A Prince and His Knight

[Quatre Winner]

(Lol Sorry! I thought that was in common parlance? ')


"I never said you were stupid." the knight frowned, looking him in the eyes. "But you're careless of your own safety when helping others. My job is to protect you, which means I have to anticipate your choices." It might have sounded harsh, but really it was a kind of rough compliment. Kai admired Devan for his self-sacrificing nature, he just didn't want to see it played out needlessly.


Pushing the large, cushioned wing-back chair over to the fire, he offered it to Devan. Then, he grabbed a sturdy wooden chair from the corner for himself and sat down, his sword laid over his knees. If anyone came back to attack them, he could leap up and defend in an instant.


"We do need to figure out what they fear." he nodded. "If any of them stayed behind that would be well for us. They'll be less able to catch us or fight back." Looking into the fire for a moment, which reflected in his dark eyes, he thought about what they should do. "You remember, your highness…earlier you were saying we should watch them in secret. I think that is our best bet for now. Staying out of sight…perhaps causing things to move or drop when they least expect it. That's usually enough to spook an infantryman or bandit."

 

[Tinker Bell]

((Not for me, but it's all good....I like learning))


Devan hadn't thought of it that way in his quick-to-speak mind. The slightly rough compliment made his heart flutter a bit. Devan's job was to protect the people and he knew he usually didn't think when it came to it. He just acted.


Devan moved to sit in the chair. He stared at the dancing flames as he listened. After a moment of silence, Devan looked up at Kai.


"I know you don't believe in magic..." Even though Devan had relit the fire from across the room earlier, that should have been proof enough for the knight. "But I think just focusing on the possibility of it being human is just as dangerous as not thinking about it." He told him. "What if it isn't human?"


He knew that he had to get Kai to see that he had to keep an open mind about it. "We need to think logically, but we also need to think logically about things that aren't logical." He said. "Everything about this says it isn't psychological warfare. It put out all of the candles and the fire in the room with the window closed. Humans can't do that, even with mind tricks." He told him.

 

[Quatre Winner]

(Haha, me too!)


If Devan was the heart of their little duo, Kai was the mind. Working together, they could accomplish much, but that meant being on the same page. Kai had not seen the prince do any magic, as Devan had been behind him at the time, and probably would have thought it a coincidence anyway. The putting out of the fire and the candles, all at once? Harder to explain, but still not impossible. Kai didn't believe that was any more magical than the hysteria of the moment getting to them. Still, he was trying to be open-minded for the prince's sake, and because logic dictated that he look at the problem from different angles.


"Alright then, even without magic it could be trained animals. I wouldn't put it past insurgents to use trained wolves or even bears. Queen Meklala of the North is said to have used white bears as her guards. But we also have to also consider that it is just humans, and until I see proof either way I am not ruling that possibility out. It's just possible that all the lights went out because of a draft. Whatever the case," he held up his hands, expecting the prince to argue, "Whatever the case, we'll find out the truth for ourselves tomorrow. If they haven't sacked the next village already…"


That was a possibility; their current location was near a crossroads, and though it sounded like their enemies had gone in that direction, they might not be able to figure out which road they had taken.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan wanted to shout at Kai to listen to him. He didn't feel like Kai was. Because he kept trying to give proof for magic and Kai just seemed to be shooting it all down. The knight hadn't said so out loud, but Devan knew him too well. He didn't focus on the magic side apart of barely acknowledging it. How was he supposed to make Kai see? It felt like there was nothing. Time tells the truth. His mother's words played in his head. He had to give it time. Although he wasn't sure how much time they had. What if the worst happened and one of them died? Then Kai would likely never see and the one thing that Devan had been wanting to tell him forever would never be known.


Devan refused to think about that. "But if it's animals, what makes the people believe it's their loved ones who change and attack?" He asked. He was trying hard to think of that as a solid possibility, but it was hard. To him, magic seemed like the obvious answer and an army seemed illogical. However, Kai's brain was used to magic being just stories. They had to try and see it from the other's perspective. To try and prevent another fight between the two, Devan was trying hard to think like Kai, but it was frustrating him. His thoughts kept getting all scrambled.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai could tell the prince wasn't happy with him, but he let it be. Once Devan saw that their attackers were no more magical than he was, he would let go of his fantasies….hopefully. Anyway, Kai could convince him to deal with the problem in more conventional ways. Fo now, he just had to be patient.


