Blood Empire

Chapter 13

Karilya was seven when they found out she was a blood mage, there was an attack on the Amayan castle in the middle of the night, several men snuck through the shadows in search of the royal children in hopes of kidnapping them and holding them for ransom.

The men pulled Karilya from her bed, she was asleep when they tossed her over their shoulder and started to carry her out. She woke in a strange man's arms, for a moment she was confused but then she began to panic as her senses awoke and screamed that something was not right.

She struggled and began to cry, fighting against the ropes they bound her in and calling for her father.

The men tried to silence her, but all it did was scare her even further.

Something primal awoke in her, it erupted from her in a scream and sent her falling to the ground. The men tried to recover her, tried to grab her again but she hunkered down and screamed like a banshee.

The primal and powerful force burst from her and took a hold of her would be captors, it flooded through their bloodstream and they fell to their knees, screaming along side her in agony as blood poured from every orifice.

When they found her, she was curled into a ball, trembling like a leaf, and crying, surrounded by the corpses of ten men, all of whom died with the same blood-soaked look of fear on their face.

Until that day, no one had seen a blood mage for almost three decades, and certainly not one nearly as powerful as that trembling little girl.

Blood mages were said to have short lives after coming into their power, due to the raids and the hunting of their kind, the blood mages were unable to hold onto their power without letting it destroy them. Most would last a few years before the blood madness would set in and they would tear themselves apart, the older the mage was when their power bloomed, the more likely they were to hold control and live longer.

Karilya was only seven, she had not even hit maturity and was at the mercy to her emotions, but still, the blood madness never came for her. They said that she was blessed by the Bloodied God, the creator of blood mages, and must have his blood in her veins to master the craft.

Karilya taught herself how to control her magic, she found old blood books and sacred texts and learnt from them, she also studied with other mages of different crafts when she was sent to Knosia and used their teachings to further her knowledge.

By the time Princess Karilya was fifteen she was a master and her strength rivalled the blood mages of old. Still her father worried that the blood madness might still set in, he wanted the princess to stop practicing, to reject the Bloodied God's gift and cut herself off from the power of her blood in hopes that it would let her lead a longer life.

However, the princess refused, she was not afraid of her power, she had no wish to hide it or reject it, and now, at twenty years of age, she is one of the longest serving blood mages seen in the last century.

~

"Do you do this to the prince as well?" Yuan asks, blinking as previous memories return and his blood seems to warm under the princess' influence.

"No," Karilya answers, she gestures for him to follow her, "only you."

He gives her a look of doubt as he complies and follows Karilya to her tea table, she notices his look and laughs as she sits on the cushion.

"What reason would I have to lie to you?" Karilya says as she uncovers her food, "Sit."

He does.

Though she could not bring herself to spell bind the prince, she seized the first opportunity she could to spell bind his closest guard, who has turned out to be a vast well of information to her.