Tiffany Blue #6

[shadowsong26]

Name: shadowsong26
Story: A Reason for Everything
'Verse: Feredar
Colors: Tiffany Blue #6. charms (superstition)
Supplies and Materials: Paint-by-numbers (from kat), canvas (940 FY, 950 FY, 960 FY, 970 FY, 980 FY), charcoal, pastels (my current gen card I5 hatred), oils ("refusing to budge"), modeling clay (anniversary), miniature collection
Word Count: 437
Rating: R
Characters: King Sorell, Queen Nida, Crown Prince Kellom
Warnings:  Fanatical hatred of mages, implications of mass slaughter. .
Notes: Constructive criticism welcome, as always. Each of these takes place on the same calendar day.

940 FY
Sorell stared at the guard. He understood all of his words, but the sentence made no sense.
"Say that again."
"Highness, there's no time--"
"Say it again."
"The palace was infiltrated by a scourge of earth-mages. Your father is already dead, we don't know about your brothers. We need to get you to safety."
Numbly, Sorell stopped resisting the guards as they hauled him away from his bedroom into one of the secret passages.

950 FY
Sorell smiled as the nurse handed the infant to him. "The Queen?" he asked.
"Survived, Majesty. She's resting."
He nodded. "Good." His smile grew as the child waved its fists, pawing at its father's face.
"Boy or girl?"
"Boy, Majesty."
"Wonderful." Ascending at fifteen had made people throughout his city and the territory he controlled nervous. Now he had an heir. Between that and the continuing strengthening of the freak controls, Feredar was safe again.

960 FY
"When I grow up, I'm gonna kill all the freaks!" Kellom announced, waving his toy sword around above his head.
"Kellom," Sorell said. "You nearly hit your mother."
The child flushed. "I'm sorry, Mamma," he said. He was just ten today, still small enough to crawl into her lap and snuggle close.
"It's all right, darling," she said, smoothing his hair. "But you should be more careful."
He nodded, kissed her cheek, and bounced over to the King. "Can I, Daddy?"
"Can you what?"
He made an impatient noise. "Kill all the freaks."
Sorell ruffled his hair. "Maybe someday."

970 FY
"Is it done?"
Kellom had insisted on taking a position in the City Guard. He stood a little stiff in his new uniform, and nodded curtly. "I took care of it personally."
Sorell nodded. "I'm strengthening the law again. No matter what the crime now, a lawbreaking mage will serve the rest of its natural life."
"Good." Kellom hesitated. "May I speak freely, majesty?"
"You may."
"I think you need to go farther. Keep the freaks from breeding, maybe. Or put them all in collars."
Sorell considered this. "If I'm given a good excuse, that will be the next step."

980 FY
Kellom's eyes glittered, fingering the loose end of a bandage on his arm. "You have your excuse now, Father. What will you do?"
"They'll all be collared," Sorell said, forcing his voice to remain steady.
"They should be purged."
Sorell closed his eyes. Nida... "If I did that, there are those at court who would step in to overthrow me. And I doubt you or your siblings or your wife would survive."
Kellom sank back, eyes still glinting.
That can be your project, Sorell added in his head.

Comments

[bookblather]

Brrrr, that ending. Creepy as hell. I can see where the hatred came from, but. Brrrr.

Nice job.

[shadowsong26]

Thank you ^^

[kay_brooke]

Not sure who's worse, Sorell or Kellom. After all, look where Kellom learned it. I think Kellom will apply himself to his new project with gusto.

[shadowsong26]

Indeed he will.

As for who's worse...Sorell wants justice for the damage mages have done to his city and his family. Kellom is a fanatic. Make of that what you will.

[subluxate]

D= Creepy for sure. Not a happy ending at all. I take it, then, that a collar means the mages can only use their magic as permitted, if at all?

[shadowsong26]

More or less--they're more like shock collars, which can be deactivated if necessary. So technically a mage can use unauthorized magic while collared, it's just extremely painful. They also work as identification of, through color, what thread/element a mage works with and how dangerous/powerful they're considered, and, by tags, how long they've been a slave, whether they were enslaved in lieu of a prison sentence (before Sorell changed the law), what that crime was, etc.