The line was long and the day was chilly, the soilder guessed that the winter March had already started since the line was not nearly as long as it usually was. Most people went out of their way to avoid traveling during the winter March since they had a bad habit of killing random people that happened to be out. Which was the common belief of most people since the true story of the Winter March was not well known at all.
The line was moving quite a bit slower than usual not only becouse of the Winter March, but also becouse of the the king was looking for the soilder in order to deal with him before his uncle caught wind of the situation. And even though the guards were on high alert they were unable to see the soilder as he passed through the gates undetected right next to Gordan and the horse.
They had let Gordan though rather quickly after glancing sidelong at the odd color of his veins. But he only smiled and stated his his reason for entering the capital. As soon as they entered the city Gordan froze in his tracks and just stood unmoving. The soilder noticed that he had even stopped breathing and even the horse seemed concerned about him.
The soilder walked in front of him and noticed that Gordans eyes were glazed over, he didn't understand what could have happened to make him so suddenly lose focus.
As soon as they crossed into the capital Gordan felt a presence that was extremely familiar to him, it made him freeze in his tracks. The presence was an ancient one and its soul was filled with both sorrow and rage, so much so that it was bleeding into Gordan's mind and threatening to take over. The feeling was so overwhelming that it was all he could do to stop himself from slaughtering everyone in the area, and then quite suddenly the presence seemed to notice him and eased off, releasing the strain off of his mind. He instantly gasped for air and his eyes regained focus. Both the horse and the soilder were staring at him with worried expressions. He smiled gently to signify that he was alright, and then he continued walking as though nothing had happened.
The soilder wanted to ask him what the problem had been but he had the feeling that it wasn't somthing that should be said in front of the gates so he just fallowed Gordans lead and lead them though the city as though the incident had never occurred.
On the walls of the castle a man stood watching the three of them with mild interest wondering why the guards at the gate had not stopped one of the men from entering the walls without being questioned. The man's thick fir cloak was slightly blown by the wind and he raised up his hand to pull his wind blown hair back into place. He knew that if he didn't his attendant would never let him hear the end of it. After a few more moments of watching he turned around and walked back into the castle, he had only returned from his patrol the the day before but he had the unshakeable feeling that somthing was wrong, very wrong, he just didn't know what yet, but rest assured he would find it eventually.
The soilder led them to the best inn in the capital and Gordan used some money that Leech's mother had given him for travel expenses to buy a room and a place in the stable for the horse. Gordan rubbed down the horse and gave it some food before he moved to his room in order to get ready for the audience with the king. As he had a document with the official seal he would be able to have an audience with the king without having to go through all of the legal problems that one would usually have to deal with. The soilder sat down in a chair next to the bed and leaned his head back against it. He looked quite tired so Gordan decided that he would help with the problem even if it was only a little bit. He took one of the extra changes of clothes from his bag and used a simple incantation which made them adaptable to a persons size and handed them to the soilder. Usually somthing like that wouldn't have been a bit deal, but he was already quite damaged from his veins and the healing had only been able to do so much, so when his fingers on his left hand split in half and started to dislodge he flinched instinctively.
The soilder noticed and looked at him questioningly, but Gordan just waved it away.
"One of my nails got caught on somthing and ripped off, so I was slightly startled. It's nothing to worry about. Anyway here you go."
He through the pile of clothes toward the soilder who still didn't really believe what he was saying.
"You should change into those clothes, they will be much more comfortable and not to mention convenient to move around in."
As he said this Gordan indicated the impractical guard uniform that the soilder was still wearing which made the soilder sigh in admittance. The outfit was indeed quite uncomfortable, so he was quite glad for the change in wardrobe.
While he went into the bathroom to change Gordan bandaged his fingers on his left hand which was stinging quite a bit. What ever was up with his veins, it was making using magic much more costly. For the healing spell his tongue had dried out, but that didn't mean that he was unable to speak. The actual problem was one that he called ash, where any time he would try to eat or drink somthing as soon as it touched his tongue it would turn to ash. The thing was it was one of the more uncommon drawbacks that he had to deal with, and was usually associated with spells on a much higher scale. He wondered why it was that using magic in the dream had been so detrimental but it most likely had somthing to do with the type of magic he had used and not the fact that he had used it. His mind then turned to the presence he had felt earlier and he wondered what in the world it could have been.
As he pondered these things the soilder stepped out of the bathroom looking quite refreshed since he had used the opportunity as a chance to finally take a bath for the first time in three days. After he was finished he felt like all of the stress from before had melted away into nothingness. When he saw Gordan staring off into space he walked over and sat down on the bed next to him and let out a sigh.
"You should really try the bath, after all you did pay the extra money for it right?"
Gordan looked over at the soilder whose hair was now hanging on his shoulders still slightly wet.
"You know you're gonna catch a cold if you're not careful about keeping yourself warm."
Gordan stood up and tossed the soilder a towel before finding a change of clothes for himself and walking into the bathroom without waiting for a response.
The soilder sat there and dried his hair slowly thinking about the events that had led him to this point, he really wondered what kind of person Gordan was. He was never able to know what he was thinking which made him instinctively not want to trust him, but then the way he acted made it almost natural to trust him, which perplexed the soilder greatly. He had noticed Gordans bandaged hand and wondered if he had really just injured it so slightly. It really didn't seem to likely, but what else could have really happened?
=Sigh=
He lay down on the head thinking until he drifted into sleep.