by Alex Alcasid
“First thing’s first, princess.” Kae said, putting a reassuring hand on Loren’s shoulder. “One thing at a time. Find the lion cub.”
“Beastman prince.” Loren corrected.
“As far as I know, he’s still a young lion. Mane hasn’t grown in yet.”
“Well when you put it that way…” Loren trailed off. She chuckled, and Kae found herself smiling. “He is still a cub.”
Loren agreed to ordering breakfast at the inn, instead of running off in search of Kaiten immediately. It took Kae a while to coax the princess to have something to eat before they left, instead of using the provisions she hastily took from the castle kitchens. She had the gold for it, and rushing out into the wild of the forests and grasslands would be too much of a shock for Loren, even if the princess herself said she could handle it. Kae had her suspicions that Loren was only saying so to boost her own bravado. The girl was scared.
Coming down from the upstairs rooms, Loren noticed the inn was much emptier than it was last night. Only two of a dozen tables were occupied; one by a lone traveler in Kespian silks, and another by a weathered old man nursing a stein of ale. Loren went to talk to the inn keeper’s wife, and Kae stood staring at the old man. He looked like a merchant that came a long way, and his head bobbed as he dozed off. Kae chuckled as the old man’s beard slipped into his cup as he slept.
“Kae, this way.” Loren said, taking the huntress’s arm and leading her to a table. “The inn keeper’s wife is nice, she told me she will serve breakfast once it’s done. We just have to wait.”
Kae raised an eyebrow and leaned across the table. “Does she know you’re the princess?”
Loren shrugged. “I don’t believe she knows. She spent a while talking about how much I look like her granddaughter.”
“Why, are you related?”
“No, not at all. And her granddaughter ran off to Thalassa with a ‘flea-bitten, mongrel, son-of-a-whore’ sailor.”
Kae chuckled. “Her exact words?”
“That was the paraphrased version.” Loren smiled. “She went on for a minute without taking a breath.”
The two shared a laugh as they waited for their food. In the corner, the Kespian traveler suddenly looked up. It was the scholar from the market. He frowned, and recognized Loren immediately as the girl who’s horse spit all over his books. He stood, his chair scraping loudly on the floor, and stormed over to Loren and Kae’s table. He clutched a heavy tome under his arm.
“Excuse me.” He said in a stern tone, and adjusted his traveling cloak over the layered silks he wore. “I believe you owe me an apology.”
“What?” Kae scoffed, staying seated with a look of disdain on her face. “Do we know you?”
“I know you.” He answered, pointing at Loren. “We met at the market. Do you remember? When your horse ruined half my books and scrolls?”
The recognition came fast. Loren suddenly stood. “You’re the Kespian scholar!”
“What are you doing here?” Kae asked. “Did you follow her all the way out here to get her to say sorry? You’ve got determination.”
“No! No, I did not!” The scholar answered. “I was beginning my travels to survey the land.” He shook his head. “I don’t have to explain anything to you.”
“If it’s an apology you want, then I deeply apologize for damaging your wares.” Loren said, slipping into the formal tone she was taught to use when addressing those in court. “Compensation for your damaged goods will be given by the Trademaster of Aldoran. May I have your name? I will send a message to the Trademaster immediately.”
The scholar raised a brow, not believing a word Loren said. “My name is Cassendir. And who are you, that you think you can simply order one of the masters of Aldoran to do anything for you?”
Kae laughed at that, throwing her head back and clutching her sides. Cassendir rounded on her. “What do you think is so funny?”
The huntress took a while to calm her laughter down to sporadic chuckles. “Who is she? She’s only the princess of the kingdom. Loren Cyrael, heir to the throne? You’re a smart man, I’m sure you heard of her.”
Loren sighed, but smiled at Kae. “Kae…You don’t have to tell everyone. But yes, I am. Here, as proof.” She fished out a silver dragon pendant from a chain that was kept hidden under her traveling cloak. Shimmering gold formed the dragon’s eyes, gazing out in a curious stare, reminiscent of Lind’s watchful gaze.
Cassendir looked to the girls, eyes wide and mouth flapping like a fish. He suddenly dropped to his knees, the tome falling out of his grip and clattering to the floor. “My lady! I’m sorry, I didn’t know!”
