Author Games Magi: Eriswen Faervel

Task Six: Ruling a Kingdom

Vaxon's army left the castle soon after Mordzar took charge of everything. They didn't seem to care much who they served now that Vaxon was gone, but no one wanted them around. The rebel army occupied the barracks when they left and gradually, the uproar began to die down a little, at least around the castle.

Messages came from around the kingdom, reporting the different states of the kingdoms providences. Most were in an uproar since their king was gone. Several of Vaxon's supporters had gone into hiding after he died and things were beginning to look more positive as the weeks went by.

People were getting on with life and most of the Magi had moved into the various empty rooms of the castle with their families. A few had moved out, but most hadn't had anywhere else to go. Vaxon had destroyed their homes when he captured them and their families and there wasn't enough time to find new ones for all of them.

Kyren was still refusing to become king, but he was happy to lend a hand to everyone and give them use of the castle. Since it was technically his, Mordzar had asked him about it first. Apparently, Eiridan had really done something inside the man. Either that, or losing his entire family had really eaten him up inside. Regardless, he had quickly agreed to let everyone move into the castle. All of the Magi had made good use of the many rooms in the castle happily.

Well, all of them except for me.

After everything I'd done, Mordzar, Eiridan and Jaeyria were pretty much the only people in the entire castle willing to outwardly accept me, despite the fact that I'd killed Vaxon in the end. Most of the soldiers hated me and all of the other Magi did too. They despised my inability to hold true to my beliefs. More so when word got out that I'd saved Vaxon's life before he became king. Thank you, Vassti.

Before she left with Nassia, she'd told everyone about it. Since I'd been the one to kill her husband, it was no surprise that she hated me, but spilling the beans had made my life pretty miserable and the fact that I had redeemed myself in the end flew over people's heads pretty quickly.

Sitting alone at a table in the corner barracks' mess hall, I picked at the food on my plate, lost in thought. Little lights danced around my head and I batted at them, annoyed. They hadn't gone away since I first tried to use my new Phoenix powers, and they were starting to get on my nerves. If I ever needed to go somewhere in the dark, they had a certain usefulness, but other than that, they were pretty much just annoying. At least they didn't drain my energy, which was a relief, because I still wasn't getting nearly as much sleep as I needed.

Eventually, I gave up trying to eat and got up to throw my nearly untouched meal away. Again. Since everything with Vaxon, I hadn't been able to hold a real meal for long. It always came back up soon after I ate.

Three of the soldiers were waiting at the trashcan. They looked about my age and they were all looking at me like I was going to be their next snack. Inwardly, I sighed. This would be the third time in the last two days that these particular three approached me. They were stubborn, and despite my attempts to just lay low and stay out of everyone's way, someone always tried to single me out anyway.

"Go away," I snapped as I dumped my food out and dropped my plate off in the pile of dirty ones.

"What, you don't want to talk to us, traitor? Gonna just stick around and observe so you can report back to Vaxon's allies?" the leader sneered.

"Oh, and what, exactly, would I tell them, Riku?" I asked innocently. "That their enemies are a bunch of bullies who lack manners, style, and the ability to actually pick out insulting nicknames for people?"

Riku glared at me and his buddies moved forward, their fists clenched. My whole body was tense and I had to force myself to move forwards. If they attacked, I wouldn't be able to fight back, because if I did, I wouldn't be able to focus on keeping my energy from exploding outwards and more people than just Riku and his friends would be hurt. That was the first thing the Phoenix had stressed to me during lessons. Never let your emotions get the best of you or you could hurt a lot of people including yourself.