A long week had passed since the Duke's execution and already I found that I was forgetting him. Duke Irathmus, the first member of the royal family ever to be executed, was a thing of the past now... and that brief explanation of him was his only legacy, that and being dubbed as the worst ever descendant of the Rosenheim family. A disgrace to his royal status and his kingdom.
From the many times I had snuck out of the palace and wandered about the kingdom, I listened intently to the way people talked and about what they talked in the town squares and meeting halls. A day or two after his execution, the duke's name was on everybody's lips. People talked about how they knew he was a bad egg all along, and about what shame he brought on the kingdom. A few more brazen people would even insinuate that the former duke must have been born from a different mother than the King and Duke Cassian, as he was so different from his distinguished brothers. From then on, the chatter turned in favour of the king, all admiring how well he had held up justice by choosing execution instead of letting his brother off free. After that talk quieted down, nothing else was really said about the duke Irathmus. It seemed like the whole kingdom had moved on, almost as if he never existed. Just a quiet stain on the family's impeccable history.
This place seemed to be completely fine that he was gone and honestly I was too. I thought it was sad though, to have lived a life like Irathmus's, that resulted in no one missing him after he was gone.
As far as I knew, the duke was dead and buried in the royal tomb after the King carried out the execution himself on the Solemn hill. I felt terrible admitting that I was relieved that he was dead and no longer an issue for me to worry about. I knew it was quite offside for me to be so nonchalant about death, but I couldn't seem to make myself feel guilty about it. Somehow, this conclusion felt like justice, even though I hadn't been a supporter of the death penalty back in the US. I guess this new life came with new ideals too. A different sense of right and wrong.
"Focus your Highness!"
I missed Sir Sakaru's emblazoned fist by a few millimetres as it shot past my left cheek. It was so close that I felt the fire magic he had imbued his hand with, scorch the side of my face. After having been thrown off balance I allowed myself to continue to go down towards the solid gold training floor we had been sparring on. The training room, that was reserved for high ranking knights and members of the Rosenheim family to train on was made of pure solid gold. Not only was it spectacularly beautiful when the light hit (especially during sunrise and sunset), in this world gold, was known as a catalyst for magic. Thus a training room made of solid gold was the perfect place to train and allowed one to reach their full magical ability and capacity much faster than normal.
While falling I leaned my arms back and made my palms horizontal to the ground and then shot wind magic out of them in a large burst so that I was propelled off the floor. The force of my wind against the floor was so strong that it propelled me into the air so that I was at Sir Sakaru's eye level.
This was it! This was my chance. I had been sparring with sir Sakaru for two days now and I hadn't been able to land a serious blow to him. Now that I finally had the advantage of height, I could hit him. For the two days, I had struggled long hours to try and overcome the difference in our statures. Sakaru's six-foot height and thick strong muscles were proving a difficult feat for me six-year-old frame. I don't know why I hadn't thought of using wind magic to propel myself about before, but now that I could I would.
In quick succession I aimed two punches at Sir Sakaru's face, an elbow to his throat, three kicks to his neck, chest and waist, and on my way down from the jump I tried knocking him over with one last kick to his shins but the man was made of steel and was as sturdy as a pillar, and was ultimately unmoved by my attack. With incredible agility he had blocked most of my blows, however, I was sure that one of my punches to his face had landed.
As I touched the golden floor, Sakaru's flaming fists came raining down on me. Thanks to my latest discovery only a single hit to my shoulder landed, as I channelled power into my palms and feet to be able to dodge the lightning-fast punches. I realized that I wouldn't be able to deal with any more damage to him without more speed. At my current size and strength, Sakaru was no match for me, but with the use of wind magic I had been getting by without being pummeled. Wind magic had given me mobility as I could now fly around in the air without worry. I would have to use a combination of fire and wind to give me the speed to better my attacks.
While I was caught up in thinking Sakaru landed a mighty kick right against my stomach. I felt the wind get knocked out of me as the shockwave from the kick resonated in my stomach, up to my lungs and made me retch painfully. The impact was beyond painful and the blow was so strong that it sent me flying across the room. For a moment I thought I would faint again like yesterday and have the match draw to an end. As much as I wanted to stop fighting and resume again tomorrow, I realized that it would be wasteful to let another day go by without completing this set of training. I sucked in the pain and bit my lip in an effort to distract myself, and spat out the blood swelling up in my mouth. I got back up on my feet and shook my head, willing away nausea and dizziness.
