บท 61: Journey along the Forest
Once again, I am caught at a loss at the differences of the Empire from the Kingdom. Our clothes were often made of coarser materials, much so that we could survive from the harsher winters up north. The southern nation, however, was drier and hotter, so silks were a fashion they can afford to use. Knowing how expensive the prices for silk can go up exponentially within the kingdom, I am but frozen stiff from shock as I gazed upon the rolls of soft material draped upon the dozen Cameliphanti.
"How much-?" I muttered blankly.
"That would fetch a lot of money back in the Kingdom," Joren agreed with his hands on his hips, admiring the extravagantly clothed herd.
"I didn't really notice earlier," I murmured. "But that's actual, real silk."
I was reminded again about how beneficial the move to open our markets were. Not only for the exchange of clothing and cultural objects, but also for the exchange of knowledge and medicines. Although for now, the Empire was the only one who had made the sudden move, I knew from the future that upon the announcement of my engagement to the Crown Prince Charles, Saule Kingdom will also soon open their walls. The economy will be booming not only for the two leading nations, but also for the smaller countries that lie in between them in the central plains.
I suddenly felt bad. 'If I had stayed... If I hadn't left, I could have made our people's lives better. The citizens would have had better and cheaper necessities, and their way of life would have had improved by a significant margin...'
"Am I really that selfish?" I whispered to myself. 'All for my personal freedom?'
Something suddenly pushed against the back of my knees, making me bend forward and lose balance. I looked back in annoyance. "Joren! Not nice!"
"Well." He shrugged his shoulders with a unapologetic look. "You seemed like ya were daydreamin' again. You do that a lot."
"... I do?" I asked seriously.
"Yeah, you do." He nodded his head. "All the time while we were travellin' from Saule. You looked all sad-like, or somethin'."
I unconsciously looked around for a mirror, but settled instead for a puddle right at my feet. I could barely see my face because of the low sun, but I can imagine my face clearly. Growing up, I had grown used to seeing myself looking gloomy rather than filled with laughter.
'Right,' I thought. 'It didn't matter if my disappearance would cause the alliance to end. What would those flimsy deals bring anyway? Short reprieve? I remember the alliance almost getting broken off at least twice as I was growing up, regardless of my engagement to their prince.'
I began to strengthen my resolve. 'It doesn't matter. It's not like anything great ever happened from our brief alliance. If I could change it all-'
The loud exhalation of the Cameliphantus right beside us interrupted my thoughts. I looked way, way up and swore the creature's dark eyes were staring right at me. One of its horns was almost touching the ground, so I stretched out a hand to touch it...
"Don't go placing your hands wherever you want, boy." An incredibly tall and skinny woman had pulled at the back of my shirt and away from the animal. She then announced loudly towards the whole field of accepted students, all standing around anxiously alone or gathered up in groups. "Don't no one go touching or coming near the Cameliphanti, you hear?"
Staring up at her, her face and arms were decorated with weird, swirling markings that were a shade lighter than her bronze skin. Upon closer look, although she seemed skinny, her arms and legs were well-toned and firm. She then gazed down at me with a thin brow held up. "You see something interesting, boy?"
"A-Ah..." I stuttered out, and shook my head from my bout of confusion. "No, I mean, yes, ma'am. I was simply held agape by your beauty."
A few snickers came from the surrounding children. The tattooed woman herself laughed out in a way that sounded like a loud honk. She said, "Funny boy. I'd sooner say you'd found me peculiar rather than mesmerizing."
I shrugged with a small smile. "I'd say I had felt a bit of both."
Her wide mouth formed into a grin, a sharp canine glinting in the setting sun. "Well, 'nuff of that flattery. You're 20 years too young to try your chances with me. I came here to aid you all up on the Cameliphanti. Are all your things ready?"
She looked down on our bags, her demeanor quickly turning soldier-like. The students quickly gathered up their bags, some even calling for their butlers to bring them down from their carriages. Seeing both our unmoving forms, the woman turned towards us again. "You're both ready? I'll start with you two then."
"Yes, ma'am. That's all we have, ma'am," Joren replied so stiffly that I could easily imagining him as one of those new soldiers being shipped off to the Continental War.
The tall woman then bent down to gather our bags up into her spindly arms, and without any warning, she had suddenly bent down so quickly and then jumped so high I had trouble taking it all in. When my brain had caught up to what had happened, I was looking at her poised nimbly upon the middle hump of the creature. She was tying down our bags with ropes and silk with quick ease. I could hear the quiet gasps of admiration from the students around us. Then, before we knew it, she had jumped back down from the great height and stood before us again. She let out a wide grin, the edges of her mouth almost reaching her ears for all I saw. "It's your turn now. Who wants to go first?"
Thinking briskly, I pushed my red-haired companion forwards before he could even react. I quickly told the woman, "Him first."
"Alright." She shrugged, and then grabbed at my friend's waist.