That was what he was trying to be when he calmly answered the prince's next question. "Remember, no one actually saw their loved ones transform. There was sickness in the house, then a creature attacking in the dark. I believe our enemies are doing this on purpose- it's not difficult to poison wells or spread disease, and they would find out who was ill in the towns and make sure their families were attacked. It's not like the ones who were ill could follow them when they escaped." They may have been food for the trained animals, something he'd rather not think about.


Kai looked down at his sword, seeing his reflection in the bright blade. "I saw a charlatan magician once, who tricked people out of their money by planting his cronies in the crowd, stirring up the people and making them believe his elixir brought long life. It just made them sick, but by the time they found out he had already gone. The people in this country believe in magic, it wouldn't be difficult to make them believe that was responsible."

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan listened and he tried to take everything that Kai was saying in. However, Kai then - maybe not purposely - basically said that he still didn't believe Devan. That was how he took the mention of the fake magician. Devan knew he had to explain. Magic wasn't what people thought it was. He had to make Kai see. He had to at least get him to try and see. It didn't feel like Kai was even trying to believe him when he was trying his hardest to do it for him. Devan couldn't totally forget the magic theory, but he was trying hard to find ways to combat what Kai was suggesting this could possibly be.


"Magic isn't like that. It's powerful and dangerous." He said. He didn't care if Kai ended up lecturing him, he knew what was the truth and he wasn't going to back down. "It can't be used for money or personal profit, magic is too smart for that. To use it, you have to have the objective of protecting someone you care for deeply." His voice was even, but his eyes were begging Kai to at least seriously consider the possibility. If he didn't Devan didn't know what he could do.


"It's also very rare. It only works for those the magic deems worthy of it." He knew it was weird to describe it as if it was alive. But in a sense magic was very much alive. It lived in those who used it. Thrived in the ones who used it wisely and with great purpose. People like his parents.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai wasn't disbelieving Devan out of dislike or disrespect. It simply wasn't in his realm of experience, and being a logical person, he had to trust his own experiences when it was time to act. Asking him to believe in magic with no concrete evidence was like asking him to fly to the moon. Hearing Devan insist on its reality made it difficult to keep calm. Just what had the King and Queen been teaching him? Devan was too smart to believe in this, too beautiful…


Kai had to throw that one out- thinking of the prince as beautiful was disconcerting. Instead, he drew a long, deep breath through his nose and bit back any harshness in his voice. For someone whose tone normally had a hard edge, this would take work.


"If magic only works to protect loved ones, then how could it be used to attack?" It was the point on which Devan's argument seemed to hinge for the moment, and though Kai hated poking holes, he felt he had to make the prince think logically.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan knew Kai was struggling to remain calm, but so was he. It still felt like Kai wasn't trying to believe him. Instead Kai just seemed to want to show Devan how wrong he was. But Devan wasn't wrong. No matter what Kai said, Devan knew the truth. He didn't say anything for several long moments after the question was asked. It wasn't that he didn't know the answer. He was just trying to stay calm and not get upset. Although it didn't feel like it would be an angry upset, just sad.


"They could be convinced that they are. If someone told them people they care about are threatened by us, they could use the magic to attack in order to protect them." He explained simply. Inside he was still desperate for Kai to believe him. Nothing seemed to be working though.


All he needed was for Kai to at least consider the possibility of magic. Something to show that he didn't think Devan was stupid for saying what he was thinking, as that was how it felt to the prince. He could handle someone else thinking he was stupid, he didn't need their approval. Kai was different.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai sat across from the prince, back straight, eyes looking directly into his. It was a habit of Kai's to match the gaze of everyone, though for the prince and the king and queen, he would respectfully lower them when appropriate. Right now, Devan needed to see that he was serious, but also that he meant no offense, nor did he think the prince stupid, merely misguided. He could see anger and hurt written all over the prince's face, and didn't like it.


"Our enemies are not attacking to protect loved ones, they're an invading force. It is a completely different mind-set." He paused, half-wishing he dared to take the prince into his arms and just hold him in a comforting way…then he wondered where that had come from. Kai didn't do 'comforting.' His shoulders straightened, as though to shrug off such things.


Still, as he looked at Devan, there was something slightly pleading in his gaze. "Your highness, I cannot plan for something I see no evidence of. Can you show me any?"

