Disclaimer: All the usual rules apply, if you are too young blah blah, shouldn't be reading this, etc etc but seriously, who is going to know! Also, this story may contain acts of a gay sexual nature so if this offends you:
- How the hell did you come to be reading this anyway? Is there something you want to tell me? 2) Don't be such a homophobe...we are still people! 3) I suggest you leave now and find help.
Note: I have decided that from now on, although Jake will actually be using latin, I will write the spells in English. This makes the story flow better...and it is a damn sight easier to write! Also, if you see a word inside stars like this, it means it is a thought.
Again I would like to thank Oberon and Cornelius for their help with the proof reading of the story, without whom there would still be some glaring mistakes in there!
End chapter 7
"Well, that is hard to say but it should be in about four years. Do not worry, we will keep you fed and watered. You will just be a normal citizen until we call upon you."
"And what of my army ties?"
"Do not worry. I have many agents in the palace. Your kidnapping also turned out to be a murder by bandits from across the border. As far as everyone is concerned, you are dead. Hmm. I think you need to change your name. I find it helps in the beginning if it is something similar to your original name. I think maybe..."
"Rynor."
"Pardon?"
"Rynor...I want to be called Rynor."
Chapter 8
"Very well," replied Dominic, "Rynor it is then. Shall we begin?" Rynor awoke with a start. The dream had started again. It had not disturbed him for many years but now it had come back. He was lying in bed with Jake beside him. He was groaning and shifting around in his sleep so, not wishing to disturb him, Rynor got out of bed and went downstairs to the kitchen. He got a glass of water and sat at the table, remembering how Dominic had told him all about the resistance and the search for the true King. At first Dominic visited him regularly but after a while the visits had dried up and it wasn't until a few days before Jake was brought to him that Rynor had seen him again.
"But that is all in the past now, all of it," he said out loud, "I am a new person now. What I did for her...it doesn't matter any more...tell me it doesn't matter any more." He put his head in his hands, weeping.
"We are gonna beat you so bad you fucking faggot!"
"Yeah, you are gonna wish you were never born."
"I'm going to turn you in to a bloody mush!"
"Ha ha ha. You picked the wrong queer to pound on, you freakin' idiot." Jake was surrounded by 6 men between the ages of 19 and 30 and all of them were holding knives, pipes or other such weapons but he wasn't remotely bothered. This would be child's play for him.
Marcus, the leader of this motley yet, under normal circumstances, rather menacing crew was starting to get a bit concerned. Here they were putting on their best show of force with weapons (and faces) that would normally scare the crap out of a fully grown man and this guy was almost laughing at them!
"I am going to quite enjoy this, after all, a violent homophobe like you Marcus deserves everything that is coming to him" laughed Marcus.
What the fuck?' thought Marcus. How does he know my name...and what does he mean coming to him'?
Was that a flame? No, where could it have come from???
"Enough of this" yelled Marcus, seriously ruffled now, "Get him; he is just a fucking fairy!"
"Close, but no cigar" replied Jake as he floated four feet into the air and a perfect orb of flame appeared above his upturned hand.
"What the fuck is that" yelled one of Marcus' lackeys.
"What? You don't like fire? Ok, try this" said Jake and the orb of flame instantly turned into a sphere of ice which he hurled straight at the stricken man. With a resounding thud he was thrown against the wall behind him with a bleeding wound in his left shoulder. The rest of the men faltered for a second and then rushed Jake with renewed anger fuelled by their fear. Jake sent a blast
of flame towards one, instantly setting his clothes alight and with his other hand called down a bolt of lightening which struck a third man, stopping him in his tracks. However, before he could hover high enough into the air, the final three men grabbed him by the feet and dragged him back down to earth and started punching and hitting him with pipes.
He crouched in to a ball and put his arms round his head. Marcus and the other two men took this as him trying to protect himself but nothing could have been further from the truth. Under his breath
Marcus was rapidly muttering a stream of words he had recently learned. As he came to the end of his incantation he burst up to his feet and thrust out his arms upon which, energy he had been summoning dispersed like a shockwave, knocking his attackers and giving him an opportunity to escape relatively unscathed!