"H-Hey!" Joren shouted out in protest, but he was already too late. The woman had already jumped before he could continue his complaints. Snickering at his screams, I knew I didn't want to be carried around like that. So, I gathered as much notes as I could, glanced around my surroundings, and made a run for it.
The bronze-skinned woman was just jumping back down when she saw me jumping up a parked carriage, and then running up the trunk of one of the Forest's taller trees. Once I had gone up as high as I could, I directed my gaze towards my destination, where I could see the grumbling form of the red-haired boy perched on the animal's wide back. I smiled as I kicked off the trunk, my body almost entirely parallel to the ground below me, and willed the air to burst me forward.
Halfway through, I looked down to see the tattooed woman gaping up at me.
"Catch me!" I screamed out to my companion. He looked up, and upon seeing me coming at him like an air bullet, he hastily readied himself for the impact and...
*BANG!*
I crashed straight into him, also quite successfully messing up our tied up bags in the process. The Cameliphantus, probably thinking of us as annoying little fleas, made a trumpet like sound from its blowholes, showering our faces with hot air.
"Ya'r just crazy, ya know that?" Joren glared at me, although his amusement still showed on his face.
I felt the tall woman jump right up beside us the next moment. She looked at us with familiarity plastered on her face. "So, you're that pair of boys who crashed into their entrance exams at the last minute?"
Joren and I looked at each other before helplessly nodding. I didn't think there would be any other two boys who would have done what we had. "... That we probably are."
"Pft!" she laughed, her thin lips stretching wider in her smile. "Well, nice to meet you then. Just sit down properly and try to not cause too much trouble. I've got other kids to attend to."
From up high, we watched as the woman, and a few other mages, helped the students and their things up onto the humongous creatures. Several kinds of magic were shown off. There was the simple strengthening of the body like the tattooed woman had enacted. There were also the use of levitation magic, meticulous control of elemental magic, and there was a case when one of the mages even showed teleportation magic quite like Regina's. Although, that man was only able to do it once.
I found myself smiling at the almost chaotic scene. "Bunch of show-offs."
"Well, they have to, especially with new students around," Joren said, looking at the spectacle with a smile.
I poked at his side. "You talk as though you're not one of these new students."
He then turned to grin at me. "Heh! I've just been carried around all day by flying and hopping people! Why should I get shocked by a few magic tricks?"
I chuckled a little, inwardly feeling sorry for dragging him around like that. I was about to apologize when I realized that people were looking at us. Staring down at the other students, I saw how some of them swiftly tried to hide their curious glances. It seems like I had made a spectacle of myself just now. Suddenly feeling embarrassed, I tried to hide myself by keeping myself bowed low.
"It's useless," Joren told me, as though he had seen through my thoughts. "They probably already heard of the rumors 'bout us. We kinda caused a lot of mayhem with the crowds back then. And with your little show with the air magic just now, I doubt they can't put two and two together."
I sighed. "I guess we're famous now."
And then, he sighed too. He looked at me with a slight glare. "I do wonder... It didn't feel like you were dat strong a year ago. What did ya even do in that time ya were away?"
"You mentioned this once too," I said, staring at him curiously. "Perhaps... can you sense people's strengths, Joren?"
He blinked his emerald eyes. "Sense? Well... I dunno 'bout that. But, I guess I could kinda tell that you got stronger when we met again."
I thought about that. In the year I was away, I did improve with my notes control due to my lessons with Regina, but that had only been for a short while. In my time in the Order, my training mainly focused on improving my physical abilities and dark magic...
'I wonder if Joren could sense my dark magic too?'
"What?" he mumbled with furrowed brows. "What ya lookin' at?"
"Humm..." I let out a single note, and decided to tease him. "You're quite handsome, ain't ya?"
His cheeks immediately reddened. I pouted my lips, and said, "Now you look like a tomato."
He scowled at me deeply. "Ya just say the weirdest things, Therion!"
I laughed loudly, and upon hearing my voice, I realized how musical it was even to my own ears. I wondered how long I would have until people would start to realize my voice wouldn't grow deeper, or that I won't grow as tall as the other boys...
Ah, but that's a worry meant for the far-off future. So, for now, I laughed away.
A while later, the herd started to move, their steps loud even upon the soft, forest ground. I could feel its tough muscles moving around from beneath my body, but the ride itself was unexpectedly steadier and more pleasant than I had thought. Sitting inside their carriages, or simply standing by the forest edge, the students' guardians and parents waved us goodbye. Unfortunately, Joren's parents already bade him farewell back in their relatives' house.
However, Joren didn't look like he was disappointed, though. On the contrary, he looked like he was having the time of his life. He openly gaped around the looming forest, as though we hadn't been sitting around this area for a long time now.
Deciding to glance around myself, I saw how the Forests of Elara stopped suddenly around the high walls of Lunaris City, but once we had entered further into the wide forest path surrounded by the tall, white-barked trees, it seemed like we had suddenly been transported into an entirely new world. The surroundings first turned deadly quiet, and for a while, the heavy footfalls of the line of Cameliphanti were the only sounds we could hear. But, perhaps due to our ears finally adjusting, or maybe because the forest itself had grown complacent after hearing the gigantic creatures' thundering steps for a long time, small sounds and movements started to reanimate our surroundings.