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan was glad that Kai was at least hearing what he had to say. "I told you, magic is tricky. No one knows everything. They may be able to manipulate the magic into doing evil." He said this before Kai asked for proof of his claims.


Devan was still hurt that Kai didn't believe him, but at least he was trying. Devan knew what was thinking could be dangerous, as it was still nighttime and those things may very well still be here. But he needed to make Kai see this was a possibility.


Devan looked down at his ring for a moment. It would have to be simple. So he took a breath and said a quick phrase in the same forgotten language as before and the candle and fire went out. He let just a second pass before using the phrase he had before and all the light returned to the room. He looked up at Kai. There was a silent plea in his eyes to believe him this time. He didn't know what else he could do to make Kai see what he was trying to say.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Even though Kai still didn't believe in magic, he couldn't help wanting to, for the prince's sake. Devan looked so miserable about not being believed. Still, he had to force his expression to remain neutral as Devan started mumbling words that didn't sound real. Not knowing what to expect, he was completely startled by the sudden extinguishing of the fires in the room, candles and all. Devan would hear Kai's sword swing out into the dark air, as he prepared to defend the prince in the complete darkness. When the lights came back on, he was standing before the prince's chair, but now looking over his shoulder at him with wide eyes.


Three times….exactly the same thing, three times….





And now Devan's gaze was locked with his, pleading. The fingers of one hand nervously twisted the gold ring he wore on the other.


Three times…


Once was a co-incidence, maybe twice, but even Kai couldn't pretend that the odds of a third time weren't astronomical. In spite of the whole magic angle, it was more illogical to believe that something out of the ordinary hadn't happened. A long silence grew between them as Kai tried to wrap his mind around what he'd just seen. Stubborn he was, but not stupid. Suddenly, he found his knees shaking, and he had to sink into the chair he had so recently vacated, rubbing over his face as though trying to keep his face from betraying him.


"How……did you do that?' he asked, even though it was more or less obvious. He just didn't know what to say.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan wondered if maybe what he'd done had been too much. Kai seemed really shaken up about the whole thing. Then again, Devan probably would have been as well. He knew it would take time for Kai to fully grasp this. "Magic." He said softly. "Remember when I said the ring was more than a simple signet?" He didn't wait very long. "It helps focus the magic so I can do specific things with it."


Devan knew that this was going to be tough to explain. "Back when Frieden was first formed, King Charles was willing to give his life to save his people. The magic believed that from that point on, Charles and all of his direct descendants were worthy of its power." He said. "Ever since, as long as the King and Queen of Frieden are happily in love, a magic border has defended the land and made it prosperous." It was the legend that every child heard as a bedtime story, but shortened.


"I have wanted to tell you for so long, but even in Frieden it is dangerous to let anyone know of the magic unless it's absolutely necessary." Now was the 'absolutely necessary' part of that clause.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai remained silent all while Devan spoke, his eyes on the re-kindled fire, both arms hanging between his knees. His sword now leaned useless against one thigh, like his defeated belief in logic as the ultimate means of looking at the world. How could he deal with this? How could his mind even comprehend that such things were real? He would have shrugged them off, like Devan's words, except now he couldn't. Fairy stories he had heard mothers tell their children were now coming to life before his eyes. Maybe this was all just a dream? He almost wished it was, but he knew the difference.


"And now, you've told me…because I didn't believe you." Kai let the silence linger for awhile, the fire flickering in his dark eyes. At length, he licked his lips, as though nervous. For someone who showed so little on the outside, this somewhat unsettled behavior was tantamount to a nervous breakdown. "You mean, then, to defeat these….enemies…things…with magic."

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan didn't like this side of Kai. It was like he was cracking and breaking with the reality that Devan basically just threw at him. After several moments, Devan reached out to Kai and took his hand. He held it lightly, a silent sign that Kai could let go if he wanted to. The prince's eyes scanned Kai's eyes, trying to gauge just how freaked he was at this new revelation.


