Chapter Forty-Three Of Barriers and Succession (Patreon)

Arlie stepped into the room, Aunt Vivian was already waiting. Today was her first lesson with Aunt Vivian and she had no idea what to expect. A yawn escaped her and she tried to appear smaller as the other woman loomed large in the room. Vivian giggled, “Oh, don’t be that nervous; this is a lesson, not an execution.”

Arlie didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t help lamenting the subject. Why couldn’t it be one of the fun offensive spells, there was nothing quite.. Arlie stopped herself and gave Vivian a wary look, did she catch that thought?

Vivian gave no outward sign of it, as she pulled open a heavy spell book. The other woman didn’t speak right away, merely gesturing at a seat. Arlie hurriedly settled into the provided chair. She had to pull it back a little since there was a simple desk in front of it. As she was examining the paper upon the desk the other woman began, “Alright, lets get started with a simple test. First off, what’s the difference between a ward and a shield?”

That much she knew, Ria had taught her that during her lessons on barriers. Arlie had found the knowledge useful, it made it easier to judge the best spells to break one. “Both are magical barriers that block both physical and magical attacks, the main difference comes in form. Wards are basically mystically conjured walls, extremely tough. Arrow, blade and spell will bounce off them quite often but they only protect from attacks in one direction. Flanking the ward or using a spell like fireball or liquid fire would be best to counter a ward. The latter work really well since they engulf the entire target in roiling flames, the ward won’t stop that, the fire would wash over and around it.”

She paused, took a breath, and then continued, “As for shields, they are omnidirectional. They surround a mage or enchanted object in their own bubble of magical protection. Having to cover more angles, a shield is naturally weaker than a ward formed with the same amount of mana, but the shield can’t be defeated from flanking or engulfing spells. Instead you have to deplete the barrier of magical energy or use a piercing spell. Granted there are spells that can outright nullify a barrier, be it shield or ward but those spells are tricky to use.”

“Not bad, we aren’t going to cover nullification spells just yet.” said Vivian, “Now for the next question. I have a quiz in front of you. Answer the questions best you can. I need to see how much you understand about defensive spell formulas.”

Arlie glanced at the paper, then groaned as she realized what that was about. Vivian set her to task and next thing she knew she was sitting there pouring over questions and writing out complex spell formulas. They were not simple things; mystic symbols didn’t translate well on paper, so writing them out wasn’t easy. It didn’t help that they were typically three-dimensional in nature, while more advanced spells could be fourth or even fifth-dimensional. Such symbols however just couldn’t easily be translated onto a two dimensional medium like paper. Thankfully centuries of mage craft had led to a robust glyph system for just that purpose and Arlie started working them onto the page.

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A couple hand spans later, Arlie watched Vivian read her test, marking the symbols in a lot of red ink. Vivian sighed, “Really? Are you sure you're a high mage? I’ve seen low mages with a better understanding of...”

“Ugh!”

Vivian gave her a look, “Guess we are starting from the basics.” she turned to a board, “Now for the first question, forming a basic ward. You structured a spell that’s so fragile a breeze could pierce it.” She started writing glyphs and forming them into a spell structure, “A basic ward should look something like this,” she pointed at a key glyph and launched into a lecture.

Arlie slumped in her seat. She was going to be here awhile, wasn’t she?”

The answer to that soon proved itself out. It would prove that the lecture Vivian had planned would last for several hours. Leaving Arlie rather bored, she rather liked flashy destructive spells. Defensive ones were just so dull, they didn’t even do anything until you took a blow, but unfortunately Vivian was fully aware of how lacking she was in the area. So Arlie was stuck with a magic lesson in the one field she didn’t have much interest in.

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Thankfully she was spared further lessons when the dinner bell came around. Something that turned into a bit of a production as she had to change clothes before being allowed into the dining hall. Arlie let out a breath as she sat down near Vivian, being a royal was turning out to be a real pain. No wonder they’d never told her, she could well understand the family tradition. It made so much more sense now that she knew this and she’d just got here.

Following Vivian down the hall, she entered the dining hall and stopped for a moment. It was a far cry from the modest main room of her home. Polished stone pillars ran along the length of the room, decorated curtains strung between them, each one bearing a mural and a clan crest, always in trios. It wasn’t hard to realize these murals told the history of the royal clans. A massive table that appeared to be fashioned from ironwood dominated the room with fancy cushioned chairs settled around it, while scantily clad maids stood at the ready in various posts. No food yet sat on the tables.

Servants came into the room with trays of food, but it was the maids who took the food from them. It didn’t go to the table. Vivian led her to a seat and Arlie sat, her eyes on the cute maids. The one she was watching seemed to inspect the food for a moment, then she muttered something, light gathering in her palm, she ran it over the food, when nothing happened, she took a bite of each item before pronouncing, “It’s clean.”

Arlie frowned, “Um?”

Vivian giggled, “Unfortunately we royals have to worry about poisons being added to our food. Those young ladies are all trained to identify and detect poisons for us. Not that you’ll ever have to worry about that.”

“Huh? Why not?”

Vivian sighed, “While our family is blessed to be resistant to illness, that doesn’t really include toxins. The same can’t be said for you, you are actually immune to most common toxins. Once upon a time that was how the family identified the Bykura Kinsara but thankfully these days we have better methods.”

Arlie paled, “I hope you are joking.”

