Pirate Princess (5 page)

“What are we doing in the orchard?” I asked to pull my mind away from his attractiveness. He was too old for me and saw me like a child so there was no hope even if I had wanted there to be. I still enjoyed looking though, just like every other woman in the Kingdom.

“First I’m going to use my powers to see your aura to determine how much magical power you have or could potentially have. Not everyone is born with a great amount of magic, but can work towards unlocking it if they have the beginnings of power,” he explained.

“Does it hurt?” I asked nervously.

He shook his head. “No, you will just feel a tingly sensation that some say resembles tickling and then after a moment it will go away and I will be done.”

“What if I don’t want to know how much magic I have?” I asked softly, looking down at my hands.

He rested his hand on my shoulder and said, “Let’s take a look and go from there, alright?” I sighed and nodded my head. “Hold perfectly still.” I did as instructed and soon felt as though he was tickling me. I resisted the urge to squirm, but it was very difficult since I hated to be tickled. He finished and stepped back to lean against the tree again. The silence stretched on for so long I almost sat down. “What types of magic have you tried to perform?” he asked me instead of telling me what he had seen.

I knew it. I didn’t have enough magic power. “I have tried all the basic spells that they teach us in school. I passed the journeyman’s test.”

“Can you light a candle?” he asked. I nodded my head despite wanting to say something rude because you had to do more than that to pass the journeyman’s test. “Can you move an object with your mind?” I shook my head. “Can you manipulate water?” I shook my head again. “What spells can you do?”

“Light a candle, unlock an item, and heal a minor injury like a scratch, but nothing deep or too long in length,” I said in embarrassment. I had barely passed the journeymen’s test because I had only been able to heal a portion of the tester’s injury.

He rubbed his jaw as he thought about my responses. What went on in the head of a man like him? Did he think of everyone else as pitiful compared to him or did he just view others as potential experiments and use them to advance his own knowledge?

He stopped rubbing his jaw and looked at me in shock a moment. “Wait, you can unlock an item? They don’t teach that at school. Can you unlock anything?” he asked.

I resisted the urge to smile. “Yes.”

“Doors? Padlocks? Chests?”

“Yes, yes, and yes.”

“That’s interesting,” he murmured, “Do the Queen and King know?”

“No,” I said softly.

“Have you tried lighting anything bigger than a candle on fire?” he asked as though my withholding information from my aunt and uncle didn’t matter.

“I tried lighting multiple candles at the same time, but could only light one at a time,” I said.

“Try lighting the apple stem on fire,” he said, indicated an apple that had fallen from the tree and was lying on the ground between us.

I rubbed my hands together, blew into them to warm them up, and focused on the apple’s stem. A few seconds went by and nothing. I looked up at him and said, “You’re staring at me.”

“I’m watching to see how you perform your spells,” he explained.

I exhaled and focused again, trying to forget that he was watching me. Finally the stem caught fire, but only burned for a second before going out.

“Wonderful,” he said with a smile, “now try lighting this tree on fire.”

“What?!” I asked in shock.

“Don’t worry you won’t get in trouble,” he said with a smile, “And I can control it if it gets out of your control.” He stepped away from the tree and stood beside me. “Focus on the tree like you did the apple stem, but this time picture the entire tree lighting on fire at the same time.”

I didn’t think it would work, but I faced the tree and focused on it. I imagined the tree bursting into fire which covered the entire thing at once. I imagined the fire burning hotter and hotter and the tree turning to ash. I replayed the image a few times and then leapt back when the tree caught fire, burned white hot, and turned into a small pile of ash at our feet.

“Well, that’s not exactly what I had in mind, but is very explanatory,” he commented.

“Why can I light a tree on fire, but not two candles?” I asked curiously.

“Some people can’t ever target multiple objects at once and others just have to practice for years to acquire the talent,” he explained, “and some people can focus on an item and make it burn no matter how large it is. Sometimes their visual ability, that is the ability to visualize an item burning or exploding or such, is easier than them focusing on multiple items.”