"I don't know." He said simply. "But we need to be just as prepared to use magic as we are to use human weapons." He told him. He wanted to make Kai feel better. "Just so you know, magic doesn't wipe out the need for logical thinking. It just requires one to use their logic slightly differently than they would without it." He said. "It doesn't mean ruling out the things someone with no knowledge of magic would consider, it just adding to the list. I know it's a lot to take in, if you want to keep talking using your logic, you can. I'll handle the magical thinking of it if you want me to." He didn't want Kai to over-think because Devan dropped this huge bomb on him.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Almost….almost….Kai pulled his hand away. It twitched inside the prince's, only staying because he willed it to do so. Yet his mind seemed to want to pull away in the same manner. Others may have found this new reality fascinating, and there was a small part of himself that couldn't help but feel that way. Mostly, though, he saw a million new possibilities for danger or madness for which he had never been equipped. Somehow, though, that small touch from Devan helped to steady him. At any rate, now he knew what all those private lessons with the king and queen were about. And their decision to send Devan against the enemy made much more sense now


To use their hereditary power offensively, though? If that was the only thing that could beat their enemies, what good was he after all? Hearing that logic was still needed didn't do much to comfort him- he was still very lost. Kai just kind of nodded and didn't say anything for a moment.


After a long while, he seemed to gather himself a little, taking an unsteady breath and straightening his back. Kai pulled his hand away from the prince's, not because he didn't like it, but because it was a distraction.


"Do you know how to use magic as a weapon?"

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan stayed quiet, letting Kai think all of this over. Kai withdrew his hand. Even though Devan yearned to hold it tighter, he let Kai do so, his fingers going back to twisting the ring. The question was one he should have been one he was expecting. It still took him a few moments to answer, trying to figure the best way to word it.


"I've had all the training that can be given." Devan told him. "Of course I've never actually had to use it, but I know what to do." He had hoped he would never have to use it as a weapon. "Magic is difficult to wield as if it were a sword, it's mainly used for defense. However, if the person has only pure intentions, the magic will let itself be used to cause damage and defeat an enemy. Like King Charles." He paused. "Like me, both of us with the intention of saving our people."


Protecting those who could not give you anything more in return was one of the purest intentions one could have. And Devan wasn't doing this because of what the people could do for him. He wasn't that sort of prince.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai accepted what Devan told him because he really had no other choice. Anyway, even if he had thought the prince deluded before, he had never known him to be a liar. If Devan said he knew what to do, Kai had to trust him. The whole concept was just a difficult one to understand without seeing first-hand. However, if there was anyone who could wield such power with pure intentions, it was Devan. About that, Kai had no doubts.


"Did their majesties have any notion of what the enemy is? What they can do? Are you meant to mend a magical border, or….what do they expect you to do?" Blue eyes met Devan's, trying hard not to look helpless as the knight actually felt.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan tried to figure out how to explain everything he had been told. "We're not sure exactly what it is." He said. "We think, because of how it's acting, that it's purpose is to create hysteria. Perhaps to cause tension between mother and father about what to do." He looked down. "Any serious tension between them, aside from what is normal of two people in love, causes the border to grow weaker. They must have somehow detected a weak spot, there is always one, and got in." He hadn't been planning on telling Kai all of this, but now he didn't have a choice. Kai needed to know.


"I need to stop whatever this is. Push it back outside the border and reinforce it just enough to get back home." He said. "Once mother and father find out it's done, their stress will fade and the border will strengthen itself once more."

 

[Quatre Winner]

If Devan was going to open up to anyone in the kingdom about this, apart from his mother and father, who already knew, he could not have chosen a better confidante. Kai would rather have died than reveal these things to anyone else, and getting information from him was always like pulling teeth, anyway.


"I see." he said quietly, not really seeing at all. It only made the smallest amount of sense to him, since this was all totally out of his realm of experience or thought. Kai tried hard to understand, but the only way he could think about it at all was in terms of a battle and weapons. He supposed that made some sense, and it brought up questions he hadn't thought of before.


"Are there other…practitioners of magic? Could they be as strong as the king and queen? If their strength makes the defenses strong, wouldn't the source of their stress be closer to home?" Plotting courtiers, maybe? Though, he had to admit, he had never seen any evidence of that in the castle. Perhaps their loving influence was too strong.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan once more took a moment to carefully word it. "There are." He said. "I don't know how strong any of them are, all we've heard are stories. No one else in the kingdom as magic. Father would be able to sense that." He decided to try and explain the border a little differently, using Kai's mindset instead of his own.


"Think of the border like armor." He said. "It protects us from virtually every angle. Except the one spot that is always weak." He sure hoped this worked. "Whatever this is used the weak spot in our armor, like pushing a sword into it but not actually reaching the body inside, and then started to cause the stress from within. Mother and father are stressed about this thing plaguing their people and it's making the border weaker, possibly allowing more in."


