Lord Leopold was a tall man who cast a long dark shadow behind him. His deep set eyes were an unusual purplish brown colour that made his intense gaze hard to escape from.
"We shall begin with the pendulum test, Your Highness." Lord Leopold announced in his low languid way of speaking.
Rory tried hard not to notice the stares and whispers directed at him from the booths of nobles from the sides of the hall. He straightened his back and stood tall. He was a prince now, after all.
Rory watched as Lord Leopold reached for a simple silver object laying on the large table in front of them.
The object was about as long as a pencil, consisting of a thin silver chain with a round metal bulb at the bottom.
Lord Leopold held the chain between his fingers and let the bulb hang down.
"Please step forward, your highness." Leopold requested with a shallow smile on his face as he addressed Rory.
Leopold stared down at the young boy. The child definitely looked the part. With the mix of his fathers hereditary eyes and the Queen's white hair, the young prince's good looks made him quite popular among the citizens already.
Yes, he certainly has that going for him.
From what Leopold had heard from the maids, the young prince was well mannered and unusually kind and courteous with the staff. Although kindness was a good quality to have, Leopold knew the young prince was inexperienced and he would give out that kindness to many people, and as a consequence, many would try to take advantage of him.
However, those lessons could be taught to the prince later. What was really important was the prince's magical ability. These aptitude tests would confirm the prince's position in the Royal family and his future as well as the public opinion of him.
A high magical ability could mean a very good life for the young prince, on the other hand, a low magical ability could mean his disgrace.
Leopold recalled the oldest son of the previous King, the older brother of the current king whose magical abilities were not up to par and thus had his rightful spot on the throne taken from him by his younger brother. Such a fate was unavoidable for those in the Royal family who were born with weaker abilities. One's magical ability was an integral part of how well established one could become in Azlantean, the young prince before him was no exception.
Rory watched intently as Leopold chanted some words in the ancient language his old tutors back in the village had told him about. It was the language spoken by the first magic users. The people who had discovered magic and had decided to cultivate it and pass on their knowledge to the next generations. It had been many millennia since those people's descendants had passed on and consequently, the language they created had died out. Only very educated or wealthy people who had access to ancient documents could read and speak the old language.
Rory's old tutor, Master Rooksworth, was a very accomplished Mage who had been given the rank of High Royal Mage in his home kingdom before his retirement and yet even he could not speak the old language, as well as Lord Leopold, could.
Lord Leopold spoke the language as if it was second nature and didn't stumble over any of the impossibly long words or elevated vowel sounds or strange consonant combinations.
Rory marvelled at the sight of the warm orange light that was starting to glow from the patterned surface of the silver bulb. Rory watched as Leopold let go of the chain expecting the bulb to fall to the floor but instead the object stayed exactly in its place, levitating as if an invisible hand was holding it up. All the while Leopold continued to chant.
Leopold finished off the last words of the spell and then took a few paces back so as not to be within range of the chain object.
"I shall begin the test, my prince," Leopold announced and then bowed his head to the young prince. Rory gulped and nodded nervously, hoping this wouldn't be painful.
"Activus!" Leopold chanted one last word.
Immediately the bulb on the bottom of the chain shone a brilliant warm light as if the small bulb was containing the sun inside it. Each second that the bulb was hanging in the air, it got brighter, to the point that Rory and Lord Leopold had to turn away from the blinding light and shield their eyes.
Aurora was completely gobsmacked from the other side of the room. She couldn't believe how brightly the pendulum was shining for Prince Torryn. It was getting so bright that even she was needing to squint at it from the other side of the room. Aurora heard the uncomfortable groans and gasps from the nobles around her at the glaringly uncomfortable light. It was literally like the sun now, impossible to look straight at it.
She suddenly remembered the time she took the pendulum test and the pendulum only just managed to make a steady glow. She even remembered having to take a few steps closer to it to be able to see the weak light glimmering out of it. It was absolutely incredible to think that the prince was so powerful and that his magic was able to blind people from across a giant hall.
Besides Aurora, Sienna was just as shocked and dumbfounded as Aurora.
"It's so bright... I can't even look at it." She whispered turning her head completely away from the sight, her bright green eyes squinting.
On Aurora's other side, the young Lord Entellion Rhysand gripped the arms of his chair in shock. He couldn't believe it. Entellion recalled the time he took the pendulum test a few years ago, the pendulum had achieved a very bright light, enough so that his parents rejoiced and immediately enrolled him in the academy and arranged for special Mage tutors. His parents had ruthlessly shown off to the other nobles how gifted their son was and he had received so much praise at the academy for his exceptional result. He had even been interviewed and then featured in a few prominent public journals. However, Entellion knew his light was nothing compared to the Prince's light. Where his light had been blinding to those who were close to the pendulum, the prince's light enveloped an entire palace hall. Entellion shuddered as he covered his eyes, thinking about just how gifted the prince was.
Even the small birds, rodents and spiders who had snuck their way into the nooks and crannies of the hall and had made homes for themselves, were being flushed out by the cosmic light emanating from the pendulum. Those creatures frantically scuttled or flew around the hall trying to find a new dark hiding place.
"Ceasetes!" Called out Leopold after having been satisfied with the result. The magic instantly left the pendulum, making it stop glowing, and it fell from the air onto the table with a sharp clang.
"Well done, My Prince, on a truly outstanding result."
Leopold bowed his head to Rory. Rory smiled back sheepishly. He wasn't sure what had just happened but whatever it was, the result seemed to be quite good since Lord Leopold had praised him. All Rory knew was that his eyes were sore from staring directly into that light for too long.
