Chapter 7

Howen would have been tired of all of the traveling if it were not for Coria and Tortha. His nights were full learning magic from Dentris and his father, leaving the day and an hour or two before sleep took them for talking. In the two weeks they have been traveling, they talked about everything. They even talked about what they would do when the Darkness was defeated.

"Howen, what are you going to do when the Darkness is finally gone?" asked Coria, one night as the three of them were cuddling.

"To tell you the truth, I haven't given it much thought. Since learning that I'm the long lost prince and the one who is prophesied to bring the downfall of the Darkness, most of my thoughts were how I was going to do that. The rest of my thoughts have been on the two of you," he paused to see the two of them blush and got a kiss from both of them for that last statement, "Do either of you have any thoughts on what I should do?"

"Rebuild your kingdom," replied Tortha, "The reason why no one remembers where your kingdom was or what it was called is because the Darkness cast a spell that obliterated the knowledge from thought, speech, and writing. People know that there was a kingdom that was destroyed by the Darkness, but that is all that they know. My guess is that when the Darkness is gone the spell will be reversed either by you or by the Gods."

"That explains why my father knows where the kingdom was and what it was called, but as soon as he tells me it goes right through my head," said Howen.

It was some minutes before Howen spoke again, "I don't know if I'm able to rule a nation. I'm not a leader; I'm the guy who blends into the crowd."

Coria was beginning to become concerned. She had not seen this side of Howen. Since meeting him, he had been the calm one, now his biggest fear was coming out, that he was not right to rule a nation. She was happy that he felt comfortable enough to show his fears, but at a loss on how to help him through this. She was taught from birth on how to rule a duchy; she never had the fear that she would not be good enough. Luckily, Tortha knew how to help him through this.

"Howen, first you are able to rule a nation. You are compassionate, honorable and fair. You also won't be alone. Coria has been taught since birth about diplomacy and running a duchy; and I have centuries of life to draw upon. Together we will be able to rule a nation."

This seemed to put Howen at ease. The three shared a soulful kiss and went to sleep.

Howen's magical training was moving along. One night he would study with Dentris, learning Magician level magic. The next night he would learn from his father all of the Mage level magic. It was from his father that he learned more about the Ring of Power, Entrowar.

"Entrowar does two things," said his father, in Howen's mind, "It provides the focus for the Magician level magic; it also awakens and regulates the Mage level magic that is found in our family, until you are more proficient in using Mage magic. Without Entrowar regulating the magic, you would be destroyed in seconds, as the power would quickly overwhelm you."

The travel to the Temple was perhaps the greatest boon for the study of magic. A good portion of the spells that Howen needed to learn are offensive spells and highly destructive. If he was in a city or village, he could not practice these spells without cause injury or death to other people. By traveling to the Temple, he could practice these spells far enough away from the rest of the group so he does not cause injury, yet be close enough so that if something went wrong he could get help.

During one of these practice sessions, Howen learned just how destructive these spells were. The group stopped early on this particular day, so it was a late afternoon session. Today was Mage training day. He was standing in a large open field, about a half a mile away from the rest of the group. Near the far end of the field was a stump from a tree that had been cut down some years ago, judging from the dryness of the stump.

In his mind, Howen heard his father say, "Howen, for the last few sessions we have talked about the various offensive spells. Today we are going to try one of them. The easiest one to learn and try is the lightning spell.

"Our first lesson, I showed you how to find your Mage power. Since then you have constantly gotten it until it has become second nature. The next lesson had you gathering as much power as you could, repeatedly, so that your capacity increased. I want you to gather as much as you can and hold it."

Howen's mind quickly went to the area where his power came from. He then started to gather power until he felt bloated.

"Good. You learned from Dentris that Magician magic requires an object that the Magician has to focus their power through. Mage magic is different. With Mage, magic there is no object to focus. We gather power, see what we want to do in our mind, say an incantation, and let the magic go.

"Now, I want you to hold out your hand towards the stump. See in your mind lightning striking the stump. Then I want you to say the incantation, Vernia losati de ova, and then let your power go."

Holding out his hand and visualizing lightning striking the stump, Howen said in a clear yet soft voice, "Vernia losati de ova."

Howen felt the tingling sensation that he associated with magic. He also felt a slight pressure go from his head, down his neck and arm to his hand. In a spectacular display, lightning came out of his hand and soared to the stump. When the magical energy was gone, all that was remained was a black pile of ashes where the stump used to be. The success of the spell led to learning about the other spells: fire, earth, air, water. All of them unique.

"What make Mage level magic so powerful is not the amount of power that a Mage has, which is great," commented Kienastur, "but the creativity of the Mage. With Mages, the spell is not the incantation. We say that to throw off our enemies. The spell is your mind. If your mind can think it, your magic will do it when you release it."

"So, with our magic anything is possible?" asked Howen.

"Almost. We can't bring back the dead nor can we reverse the flow of time. These things are for the Gods only."

The lesson ended and Howen went to the tent for some quality time with his loves.

A few days later, not too far away in the thicket beyond the sentries, stood a being with coarse black fur, a long muzzle, and yellow eyes. It stood on its hind legs, with its ears on the top of its head facing forward, listening to the conversations happening around the fire.

One young man was talking about the progress he made learning Mage magic to two young women, one and elf. He had to report this to his pack leader.

Running on all four, the two miles to the camp was quick. He smelled and heard the rest of the pack before he came into the camp. Changing back into his human form he went to his pack leader, a human. He was weak looking, some muscles but not like the Lycans. He had a funny looking medallion round his neck. It had a fox in the center.