Once, I had glimpsed at a flying squirrel, jumping from one tree to another, each time getting closer towards our big parade. It seemed like it was curious about us. When it landed softly onto the tree right beside me, I held out a hand towards it, urging it to hop on, but then, something familiar happened again.
My shirt was pulled back again, and in the next second, red and warm liquid splashed onto my unsuspecting cheeks. I looked beside me, where the tattooed mage had brandished out a scimitar and had hacked at the squirrel. Her dark eyes looked fierce under the setting sun's orange light.
"You cut it cleanly in half," I praised her, staring as the disembodied creature fell onto the forest ground. "Great job."
She turned to glare at me. "What were you doing? Do you just unconsciously offer your hand out to danger or something?"
I stared at her blankly. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"That squirrel," she said between her teeth. "... was an incredibly dangerous parasite that feeds on larger mammals. They especially prey upon humans and Cameliphanti alike."
I shrugged. "I could've handled it well."
"Did you know?" she asked me harshly.
"About?" I asked innocently.
"The squirrel." She glared even more. "Did you know it was dangerous?"
"Umm..." Joren came between us before I could reply. "I think you should wipe your face a bit, Therion. Your cheeks are all bloodied up."
I quickly thanked the boy and took the cloth he offered me. While I wiped at my face, I grumbled, "I'm only dirty like this since someone decided to hack at it so fiercely."
Apparently, the woman had heard me. "Did you say something, boy?"
But before I could even retort, she continued on as she proceeded to clean her scimitar with swift, efficient flicks. "Just so you know, if I hadn't killed the creature at that moment, it would have bitten your head off."
"Oh, I doubt it would have been able to do that. Its front teeth were more for puncturing than grinding," I replied easily.
"Well, regardless of how it'd attack you, it would do you good to know that I had prevented you from being harmed," she retorted with a frustrated sigh.
"And instead, covered my face up with possibly poisoned blood," I grumbled on.
"... What are you so angry about anyway?" the mage sneered down at me, and then quickly sheathed her scimitar down her side, although she looked like she might pull it out again any moment now. "Do you hate blood, you ungrateful boy?"
"Therion, are you angry after seeing that squirrel get killed?" Joren unexpectedly joined in in our conversation. I froze in place, and then suddenly felt a deep fury boiling within me. I saw Joren flinch at my look.
I told him quietly, "I hate animals."
The temperature seemed to have dropped around us, but the Cameliphantus still trudged on, even after it had smelled of blood. Feeling annoyed at the pale face of my companion, I quickly wiped at my cheeks again, sensing an itch coming from the blood drying against my skin.
"Sorry," I heard the woman say. I peeked up at her through the cloth. Her anger from before had suddenly disappeared. She uttered, "I shouldn't have been so violent, even in my haste."
"I told you," I murmured through the cloth, more annoyed at her guilty face than her angry one. "I hate animals so I don't care about what you do with them."
She stared at me with a look that almost seemed like she was pitying me. I sighed and then allowed myself to drop onto my back. I kept staring at the darkening sky through the thick foliage, even after I had sensed the woman jump and leave from our large steed.
I felt a warm body crash down beside me. "These humps make for a good bed, don't they? They're a bit too hard, though." Joren stretched out his hands above him, as though reaching for the canopy above us.
After a while, he said, "So you hate animals."
"... It seems that way."
"Do you dislike all the kinds?" he asked in disbelief, and held his upper body up so he can stare down at me.
I looked at him with disinterest. "I don't know. I guess I hate the ugly ones the most."
"Pft!" he let out a chuckle, and then lied back down. "I think you're a liar. And I think you did get angry because that squirrel got killed."
'Indeed, I got frustrated since I could've stopped the woman if I had truly wanted to', I wanted to say. 'But if I had acted back then, she would have realized I had trained my body into one that a normal child's shouldn't have been able to become.'
I sighed. "Whatever you say, Monty."
"Shut up, Therion," he answered back almost like a ritual, and then continued to talk. "Now that I think about it, I barely know anything about you. I'll have you know that I like crabs the most. Or those flickering little light bugs. Or those lobsters my Ma once brought home."
"I think you like them because you could eat them up," I muttered.
"No way!" he denied. "But, well, they do are delicious. But that's not the point! You must like at least one animal! They're all so different that there's got to be one that you're bound to like."
I closed my eyes, listening to the child's vigorous talking and the subtle sounds that came from the Forests of Elara. I answered his questions almost automatically and soon, my heartbeat had finally slowed down.
It seems like I was still feeling wounded by it all. Lying down on the gentle beast's hard, humped back, I let the sounds of the forest and the chattering of little boys drown me into a sense of peace.
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Hua_Li_An
Hua_Li_An Hi guys!
Elle seems to hate animals now? :(
Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you guys leave a comment, vote or a review!
P.S. I edited it a bit since I didn't have time to proofread last night~
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