the Prince of Aranock

"Once a very long time ago, before you or I were even born, there was a Prince. This Prince was a very hansom prince, or so all the girls said, and he was very wise. His father, the great King of the land Aranock, believed in being humble and had brought up his son in ways he deemed right.

Now in the land of Aranock there was an evil wizzard (as there is in almost any magical land you choose to read about) and he envied this Prince. So great was his envy that he would sit in the single window of his very wizardly tower and stare out across the land, using his magic’s to spy on the boy, who was growing wiser every day.

One day, while at the height of his envy, the wizzard devised an evil
plan to steal the boy away and make him believe the wizzard was his
father. Now you would not think this would work but as the prince was
very young, and the wizzard very old, (and somewhat senile) the plan
Seemed to be flawless to the twisted old man.

The Great King, a very old and wise man himself, knew that there were
forces in his country that would seek to harm the boy to prevent him
from ever reaching the throne and thus keeping the boy from ever
becoming the greatest and wisest king the land had ever seen. Thus he
kept the boy Prince safe in everyway he could, charging spirits from
the ghostly realm with his care and protection. But the wizzard knew
that there was one night every year that the Boy was vulnerable. That night was the Prince’s birthday. It was a day of mourning and rejoicing, for on that day the prince had indeed been born, but his mother had also died, a result of a restless spell the
wizzard had released only days earlier.

On this day the wizzard decided to unleash his plan. It would require
a great part of his strength but he was confident he could pull it
off. The day quickly approached and the kingdom was preparing for their
princes party. As was tradition all, from the richest to the poorest
citizens were invited, the wizzard's plan depended on this. It meant
that not only would the spirits guarding the prince be over busy and
unable to keep their eyes on all, but also he could sneak in without
suspicion.

The day came and the Wizzard took great care in his disguise. First he
stripped down and, with great disgust, rubbed himself down with dust
to make himself smell like a peasant. Next he put on a grimy robe,
tattered and worn it had belonged to a pig herder who had wandered
to close to the wizzard’s tower with his pigs. He completed his look with a dirty hat and matting his beard with small magiks. He knew that the spirits would detect any large magiks and had to be carefully

He journeyed to the castle, falling in with a group of peasants from a
nearby village he passed the gates easily. Next was the checkpoint
where the spirits checked everyone entering, but the wizzard did not
receive any special attention due to his disguise and he was soon in
the inner circles of the fortress.

he spotted the child prince almost immediately. It was the princes third
birthday and he was enjoying it to the fullest, running through the
gardens with the children from the villages, stopping occasionally to
grin and wave at elderly women getting motherly smiles from them.

The evil wizzard knew that his timing had to be perfect or the boy's
guardian spirits would notice him. He started tailing the boy, never
closer then a few hundred yards, making sure to appear as if enjoying
the party. Then, at the precise moment he had planned a Pentagram, in
a cave a few miles out, activated stealing the spirits away silently.

The wizzard knew he had about one minute before the strong spirits
would break free and return and thus he hurried across the gardens to
the boy. Taking hold of the prince’s hand he knelt, as if to offer
congratulations and kind words, instead he whispered an arcane spell,
cloaking them both in weaves of air and dropping the boy into
unconsciousness.

The wizzard had barely finished when the spirits returned, one to the
King to inform him of the kidnapping and the others to scour the
grounds for the boy. It would only be a matter of time before they
found him the wizzard knew and no one was being let out of the gates.
He had accounted for this though, and quickly entered the castle his
long spindly legs taking him in great strides to the tallest tower in
the northeast corner. There he enchanted an intricate carpet and
fled.

Only one person saw him leave, a young peasant girl, who had been
studying a flock of passing ducks saw the carpet fly away, but she
was unaware of the princes loss and did not report the sight.
When the wizzard returned to his tower he immediately enchanted the
prince, so as to make him forget all about his other life, his father,
the castle, even his name. The wizzard gave him a new one. Axis
Arathma, the name the wizzard himself had once gone by...

TBC (2 bea continyoud)



(c) 2005, Daniel Wohlgemuth,