“Sadly not. It’s in the old clan records at Voros. As I recall they used to use Tyka Root.”

“That makes sense, but still.” replied Arlie as she recalled what that particular root was used for. Tyka Root was known as a mild toxin that irritated the skin, the entire plant actually had it, but the toxin was most concentrated in the root. Said root was also the most useful part of the plant, and it was used in a wide variety of medicines, including one traditionally given to young girls after their menarche. In fact a lot of the uses for it were related to women’s health issues and it was not something to be given to men. Tyka Root was actually pretty bad for men in most cases. Arlie’s mind flashed to Mrs Santra, was she doing alright? Arlie wasn’t exactly around to look after her and she was pregnant. Was there a gate here? Could she pop on over?

“I did say we don’t do it anymore.”

A plate was settled in front of her by a barely dressed maid, “Here you are Princess. Fresh Barlas Fish, seasoned with salt and herbs. To the side you have a freshly made red sauce for your fish, and beneath it is a palace special. The chef’s own recipe for fish fried rice mixed with a selection of vegetables from the recent harvest.” 

Arlie started to say thank you but quickly stopped herself. Memories of her lessons with Emila flashed into her mind. Etiquette demanded a somewhat different response, “A fine meal, give my regards to the chef.”

Vivian said something similar to the maid, giving her a plate, and then spoke to Arlie, “Very good, seems Emila did a good job teaching you proper manners.”

Emila cut in from across the table, “Of course I did! I had a few months to teach my sister what she needed to know.”

The king sighed, “Emila, that was a private conversation, even if they could have been a tad less loud.”

Arlie flushed.

“Uh, sorry,” then she shifted. “Is it true Arlie is immune to poison?”

“Not immune, but she is unaffected by many common ones.” Vivian replied, then she paused, looked around and in a quieter voice added, “Also just so you know Reishan Root, while only mildly toxic for us, is extremely toxic to her.”

Emila frowned, “It is? What is she part dragon or something?”

Arlie flashed to when a certain dragon taught to use her breath. She had to admit she’d wondered the same thing. Strangely, she had the oddest feeling about how that dragon was treating her, she couldn’t help wondering if there was something more in that relationship. Not that any answers were forthcoming.”

Vivian replied, “A question many have asked, yet I have no answer for you.”

The King spoke up, “Speaking of questions, how are young Arlie’s magic lessons going?”

Vivian sighed, “Ria understated how far behind the princess is when it comes to defensive spells. I’m actually impressed that she managed to pass the tests to become a high mage without even one barrier spell. Hell, she can’t even use mystic armor spells either.”

The other royals all shared looks, then gave Arlie a look. Emila voiced the thought on all their minds. “What kind of mage doesn’t know a single basic defense spell?”

Arlie flushed but didn’t respond to the question. Instead after a moment she said, “Um, that aside should you be telling everyone what poisons work on me?”

Vivian giggled, “I wouldn’t worry about it, most poisoning cases are from disgruntled nobles or commoners.”

“Not fellow royals?”

“Let me guess you’ve read a few books? Well they don’t depict our monarchy, things work a little different under a triple monarchy. Now when it comes to succession, either the king dies or abdicates the throne first. Many stories depict poison being used to help speed things along but that’s rarely required in the first place.”

Arlie frowned, “huh?”

Emila interjected, “I never did cover the subject of succession; anything regarding court politics was only covered at a basic level.”

“Ah I see. Well then, I guess we should start with how a king is chosen. Every child of the royal clans has a claim to the throne but some have stronger claims than others. The strength of which is determined at birth, but merely being first in line doesn’t mean you will take the throne. A prospective claimant must pass the Trial of Leadership and visit the shrines of the high gods. Only a king or queen of unshakable faith with the strength and wit to lead can take the throne.”

The king spoke up, “I enjoyed visiting the shrines myself, I was even lucky enough to gain a blessing, it was a good omen and strengthened my case over my brother’s. He may have been the elder son but it ended up with me taking the throne.”

Arlie listened along, it made sense to her that a blessing would make a claim for the throne stronger. Within the kingdom the people were pious, as such the priesthood had a powerful sway over the people. A king with a blessing would be seen in a positive light. Few would dare question such a king, even among those that could question the king.”

Emila nodded, “I haven’t yet taken the trials or visited the shrines, but father is in good health and strong of mind. It should be many years before he has to vacate the throne.”

“Right, and how does that usually happen?”

The king said, “Well Queen Vienna abdicated when my father died, and the king before her abdicated as well. Rarely does a king or queen actually die on the throne. Most abdicate, usually when their children are strong and their health or mind starts to fail. The people lose faith when there is a weak ruler on the throne. I personally plan to abdicate myself, just not for many more years. It’s not yet time for the throne to be passed on. Besides that gives me more time to train my successor, and then make sure they actually do the job properly.”

Vivian spoke up, “Speaking of weak rulers, abdication and death aren’t the only way to leave the throne. As High Princess Regent, I have the power to call Michael’s fitness to rule into question and if the High Prince of the Griffin Clan concurs, we could remove him from the throne leaving it vacant for the next in line to claim. However if they don’t, the matter would be moved to the council of twelve where the dukedoms would weigh in on the matter. If they decide he is still fit to rule that will be the end of it. If not, it would be the same as if the two us had agreed from the start”

Arlie commented after swallowing a bit of her food, “Huh that’s interesting.”