Training continued in the same way for the next few days. John would wake up very early in the morning to practice the sword. His wounds had become only a slight numb by now. The old man had carved two swords that had similar weight with the twin swords. Minerva had made a practice dummy for John to use when he practiced alone. The old man had upped his training regimen demanding that John have his magic released as they practiced.
This was very hard to do and John got tired faster but this was only during the first day. His endurance was clearly growing. He still managed to take care of the horses after he had eaten. This was the only time he wasn't using his magic since he could hurt the animals. A week had passes with the routine becoming part of his every day life. He was often covered in mud when he had his breakfast from the beating he got during practice. If he had insisted that his master was a young man from the way he moved around, he jumped and darted around since he used his spirit to move around which he had insisted that he do since they were the type of opponents that John was bound to come across to which John had said he didn't want to have to hurt anyone.
Minerva on the other had had not gone to the college for the past week choosing instead to practice alongside these two and their momentum. She had now come to terms with the old mans power and she had even accepted a few pointers from him. He had assessed that her fire spirit had awakened very early on its own given that it could protect her from the flames. It had however suppressed her other elemental spirit.
On this particular morning the old man didn't wake up to help him train. It was the first dry night the whole week. The ground was still damp and very slippery. There were red and golden leaves on the ground where they trained. Breakfast had already been made but Minerva was still preparing sandwiches. Is she going to the forest again?As the sun kissed the horizon the old man walked out the door and gave her a list. They seemed to have had a conversation since she didn't question what the list was for.
"John, get ready we leave after breakfast and I cant walk around with you smelling or looking like that." she gestured to John who had fallen a couple of times during morning practice. John looked at her with his brow furrowed. "We are going to buy some things. A few towns over."
"Oh," John said as he went towards the bath. This was the first time he had a morning bath. He mostly spent the day covered in dirt and mud. He took quite sometime to clean up. His actual clothes were placed neatly outside the bath. His white shirt didn't have blood stains and had actually been mended. He grabbed them got dressed and looked at his face in the mirror. He had a beard growing but didn't have time to trim it. By the time he walked out the horses had been fed and saddled. He was excited to see the world and the neighboring towns but he had forgotten that there were no cars and they weren't as extravagant as to have a carriage or a hansom. He had to actually ride a horse.
"I have never ridden before."John said as he cam out of the house. This surprised Minerva who noted how good he had been taking care horses.
"Don't worry, its quite easy, you just sit and you ride," she teased but the old man understood the predicament and offered to help and he demonstrated how to. He then got of the horse and walked it over to John and and advised that he should be gentle.
John recited the steps as he did them. Holding the reins with the left hand he placed his left foot into the stirrup. He used the saddles horn to pull himself up and sat and placed his right foot onto the other stirrup. He felt a wave of accomplishment but he had a bit of trouble sitting upright. The others watched patiently as he struggled to sit straight and was finally able to with a slight pain on his side. The old man handed him his swords and told him that his horse will follow Minerva's so he needn't worry about leading it only about not aggravating it. He was stiff but he could manage.
They set off slowly and reached the oak tree and she showed him where she found him. She pointed at his clothes and remarked at how strange they were and she kicked her horse into a steady gallop. John was naturally surprised when his followed suit. He didn't have time to think and was forced to adjust quickly as his horse also begun. He caught up to her and tried to persuade her to slow down but she replied that they had a long way to go unless they wanted to be caught in the rain later that evening. He could tell that she was quite accustomed to riding. She was wearing ridding trousers with leather padding. She looked like a horse jockey.
They soon arrived at the castle town around lunch time and as John got of his horse he could barely walk.
"Get used to it. We're not there yet." she said as she walked to wards an inn. The journey was a two day trip as they would be travelling quite the distance. The inn had outdoor chair and John had his fast chance to look around. He had been preoccupied before.
"Talk about the deep end. Are those the only tactic you know?" John asked as he looked around, "This is a beautiful town." The entire place looked quite modern than he had assumed. The streets were paved with cobblestone and carriages moved about. The town was lively as people walked around them. The inn was quite busy since it was that time of day. He was unfamiliar with the food so he had asked for the same thing she did.