“Please don’t.” Loren said, wincing. She tucked the dragon pendant back out of sight before someone else could see. “Please don’t do that. And not too loud, please, someone might hear.” She helped the scholar up.
“But you’re the princess. Shouldn’t I grovel appropriately?” Cassendir asked, genuinely confused.
“What? Grovel? No, why would you?”
“That’s how its done before the queen of Kespia.” Cassendir picked up his tome. “She absolutely loved being worshipped. I suppose I don’t know enough of the culture in this part of the world just yet. There’s much to learn.”
“You’ll get there.” Kae said with an air of nonchalance, more interested in the inn keeper’s wife who approached their table with plates of food. Sizzling rashers of bacon and fresh eggs sat atop thick slices of bread. The innkeeper’s wife set the two plates on the table, and chuckled with a knowing smile as she saw how Kae’s eyes widened at the sight of it.
“Do close your mouth, deary.” She said to Kae. “You’re starting to drool on the table.”
Both Loren and Cassendir turned to Kae, who was just starting to wipe the saliva from the side of her mouth. The huntress eagerly tore into the food like a starving dog, shoveling bacon and eggs into her mouth as fast as she could get a hold of them.
Loren found herself chuckling, smiling fondly at the huntress. She knew Kae scarcely ate anything other than game meat she hunted for herself and Ma’trii, and even then the meat was rarely cooked with this level of sophistication. The princess let Kae eat, and turned her attention back on Cassendir.
“You mentioned that you were travelling the land to study the other kingdoms, correct?” Loren asked.
“Yes, my lady. I’ve studied all there is to know about Kespia, of course. I’ve observed the districts of Markholme, and while I have not been able to observe the court of the King and Queen of Aldoran, I’ve found books telling of the culture and history of the royal family.” Cassendir answered, his eyes shining with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.
“Have you been to the Beastman lands yet?”
“No, not yet. I must admit, Beastmen as still strange to me.” Cassendir pulled up a chair and sat at their table. Kae continued on, oblivious. “The queen of Kespia refuses to let Beastmen into the walled city, even for refuge from the sandstorms. She finds them to be an eyesore, so they huddle in camps outside the walls to trade. Their tents aren’t enough to weather the sandstorms most times, so many in the outer camps die with their flesh ripped off their bones by the razor sands.” The scholar’s tone was conversational, stating gruesome Beastman death as a matter of life, something that happened all the time.
Loren couldn’t help but frown at the thought. “That’s horrible. No one deserves that fate.”
“The queen of Kespia doesn’t seem to care, unfortunately. Why did you ask, my lady?”
Kae pushed Loren’s plate of bacon and eggs towards the princess, and interrupted the two, speaking around a mouthful of bread. “Princess, you better eat that before I eat it for you.” She mumbled.
Loren smiled and pulled the plate closer to her, and began picking at the bacon with a fork. “I believe mine and this huntress’s journey will take us closer to the Beastman lands, the Garruchian Plains and beyond towards Rhodia. Since we’re headed there and you have not explored that area yet
, I was going to suggest you come with us.”
Cassendir’s eyes widened at the prospect of adventure and companionship. At the very least, he wouldn’t need to travel alone. The scholar was quite horrible at directions, and was more likely to end up back home in Kespia than finding his way through the tall grasses of the plains to Rhodia. Cassendir nodded eagerly, pulling up a chair to sit with the girls. “I’d be honored, my lady.”
Loren smiled. “Please, just Loren. I don’t really want anyone to know who I am.”
“Why not?”
“That’s a sensitive issue.”
“If anyone know where she ran off to, the guards are gonna make her go home.” Kae said, her words mangled by the mouthful of food.
Cassendir’s mouth formed an ‘oh’. He nodded and dropped the issue. He let the two finish their breakfast, and waited for them to get ready. His own horse was tied to the hitching post outside of the inn. With Loren’s permission, the scholar went out to retrieve his horse. As he stepped out of the inn, he came face to face with a large wolf.
