Magician Prince by Curtis Cornett Page A

place.”
    “I am truly unsure how I feel about that.
Tonight I saw some of my old friend in him, but that doesn’t erase
what he did to me,” said Sane. Changing the subject, he wondered,
“If we would have been forced to fight, do you think we could have
won?”
    “Kellen was the only real threat and I could
have handled him easily enough once Donovan stepped away from
Kaleb.”
    “Then why didn’t you do something? Why let
the conversation play out?”
    Byrn rode a while longer before answering as
he relived his adoptive mother’s final moments and his own rash
actions afterwards. “Years ago before Avelice died, she taught me a
spell to summon a person’s spirit from the underworld. When Sari
and I escaped from Silvering with my mother’s body last year, I was
consumed with my own grief and drunk on the vast power that I
suddenly found out my disposal. My brain seemed to be working on
its own and I knew that I could weave several necromancy spells
together to bring her back to life. I summoned her spirit and was
about to reanimate her body when I saw the look of sadness on her
ashen face and couldn’t go through with it. It was then that I
understood that magic should not be the crutch I had made it into
and that it should serve a greater purpose than fulfilling the
desires of its wielder. For years, I spent so much time focusing on
being a magician and living that life that I forgot how to be a
man. Somewhere along the way all of the lessons my parents had
taught me about how to live honestly and doing the right thing got
lost in my desire to live freely. It was selfish of me and I think
I lost myself for a time, but I know now that what I need to be
doing is helping to bring about an Aurelia where we can all live
together in harmony and I think that can be better done through
talking than by throwing around fireballs.
    “As extreme as Janus is, there are people on
the other side that are just as bad or worse. For a time I thought
that I had to be like them or that I had to pick a side, but I do
not. I will forge my own path and let it take me where it
will.”
    Sane considered Byrn’s words for a while and
decided there was much wisdom in this young man. He wondered if he
was using his own power for the greater good or was he simply
consumed with the need for vengeance for his sister’s murder. He
already killed the assassin who took Avelice’s life and that had
not made him feel any better. Before that he had served the kingdom
willingly as a free magician and sentenced many of his own kind to
imprisonment in Baj or a domain, and that did not feel right
either. “I am too old to find a new path,” he muttered.
    Kaleb, who had been riding near Sane, perked
up at the old man’s comment. “No need. We are heading the right
way,” he told the sorcerer and pointed to the road ahead.
    Sane smiled, “Right you are, Kaleb.”

Chapter 8
     
     
     
    All of the guards in the palace were trained
in Kenzai anti-magic techniques. A third of them were masters in
the discipline. Yet not one, but three magicians managed to escape
from the palace without any serious resistance. The only proof of
their attack and escape was a gaping hole in Prince Janus’
bedchamber and the accounts of his personal guards who were nearly
useless in protecting their charge.
    The sun rose in the east, illuminating the
prince’s room with morning light. The calmness of the day did
little to settle his nerves following the attack that nearly
resulted in his death.
    The rotund Warlord Velaren Saberhawk surveyed
the damage along with the prince and a retinue of generals. “We
must strike back,” the warlord told Janus. “If this assault goes
unanswered, then it will only embolden the magicians to strike
again with more force.”
    Janus could not help smiling. Perhaps the
large warlord was more useful than he had given him credit for at
their last meeting. “Yes, of course,” Janus agreed. “I need you to
send word to the warlords