Prince Asher looked lazily out his open window at the city of Mazin, capital of Saynar, below. His carefully defined face showed the master’s hand and he had icy blue eyes, the mark of nobility. His dark brown hair lightly brushed his eyebrows and ended near the middle of his neck, partially covering his ears.

He looked at the capital city, his city and his country, or soon to be. If only his father, King Nireve, didn’t still think of him as nothing more than a child. He clenched his fist remembering his father chiding him the other day about his “childish beliefs” and “naive principles”. If only his brother, Shenan, their father’s mirror image, and Asher’s twin brother, didn’t stand in the way of the crown.

The city of Mazin was a busy place, people scrambling to get the best deals and hurrying everywhere. But it was good; because it was orderly and the quicker they worked, the more money they would make for the country. And money was always good, it train troops for war and paid for the luxuries of nobility. It also bought food and shelter and especially the water that was becoming so scarce. They had to keep digging deeper holes and traveling farther distances, but Asher wasn’t too worried, it wasn’t like they would ever run out.

“Your highness, it is time to go.” A messenger bowed in the doorway.

“Go?” he repeated stupidly before remembering that he was to join the king in court today. Standing, he dismissed the man with a nod and left. He turned to leave the room, pausing to close the window with a wave of his hand and a whispered spell. The servant nearby had no need to know what he said.

The knowledge and use of magic was reserved for the noble class. The higher up one was, the more one was taught. Some spells, of course, were reserved purely for the use of the royal family, the most powerful of these only taught to the heir by the king when he had chosen his successor. The first rules were apparently put in place so no one would get “uppity” and get ideas about changing stations. The second law was put in place to make sure no one in line for the throne tried to take a short cut by killing the current king.

Asher’s skin tingled as he thought of how powerful such spells would be. Then he clenched his fist at the thought of their father teaching his bother rather than him. He smoothed his face back into an expressionless mask that he had yet to perfect and left the room.

Asher strolled leisurely down the walkway as he headed for the palace courtroom, where his father and brother would be waiting.

A guard bowed as he opened the small side doors, insignificant compared to the Grand doors looming nearby, 20 spans high. The Grand doors were only opened during ceremonies as when visiting kings came to the court, as a display of the country’s, and therefore the crown’s, power and wealth.

Asher’s chest began to swell a little just thinking of the gold gilded doors. Gems encrusted the sides and master artisans had chiseled the kings of the past into the panels. The doors had stood there since the first king built the city. The king’s descendants had each left their own mark on the door and everyone said it would stand till the end of time, an everlasting monument to the crown’s greatness. The feeling to pass through these doors as the new King was Asher’s hope and dream. Asher abruptly rid himself of these thoughts as he entered the room to stand in front of the throne.

“Son, we welcome you!” King Nireve said with a booming voice as Shenan inclined his head. It was all for show, and Asher gave a small bow with his head drooping to symbolize the right the King had to his head. The King had a right to the life of every citizen, and until Asher became king, that included him.

Asher climbed the steep stairs and sat to the left of his father, who sat with a straight back and a slowly balding head, coved by the golden crown he wore for courts of justice. Shenan to the King’s right gave a sneer and Asher bared his teeth in a smile. King Nireve eyed his sons with a hidden smile and clapped his hands once to show that they were ready to begin the justice for today.

The first case was surprising because both sides had lawyers. Asher resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the first man stepped forward and spoke of “equality before the law” and “blind justice”. Justice was blind all right, blind to all the corruption and bribery that went on daily. But everyone did it and it was more or less expected. That was just the way things went. He frowned as he remembered a quote he had read the other day. How did it go again? “In a world of lies, telling the truth becomes treason.” Something like that.

Naeli brandished her sword openly as she walked within the city walls, their strongest gate destroyed behind her. She had to fight a few of the guards, but had gotten inside and now headed for what she saw as the center of the city. It was a tall structure of stone and sand that seemed much better guarded, which screamed at Naeli’s warrior instincts. It declared importance. Naeli had no idea what she was looking for, but seemed drawn to this building.

As she walked down the streets, the people whispered as they eyed her strange garb that glimmered faintly. Naeli quickened her pace slightly as shouts were heard behind her. She would kill if caught, but she had no time for fools who thought that they could confront her.

Naeli became a blur of shadow that shot for the palace. She saw the huge majestic doors that served as the entrance and smashed through them. Naeli strode into the courtyard, looking around.

People who had been previously strutting about and flashing their importance in the faces of those less important now stood in huddled, terrified, groups, with those they had just seconds ago despised. They were all watching her and praying to every god they knew that she would somehow overlook them. Her eyes touched them lightly, and then she ignored them, choosing to study the doors that lead into the Hall of Justice instead. There was something eerily familiar about them.

“Maybe this is a good enough door,” Naeli whispered. Then she smirked and positioned herself as the bulky guards came from all sides to surround her.

A crash cut through the well-polished speech and was shortly followed by the sounds of swords. The lawyer stopped talking abruptly as the three royals before him looked up from the papers they had been studying and out as if they could see through the walls with their cold blue eyes. King Nireve got up quickly from his throne, and yet still managed to make it seem a smooth and unhurried movement. The small door that Asher had so recently entered through burst open and Asher jerked a little as he reached for the staff at his side.

“Majesty, there is someone attacking the palace!” A sweaty man said between gasps for breath as he knelt before the throne and the doors were quickly closed and locked behind him. It was a messenger, Mattias, under the Sergeant General who patrolled the grounds.

“Someone? It is only one?” the King asked in a quiet, dangerous, voice raising an eyebrow. The messenger was interrupted as the main doors crashed open, admitting a young woman who held a sword and stepped as light as a fox. A confused expression filled her face for an instant, but was quickly blotted out as she focused on the King on his throne. She had reached the center by the time any guards entered and paused at her ease as she looked over the three men carefully.

“My King, this is the girl who has been attacking the palace” breathed a guard as they began to surround her.

Asher had been watching this with a definite interest. A girl entering the palace, alone? He gave a grin as he slid out of his chair and glanced at the girl again. Very outlandish, but maybe this was his chance to prove himself to his father. It was opportune, the girl hardly looked that hard to defeat, but she would probably put up some kind of fight as she had managed to enter the palace doors and get past some of the guards.

The warrior tried to step around the guards and raised her sword in challenge to the king, the most prominent man with a definite air of possessiveness and power surrounding him.

Asher turned to King Nireve who was giving orders to the guards. “Father? I will take care of this minor interruption to the court. I can finish her off much faster than the guards can.”

Shenan muttered under his breath, “Will you lower yourself so much?”

Asher looked back in anger “You haven’t fought in years, I doubt you could take on a pickpocket.”

Shenan barely concealed a snarl on his face “You’re so busy fighting with the guards, you will never understand the true finesse of politics or battle.”

The King watched his sons fight for a chance to prove themselves. When emotions hit their highest he broke in, “Asher, go forward, you’ve chosen this battle, now fight it.” Asher nodded in consent and stepped down the stairs towards the ring of guards.