Rushing toward the Capital, there were a lot of things that worried Jacob. He had just attacked one of the City Lords of the Empire, venturing into the Capital was more or less a gamble on his freedom. He could be caught and found guilty of some crimes, despite his testimony. It was likely that he would be framed as some sort villain and have no way out.
Jacob was forced to think about it while they rode, Shortie could defend his position but that would mean exposing his ability to speak. With the Poocha before, that revelation had turned made things difficult. "I wonder what that Poocha girl is up to?" His mind wandered a few times but in the end, he knew that only the truth would set him free.
As for circumstances, he couldn't see any pursuers behind him. Although, that didn't necessarily mean that they were not present or tracking him from a distance. There was only one road, deviation meant encountering lots of beasts and the terrain was inhospitable. The carriage could only go one direction.
Farmland was soon replaced but housing that seemed a bit tighter between alleys, people were gathered from all around and dozens of different races roamed the streets. The Capital City was a busy one.
Shortie stuck out like a sore thumb, the carriage remained very close and occasionally, guards came to inspect them. after their third search, the group was somewhat annoyed.
The guards were looking for signs of membership to a group known as the returners. They were bent on returning things the way things were before the arrival of Earth. Humans dominated every region that they spread to by force and it had made some of the other races nervous. An alliance was formed among them and they took the name.
"You there." The group had been stopped repeatedly, Shortie's appearance made a lot of people nervous.
"Yes.." Jacob said with a sigh.
"Which school do you belong to?" The Guard asked.
It was the first time he had been asked a question instead of being immediately searched. Jacob perked up a little, "I'm actually looking to join a school, that's why I'm here. Could you tell me where they are? I need to register with them.. I think.
"Thinking isn't a bad thing, however." A pad appeared in the guards hand, it was full of talismans.
"You can't ride your beast in the inner area. You'll have to store him away, if you don't have a stable ring, you can rent a stable. There is a fine, you'll have to pay it." Passing the talisman over, it clung to Jacob's forearm.
"What's this?" Jacob rubbed at it but the talisman was like a tattoo.
"Its a fine. You can come by the castle and pay it when you're ready to have that removed but no business will accommodate you if they see that. I suggest you take care of it before you go looking for a school." The Guard turned a bit smug then got back onto his mount. "Don't let it happen again.. three fines is a case for the city council to decide your fate."
"What?!" Jacob was feeling a bit robbed, though, he hadn't seen any other mounted creatures that were not the guards that were patrolling. "Crap." He had Shortie catch up to the guard, "Where is the castle?" It seemed like a rather innocent question, the city was large.
"I don't have time to answer all of your questions, find someone else." The Guard shrugged his shoulders and sped away.
Shortie snorted and pulled back to meet back up with Zadkeil.
"Jacob, you shouldn't stand out so much. It's bad for your health." Zadkeil felt a bit of caution, there were tense looks on the guards that were frequently stopping him.
Jacob already had one talisman on him, if the other guards wanted to be a problem, all they had to do was add another. He lashed Shortie to the side of the Carriage, it made things a little less awkward and more official looking. Either way, he had fewer dirty looks.
A group of people wearing the same colored outfit were running along a street that was paved with stones. They seemed to be running for exercise and all of them were sweating. An adult among the group spoke up, "Don't slack now! We've gotta win this season! Get up! Get up! Lets go!"
Sighs could be heard and some of the group were grabbing at their chests or legs.
"Do we really have to?" One of them asked with his last breath and fell over.
"Of course! Go go go go go." The Adult, which seemed to be their teacher or coach was very enthusiastic. He stepped high and jogged in place with lots of energy. "You'll never get younger! Go! Go! Go!"
Everyone in the group sighed again in dry agreement and sighs of fatigue filled their faces. There were many kilometers of running left to go and the Teacher had been kicking their training into high gear.
"Umm." Jacob tried to stop the coach.
