The other mages soon joined Ser'deni in their places behind the king. There were ten in total, counting her. Most of them were men although there were a few men who wore their hair long and held feminine faces. Ser'deni had been raised alongside the nine other mages and knew them all quite well. Six of them were blind; some wore cloth over their eyes while some did not. A man was missing a leg and leaned heavily on a carved walking stick. Another was mute although his physical appearance bore no indication. And one could not hear or talk. 

The mages held no loyalty towards each other despite being brought up and raised with the others. They were bonded by their use of magic and their disabilities and nothing more. 

For this occasion they were handed heavy black cloaks that hid their faces and disabilities from the eyes of the would-be knights. The mages were not only here for the safety of the King and his son, they were also here to participate in the choosing of the knights. All mages were skilled in many areas of magic but each held their own strength in one area. 

[color=a36209]"This is going to be fun."[/color] A man off to the right of Ser'deni said, he was standing directly behind the Prince. 

[color=aba000]"Inaris...keep your voice down."[/color] Another scolded the man. 

Inaris made a sound of displeasure before falling into silence. 

Triver wanted to talk to the mages behind him but the arrival of the knight candidates took his attention. They all seemed so young, although Triver wasn't old by any means. As a young man of only twenty years, he still had a lot to learn and see. Triver, his father, the mages and a few nobles sat on a raised platform covered with a richly decorated canopy of blue and gold. 

He wondered if any of the candidates knew what was in store for them. The Prince had pestered Ser'deni and the others for information about their roles in all of this. [i]"Our job is to break the weak from the strong. We will use our skills as mages to ensure that only the strongest are chosen."[/i] Those words left a chill that ran down his spine. Triver had never seen the mages in action before but he had heard stories of the generals who were given a mage as part of their army; they always told tales of the brutality of their magic. The mages were what helped win more land for Danycia and they were what kept the people under his father's thumb. 

Triver would be lying if he said that he didn't hold some fear of the black-clad figures behind him. 	

The King watched the candidates with a dark gaze; he was uninterested in having new knights. He mostly wanted to see them bend and break under his mages so that all would know his power. The King was a twisted man who enjoyed the look of pain on others. His wife and son were the only ones exempt from his cruelty; his son would carry on his legacy as a ruthless ruler and his wife would remain obedient and serve as a link to further his influence in her native kingdom. 

The Prince beside him had always been disgusted with the way that his father took such pleasure in the pain and terror of others. He was not close to his father; the man was nothing more than one he had to deal with in order to survive. Rumors floated around that his father had murdered his own brother to gain the throne. Triver didn't doubt those rumors although he should have defended his father. He should have tried to protect his father's reputation as a "grand and fine" king but he found that he could not. Triver wanted to change things within the kingdom. He wanted to live in a world of peace but with his father alive, that could never be possible.

The King waited for the start of the tests to be announced. He would not give those commoners the experience of hearing his voice. He was better than they were, as he was chosen by the gods to rule them.

The man that had given the candidates their instructions stood tall in front of the nervous looking potential knights, but under the king. [color=0076a3]“Let the trials begin!” [/color]

One after the other had stepped in front of the King and read out loud from one of the classic Danycian books that detailed the adventures of a hero before they were given their riddle. One man, almost immediately after he started reading, grasped his head and screamed in agony as his body crumpled to the floor. Triver knew without looking behind him what had happened. His stomach turned and it brought little comfort that he did not know which mage had turned the man into a pile of helpless and hurting flesh.