“So you’re saying I can’t light two candles on fire, but I could probably light an entire ship on fire?” I asked disbelieving.

He nodded his head and smiled happily. “Exactly.”

Well that was a handy power to have.

“Why did it turn to ash?” he asked me.

“I, um, pictured it doing that,” I explained in embarrassment.

“Have you ever made something burn that hot before?”

“No.”

“Had you ever tried before?”

“No.” I hadn’t thought of trying that.

“Well then, you and I will be trying a lot of other things to see what you are capable of,” he said.

“So, I do have power?” I asked softly, afraid of his answer.

“What do you mean?” he asked me, his brow furrowing in confusion.

I looked down at the ash at our feet to avoid seeing his facial expressions. “I mean, I can’t do complex spells like most of the others in my class, but I do have some power if I’m able to burn the tree, right? I’m not completely void of magic?”

He knelt down so that I had to look into his face and said, “My sweet Tilia, you have even more magic than me. We just have to figure out what type of magic you are attuned for.”

I stared at him in silent disbelief.

“You thought you had no magic?” he asked me quietly.

I nodded my head.

“Every mage is different, Tilia. Your aunt and I have vastly different abilities and some similar, but even though I can manipulate water and do complex teleportation spells and she cannot, she still has more magic than I do. I just train a bit harder.”

I didn’t know what to say. I had been so upset that I didn’t have magic like my mother and my aunt and now I found out that I had more magic than even one of the greatest mages in Crilan. It was almost impossible to take in.

“Your ability to unlock things is actually a very rare talent,” he told me, “In fact I can’t remember the last person I knew who had it. It would be wise if you kept that talent a secret from everyone, except the King and Queen of course. Do you understand?”

“Not really, why would anyone care if I could open things?” I asked him. It would be great for stealing things, but it would hardly make sense for someone to want to use me for that.

“There are some who would use this power for evil,” he explained, “Some might try to access the King’s vault, while others would think forcing you to stay on their pirate ship and assist them with robberies would be beneficial to them.”

“You don’t have to worry about pirates,” I said with a smirk, “none of them would take me.”

“You seem pretty sure of that,” he said, “but pirates are notoriously dangerous and will do whatever benefits them. And stealing a princess for ransom or to help them steal items would be very beneficial to them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. If only he knew that the second they took me and my tattoo was shown to them they would take me wherever I wanted to go with a smile on their faces and would give me whatever I wanted out of their treasure stores. “So, do you think it’s possible for me to become a High Mage or even Arch Mage if I have as much magic as you two?” I asked hopefully.

“I think you will set the bar higher than any others for what is required to be Arch Mage. I am going to have a lot of fun testing you for your rank progression.”

“How’s it going?” Jared asked as he walked out of the orchard towards us. He looked at the ash pile that used to be a tree and then at Faxon.

“Well we discovered she has a unique ability and that she is good with large scale fire magic,” Faxon told him proudly.

“That sounds like you’ve made a lot of progress already with just one lesson,” Jared said.

“So, do we get to spar today?” I asked hopefully, smiling sweetly at him.

He smiled and said, “We have time for a short lesson, but then we have to rest before our journey. It’s going to be a long, boring time.”

“Our journeys are never boring,” Faxon said, “Don’t let him fool you.”

“Come on, I’ll see what you’re made of today so I can figure out what you need to improve on and then when we reach Markleville I will give you your first real lesson,” Jared said.

“I’m going to go find Esmeralda,” Faxon said, “Good job today, Tilia.”

“Thank you,” I called to him as I followed Jared.

“So, what’s your unusual ability?” he asked me as we walked.

I rarely had time alone with my uncle and it was actually nice. There was something about him that just made me feel comfortable and safe. I looked around the orchard to see if anyone was near and said, “I can unlock anything.”

He stopped walking and turned to me. “Anything?” he asked.

I nodded my head. I wasn’t sure how he would take it, but I figured it was best to let him know now. “I’ve unlocked your vault before,” I admitted, “but I didn’t go inside and I immediately locked it back up and I made sure no one saw me,” I added quickly.

