A Crowned King (Complete)

Chapter 35

Mako groaned as life came back to him, and with it, the pain that shot through his body. There was pain everywhere, but most prevalent through his back and stomach. His eyelids fluttered open and he stared at a high vaulted ceiling made of stone. He could smell the magic in the room, but when he turned his head to look around the room he didn't see anyone. Instead, all he saw were thick carpets, heavy drapes over the windows, amd a bookcase he knew all too well puahed up against one wall. He knew where he was.

He was in his bedroom in Star; more specifically Blackreach. More than that, he was home.

The Prince groaned as he sat up slowly, pain shooting through his body down to his very toes. He knew that he should have died, but he had woken up somehow. Looking down where the steel head of the lance had once blossomed, he found his bare stomach. There wasn't a single covering or bandage. There wasn't a mark on his belly either other than a small white tip right above his navel.

"How did I survive?" Mako asked himself and the tips of his fingers ran over the white scar on his stomach in wonder.

"That's an easy one, your grace." said a masculine voice suddenly and he looked up, searching for the owner of that voice. A man stood across the room next to the door that lead out of his room. He was dressed in the armor of a Battlemage and he wondered if this was indeed one of the mighty Mages that made Star his home. The man smiled and made a gesture with his hands. "It was magic."

The Prince frowned as he stared at the man. "Who are you?" he asked roughly, feeling off-kilter. Anyone would considering that he was supposed to be dead, but was instead sitting in his own bed at home.

The Battlemage sighed and pushed away from the doorway. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to the bed in the chair that had been placed there. He stared at the man and he was still smiling. "My name is Kevin Pale. I'm the General of a force of Battlemages from Magnus and I was the field commander for your army for some time, leading your Legions against the Gaals." he replied, his voice low and serious.

"I don't understand." Mako replied with a shake of his head. "Darius Wolf is the Lord General. I gave him command of the soldiers and I expected him to serve as field commander when I needed one."

The General shook his head. "I'm sorry your grace, but the Lord General is dead, killed at Three Towers where he was betrayed by the commander of that force." he told him with some great sorrow in his own voice. It was obvious he was mourning the Lord General as well, but perhaps as only a perfunctonary grieving. "That force joined the Gaals together and would have marched on Blackreach and the rest of Star to take it."

"And what stopped them?" Mako asked, feeling unsure as the man sat there and told him of the other half of the war. He had gone to get justice for his father's death, but he was still unsure if that had happened. After all the last thing he remembered was laying down to die. "And while your at it you can tell me just how the hell I came to be here. The last I remember I was in Snowcore."

"What stopped the traitors and what brought you here your grace were the same exact thing." Kevin said with a smile on his face. He laid a hand on his own chest and his smile grew all the wider. "It was me and your Legions that defeated the traitors. It was also me and your Legions who saved you from the traitor Lord Steward of Galtea. We put them to the sword and took the Lord Steward into custody while the old King took his throne back. He will see to the former usurper's death for treason."

"I see." Mako replied, happy that he had survived, but saddened at the same time. This meant that  Winter was behind with her father, helping to protect the throne and making sure that no one else attempted to take it. "I will need to get better soon. The throne will Not wait and I need to be coronated soon."