Thirteen Years in One Hundred Steps: Theme 62 – Magic

“Master Jeigan, today’s the fifth of May, right?” a fidgety Marth asked for clarification. “The date’s not wrong, right?”

“How many times must you ask me that?” an exasperated Jeigan sighed.

“She isn’t here though…No one saw her this morning, and no one saw her yet.”

“Perhaps she went off on her own,” Jeigan suggested. “She has a tendency to do so, but I personally have no idea where she could have gotten to. Idiot child, going missing on her own birthday…”

“Don’t call her that,” Marth indignantly demanded. “Maybe something happened.”

“Believe what you would like, but she must be back before the sun sets.” Jeigan looked over at the smaller bed on the other side of the threshold home, where a pair of wooden swords, one shorter than the other, lay waiting with a blue cloth over them. “She expressed her want to take up swordplay. You don’t mind her joining the training, correct?”

“At least I won’t be alone.” A short pause. “Where do you think she is, Master Jeigan?”

“Not in the castle or eastern forests.”

Marth’s silence stretched into more than a few moments. “The city…?”

“It is most likely. She apparently has never freely roamed the city. Perhaps her curiosity took her there.”

The color seemed to drain from Marth’s features at the mere thought of venturing into City Altea. Everyone knew his face there, as if some kind of miraculous magical incantation or spell had been put on these people to make that possible. The attention he received while in the city was what he loathed the most. And then there was the youth gang that caused trouble everywhere in the city. If Aliana had run off into the city, she most likely did not know about this gang, and her safety was more than an issue to Marth. As much as he wanted to make sure of her being, though, heading to City Altea made him reconsider.

Yet his concern grew for every moment that passed. Did she get hurt? Did her parents suddenly take her away? Did the youth gang – alias the Chargers – get to her? Did she get lost while in the city? Did someone kidnap her?

The concern grew too much for the kid. With a grudging sigh, he left the threshold home, dashing to his chambers to change before heading off to the city.

~~+++===+++===+++~~

He looked like any other boy in the city, not the young prince Alteans had come to quickly see as their next king. With the dull tunic and pants he had on, plus the hood he wore to hide his radiant blue hair, he was not as distinguishable. It was with this disguise that he dashed around the city, keeping his eyes open for Aliana.

His feet took him to the city sandlot, a remote area for the children of the city to play in. At least, that was what it was meant to have been. This sandlot had become the Chargers’ turf, however, and intruding upon it could spell certain trouble for anyone who entered their realm.

With this in mind, Marth cautiously sprinted down the alley leading to the sandlot, soon finding his suspicions confirmed when he saw Aliana’s black hair flowing in the wind.

Except she was not the only one there. The Chargers, along with their leader, were there, making a half-circle around Aliana and another person next to her. As Marth approached the scene, he slowed down to a cautious walk, and quickly saw that the other beside her was a boy not much older than Marth himself. The kid was garmented in creamish off-white robes – that of a mage-in-training – and even had a large, thick tome in his small hands. He held this huge book close, as if determined to protect it with his life. Dark emerald eyes looked on worriedly at Aliana.

Whoever this other boy, he did not strike Marth all too positively. He could not quite see how this situation had occurred quite yet, but at least he realized that both kids were in trouble. What to do? Marth decided to bide until the time was right.

The Chargers’ leader, a lean and tall boy of around ten, stepped forward, pointing an accusing finger at the pair. “You’re standing on my land,” he snapped, “and you hand that little guy behind you, little girl.”

“Why?” Aliana impudently asked. “What’s he to you?”

“He’s a thief,” the leader sneered. “The little guy needs a big beating.”

“Mark didn’t do anything. That’s his pa’s book.”

“My boys saw the kid running from the magic shop holding that book. Hand the little thief over, and I promise not to send you crying back to your mama.”

The mage, looking over this situation, stepped up his defense. “My father gave me what little he had to let me buy this,” he firmly stated with a rather docile tone. “I didn’t steal it.”

“’I didn’t steal it,’” the Charger leader mocked, evoking leader from his subordinates. “Hand it back, thief, or you’ll get a real bad beating.”

“Shut up, you!” Aliana immediately burst. “Mark’s pa let him buy that ‘cause he can use it! Just because you can’t use it doesn’t mean you have to say Mark’s a thief!”

A silence settled over the Chargers, reinforcing the livid air of their leader, whose expression suddenly hardened. Stepping forward, he grabbed a lock of Aliana’s black hair, pulling harshly enough that she actually got lifted up off the ground.

