Ariana spent her time diligently. She spent her down town either sewing or training her body. She refused to be taken in as a weak girl but at the same time she didn't want to be as someone special either. Well at least in the eyes of the council.
While she trained she would always keep her eyes peeled. She wasn't going to shrug off her intuition anymore and hoped that she could catch a glimpse of Cayden hiding within the shadows. She would still leave a plate of food for him every pit stop they made but he refused to reveal himself.
Now that they made it to their last watering stop, Ariana sighed she didn't think that just in a couple of hours she would be in the capital and what was worse she didn't know who her enemy was. She did one final stretch before she hoped into the carriage. Lady Zula was still stretching her legs and this was a perfect time to start her preventative measures.
She quickly peeled off her sweat covered dress and pulled out a bottle of water and an old cloth. She quickly wiped down her body and put on what looked like a lose fitted dress made out of a potato sack. She jumped out of the carriage, tied on a white apron over top of the dredd and undid her ponytail. She then grabbed the bottle and with the remaining contents she dumped it over he head. Her long bangs clung to the front of her face while the unwashed potato sack dress started to stain her skin with patches of dirt.
She stood there for a few minutes, allowing the water to really penetrate through before she walked over to a tree. She placed her hands onto the trunk and steadied herself before she started to shake her head vigorously. Her long black hair started to wildly spray water droplets in every direction. Once she was done she wondered if dogs ever felt dizzy after giving their body's a shake. She let go of the trunk and tried to walk back to the carriage and found it rather difficult to walk in a straight line as she fell a few times before she made it to the door.
"So your plan is to be a dirty little urchin who I have opened my heart and home too?" Ariana turned to face Lady Zula and gave her a bright smile. "A dirty little urchin with a charming smile and a communication disorder." Lady Zula was stupefied, she didn't think that Ariana would stoop so low as to make herself seem idiotic but it there was a chance the council would believe her.
"Alright lets go we have our meeting with them a 3 and we can't be late!" She shouted as she pushed Ariana into the carriage. "Honestly child you really do surprise me everyday."
It wasn't long before they made it to the gates of the capital. Ariana gawked at the massive wall the surrounded the city, the walls looked to be 40 feet tall and made of tan coloured stones. The gate keepers were wearing chainmail under a tunic that was decorated in four sections. Two sections opposite from each other were coloured with crimson red while the remaining two were marigold. The top two sections had a white silhouette of a phoenix that was flying away in opposite directions. They had fastened the tunic with a thick, brown belt that had silver rivets in it and tan coloured pants under their tunic.
"What's your business." A surly, big nosed male asked Brain when he stopped the carriage in front of the gate. "Summoned." Brian answered as he handed over a the letter to the gate keeper. He gave Brian a scowl after he read the letter. He turned to his comrades and signaled for them to lift the metal gate.
The carriage slowly moved into the city and Ariana gasped as she saw the scenery through her bangs. The capital actually didn't look that much different from Stella Amora. The same sort of Victorian style homes were all crammed together leaving almost little space between them. There was one main road made of cobblestone and many side streets and alleyways.
She could imagine how this city could easily flip from night and day. During the day the streets were filled with kids happily running around and diligent hard working people running off to their next destination. As the houses started to run to shops Ariana couldn't help but grip the window of the carriage. While she imagined that the night was crawling with people looking for a good time.
She stuck half her body out the window and looked back towards the gate. From their distance she could tell that they closed the gate and wondered if Cayden would be stuck outside the city for the night. She pulled herself back into the carriage and looked at Lady Zula, she tried her best to mask her worry. "Why is the gate closed? Are the people facing some sort of crisis at the moment?"
Lady Zula had her fan closed and was busy tapping it against the palm of her hand. She looked deep in thought and seemed to be called to reality by Ariana's questions. When she saw the worry on the girl's face she knew she needed to act fast. "You're right it's strange... please excuse me." She said before she pulled herself out of her seat and started shouting at Brian from the window. "Don't stop until we get to the Senate Grand Hall!"
The carriage seemed to pick up speed and Lady Zula moved back to her seat. She looked over at Ariana, she was sitting with her arms crossed, her long bags now acted as a veil between the world and her thoughts. Ariana felt Lady Zula's gaze on her, she uncrossed her arms and started to rub her temples with her fingers. "I have a weird feeling that we are going to hit a road block soon."
Lady Zula nodded her head, she stuck herself out the window again and asked Brian to move the carriage into a side street. Once they slowed down to a stop Lady Zula looked at Ariana. "Get out." She ordered as she swung open the door. Ariana knew that Lady Zula had a plan and obediently did as she was told. "Brian call forth a couple of shadow soldiers and have their escort Ariana to our destination." She commanded as she moved to the back of the carriage and opened a trunk.
Brian hoped down from the driver's seat and walked over to Lady Zula who seemed to be rummaging through some clothes. "I can't do that Zula ..." Brian began to say as Lady Zula pulled out a dark cloak, it had a beautiful, indigo coloured, vine embroidery all along the trim and around the hood. "Why not!" She shouted as she grabbed Ariana's arm an pulled her behind her back. Brian looked hurt and started to rub the back of his neck. "You didn't see or feel it did you?"
Lady Zula's hostility started to subside when she she heard the conversation go into a different direction. "See what?" She said harshly as she turned to Ariana and placed the cloak over the girl. "The threshold of the gate... there was a strong disarming charm. We lost all our back-up and they didn't let my men who were following us in... Zula I think we walked into a trap."
"Sh*t, alright plan 'C' it is then." She said as she fastened the robe onto Ariana. She then went back to the trunk and grabbed more clothes before she disappeared into the carriage. After a few moments she came back out wearing dark brown riding pants, a white, ruffled blouse and red vest. She started to pull her black, curly hair back into a single braid. "Zula you can't be serious about plan 'C'. Please reconsider." Brian pleaded.