"You, Why aren't you in uniform. Hurry up. Let go, go go go!" The Teacher's voice grew more impatient and Jacob was pulled away from the cart.
Shortie was still lashed to it, he could have escaped but Jacob didn't seem like he was in any danger. Licking his lips, Shortie spoke to Zadkeil, "Meat.."
Zadkeil felt grief, Jacob had been the one that dragged them all into this and now he had gone off. "Lets find a place to eat and rest with a stable. After that, I'll go find Jacob. If those guys were from where I think they were, it won't be too hard to find him."
Zadkeil was somewhat familiar with the schools, many of his customers on the route were students.
Locating an Inn wasn't too difficult, stable fees were standard across the city but the extras were where they got you. Shortie's food supply would cost them and it wasn't going to be cheap. Zadkeil's head spun.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
UP! I said UP!
Five of the Students dropped like dead flies during the last leg of the run. Jacob hadn't been one of the original group, he still had lots of energy. It surprised the Teacher, Jacob was not breaking a sweat.
"Hurry, Hurry, Hurry! GO! GO! GO!" The Teacher made excited gestures while he yelled to motivate the group of students.
"Coach, can't we just have one day this week where we don't run clear across the City?" Chad asked.
"TWO MORE LAPS!" The Teacher yelled again.
"Yes, Coach.." In unison, the group moaned out like the dead.
Jacob didn't understand what the problem was, the goal of school was to better themselves but the students in the group seemed like they were not only disinterested but inconvenienced by the concept of hard work. 'They don't seem very fit.. why are they here if they don't want to be?' Several questions rattled around in Jacob's head but he was still trying to figure out why the Teacher mistook him for one of the students. 'Maybe its my age?'
Shrugging, Jacob kept up with the coach. It was fun and even if it was all some sort of misunderstanding, it was the first time Jacob had been included for some time. He didn't want to stop but he knew that eventually he would be found out.
"Teacher, you know I'm not one of your student's right?" Jacob did his best to salvage the situation and didn't want to hide anything. Mistrust was hard to build a good relationship on.
The Teacher had a smile on his face, "I knew you were a good kid, even though it took you a while." He winked. "By the way, I know you're not a student but I can take you in as one. What do you say?" A greedy look replaced the wink.
Jacob shirked back slightly and nodded. There were not a lot of choices that he had found and he was sure that he would have joined the first school that came along. "Your school has beast trainers? Right?"
"Yes, we're not the top rank but we do just fine in the competitions." The Coach's momentum slipped just a little. "To tell you the truth, our beast trainers are not that great. Its up to the individual to be great. You seem to have the spirit though." His conversation with Jacob was put on hold, he turned back toward the group and started yelling for others to catch up. Jacob wasn't even an official student but he had kept up the whole time without complaint. "Listen, Kid. If you wanna join, I'm sure you can join. Just try hard and don't make me look bad."
"Alright Slackers! Get moving! Go! Go! Go!" Repeating himself several times, the Coach pushed the team to the point of exhaustion.
Jacob continued to train with them for the remainder of the afternoon. The Suns started to set and just as the night sky swept across the city, they had arrived to the school grounds.
"Wow, this place is huge!" Jacob marveled at the sheer size of the buildings. He hadn't seen them from afar, it really confused him but then he saw a lot of patterns covering the outside of the buildings and sort of understood. The real reason he couldn't see the building, was magic or at least something like it. Even as he was riding Shortie toward the Capital, he was continually worried because he couldn't see it. Entering the Gate didn't change this fact either.
'Cloaking technology? Or magic?' Wondering to himself as he followed the teacher inside, Jacob found himself standing outside of an office.
"Hurry up and wait, we have some rules here and paperwork for you. We'll be back when we have everything ready. Oh. By the way, what's your name kid?" The Teacher asked.
'It's about time they asked..' Jacob stood up quickly and snapped to attention, he wanted to laugh but held it in, "Jacob."