"Let the records show that Prince Torryn Leonis Rosenheim achieves the perfect result on the pendulum test. The brightest light ever recorded!" The announcer belched out, and immediately the two scribes at his side, each with a giant book in their arms began to record the test furiously on the large pages.
Rory gulped nervously at the announcer's words. 'The perfect result' seemed like something that would make him stand out, but honestly, he hadn't done anything at all. Rory guessed that the pendulum was very sensitive to the magic within a person and as soon as the spells were cast the pendulum would glow proportionally to the amount of magic it saw in a body. Therefore, those with greater magic inside them caused the bulb to glow brighter. That was probably the reason Lord Leopold stepped away from the pendulum so that his presence would not interfere with the pendulum's brightness.
"Bring forth the holy water," Leopold called out.
Immediately two servants hauled a large silver tub of water right beside Rory and placed it down on the floor as gently as possible. A slight clang sounded its placement on the floor.
"My prince." Leopold bowed his head again as he addressed Rory," Please reach both of your hands into the water and keep them there for a moment.
Rory complied curiously, wondering what would happen when he touched the water. He looked down inquisitively into the seemingly normal hip length tub of water. Rory gently lowered his hand into the water and was surprised by how warm it actually was. As soon as his fingers made contact with the water, the water started to turn red, as if he had just dumped a pot of red ink into the water causing wisps of red colour to spread through the water.
In a moment the entire tub of water had turned a bright shade of red. Rory didn't look away because he noticed the colour changing again. From a bright red the water seemed to darken to a much deeper maroon, blood-like colour. From there, the water became an even darker brown.
Rory suddenly noticed that the water was also getting shinier, it was starting to look silvery. After a moment the water settled and the final colour of the water was a shimmering silver colour as if it was a vat of liquid silver.
Rory admired the pretty shimmering colour of the water, thinking that the light made it sparkle beautifully.
"Thank you, my prince. That will be enough." Leopold spoke, an impressed expression on his face.
Leopold then extended his hand and raised his fingers upwards in a commanding motion. Mirroring his hand, the silver water rose from the silver tub and levitated in the air, giving everyone in the room a chance to see what colour the water had turned.
Gasps and excited whispers sounded through the noble seating area as everyone gushed about the colour of the water.
"Let the records show that Prince Torryn's magic caused the complete colour change of the water. From clear to silver!" The announcer boomed again and the scribes beside him began to scribble down in their books.
The Queen was absolutely elated to find out that her son was so gifted. Even though she was meant to remain regal and stoic as she sat on the throne, watching her son take the test, she couldn't help but smile as she gazed lovingly down at him.
King Alistair had always been a very stern and cold man towards the public. He had ruled the kingdom, very successfully, with an iron fist. With the exception of his wife, the king kept his emotions at bay. But now, as he looked down at the son he had lost more than six years ago, he felt pride and joy run through him. He especially felt the need to go and embrace his son, possibly pat him on the head, maybe even give him a hug. Otherwise, he would organize for a lot of congratulatory gifts to give him for doing so well on his aptitude tests. On the other hand, seeing the son that had been taken away from him, a wave of great anger and hatred started boiling up inside of him for those that caused this all to happen. The people that attacked his wife's carriage and caused his wife's guard to try and escape with the baby. The king growled viciously internally. He would make the responsible party pay for their crimes with their heads.
The two servants came to hall the silver tub of water away while Leopold looked down at all the tests he prepared on his desk to test the prince. Although he was supposed to continue on with the next test, as he looked down at them he realized that continuing on with half of these this tests would be pointless. The prince had already done stunningly on the two most sophisticated tests, so there was no point in doing the other tests, except possibly the elemental test to see which elements would come easier to the prince and perhaps the summoning ceremony to summon the prince a familiar, but those were traditionally down in private in any case.
Leopold then turned around to face the King and Queen.
"Your majesties, If I may..." Leopold bowed a very respectful ninety-degree bow.
"Speak, Lord Leopold." The king commanded.
"It seems that it is unnecessary to test the prince further since he has shown such excellent results on the pendulum and holy water tests, it is sure to expect that he will score the same on the other tests. Might I suggest that we finish with the testing here and conduct the specialized tests in private."
The king heard Leopold's words and then gazed over to the noble seating area where he had seated the three ambassadors from the Reynheart kingdom. The king almost smiled as he saw the ambassadors concerned expressions, all of them shocked at the great new power that was being added to Azlantean. This little exercise had worked perfectly. The ambassadors would go back to Reynheart and tell their people about the wondrous power of the first prince and thus instil the greatness of Azlantean in their minds.
"I agree with Lord Leopold." The king replied. "We shall end his testing here, any additional tests you want him to take will be conducted in private with the presence of the Royal scribes."
At the King's announcement, Aurora grumbled disappointedly. She had really been enjoying watching the prince's testing. She had sparkles in her eyes as she looked at him. He was so amazing to her, just unbelievable. But sadly, dread started creeping up in her stomach, if the testing was over that meant the gift-giving was going to start and she would have to give the prince her measly golden pin. She was already imagining how everyone would laugh at her...
"All those who wish to present the Prince with a gift, please come to the thrones!" The announcer woke everyone up with his loud voice.
While Rory was beckoned over to the thrones to stand between his parents and his uncles, he watched curiously as a whole line of nobles formed, each holding a gift wrapped in silks and ribbons. Rory couldn't hold in the excitement he felt at receiving gifts.