Mystic Prince

Chapter 1. Cambridge

"True enlightenment arises from self-mastery; thus, kinshuh (temperance) is the primary discipline of the Saiensu." ~ Foundations of the Mystic Order

Khael squinted impatiently toward the head of the motionless gate queue. His hopes for some relief after his strenuous journey so far, perhaps an extended break from the string of assassination attempts, dimmed. In all his travels, only once before had he needed to wait to enter Cambridge. He could have exercised royal privilege and skipped the line, but that implied publicly revealing himself, an action he deeply wanted to avoid.

Molniya, his gnu-horse hybrid steed, shifted under him, hoofing his own vexation on the stone roadway.

Khael reflected that gate guards needed nothing more than to inspect incoming travelers visually for signs of suspicious activity. They might converse with familiar travelers, but that process would be simple and reasonably quick. Suspects could be escorted to the guard shack for more detailed searches.

Unable to see any obvious cause for the delay, Khael closed his eyes to scan the life energies in the area. To his relief, he detected no assassins amongst the travelers on the road. He shifted his focus to the head of the queue. One of the City Patrol rangers at the gate blatantly groped a peasant woman, right beside her husband, while another ranger held out his hand for—a bribe?

Outraged, Khael stiffened out of his relaxed bearing. Had those guards no sense of decency? These people might be commoners, but even peasants deserved the most fundamental respect. He prodded Molniya's flanks with his heels. The great gongyangma snorted as he walked around Grant on his gongyangma, Phantom, to pass the line of merchants, tradesmen and herders.

"We're jumping the queue?" Heidi's strawberry blonde head poked up from the other side of Phantom.

Khael looked at her. At his change in posture, Molniya stopped beside the two friends. Next to Molniya and Phantom, Heidi's full-sized charger resembled a large pony.

Khael strained to keep his fury quiet. "The Patrols extort fees from these travelers and grope the women going in."

"Never learn." Grant's cavernous bass rumble carried not far.