Rynor heard a yell from upstairs and bounded towards the bedroom.
"Oh not again!" he sighed. Jake was hovering above the bed, entirely nude as usual and fast asleep. Rynor walked over to him, gently placed his hand on his chest and pushed him back down toward the bed. When he came into contact with the bed, Jake woke up and looked blearily up at Rynor.
"The dream again?" asked Rynor, knowing full well what it was.
"Yeah. It is always the same. Always the same place, same people, same events and the same outcome. Why am I having this dream Rynor? What does it mean?"
"I don't know. Sometimes recurring dreams mean something or are supposed to show us something but sometimes they don't mean anything. We will have to wait and see. Come on, let's get some breakfast." Rynor let his hand drift over Jakes body as he said this and a stab of lust and regret washed over him. "It wasn't my fault," he told himself, "she made me do it."
Jake shuddered with pleasure at Rynor's touch but then noticed the look I his eyes. "Are you ok? You look troubled?"
"What? Oh, I'm fine" replied Rynor. Jake got up on his knees and hugged Rynor close, pressing his body up him.
"Are you sure?" This time it was Rynor's turn to shudder as he lay his head on Jake's shoulder and rested his hands in the small of his bare back.
"I am fine, honestly. Now, get dressed and let's get some food" he replied breaking away and turning to the door quickly, hoping Jake hadn't noticed his obvious excitement.
After breakfast, Dominic arrived and ushered Jake into the training room.
"Right," said Dominic, "I have been doing some research and it appears you can limit the power of the spell with the way you produce it. We have already established that your spoken spells are very powerful but I think that if you think the words like I do, it shouldn't be so powerful. Why don't you try it?"
"Lightning" thought Jake as he pointed to the target Dom had set up. A small, yet serviceable bolt of lightening shot from his hand and hit the target right in the centre.
"Excellent. That solves that problem" said Dominic.
"Wait. What if I am in battle and I don't want my opponent to know what I am doing but want to use a powerful spell?"
"Ah, I hadn't thought of that. Right, leave that with me."
"Dominic, the dream...its coming more and more frequently, I am having it almost every night now. What do you think it means?"
"Oh it's just a dream lad, leave it be! Right, just stay here and practice making some new spells or something, I want to check something" and with that Dominic swept out of the room leaving Jake with his thoughts.
About fifteen minutes later Dominic came back. "Ok, I think I have it this time. It's exactly the same as your spoken spells," he said, picking up the conversation as though it were only seconds ago, "you just have to think the spell with more or less force. Try it. I want you to destroy that target with fire without saying a word."
"Ok, I'll give it a go." Jake got into position in front of the target and pointed at it.
Fire. A strong wave of fire shot from his hand and hit the target but it did not break.
"Try again."
*Fire!*thought Jake with as much force as he could muster but again, the strong wave of fire that normally would have done enough did nothing more than burn the surface.
"Try again."
"Dom it isn't working!"
"Try again!"
FIRE. Jake was red in the face as he shot an even stronger blast of fire towards the target but it still just burnt the surface.
"Come on, try again." Jake was getting annoyed now, at his inability to do what he had done so many times before and at Dominic's failure to recognize this.
"Dominic. This really isn't working" he said calmly.
"It will, just keep trying."
"If I try any harder I am going to burst a blood vessel!" he almost shouted at Dominic.
"I don't care," Dominic shouted at the top of his voice, "try again!" This pushed Jake over the edge.
"Its not good just shouting at me" he yelled, "if I can't do it, I can't do it."
"ONCE MORE!"
"I am getting very bored of this!" screamed Jake. However, as he said `this' he pointed at the target and an enormous torrent of fire erupted from his entire hand, completely obliterating the target. What is more, the fabric of the entire room seemed to distort and shake. Jake and Dominic stood stunned before Dominic sprung into action, his hands in the air, rapidly muttering under his breath. Jake just stood staring.
