. His test of the tutor's will had ended. After a few moments, he raised a hand and knocked out a few chosen targets. "I hate spell practice. I only have to do it when Fuldon's not around. It's completely useless." After a few minutes, he had hit every one the tutor had placed, "There. Are you happy?"

The tutor smiled, "I truly am Miashgon. However, this is not for the reason you'd think. I'm pleased because-" As he spoke, his hair and skin became grayer, older. The skin melted and formed the familiar face of his old tutor, holding a crystal wand, "-you respect me more than you disrespect others."

Miashgon grimaced, "That was dishonest Fuldon. Isn't honesty the heart and core of magic?"

"True. Magic is more powerful with honesty. However, you needn't have it, even for the strongest forms of magic, especially water-based spells, such as shapeshifting." He smiled knowingly, "Besides, I believe you know better than I do that you can make a fireball whilst lying. That should be enough for today, I believe you have a banquet this evening?"

"Yeah, Trivor's 'coming of age' banquet. It was ludicrous when I had to do it, and it's ludicrous now."

"Yes, but becoming a man is a great thing. We've been having banquets for it for ages. Besides, he's not going to be the king in the future, let him have all the banquets he can get."

"He can have the crown for all I care. All it is is boring politics and diplomacy, like this foolish banquet. I'd rather be a captain in the guard. In fact, I'd rather be a guard this evening."

"Well Miashgon, that sounds like a fine idea."

Miashgon gave Fuldon an odd look, "A fine idea? What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously not the giving up of the crown bit, but you do have some skill with the bow and sword, I'm sure can convince your father to let you get some leather fromthe armory, and take the first banquet guard shift. That way, you won't even miss the majority of the banquet."

"Are you serious?"

"Quite. In fact, I'll makeit your training for tonight. Now, let's find the King, shall we?"

"All right! Let's go!" With that, Miashgon walked out the door, followed by Fuldon, to his father's work chamber.

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