"Deep end?" she asked not quite familiar with the expression to which John shrugged. His mind was elsewhere.
"You think this place is beautiful? Wait till we get to where we're going." she said as their food was brought over. John who had been wearing gloves took them off and dispelled his magic. They ate silently. The food was not the best he had ever eaten but it was different, he thought as he remembered the taste of a good pizza. As she paid John asked about the money system. In this country they used simple gold silver and copper coins where a hundred coppers were equal to one silver. fifty of which were equal to one gold. It was quite simple. The old man had given him some money to use.
John seemed to have forgotten his earlier troubles as they stood up to leave. His legs were still sore but he had no choice but to follow her. They got on their horses and rode out of the town. Neither of them noticed that a group of men exited the city soon after they left.
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Two men had been sitting in the same inn as John and Minerva. They had first noticed John since he wore very different attire than what was considered normal. Most people wore loose tunics and knee length trousers similar to what the old man was wearing when John had met him. But what grabbed their attention was the strange language they used to communicate. It was at this point that they had decided to target them. Nobody would notice if some foreigners went missing they had whispered to each other smiling wickedly.
Seeing how John walked as they left the inn they had assumed that he was new to riding.
"They won't ride fast, we can get them before they arrive at their destination." One of them said. This was the general assumption as they walked out of the gates. What they hadn't taken into consideration was that there were so many people along the road and their targets were quite adept at riding and were in full gallop now and they were forced to catch up otherwise they would loose them in this crowd.
With this large number of people it would be impossible to attack them without raising any attention so they decided to just follow them. They had to be careful since the boy was carrying a pair of swords and as bandits they knew they weren't for show. The day wore on but they didn't have a chance before they arrived in the city.
It was late afternoon when the arrived at the city gates. Whitestone city. The city itself had large imposing walls made of whitestone, which was how it got its name. Their banners were blue with white colors along the edges and a golden bird carrying an olive branch in flight. The sight of the gates gave many bandits reason not to enter the gates. The rules for theft and banditry around the city were steep. Execution was even considered in extreme cases. They had hoped that this was not their destination but that was not to be.
They calmly stopped at the gates and were stopped by the guards. This was mandatory and entry papers were required for visitors to the city. Those without them had to follow to the guards station to be inspected and their reasons for visiting evaluated. One could call this a paranoid city but there was a reason why travelling merchants and traders loved the city and that was because it protected them. They watched as those two were escorted by guards and they were afraid to lose sight of them.
They had prepared and stolen some papers which allowed them to gain entry into the city relatively easily, They returned from the stables and followed the two after they left the guards station. Thee first went to an inn.
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John and Minerva had a recommendation letter from the old man which made the guards show quite the respect to them. John was not surprised given his status but Minerva was quite shocked making her explain out loud how little she knew of the old man. She had been to the city a few times and at the time she had been too young to notice anything. They first went to the inn they would be staying at which had their own stables where their horses would get taken care of. They would see their room later.
John wanted to go sight seeing since he had noted that this city was indeed more beautiful than the small town from earlier. The white color of the walls and the order in which everything was done made the city look and feel very clean. However they had to go shopping for the things that had brought them to the city in the first place. They alchemy ingredients mostly, Minerva could tell as much since she had seen it done before.
John managed to buy some clothes. He had been getting some stares all day and while he didn't mind it, He didn't think it would be a good idea to stand out too much. When you go to Rome do what the Romans do. Sightseeing would be done the next day before they left Minerva had promised as they went back to the inn. When they got down from their room to grab supper John had noticed two men staring at him but he assumed it was the same as everyone else.
"You're still doing that?" Minerva asked. He had just removed his gloves and dispelled his magic as they waited for their food.
"I can't slack off, but this had become like second nature to me, besides when we ate earlier i have been doing it the entire time." he said proudly. He had gotten quite used to doing this all the time now. His magic rarely got depleted when he didn't practice with the sword.
She ordered their dinner supper again and some ale.
"Eat up, well ride hard tomorrow," she said
"Do you enjoy riding?" he asked her genuinely interested.
"Yes, a lot." she said and turned to her food.