"Jake, Jake look at me. Are you aware of what you just did? JAKE?" Dazed, Jake turned to look at Dominic. "Jake, just now, when I was researching your magic, I found something I hadn't seen before. It would seem that the royal family is unique amongst our people. For some reason, within your genetic structure is a...a sort of switch which you have to throw before you can access your true magical power. Now, I don't know why but a surge of emotion, in this case anger was sufficient, can help to trip this switch. Now, I don't know much about this, but I think that from now on you can control what magic you use, how you use it and how strong it is in your mind in a split second. Now, I have an important question. Just then, when you almost destroyed the magical fabric of this room, did you specifically think the command words required for that spell?"
"What, er, no. All I remember is saying I am getting very bored of this and imagining what you wanted me to do."
"Excellent, absolutely brilliant! Ok, I think, from now on, all you need to do is think about what you want to happen. You look confused. Ok, picture, in your minds eye what you want to happen, like watching it as though someone else were doing it. Do you see?"
"Like watching it on TV?"
"You mean those viewing boxes on the other planet? Yes, just like that I suppose. I tell you what, try it. Reform the target." Jake turned to the target, pointed to it, and then, in his minds eye, pictures the pieces on the floor reforming into a new target. Seconds later, precisely that happened. The target wasn't exactly the same as before because Jake couldn't quite remember what it looked like but it was close enough.
"Marvellous, now try shooting at it." Again Jake pointed at the target and then envisaged a spear shooting from his hand and hitting the target in the centre and, as before, seconds later this happened.
"Wonderful. Now, try once more, but this time I want you to close your eyes and keep your hand by your side."
Jake looked at Dominic sceptically but tried none the less. He closed his eyes, pictured the target and then pictured a large shard of red ice smashing into it, ripping it apart completely. He opened his eyes and instantly saw a large shard of red ice smash into the wall just to the left of the target.
"Right, so aiming and weapon need a little tweaking with the eyes closed, but then, I guess if you need to be using magic you won't have your eyes closed." He chuckled a little and turned to leave.
"What do you mean weapon. I meant it to be red."
"Well why on earth did you do that?"
"Dunno, just felt like it. Wanted to see how precise I could be with my images."
"Oh I see. Well that makes sense I suppose. I think you should practise with you eyes closed for a bit and then maybe tomorrow we will go out and get some practise in the real world." Jake practised throwing shards of ice at the target with his eyes closed until he could hit it dead on in the centre in less than a second every time. It didn't take him that long, his royal blood giving him an unnatural aptitude for magic.
At mid-afternoon, Dominic came to fetch him. "Come along, we are going on a walk."
"Er, right, ok then" said Jake, a little confused. About half an hour later Dominic, Jake and Rynor were standing in a glade in the forest outside the village.
"Right," said Dominic, "I am going to produce some targets for you to destroy then maybe after that you and Rynor can have a little spa."
"Ok, good idea, I haven't practised on moving targets before." With that, Dominic and Rynor retreated into the trees while Jake prepared himself. He found that he had his arm stretched out in front of him in preparation but decided to leave it there. He had got into the habit of pointing or using his palm as a target so he thought he might as well continue. He waited for a few moments and just when he thought Dominic had left he heard a twig snap to his left. Suddenly, five men ran out at him from the forest and formed a circle round the edge of the glade. Jake was impressed, these were really realistic targets! No, concentrate.
One of the men nodded and a man to his left pulled on a chain he was carrying and a small man with wiry hair and ever shifting eyes lurched out of the jungle with a collar round his neck. The man carrying the chain detached it from the collar of the smaller man and pointed at Jake. The small man smiled and drew two swords from sheathes on his back, advancing slowly on Jake. Jake, knowing that these were not really dangerous men, but creations of Dominic's, was not afraid. He pointed his palm at the man and sent a huge fireball at him but the little man jumped to the left, laughing. Jake, mildly annoyed by this tried again but the man simply jumped to the left again, avoiding it easily. This time, Jake thought about his attack and sent a bolt of lightening at the man, who was only about 3 metres away from him now, and as before, he jumped to the left to avoid it. However, he jumped straight into a second bolt Jake had sent along with the first, anticipating the little mans reaction to his attack. The little man shrieked and fell to the ground, paralysed.