I managed to concentrate both wind and fire magic into my feet and I could immediately feel the difference in the power, in less than a second I shot through the air and was right in front of Sakaru, for the first time during our training sessions I saw an expression on his face, not his usual blank indifference. At that moment he looked truly shocked and it made me grin. However, I was flying so fast that I didn't even have time to prepare an attack before I rushed into him. There wasn't any time to do anything else, so I turned my body slightly, slamming my shoulder into his chest.
Although I was small and didn't carry much weight, the speed I had been going at was enough to create a fearsome impact. I felt the shooting pain go up through my arm and shoulder as I slammed against Sakaru's chest.
I watched victoriously as Sir Sakaru was thrown off his balance and fell to the floor with me. For the first time, I had been faster than Sir Sakaru and had been able to knock him off of his feet. Of course, I had only been able to do it by injuring myself, but I was improving at least. Even though this victory was a small one, I was proud of myself. Sir Sakaru was on a completely different level to all my sparring partners back in the village. His monstrous strength and genetically superior Valhallen body were already daunting, but in top of that Sakaru had an awe-inspiring talent for martial arts and was a complete master in all the fighting styles I had ever heard of.
I felt relief when I heard the deep thrum of the gong being hit, signalling the end of the match. My task for the past two days had been to knock Sir Sakaru off of his feet, and finally, I had done it. This meant that I could move onto receiving my magical weapon or spirit sword. The prospect of getting one had been making me so excited for the past few days especially since Leopold had been giving me books on spirits weapons to study from.
Exhausted from finally having succeeded in knocking down Sakaru after two full days of fighting, and starting to feel the pain from my injuries as the adrenaline wore off, I felt my body sway from dizziness, seconds away from collapsing.
In a matter of moments, a whole team of healing mages rushed onto the golden healing floor and instantly surrounded me and began to heal me, as they had been doing for the past few days. The healing mage outfits were very distinct. They wore thick white cloaks with silver ropes hanging around their shoulders. When I asked nanny Zelda about them, she said the length and thickness of the silver ropes were an indication of their rank and status among the healing mages. I didn't know the particulars but I assumed that the more silver decorations, the higher the rank.
The mages quietly but swiftly drew healing circles upon healing circles on and around me. It was because I was the precious 'lost prince' of the kingdom and my body was invaluable to the nation. I closed my eyes and took in deep breathes as the pain that had been throbbing inside my stomach and shoulder was disappearing, the scorch on my face also cooled down and I was very grateful. Once again they had taken away all my scrapes and bruises. I thanked them with a sincere bow as they got up from my side and exited the hall, and as always they bowed and curtseyed back to me before scurrying off to where they came from. Strangely they never talked to me, I guessed they had been ordered not to speak to me, or perhaps they were just wary of me. Whatever the reason I didn't know.
It was noon now and the sun was directly over our heads, it's bright light was shining through the glass room and was making the golden training floor radiantly beautiful in its light. It all seemed so poetic that I had completed my training just in time to enjoy the sunlight bouncing off the golden floor.
I turned my head and looked over at Sir Sakaru. A few healing mages were around him and were focusing their energy on his chest, the spot where I had slammed into him. The expression I had seen on his face was gone and he was now showing his usual stone demeanour.
"Excellent you Highness!" I heard Leopold's slow clap as he approached me from the side of the hall where he had been viewing the match.
"To be able to use such a sophisticated combination of two kinds of elemental magic during such a critical time is truly impressive!" Leopold's eyes were glowing with excitement with his infamous grin across his face. "This is my first time teaching a child of the royal family and I must say that your natural talent is shocking. The heirs of Rosenheim are truly exceptional."
"So it's normal for Rosenheim family members to be naturally good at magic and combat?" I asked wondering how much better or worse my father and Uncle Cassian were than me at my age.
"Oh yes, the Rosenheim blood and the natural gifts that come with it are envied within and without the Kingdom."
So it seemed my family had an international reputation?
"Well then, would your highness like to take a few hours rest before we start with the sword ceremony?"
I vehemently shook my head.
"No. I am ready now." Leopold looked down at me with that same mischievous smile, like I was some interesting book he was enjoying reading.
"Very well then, Your Highness." Leopold raised his bejeweled hand into the air, signaling for Amren and Jabari to follow us.
"Then we shall make our way to the chamber. While we walk, may your majesty please recite the teachings you have learned about magical weapons."