Lady Zula gave him a dirty look before she bent down and placed a hand on Ariana's shoulder. "What you have on is called a blue ivy cloak. It will allow you to blend into the shadows without being detected... well I hope it still works. Not sure since it went through the disarming charm but at least it will make less noticable. You are to follow me as best you can, until we get to the Hall." She said with a endearing face. Ariana nodded her head in understanding and Lady Zula smiled before she got up.
"Brian, you know what to do." Brian shook his head no. "This will only buy you a little time, if there really is a road block up ahead or I'm stopped for an inspection they will come looking for you." He said pitifully. "It will give us enough time, now let's go." She answered with a reassuring smile. Brian sighed and grabbed her wrist to pull her into an embrace. "Be safe." He whispered before he let her go. He then moved his way to that carriage, pulled himself up and back into the driver's seat. she took one last look at the girls before he whipped the reins and steered the carriage away from them.
"Now it's our turn." She said without looking back at Ariana. They went in the opposite direction of the carriage and found themselves in another part of town. Lady Zula kept a calm face as she weaved between people while Ariana tried her best to stay close behind her. She realized that people could see her and knew that the disarming charm ruined the cloak's ability. She clutched her hood and held it in place as she thought about Cayden.
After walking a block, Ariana could hear someone screaming from within the crowd. She looked around diligently and saw that some rough looking men where harassing a young woman. Ariana looked around the crowd and noticed it started to get busier. She lost sight of Lady Zula and started to shout into the crowd. "Mom! Mom! Someone needs help!" She didn't wait for a reply and dashed through the crowd with some difficulty.
She noticed that the people passing by decide to stand a fair distance back as they made a man made arena around the young woman and two men. "Please! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to insult you! I honestly can't entertain you right now my little brother is sick!" She started to cry out as tears ran down her fair skin and her golden brown hair danced in the air as she tried to pull her wrist out of the one man's grasp.
"Come on baby you know that's not what I want to hear. I need you to cater to my ailment down here." The man said as he brought her hand down and pressed it against his bulge. The young woman started to scream in horror while the other man with a scar down his face and multiple piercings in his ears came up behind her and grabbed hold of her chin. "Honey don't forget about me." He said darkly and then licked the side of her face with a snake, split tongue.
Ariana was disgusted that no one moved to help this young woman and kicked down the two men that were standing in front of her. She then walked on top of them to give her more height. "You disgusting pieces of cow dung! Are your brains made of sh*t too?! Cause I'm pretty sure she already said no to you." She said as she walked down from the two man pile at came toe to toe with the man holding the young woman's wrist.
The man gave her a crooked smile as he stared her down. His black beady eyes were glazed with a faint yellow colour, his mud coloured hair was short and choppy while a giant vein popped out of the side of his neck. "What's a brat like you gonna do if I ain't willing to listen?" He growled as hot air seeped out his nostrils. Ariana cocked her head and gave him a gentle smile. "Just this." She said as she jabbed two fingers into his eyes.
The man howled in pain and let the young girl's wrist go and clutched his face. "Donny, you ok buddy?" The other man said as he loosened up his grip on the girl. Ariana took the chance to side step next to him, she reached up and pinched the area under his left arm. The pain caught him off guard, when he couldn't hold the woman in his arms anymore she fell down to her hands and knees. "Well that's no way to treat a lady." She said as she twisted the pinched skin she hand in between her thumb and index finger.
Tears started to collect in the man's eyes as he dropped to one knee. He turned to look at Ariana and his eyes turned murderous as he reached out with his free hand and grabbed her wrist. Ariana let go of his under arm and wrapped her free hand over top of his knuckles. In one swift movement she pushed his arm upwards, ducked under and moved behind with his arm extending behind him.
The man with the scar started to sweat when she pushed him forward and he found he couldn't move. He turned his head back and saw the wicked smile she gave him before she raised her leg and kicked into his elbow. The scream the man let out of his mouth was death defying. His eyes rolled back and landed face first into the coble stone street. His friend was able to recover just in time ato watch the blow that broke his friend's arm.
He paled for a second and then turned crimson. "Gerald!" He roared as he charged towards Ariana with his fist flying towards her face. She looked up, let go of the broken arm and redirected his punch. From that point everything Donny saw next happened in slow motion.
The girl smirked at him as her bangs swayed gently with the small breeze his fist created. He could have sworn in that spilt second he saw an rare colour in her eyes but in the other spilt second his thoughts were over taken by excruciating pain. He could no longer focus as he gritted his teeth and his eyes were watering.
Ariana was able to grab hold of the pressure point 4 inches away from his elbow and started to rub. The effect was instantaneous, Donny was now falling from the pain and now practically on the ground. She let him go, moved in front of his face, placed her hands behind his head and kneed him in the nose. Another scream was heard from him along with a cracking noise.
Ariana let go of his face and took a step back. She watched him plop onto the ground as blood started to run from his noise. She looked at the crowd and saw that they were all shocked. Some were sweating while others held a protective arm out to stop anyone from doing something foolish. "I help those in need! I don't go looking for fights!" She shouted at the crowd.
She walked around the two men on the ground and went up to the young woman. She held out her hand to help her up but saw that the woman was trembling from fear. When their eyes met, Ariana saw the message that was glistening in her pale, green eyes. 'Monster! Stay away!' Ariana dropped her extended hand down with a sigh. She turned her back to her as she mumbled. "Your welcome..."
As she took a few steps forward, she could hear clanking and shouts coming from behind her. 'There! A monster is over there!"