She refused to cry out, however, only cringing noticeably while letting soundless tears fall from her eyes in response to the pain.

Her refusal to let up any sort of scream only made the Charger leader even angrier – the tears were not enough. “Cry, little girl,” he growled. “Scream or I pull harder!” He shook her roughly by that lock of hair. “What’s the matter, little big shot? Does it hurt?”

Both Marth and Mark were tense and furious at this action, so much that they both acted immediately and at the same exact time. Mark rushed over to the perimeter of the sandlot and opened the large tome, reading through the words of magic as he generated an orb of intermediate fire magic. Marth came in close, picking up a wayward thick branch along the way, and dealt a horizontal slice to the Chargers’ leader. Though it was an inexperienced stroke, it did its job, knocking the wind out of the gang leader long enough to make him loosen his grip on Aliana’s hair.

Horrified by this bold move, the semi-circle of subordinates all moved in to keep Marth and Aliana from getting away. Both seemed overwhelmed by the gang, but then a surprise: Mark had finally gathered enough focus to blast the gang with an effective Elfire spell, surrounding them in a barrier of fire.

Mark regarded this with a smile and dashed off without bothering to undo or weaken the spell. A pained Aliana and a relieved Marth raced after Mark, making as huge of a gap as they could between them and the Chargers.

~~+++===+++===+++~~

The three children had managed evade population, never ending their flight until they hurtled into the trees and deep into the woods. At the black oak tree, Mark flopped facedown in the grass, his tome bouncing away to lie open with its pages fluttering in the breeze. Marth looked around the premises, taking in air to settle his jumping nerves, throwing the branch aside with a proud air. Aliana approached the tree, stopping a few feet from the tree to drop down to her knees, at long last letting out tiny sobs – unrestrained cries that cut deep into both boys’ hearts.

Mark pulled himself up and ambled to his book, kneeling down and flipping through it carefully, keeping as silent as he could to not attract too much attention. Marth was at a loss again – this was the first time Aliana had let up a voice when crying. He decided to not interrupt her, and kept a relative distance between himself and Aliana, sticking close to Mark.

“I’ve never seen her cry like that,” the mage murmured.

“It must have really hurt to have her hair pulled like that,” Marth agreed. “I wish I could help her, but I don’t know what to do.”

“You too? Do you know about her parents?”

Marth’s lip curled in disgust. “They apparently hurt her like that all the time…Why would they do that?”

The other looked up from the spell he was currently reading to think on this issue. “It could be anything,” he started. “Some say her parents never wanted her. I heard some say she’s actually an orphan who got forced under the Shikarume’s care. Others say she’s a manakete, but that’s definitely not true.”

“A manakete? Why would they say Aliana’s half-dragon?”

“She gets mad really easily,” Mark explained. “The smallest thing makes her mad.”

“Not always,” Marth objected. “She’s never mad or sad when she’s with me or Master Jeigan.”

Mark seemed confused. “Why the Master General?”

“She lives at the castle with us now.”

The light in the pages of the tome died quickly away. “Who are you? Why do you know so much about Aliana?”

Marth looked for a loophole. “I…live at the castle with her.”

“But who are you?”

“I…I don’t think I should say…”

“He’s Marth,” Aliana sniffled, wiping her eyes off. She approached to two boys and sat herself between them. “He saved me.”

The mage seemed a bit perplexed, but let this go – he would hear the story later. Instead, he scooted a little closer. “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly, gingerly patting the obvious bit of hair that had been pulled.

“Yeah, I guess,” she sighed. “My head hurts.”

“Well, you were lifted up from the ground by your hair. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Of course she’s okay,” Marth cut in, unable to restrain the want to anymore. “She has to be!”

Aliana seemed a bit baffled. “Why do I have to be okay?”

Marth paused a moment, slightly ashamed of his own outburst. But what was there to be ashamed of? It was not shame, he determined. It was more like embarrassment. He felt his features grow a little warm. Then, a little meekly, “Happy birthday, Aliana.”

At first, she did not say anything, too surprised to do so. After a moment, however, she beamed, thanking Marth between tears.

“I didn’t forget it either!” Mark cried, waving his arms about vehemently. “I-I-I was going to tell you the same thing, Aliana, but the prince beat me to it!”

The enthusiasm was really cheering her up – like magic, Marth thought. Maybe those training swords will have the same effect.