This seemed to make the other apparitions most displeased so Jake decided it would be best if he made the next move. He checked behind him quickly then, picking up a rock in front of him with his telekinesis, sent it flying right between the eyes of the man standing behind him to the right while simultaneously smashing the man directly in front of him into a tree with a blast of wind, instantly rendering both useless. This really did anger the other apparitions and two more of them rushed him with swords drawn. Jake waited a few seconds to assess the situation then shot straight into the air hoping the two men coming at him from left and right would slash at each other. Unfortunately they did not do this and instead stopped short and glared up at him, waiting for him to come back down. Jake, decided that he wanted some sword practise dropped a large chunk of ice on one of the men and the floated down to earth whilst drawing his distinctive black sword.
The man in front of him looked a little disconcerted at his calm demeanour but Jake realised it was just Dominic making the training session a little more real. The attacker lunged at Jake and his fighting senses immediately kicked in. He blocked the attack and slapped the man across the face with his free hand. The fifth man who had nodded at the man with the chain laughed but did not move to help the assailant. This entertained Jake and he went on the attack, hacking and slashing at his attacker who only just managed to protect himself. Within seconds he was backed up against a tree and Jake easily knocked his sword out of his hand. The man fell to his knees, expecting to be killed but instead Jake paralysed him with a spell and walked back to the centre of the glade. He sheathed his sword and looked at the one man still remaining.
He was quite tall with very pronounced features with dark skin; Dominic had gone to a lot of trouble with this one.
"Jake, look ouargh..."
"I told you keep them QUIET" yelled the tall man without taking his eyes off Jake. Jake was starting to worry so he slowly backed away from the man towards where he believed Dominic and Rynor were waiting. As he came to where they were it took his eyes a moment to get accustomed to the gloom but as soon as they did he jumped forward and drew his sword.
"Let them go or you will not be around to regret it!" he said in a calm voice. Before him Dominic and Rynor where kneeling on the ground, each with a blade at there back in the hands of men much the same as those lying unconscious in the glade. There was also another man before them who was not lazily flipping a bull whip back and forth across the ground in front of him.
"I don't think we will be doing that," said the man with the whip, "not for some kid anyways." Jake almost broke out in a smile but made sure not to. He quickly checked behind him and realised that these men could not see the glade. They had no idea what he was capable of. With lightening reflexes he used his telekinesis to pick up a rock and hurtle it at the temple of the man behind Rynor whilst simultaneously lunging at the man behind Dominic. As the man behind him stumbled, Rynor jumped up and grabbed his sword to take on his aggressor. Jake then jumped over Dominic who had slumped to the ground and quickly dispatched the second man. Just as he was about to turn to the bullwhip man Rynor finished of the first man and moved to join Jake.
"Dominic, who are these people? Dominic? DOMINIC?" shouted Jake. After Jake had attacked the first aggressor with the stone, the second man who was guarding Dominic had reacted faster than Jake had anticipated and Dominic had not slumped forward in relief as he had thought but rather due to the stab wound he had gained in the back. Both Jake and Rynor rushed over to Dominic with Jake cradling his head in his lap and Rynor trying to tend to the wound.
"Ja...Jake. You must..."
"No Dominic, save your strength, don't talk. We will get you back to the village and get you patched up," said Jake, a hint of desperation in his voice.
"No...time. You must...succeed." With that Dominic put a hand over Jake and Rynor's heart and they felt a warm glow emanating from his hands. "You are...now...intertwined." Jake wasn't really sure what Dominic meant but he was to busy to worry about that. Jake smiled down at Dominic but he didn't have time to smile back.
"Ha ha ha, poor old fool couldn't take a little stab wound" laughed the man with the bull whip.
"He is NOT a poor old fool. He is ten times the man you or any of your scum could dream to be. It's bottom feeders like you that drag society into the swill you were spawned from." Understandably this did not amuse the man with the bull whip so he sent his whip cracking through the air at Jake who was staring down into Dominic's now closed eyes. However, just at the last second, Jake shot out his hand and caught the end of the whip surprising the man holding it and Rynor.
