A Princess Named Harry: Book 2

Chapter 46

Varian's hatred for the royal family was nothing new. He still wanted to destroy them. Everyone knew that, but now his army was well aware of the things he was willing to do to achieve his goal.

Over the last couple of months, he had only been searching for one thing. Deep in the palace ruins was supposedly a place where the former Archambault king summoned the kingdom's strongest magic.

It was so strong that the use of the magic had been forbidden by the noble council. Archambault worked a little differently from Cardiaire. Their king listened to his people, and on their command, he sealed the forbidden magic.

It was because of their desire that he never once called it out. His child was occasionally brought to see it, but under no circumstances should it be activated. The king made sure to educate his child on that.

The child, the former crown prince of Archambault was dead. He had disappeared during all the chaos in the kingdom. He may have very well been hidden in the slums of Cardiaire. It was unknown.

Varian had no idea where the forbidden magic was. He had searched for months; he knew not to ask his soldiers; they had proved useless enough already. The only ones who weren't useless were Nathaniel and the other boy who barely talked. However, neither used their powers, so they became just as useless as the rest of his team. He sent them out on easy missions: go recruit more people with magic for his army.

Over the course of eight months, he gained nearly three hundred soldiers. He continued to search for the forbidden magic, but he kept coming up empty. Still, he refused to give up.

Soon, winter came to the destroyed kingdom. It brought snow along with it. Varian hated winter. It didn't bring him any good memories to remember. However, this time, it would bring him one.

He was warned by one of his scouts about the approaching danger, but he didn't care. He had gone to all but one place in the ruined palace now.

He pushed past all the rubble until he saw it. The old pentagram for the forbidden magic was still etched into the floor. Varian stood over it. He had a feeling he knew how to activate it. He pulled out a dagger and slashed his hand with it. He held out his hand letting the blood pour onto the mark.

As he watched the blood drop with anticipation, he suddenly remembered something someone had told him long ago, "Remember, Varian, power comes at a price. You'll never know what the price is until it is too late."

"Yeah, that's true," he said to his memory. "But I don't care about the price for power."

The markings on the floor lit up. Air began to pour into the room. It felt like the magic was coming alive, demanding to know why it was summoned. Varian gave it an answer. "I want power. Enough to destroy the Cardiaire Kingdom. I need the strength and power of an immortal army." The magic seemed satisfied with his answer because what emerged was his soon-to-be immortal army of monsters.