Finding a Prince

Chapter 9

"If you found him you were told to bring him back, not kill him!"

"We didn't kill him, just knocked him out."

"The Queen won't be happy."

"Do I look like I give two shits about what the queen says? She'll be too busy doting on her long-lost son to care anyway."

"You're bitter about that, aren't you?"

"I was supposed to be the ruler, not him."

"He is the prince."

"He's a coward."

"So be it. What happened to the other one?"

"The spy? He's in the dungeons where he'll rot, can't kill him though. Straxer thinks he might be useful."

"I doubt it. You better tell the queen, she'll want to see the prince. Take him to the physician; let's hope he wakes up before she comes back."

"If he does."

Phil woke up with a gasp. His entire body ached. He tried to sit up but a wave of agony shot through him immediately. A pained cry ripped from his throat but it sounded distant and hazy.
"I wouldn't do that again if I were you, it'll hurt." A voice from the other side of the room said with a cruel laugh.
Phil looked down his body at the restraints holding him down. Small rings of orange energy surrounded his body, stopping him from moving. There were smaller bands keeping his arms and legs fastened down. He tested lifting his arm up but as soon as it came into contact with the band a burning sensation shot through his arm. He hissed in pain and jerked his had away only to be stopped by the band. He'd seen this type of magic before, but never experienced it himself.
"Orthia?" Phil asked in surprise, "I thought you were dead."
"Likewise." The figure that had spoken earlier emerged from the corner and into Phil's view. She was taller than he remembered and thinner too. Her once kind eyes had sunken back into her skull and her skin had turned dry and yellow like parchment. These were the symptoms of overuse of magic, something that luckily Phil had been exempt from. There were two types of magic in Solmorta, born and forced. Very few were born with magic however it was a trait that ran in the royal family, it did have its setbacks however because it can only be used in the form given, in Phil's case ice. He was the only one of his immediate family to have been born with magic. Hundreds of years ago, born magic ran in most families but soon it began to disappear, even from the most powerful magic families of all. Phil would probably be the last to carry it, being unable to have children due to his preference of men over women, something his parents had always been ashamed of. Forced magic however, although difficult to master, can take any form the user wants and can be used in many different ways. The problem is that it's like a drug, addictive and destructive. Once you start using it, it is difficult to stop. It gives you a sense of power and invisibility that is difficult to give up and many a King or Queen of Solmorta had found out once they resorted to it after their own magic began to disappear. Born magic was far more powerful but forced was far more dangerous, to both the user and those it was used on.
"Let me go Orthia, you don't need magic to hold me down I won't run away again." Phil spat angrily, the magic continuing to send shocks of pain down his body. The woman scoffed.
"Yeah because I' m stupid enough to believe you. You're a coward, you'll run at the first chance you get and though I wouldn't really mind that the queen will kill me."
Phil paled. Of course, his parents knew he was here but a small part of him had hoped that maybe they hadn't been told. Well if they weren't here then maybe he had a chance to get away before they arrived, he couldn't face seeing them again he just couldn't. They were disappointed in him even before he left what would they be like now that he had betrayed him.