He froze in his tracks, staring wide-eyed into the wolf’s amber eyes. “Hello there.” He stammered, terrified. He pitched forward as Kae slapped his back, throwing him off balance and landing face first in the dirt. He looked up, and the wolf was sniffing his hair.
“Calm down, Cassendir.” Kae said, sucking on her teeth. “That’s just Ma’trii. He’s my friend, and he’s coming with us.” She scratched Ma’trii behind the ears. She slipped him some bits of bacon that she had put between a folded slice of bread. “Good morning. Did you eat? I saved this for you.”
Cassendir scrambled up, watching in shock as Kae so casually patted Ma’trii and talked to him. He reached for his large book and opened it, taking a pencil that he had tucked into its pages and started scribbling down notes on this strange interaction between a human and a feral wolf.
“He’s not technically a feral.” Loren said helpfully, leaning over Cassendir’s arm to read his notes. “Ma’trii’s a rare type of Beastman born in a feral’s body. He’s very smart, and can understand all our words. And he has feelings, be careful you don’t hurt them.”
The scholar frowned, his pencil slowing. “His feelings? What would happen if his feelings get hurt?”
Loren chuckled, and went off to retrieve their horses. “You’ll have to answer to Kae, of course. That’s a fate worse than being bitten by the wolf.”
While Cassendir held onto the reins of their horses, Loren fished out the carved wooden bird from her pack. She held the toy out for Ma’trii to sniff. “Ma’trii, can you find Kaiten with this?”
The wolf sniffed the toy, then Loren’s hand, then the toy again. He turned his intelligent amber eyes up to Loren and nodded once. He set off down the Imperial Highway, nose to the ground and sniffing to pick up the trail.
“That does it.” Kae muttered as she attempted to get into the saddle again. “He’s going to keep sniffing till he finds the trail. Now I have to remind him to eat and rest before he gets a lungful of dirt.”
Cassendir raised a brow as he watched Kae’s efforts. He was already mounted, and lightly flicked the reins to move his horse closer to Kae’s. “Do you need help?”
“No, go away.” Kae grumbled, trying again. She managed to get one foot into the saddle and tried to fling herself onto the horse’s back. The horse bucked, flinging the huntress onto its back with a loud ‘oof’. She glared at Cassendir. “Don’t you say a word.”
Loren twitched the reins of her horse and set off after the wolf, following just behind Ma’trii, far enough so the horse wouldn’t be spooked at his presence, but close enough to keep the wolf in sight. Ma’trii led the three down the highway for a few minutes, before veering left off the path. Loren kicked her horse, urging it to go faster, or else she would lose Ma’trii.
“Don’t worry so much, princess.” Kae said from behind Loren. The huntress looked exhausted from such a short ride, and sat tensed on the saddle. “If Ma’trii thinks he lost us, he’ll howl. Then I’ll know where he is.”
Loren nodded, and let her horse walk at a steady pace, even as Ma’trii darted between tufts of tall grass and out of sight. “Kae? I noticed you don’t have any weapons.” She said.
“I don’t. My bow and knives were confiscated by your Spymaster. Don’t you remember?” Kae said matter-of-factly.
The princess winced. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Spymaster Isran didn’t tell me. I promise, I’ll get you another bow.”
“You don’t have to.” Kae shrugged. “I can make another one, no big deal. I’d have to borrow a knife, at least.”
“I insist, I’ll buy you the best hunting bow possible.” Loren’s expression was set and determined.
Kae raised a brow at Loren’s serious look, and chuckled. “Calm down, princess. You’re so uptight.”
They rode on for a while, and patchy grass scattered across rocky ground gave way to fields of golden grass and dry yellow weeds swaying in the wind. The grass grew tall enough to tickle the horses’ noses, and hid Ma’trii completely. Pollen and dust carried on the wind caused Cassendir to sneeze every few minutes.
“Where are we?” the scholar said between sneezing fits. He kept the layers of Kespian silk robes tied closely to his body to keep them from flapping in the wind.
