Fifteen Years - [8/??]
anonymous
August 9 2009, 08:21:28 UTC
Matthew, his younger brother by only a few minutes was an exception to this; excelling in his magical studies, he was only able to travel out of the country to resume them after a great deal of arguing - both he and Alfred teamed up against their guardian - and also after Arthur made absolutely sure that the Master who was teaching Matthew was trustworthy.
He lamented from time to time how Matthew decided on elemental magic as his major, because if he followed in Arthur's footsteps as a light magic user Arthur would've been able to tutor Matthew himself.
Still, the king was proud at how quickly his ward was able to apply for apprenticeship under a Master at a young age of seventeen summers. He's been gone for four years now, only coming to visit during Alfred's and his shared birthdays and the Summer Festivals.
Finally, the chance to travel outside without the stuffiness of being a royal! Alfred grinned brilliantly - before remembering who exactly he had to travel with.
"Do I really have to go with Him?" Alfred whined, jerking his thumb at His direction. Ivan rolled his eyes - Arthur, on the other hand, clearly looked uncomfortable with the next words he said.
"Well. If I had to pick one person who I trust to watch over you other than myself - I am speaking this in comparison to everyone else I've met - Ivan would be the first choice."
Oh.
Wow.
Alfred blinked at the easy admission, before remembering that Arthur and Ivan were apprentices to the same Master give or take close to a hundred years. That... Explains it.
"Though if he does lay an inappropriate hand on you, do tell, Alfred," Arthur said sweetly, while Ivan held up both of his hands in defense, returning the smile.
"Why, I wouldn't dream of it, comrade."
Alfred scowled, crossing his arms. "Like you would even get close, stupid sorcerer."
"How funny - I certainly saw nothing of the sort when I pinned you down earlier, da?" Ivan purred, and Alfred cursed loudly, moving to kick him on the shins again.
Arthur only sighed, moving to make the proper arrangements, and along the way, trying to convince himself that it wasn't a bad idea.
--
--
"This is a bad idea," Alfred said faintly, looking at the giant... Lizard... Thing in front of him, where Ivan was oh-so-calmly preparing everything he needed for the trip, which wasn't really all that much. One plus of being a ghost was that Alfred didn't really need anything physically; he simply stayed in the state of when the curse was put upon him. No hygenic needs to attend to, no feeling hungry, just... Nothing.
It wasn't as if he hadn't seen dragons before, in his life. Oh, sure, in the pictures, the tapestries, the illustrations in the books, and far, far away when Arthur didn't even let him get close to smell that brimstone-like breath of a very real, very vicious, very chained-down Fire Breathing Dragon.
This? This was a 17-foot tall scaly black horned winged monster with sharp looking teeth that looked as if it wanted to dig itself in your flesh if you even looked at it funny; currently absent of the usual chains which prevented it from, you know, wreaking havoc.
Alfred wasn't a coward, of course he wasn't. Sometimes even heroes needed a little bit of time to adjust being stared down by gigantic reptilian eyes, you know? Alfred returned the gaze as valiantly as he could before looking back at Ivan, barely keeping his voice from reaching an octave higher.
Matthew, his younger brother by only a few minutes was an exception to this; excelling in his magical studies, he was only able to travel out of the country to resume them after a great deal of arguing - both he and Alfred teamed up against their guardian - and also after Arthur made absolutely sure that the Master who was teaching Matthew was trustworthy.
He lamented from time to time how Matthew decided on elemental magic as his major, because if he followed in Arthur's footsteps as a light magic user Arthur would've been able to tutor Matthew himself.
Still, the king was proud at how quickly his ward was able to apply for apprenticeship under a Master at a young age of seventeen summers. He's been gone for four years now, only coming to visit during Alfred's and his shared birthdays and the Summer Festivals.
Finally, the chance to travel outside without the stuffiness of being a royal! Alfred grinned brilliantly - before remembering who exactly he had to travel with.
"Do I really have to go with Him?" Alfred whined, jerking his thumb at His direction. Ivan rolled his eyes - Arthur, on the other hand, clearly looked uncomfortable with the next words he said.
"Well. If I had to pick one person who I trust to watch over you other than myself - I am speaking this in comparison to everyone else I've met - Ivan would be the first choice."
Oh.
Wow.
Alfred blinked at the easy admission, before remembering that Arthur and Ivan were apprentices to the same Master give or take close to a hundred years. That... Explains it.
"Though if he does lay an inappropriate hand on you, do tell, Alfred," Arthur said sweetly, while Ivan held up both of his hands in defense, returning the smile.
"Why, I wouldn't dream of it, comrade."
Alfred scowled, crossing his arms. "Like you would even get close, stupid sorcerer."
"How funny - I certainly saw nothing of the sort when I pinned you down earlier, da?" Ivan purred, and Alfred cursed loudly, moving to kick him on the shins again.
Arthur only sighed, moving to make the proper arrangements, and along the way, trying to convince himself that it wasn't a bad idea.
--
--
"This is a bad idea," Alfred said faintly, looking at the giant... Lizard... Thing in front of him, where Ivan was oh-so-calmly preparing everything he needed for the trip, which wasn't really all that much. One plus of being a ghost was that Alfred didn't really need anything physically; he simply stayed in the state of when the curse was put upon him. No hygenic needs to attend to, no feeling hungry, just... Nothing.
It wasn't as if he hadn't seen dragons before, in his life. Oh, sure, in the pictures, the tapestries, the illustrations in the books, and far, far away when Arthur didn't even let him get close to smell that brimstone-like breath of a very real, very vicious, very chained-down Fire Breathing Dragon.
This? This was a 17-foot tall scaly black horned winged monster with sharp looking teeth that looked as if it wanted to dig itself in your flesh if you even looked at it funny; currently absent of the usual chains which prevented it from, you know, wreaking havoc.
Alfred wasn't a coward, of course he wasn't. Sometimes even heroes needed a little bit of time to adjust being stared down by gigantic reptilian eyes, you know? Alfred returned the gaze as valiantly as he could before looking back at Ivan, barely keeping his voice from reaching an octave higher.
"You sure he's not going to eat me?"
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