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Ben Medinets / story2k

Chapter 11: Rudimentary Lessons in Magic

Benny moved his stuff into the old man’s living quarters without too much difficulty. Benny enjoyed Soren’s company in general. Soren was a great wizard and Benny wanted to learn all he could from him.

His purpose with Soren was to learn the ways of magic. Benny had the potential to be as great as Soren, himself some day. Soren was able to do magic with just his mind only, not requiring the use of a magical object to amplify the magical power within. Benny wasn’t even a fraction close to the old man’s abilities. In order to succeed, Benny would need to properly channel his thoughts and energies into the magic.

Benny has having trouble just performing basic incantations....well he spoke the words but nothing ever happened. This happened regularly and perplexed the old man. He realized what was happening: Benny was so tense, he was thinking too hard, and not letting his whole body’s energy put forth enough energy.

Soren tried to relax Benny but it had never worked. The prophesies had told of the “Chosen One” would be a great man with great power and character. Benny, Soren thought, had a pretty decent character if not a little naive. His power, they would have to work on, especially as far as magic goes.

Besides a daily attempt at performing simple magic, Benny had to read (and memorize) from the spell book, clean up around the abode, and anything else that came to Soren’s whim. This included cleaning fish and frogs, which would be used for dinner (fish) and magical potions (frogs) but never interchangeably.

This routine was going strong for a month. Benny showed little progress, actually no progress in the eyes of Soren. He was getting quite depressed and Soren was feeling a little bit let down. Then the invitation came. This was the invitation to Vic and Pricess Stephanie’s engagement party.

Benny looked forward with great anticipation. They would go to the party with Benny riding his horse and Soren flying as his eagle form, flying above (to watch over Benny, of course). When they arrived in Wembly, Soren allowed Benny to stay at his own house for the feast. Soren, on the other hand, stayed at a room at the Archangel Inn.

Benny was quite happy because he got a chance to see Cletus again. It had been far too long since their departing. Cletus, Benny observed, had gotten even physically strong, if that was even possible, and he was much wiser than before.

Cletus already heard of Benny’s progress (and the lack there of it through the grapevine). He decided not to dwell on it, so he talked about Vic’s recent knighting. Now Vic would be their equal. Vic was put in charge of training the soldiers in Leon’s army. As Defender of the Realm, Cletus was sure to bump elbows with Vic. One thing that was to Cletus’ advantage: Vic’s fiance, the Princess Stephanie was very free spirited and insisted in learning sword play, archery, and developing herself into a soldier. Vic didn’t want this to happen, and it would take all his energies just to curb his future wife from training hard, let alone training period.

Being at the Lion’s Den allowed Benny to see his girlfriend, Lisa, who was Stephanie’s younger sister. Before he could see her, however, Cletus had told him he would need to have the King’s permission to see her. He was quite nervous as he approached John, the King’s Chief and only Steward. John went to see the king, and came back to get Benny to see him right away.

Upon entering the room, Benny bowed. When he was told to rise and present his petition to Leon, the king and his boss. Benny meekly asked the King for permission to see his daughter. The king readily agreed much to Benny’s surprise.

“It would be a cruel punishment to keep you two apart, but no funny business. Is that clear?” the king said.

“Yes Sir!!” replied Benny.

Then the king exclaimed, “I wonder how long it would take you to ask me to see my daughter. Lisa has read out your romantic letters to me and to the entire court.” He began to chuckle, while Benny went quite pink in embarassment. When the King stopped chuckling, Benny asked his leave and when the king excused him, Benny bowed once more to the King, and then left to find the Princess with a wide smile on his face.

Unfortunately, to Benny’s dismay, the Princess was very busy getting ready for the feast and he was told that he would see her there, and not a moment earlier. He left the castle, and soon found Cletus at the entrance of the castle in the court yard. Cletus then invited Benny to the Inn for a couple pre-festive drinks of ale. They would walk to Arkangel Inn.

They sat down at the bar, and ordered a couple of drinks. They both downed the first mugs of ale, and then supped on another mug of ale. Halfway down their second mugs, a familiar voice came from the stairs, this time it wasn’t pleasant at all. Benny suddenly remembered that Soren was at this very Inn.

“BENNY!!! PUT DOWN THAT ALE!!” Soren roared. “Absolutely NO Alcohal until the party and only a minimum there.”

The others in the bar were quite amused by this chiding. Benny grew quite pink in embarassment. He gave the remaining ale to Cletus, and both had left the tavern to begin to get ready for the feast, themselves.

It didn’t take long for them to ready themselves. It would take great patience for Benny to not arrive at the castle too soon. Cletus was there to ensure that Benny didn’t.

Soren soon came to Benny’s house to see if Benny was ready (and had stopped drinking). Benny was ready and hadn’t had anything more to drink. So all three departed for the short walk to the castle. Instead of flying, Soren would walk with Benny and Cletus. Soren decided this would be more regal.

They made their entrance and took their place in the small hall of the castle. There would be more people. Vic, Stephanie, and Lisa were already there when they had entered. Shortly, the king would arrive with the Queen by his side to begin the engagement feast. This wasn’t like the Imperial Banquet Hall, where many people could attend. This would be a small, private soiree.

The banquet was smashing and both Princess, Stephanie and Lisa, looked stunning to say the least. They both looked amazing. What was so amazing was the soldier-like princesses now looked as lady-like as their late mother did.

There was an abundant supply of wonderful food, plenty of good wine and ale. It was nice to see Vic and Stephanie together. Benny and Lisa also held hands throughout the joyous occasion. After a short ceremony which included the “kingly blessing” and one last toast, Benny and Lisa went out and hung out on the front steps of the castle. Little did they know that Soren followed shortly after them, and hid in the shadows, silently watching them in their activities.

Benny and Lisa began with small talk. Then confessed how much they missed each other. He gave her a couple pecks on each cheek, while he patted her luscious and full hair on the top of her head. She instinctively puckered up when he drew close for those pecks. After the second set of pecks on the cheek, she grabbed him, embraced him, and started to kiss him in the mouth. He was quite surprised, and amused at her forwardness. They were there for quite a while as Princess Lisa refused to let him go.

Then something unexpected happened, even to Soren, himself, as he secretly watched. Doves flew by, as if they were drawn to the kissing couple by the power of love. To cap it off, fire works appeared out of blue into the air, much to the surprise of everyone around.

Soren exclaimed out loud betraying his secret watchful eye, “This has to be the work of magic....the magic of love!!!”

Benny was soon let go but not before one last lingering kiss on the lips. He said goodbye and wished he didn’t have to leave. They embraced once more and said goodbye. Benny and Cletus left for Benny’s house, while Soren departed for the Inn. Early the next morning, Soren and Benny returned to Soren’s Abode, both pleased with this break in the training.

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