Mar watched his father step out of the carriage, the attendants stumbled over themselves to be of use to the man for some inane reason he would never understand.
Marikaedes Celeria did not maintain the appearance of a king. He was overweight and his hair was beginning to grey in a way that made him look old rather than wise.
His golden eyes which signaled their royal lineage looked more like a piss yellow.
"I see the whole family has come to greet me." spoke the king.
"Welcome back dear," said Emelina. "You just missed Evelune's departure."
"A shame indeed, I'll need to visit Ruinas once again it seems. How has your training been coming Jestullin?"
"Ilva believes I can challenge for a spot among the swords next Tournament," responded Jestullin, puffing out his chest.
"Excellent!" bellowed the king. "Sarulid, prepare a banquet for my return, every noble in Velon-Ril shall be in attendance."
"Yes, your majesty." replied the king's aid.
"Now," spoke King Celeria, "I am quite fatigued from my journey and will retire to my chambers."
Mar watched as his father walked past him and into the palace, his procession close on his heels.
"Perhaps you should have said something, you know to remind Father you're still here." smirked Jestullin.
Mar smirked, "Unlike you, I feel no desire to kiss his ass."
"Oh, sweet brother you should really be far kinder to me, when I'm king I'll have every right to exile you."
"Exile would be mercy if I don't have to watch an incompetent fool such as yourself play at being king." spat Mar.
Trading insults with a simpleton brought Mar no joy, though watching the pompous grin fall off his brother's face did bring a certain warmth to his heart.
"Marikaedes, I believe it's time for your lesson." called his mother's voice.
"Run off now," said Jestullin, venom dripping from his words. "Practicing your little parlor tricks will never make you heir."
Jestullin turned and made his way toward the stables. Mar knew he was headed to the Red Cat, his favored whore house.
Mar had gone once, it wasn't his cup of tea, more a menagerie than whorehouse, they displayed exotic creatures next to slaves in collars of gold and silver.
Striding up the auxiliary staircase Mar found his way to the royal sanctum. It was a large workspace used by the mages employed in the palace.
The king had little respect or trust in mages or magic, it was part of the reason he had such a disdain for Mar.
"You're late." spoke a grisly voice when Mar opened the door.
The sanctum was a mess as always with books and papers strewn about. Behind the messy desk was a library that put most nobles' collections to shame, on the other end of the room was Tyrais Lisae. The man was 62 years of age but appeared no older than 40 as he fumbled through his collection of research items.
"Forgive me master Tyrais, I had to be there for my father's return."
"Excuses, excuses, perhaps you need another day of just scrubbing down furniture."
"It is the truth though," he protested "You can ask my father if you wish."
"Ha, you think mentioning the king will scare me away do you."
Tyrais was an enigma to Mar, he was the only person aside from Evelune that could see through him. One of the few 6th circle mages on the entire continent yet content to stay locked up in the royal palace as long as he was provided research materials.
"Well, did you complete the books I gave you last lesson?" asked Tyrais.
"I finished Valverre's Introduction to Insignia Script and Emeas' Advanced Applications of Emblem Script."
"What of Xejir's ?"
"I have not had time to finish it quite yet."
Tyrais clicked his tongue, "More excuses, I must say I'm quite disappointed Marikaedes II."
"Disappointed, you gave me two days to complete three books." retorted Mar.
"Perhaps if you spent less time practicing that barbaric art you call swordplay you could have finished."
"I am a prince, it is expected that I enter the Tournament when I come of age next cycle."
"Very well, just know that your true talents lie in magic, not battle. Now to begin today's lesson change the color of your coat."
Mar closed his eyes and pictured the Origin, the magical realm that connected all aspects of nature.
When he opened his eyes the world was different, everything had a dull glow, representative of the origin flowing through it.
Extending his right arm Mar imagined the glow converging in his right hand. Slowly the light seemed to grow stronger as Mar willed it.
"Good, now imagine expelling it slowly," said Tyrais.
Mar nodded holding his focus, he tried willing the light outside of his body but it refused. With a grunt Mar forced the glow out of his palm, it took all his will to keep the light from flying forward.
"Careful, be strong with it, not violent."
Now came the hard part, forming the spell circle and inputting the proper script. Guiding the light onto his breast pocket, Mar began inscribing the proper letters of the Script, he was using Insignia Script which allowed one to cast illusion spells.
nearly a minute later he had finished crafting the spell circle, releasing his control of the light Mar watched as the commands he inscribed began to function.
Gradually the color of Mar's coat shifted from a dull rust red to a light purple.
"I did it! You see that," he exclaimed.
Mar was most adept at Insignia script, in particular, he was good at exerting control over light.
His father lost interest when he learned Mar wouldn't create storms of fire like a pyromancer but Evelune had insisted he study under a master anyway.
"You intended to make it blue didn't you?" asked Tyrais, a smile on his face.
"How did you know?"
"You only made the coat reflect blue light, you forgot to inscribe a command to make it stop reflecting red light."
"Well I still did what you asked," said Mar, embarrassed to have been seen through.
"Indeed, you did. However, your calculations were far too slow, review the 17th chapter of the Codex of Elementary Spell Circles."
Mar sighed, knowing the rest of the lesson would be reading the works of old men who had long since passed.
Eyeing the text-laden pages Mar could feel the boredom weighing on his eyes making them grow heavy.
"I'm going to go fetch more books from the royal archive, make sure you are not sleeping when I come back."
"Alright, give my greetings to the archivist."
As Tyrais shut the door behind him Mar tossed the book back onto the wood table.
I swear that man's readings shall be the end of me, he thought.
Bang, Bang, Bang, Mar heard from the room above.
The only rooms above the sanctum are the royal family's chambers. Noted Mar.
Bang, Bang, Bang.
With the blink of his eyes the world began to shine, slowly guiding the light to his hand Mar noticed there was little resistance this time.
Maybe I'm finally improving, He thought.
Once the light gathered in his hand he walked across the room to the main window. Guiding the light, Mar lead it out of his body and into the air.
Gritting his teeth he began calculating the necessary variables and inscribing commands into the spell circle.
A minute and a half later the circle was complete, Mar took a deep breath, nervous his spell would not produce the desired result.
Cutting his connection the circle slowly lost its form until it resembled a mirror without a frame. It was a crude imitation of the dressing room mirror Mar had intended to create but it reflected light all the same.
The spell had been intended to point slightly upwards so Mar could see through the upstairs window. Unfortunately, his commands had been slightly flawed as he could barely see much more than the dresser by the window.
Mar angled his head out the window to make better use of the mirror. Leaning a bit further out he was just able to make out the upstairs room.
"It's one of the attendant's rooms." realized Mar.
There were sparse decorations, a Zharaqi painting on the wall, a Solani-style lamp, and a large bed with red silk sheets. He could see a man and a woman engaged in carnal pleasure on the bed but their image was obscured by the curtain.
Those damn ungrateful attendants, we hire them off the corner of the slums and they dare to bring whores into our royal palace, he thought with anger igniting within.
Without realizing it Mar had begun crafting another spell circle, this one was done in half the time it took the first. Once completed Mar watched the spell work, letting light pass right through the curtain as though it was clear.
It was with a look of horror on his face that Mar recognized the two figures. Sarulid, his father's most trusted attendant, and Emelina, the queen of Zharaq, and Mar's mother.