"How did you do that?" asked the man with the whip incredulously.
"That is none of your concern" said Jake flatly, "you killed Dominic so now I am going to have to kill you, after I have found out what I want to know of course. Who are you, who sent you and what do they want?"
"HA" barked the man, "you think I am going to tell you everything just because you ask?"
"Of course not," replied Jake with an evil grin, "where's the fun in that?" Jake shot out his free hand and immediately paralysed the man using his telekinesis. Although he couldn't move his eyes shot between Jake and Rynor and a bead of sweat trickled down his temple. Without any sort of warning Jake threw the man towards the glade where his muted scream was cut short my cursing and shouting. Jake marched back to the glade and the evil grin on his face widened. Without realising, he had thrown bull whip guy straight into the tall, dark man and they were currently trying to extricate themselves from the tangle of limbs they had created on the floor.
"What the fuck are..." was all tall and dark managed before the both of them shot spread-eagled into the air and hovered, completely paralysed five metres above the ground.
"Right," growled Jake, "I can break every bone in your body or cut you to shreds with this sword from right here and I will do so quite happily unless you tell me EVERYTHING I want to know." By this stage his distinctive black sword was floating in front of the men's faces and Rynor was sitting on the ground next to Jake polishing his own.
"Let's start off simple shall we. Who are you?" Bull whip looked at tall and dark who simply spat down at Jake, missing. Jake chuckled and then his face turned savage, anger dripping off him like sweat. "Do NOT make me ask twice" he yelled as the index finger on the right hand of each man snapped.
"AARRGGHH, alright, I am Vaarl and that is Gher" said bull whip.
"Well Vaarl," spat Jake, "that is a start. Now, who sent you?" Again both men remained tight lipped but instead one of the men from earlier groaned and started to stand up. Just as he made it to his feet Jake's sword hurtled down out of the sky and impaled him right through the heart and attaching him to the tree behind him. Vaarl and Gher winced as he coughed up some blood and then fell limp, dangling off the sword. Jake retracted the sword, allowing the body to slump to the floor, and returned it to its place hovering in front of his two captives.
"If you do not tell me who sent you within ten seconds you are only going to achieve two things. One, you will have really pissed me off and two, neither of you will have usable fingers. I am going to count to ten, and for each number I say I am going to break one of your fingers. One...two..." Jake continued to count to ten, ignoring the screams of pain coming from the two men. Upon reaching ten it was clear to him that these two individuals really didn't want to talk so he decided to step it up a notch. For the next hour he shattered, snapped, stabbed and cut the information out of his victims learning that they had been sent to kill Jake and that they were being paid vast sums of money to do so. He also learnt that they were part of a terrorist cell opposed to the peace treaty between Cornelia and its neighbouring country Octavia. At the end of the hour he had learnt all he wanted to bar one thing.
"So, one last time, WHO SENT YOU?" he shouted. Gher mumbled something through cracked, swollen lips.
"Sorry, what was that?"
"Never" he mumbled again.
"You know I really didn't want to have to resort to this, it seems so barbaric but you really leave me no choice." Gher, the tall, dark one was wearing a pair of silk trousers which slowly started sliding down his legs.
"What are you going to do?" he asked panicking.
"Well, let's put it this way..." he said as he ran the flat of his sword along his exposed shaft. "I really, really don't want to have to do this but if you don't give me a name RIGHT NOW I will have to."
"Oh god no, please no!"
"Who sent you?"
"Please, if I tell you they will kill us."
"And if you don't, I will. WHO SENT YOU?"
"ANGELIQUE! It was Angelique." Jake turned round slowly toward Rynor and he heard two necks snap and Vaarl and Gher's lifeless bodies fell down to earth. His barbaric demeanour had completely gone and he appeared as a blood splattered child to Rynor how immediately stood up and enveloped him in his arms as Jake started to weep.
"Shh. It's ok, I'm here. It's ok. You didn't have a choice, you had to do it."