“These are the Garruchian Plains.” Loren said, looking back at Cassendir. “The plains extend for miles around Rhodia, just wheat, grass, and barely as far as you can see.” She turned to point back towards Markholme and the Aldoran castle, far in the distance. “From the top of the tower, you can see the plains flowing like liquid gold in the morning. “
“Truly? How fascinating. Tell me, why is it named ‘Garruchian?’” Cassendir sneezed again before taking his book out of a satchel and scribbling down notes.
Loren laughed and pulled her horse up to match the slow pace of Cassendir’s. She told him the legend of the tiger Beastman Garruch. The scholar raised a suspicious brow at the mention of Garruch’s near monstrous build, but said nothing of it. He had seen very few Beastmen, and statistically, there may be a few out there with chests and arms as large and muscled as Loren described. But once the princess began to tell of how the warrior Garruch felled a hundred soldiers with one swing of his axe, Cassendir could no longer keep quiet.
“I highly doubt that, princess.” Cassendir said. “It is simply impossible for a single being to kill a hundred of anything with one blow. Except if they are ants. And a hundred soldiers are certainly not ants.”
Loren smirked. “Cassendir, a lot of things in this world are said to be impossible. Scholars of a scientific mind have been trying to prove that magic doesn’t exist, yet mages are born with their markings and power every day. You’re a mage, as well.”
“Magic has nothing to do with it, my lady.”
“You didn’t let me finish. It is every bit as possible for one powerful Beastman to defeat an army by himself, as they are of dragons flying through the sky.”
“My lady.” Cassendir said gently. “I apologize for bringing you such news, but dragons don’t exist anymore. In the Age of Heroes and the Golden Ages, perhaps, but not anymore. They’re extinct. This is what is recorded by the scholars of the Academy of Magic in Kespia.”
Loren laughed again, and Kae looked back from her horse. “You’re the one that’s wrong, scholar boy.” She said. “Just drop it, and accept what the princess says. She’s completely right. Even about the dragon.”
Cassendir furrowed his brow in confusion, and Loren kicked her horse into a trot, speeding away from him and trampling through the grass.
Chapter Eight
It was several hours of trampling through tall grass and wandering on and off an unkempt trail, till Ma’trii suddenly stopped. Loren’s horse reared and nearly threw off in its panic. After frantically soothing the horse, Loren leaned over the side.
“Ma’trii?” She said. “What’s wrong? Did you see something?”
The wolf looked back
at the princess, craning his neck up to see her mounted on the horse. He sniffed, and gestured with his head through the fields. In the distance, near enough for the wolf to see through the grass, were the straw colored walls of Rhodia, the Beastman city.
“Rhodia! You led is right to it, thank you!” Loren said with a smile, and was about to urge her horse on, when she heard Ma’trii whine. “Ma’trii?”
Kae came up beside her, wincing at the soreness in her legs and back from being unaccustomed to riding. “He doesn’t want to go any further. The Beastmen don’t like him, remember? He’ll probably be shot on sight.” She said, shifting uneasily in her saddle.
“Well…What do we do?” Loren asked the both of them. “Ma’trii, where does Kaiten’s trail lead? Into Rhodia?”
The wolf nodded, and gestured back towards the Beastman city.
Loren frowned. “But Kaiten is originally from there. Are you sure?”
Ma’trii seemed to sigh. He walked off some distance to the side, and pointed again, past the walls of the castle.
“He’s pointing out beyond Rhodia, princess.” Kae said patiently. “Not into it. The lion cub’s probably been taken somewhere north. We’ll have to pass through Rhodia anyway, I still need a bow and we should stock on food. After I get a bow, I can hunt in these plains.”
“Farther north?” Cassendir mused. “There isn’t anything past the plains…Just the Plaguelands of Yureun, and no one goes there.”
“Well. Off to Rhodia it is. I have to meet with whoever it is that has taken the throne while the heir is missing.” Loren said with a sigh, feigning optimism. She spurred her horse on, and stopped again after a few steps. “Ma’trii? Are you coming?”
The wolf shook his head, and remained seated. Ma’trii was adamant in staying far away from the Beastman city. He looked back at Kae, and they shared a look.
“Ma’trii will stay outside the city, but will be within earshot if I want to call him.” Kae said. “It’s alright, we do it all the time when I have to go to the Markholme market. He’ll be fine.”