His brow furrowed and he started walking again. “I appreciate your honesty with me and would appreciate it if you didn’t do that again.”

“I won’t,” I promised, “I only did it the once to see if I could. I would never take anything.”

He didn’t say anything, just kept walking. We entered the training arena and there were still a few trainees there. Some whispered excitedly when they saw the King was here, but others were whispering about me as well. “Did you do a demonstration today?” he asked me softly. Marcus kept Jared up to date on all the trainees’ lessons and told him whenever I was used for a demonstration, which happened quite a bit.

I nodded my head. “Dagger throwing.”

We stepped into the arena and I let my feet slide in the sand as we took the first few steps in. “Dagger throwing, huh? Well why don’t you show me what you can do?” he asked, motioning towards the targets that the trainees had not put away. I started to walk closer to them and he grabbed my shoulder. “From here.”

“Here?” I asked in shock.

He smiled. “Yes.” He pulled out a dagger, threw it sideways without looking, and it stuck in the center of the target.

Show off. I faced the targets, pulled out two daggers, one in each hand and threw them at the same time into two targets, their tips in the exact center.

“Not bad,” he said, “But show me what you did that made them so enamored with you.”

I retrieved our daggers and then took two more out. I faced my uncle with the targets behind me and threw them one at a time over my shoulder so that all five targets had a dagger sticking out of the center. “That’s what I did, but I was closer when I did it,” I told him.

He walked to the targets, examined each one and then pulled the daggers out. “Well you certainly don’t need my advice on dagger throwing.” We put our daggers away and he pulled out his sword. “Draw yours.”

I did as instructed and then took a ready stance as I faced him. He smiled and struck. I blocked and tried to strike him. He blocked it easily and pushed hard so that my blade and arm were swung away from him, leaving my body wide open. I grabbed a dagger with my left hand and used it to block his next strike. He stepped back, and began circling me. I followed him, keeping the dagger in my left hand in case he tried a similar move like the last one. He lunged forward, sword above his head for a downward strike. I rolled to the side and attempted to strike his back, but he spun faster than I had ever seen a man, aside from my dad, move before and blocked my strike. He had given me a false opening on purpose.

“Nicely done,” he said as he circled me again.

I dipped my head in acknowledgment. “Most would go for the stomach since it was left open, but I could tell that was a trap,” I told him.

He smirked and I felt pleased with myself for having figured that out.

I threw the dagger at his left shoulder so he had to block it with his sword, grabbed another dagger, and then tried to cut his right leg where he was open. He blocked it with a dagger in his left hand and we stood facing each other, his arms crossed over his body as he held me back. I moved my dagger back to make him think I was about to use it, but then kicked his right shin. He grunted from the impact and before I could move backwards from him, he knocked my legs out from under me and sat across my stomach with a sword headed towards my throat. I blocked his sword with my sword and dagger and tried to push him back, but I wasn’t anywhere near as strong as him.

“Submit,” I said with a groan.

He stood up, put his weapons away and held out his hand to help me stand up. If it had been anyone else I would have refused, but I took his hand and let him haul me up to my feet. “You’re quite impressive for only being sixteen,” he told me.

“Thank you. I practice a lot.”

“Who taught you to fight?” he asked me.

“My dad and his…warriors,” I said, almost saying crew.

“You came to us when you were ten,” he said as if I had forgotten.

“Ten and a half. Yes, I know.”

“Your father taught you all of this before you were ten?” he asked in shock.

“The world is a dangerous place,” I told him, “And a noble girl should know how to protect herself in case she doesn’t have any guards present.”

“When did you start learning to use the sword?” he asked softly.

“I believe I was three when he gave me my first real sword, but I had a wooden one when I was two or that’s what I was told.”

He frowned and looked at me as if seeing me for the first time. “I wish I could meet your father.”

I smiled and said, “I’m sure you two would get along very well.” Until you tried to kill him for being your most wanted criminal.