A tale of magicians, magick and a lost boy. By saying this is a fantasy I don't really need to stress that it is a work of fiction. Set in a nameless land, maybe even a nameless world, our rules and conventions do not apply here.
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ovote@unseen.is
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I certainly never expected that when I first sat in front of the keyboard , and started knocking this out, it would ever possibly turn into the story it ended up as. But here I am, over 46,000 words later, I thought it would be at best two or three sections, with a much heavier sprinkling of the bedroom activities of Tancred and Jamil. As it went on I started seeing that making it heavier on sex would make it less of a story, not more.
Thank you to all who mailed me with comments on the story, all being positive I assume I am my own biggest critic. Enjoy the final part, which came to me as an end about the end of chapter 2, This could also have served as a prologue, but with already having uploaded the first parts it wasn't to be.
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The eternal man walked slowly into the darkened throne room, with a glance upwards the lights gently brightened high above him. This would be forty eight times now he had stood here with a new King, just the two of them with the room warded against all others. He remembered every one of those men, he had loved them all dearly, watching over them from the moment of birth until they passed from life. Every one of them taking on the new name Leopold along with the crown. What had gone on during the daytime, the processional march through the streets, the music and speeches. Even the Crown Prince taking the golden crown from the pedestal and placing it on his head. That had all been pageantry for the crowds. Tonight was the real coronation, just two men performing a ritual that had gone on since the Great Mages had disappeared from the world. Today had also been the day over a millennium of tradition had been swept away with the first proclamation of the new King. And as much as he would have thought differently, Jacob approved strongly when the Crown Prince came to him for advice in the month of mourning for King Leopold. They had sat together and worded the proclamation together.
Let this be known to all.
The reign of King Leopold XLVII has been marked by the bringing of peace between two lands that have been in conflict for four centuries. There is now a strong and lasting friendship between nations where none had been before. We have seen our people grow strong without the loss of many falling in battle. Mothers and fathers no longer mourn the loss of sons fallen in war. This would not have come about without the tireless work of Leopold our king, and the work of Sir Thomas Talcar and Sir Simon Talcar. From this day forward the name Leopold will forever stand in our land for peace, for friendship, and for love of one's neighbour. Let his achievements be remembered well until the end of days. His acts never to be diminished by another taking the name. King Leopold XLVII shall be the last to bear the name.
People of this land, know that I will rule as my father did, as a king for every man, woman, and child of this nation. I will rule this land bearing a name never before taken by a King, I shall carry the name of the common man, a name to show that every common man is no less noble than the highest of the land.
From this day forward I carry with pride the name King Tancred the First of this name.
He brushed away a tear from the corner of his eye as he heard the throne room door open behind him. When it closed no sound would pass from the room, no man could open that door. King Tancred joined Jacob stood before the throne. Taking the King's hand he led him up the steps of the dais and stood beside him as he took the throne. Placing his hand on King Tancred's shoulder they both watched as a stone plinth materialised in front of them. On the plinth lay a large leather bound book. "You are the only man in this world that can open that book" said Jacob quietly. After a moment's pause King Tancred carefully opened the cover to reveal the blank pages inside. "Place one hand on each page" Jacob told him. And when he did, the knowledge of that book was passed to the King.
It became known to King Tancred of the war of the Great Mages. Of two brother Betlic and Hlaford, how they became rivals in the struggle to become the greatest Mage of them all. How mages had sided with one or other. The book told of the battles that were fought over land and over water. It told of the great destruction of cities and of the people, too many to count that perished due to the thirst for power of those mages. It told of mage killing mage, and of the diseases and plagues cast as weapons without concern for the people of the world. It told of the final battle between the two brothers. Standing high in the sky over the ocean the two faced each other. Every spell cast blocked by the other, each doing more damage. Of the two mages falling exhausted to the small rocky isle beneath them. How they crouched facing each other, searching all they knew for a way to kill the other brother. And of the mages stood high above watching silently. Of the uncounted time those brothers spent considering and discarding the next move. It told of the murmured whisper of one, how this could not go on, of the wait until the other saw the same. It told of the meeting of all the mages of the world. And how it was decided that all would sleep until man needed no mages in the world. And when that time came they would rise and go to all corners, doing nought but good, seeking no power in the world. And of how only then would mages be awoken by the one left behind to wait for this time. Of how this mage would sit as king in the palace built over the place, where far below lay sleeping mages. And how he will pass that kingship to his son, and from there down through the ages from son to son. And each king would bear the title Protector of Mage.
And when all was known to him book and plinth faded from the dais, leaving two, King and the one who watches, side by side in that room above those endlessly sleeping mages.
Thank you again to all the readers who contacted me with appreciative comments about Jacob and Tancred's story.
I am not entirely pleased with this final chapter, which I look upon as an epilogue. I may revise it and ask the Archivist to replace this at some point. But it will be the writing style and language that will be looked at again, not the content.