Devan knew this was difficult. "My job is to remove this thing, like pulling the sword from the armor, before it does more than just scratch, and throw a patch over it before it can be fixed." He looked up at Kai, a question in his eyes as to whether or not the analogy made the magic any easier to understand.

 

[Quatre Winner]

Kai was inexplicably glad to know that, in all his time around the king, he had never sensed any magic in the stoic knight. Kai felt he could not have dealt with that, on top of everything else. At least Devan's explanations were making somewhat more sense, if only a little. At least now he had a better mental image, rather than some ephemeral whatever.


"If the king can sense magic, does that mean he can sense evil magic? And…can you sense it? Can you feel where it's coming from so we can find this hole, or whatever it is?" He paused, rubbing his chin. "How do you even patch up something like this?" In his mind, he was imagining an extra plate being screwed onto a tear in some armor, but it only went so far, That place would always be weak, not being formed when the first part of the armor was fired and pounded by the blacksmith's hammer.

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan knew he would have to take it slow. "There is no discernment between good and evil magic." He said. "It's like a sword. The sword itself isn't evil, it's the wielder that determines that." He could do the analogies, he knew they helped. "I can't tell exactly where it's coming from. These things can get back out of the barrier from anywhere. At that point we'll be at the border and I'll sense the weak spot wherever it is.


"Fixing it isn't exactly like fixing armor. It's more like fixing chainmail." Devan knew that this analogy would work better. "It's like clipping a smaller piece over a hole until a new section can be fastened that makes the chainmail as strong as before. The border is getting weak because mother and father are growing old. Once I take the throne with my...queen...it'll be as strong as it has ever been." Of course there was one small problem in this. Devan was sure he didn't want a queen. The magic wouldn't tell the difference, it was his people he was worried about.

 

[Quatre Winner]

"I wonder if it would be easier to ride around the border, looking for the weak spot. That might be too dangerous, though." If the creatures could get in and out anywhere, no place was safe for the prince. Now, they were expected to go right into the heart of darkness, as it were.


Kai was thinking of what Devan said, and what they needed to do, when he caught the hesitation in the prince's voice. It happened on the word 'queen'. Quickly, the knight looked up, but pretended he was lost in thought, rather than gazing straight into the prince's eyes. He wanted to catch the exact expression on Devan's face, to know what he felt. Not until that moment did Kai think Devan was anything other than what he was supposed to be…in that regard, anyway. Perhaps he was reading too much into it, but the knight's heart beat a slightly quicker tempo in spite of himself.


"I suppose…" he said slowly, trying to sound nonchalant, "I suppose their majesties couldn't abdicate to you and your queen? I know you've not chosen one yet, but perhaps one could be found? Would that work?" Not that he wanted the king and queen to give up their thrones, but if that was the only way to save the kingdom...

 

[Tinker Bell]

Devan shook his head. "The creatures would likely want to go back out through the weak spot, or close to it." He said. "It's best to get them out first. The Kai started asking about his parents abdicating.


"Finding a queen isn't that simple." He said. His voice still seemed hesitant on that word. "We would have to get along very well and make each other completely happy." And there was the problem. "If not, the magic starts to fail and the border crumbles. All the bad things from outside get in and we collapse."


Devan knew that he could never make a woman fully happy and vice versa. But Devan had been too afraid to tell anyone. He still was. He couldn't even tell Kai, the person he trusted more than himself. He couldn't risk the people not supporting him. Everything would be for nothing.

 

[Quatre Winner]

"Ah…" Kai had to admit that was a tricky one. Even in such a kingdom as theirs, divorce and unhappiness in marriage weren't unheard of. They just tended to be rarer than outside the borders. Kai should have known that their majesties would already have thought of such a thing and dismissed it for the same reasons. Usually, he didn't question their judgment. What was wrong with him lately, anyway? He'd been doing a lot of things he usually didn't do, like sneaking looks at Devan just to catch a glimpse of his eyes, or the way his mouth moved when he talked. That needed to stop.


Kai shook his head. "Getting back to the creatures," he continued, not even questioning the word, "Would there be humans working for or with them? Or is that something else we have to find out?" It was possible that the enemy, or creatures, or whatever they were had allies from outside the kingdom. Kai honestly couldn't see that many people willing to fight on their side within the borders, unless they'd been coerced. Freiden was not a place that particularly bred unhappiness…though perhaps there were those who never could be happy no matter what. He'd met one or two individuals who fit that description.