Zane jolted awake as the hit a rut in the path. He blinked rapidly and looked around him. They were now traveling down a rough path through a heavily wooded forest. By the position of the sun, he guessed that he had been asleep for several hours. He quickly abandoned the idea of going back to sleep due to the excessively bumpy path. He soon envied Pug who, despite the heavy jolting of the wagon, snored lightly beside him, his flopping and twisting into new positions each time they hit a rut. He glanced around at the other passengers, most were asleep, except for the mysterious hooded man in the front. At least seem awake, it was hard to tell with the hood.
For lack of anything else to do, Zane unsheathed his sword, pulled out a rag from his small sack of possessions, and began to work polishing the tarnished blade. Soon afterward the scrawny kid on the other side of him woke with a start and asked Zane where they were.
"No idea," Zane answered.
"The forest of Reges," Came a voice from the front of the wagon. Zane looked toward the front. It must have been the mysterious hooded man that spoke, but he had not moved and made no sign that he had spoken.
"Th. . .Thanks," the scrawny kid replied. "By the way," he said turning to Zane. "My name is Aaron." He held out his hand to Zane.
Zane shook his hand, took in his black hair and blue eyes, and said, "Zane." Just then they hit a particularly large bump. Pug flew a foot into the air and his head came down against the side of the wagon.
He jerked awake, "Whas happnen?" he asked in a slurred voice.
"Can you sleep through anything?" Zane asked him, smiling.
"One of my many great abilities," Pug answered with a yawn. Pug then spotted the sword nestled in Zane's lap. He sighed, "Wish I had my own sword."
"You call that a sword?" they all looked up to see the rich kid sneering at them. "More like a beggar's kitchen knife if you ask me. Now this is a real sword!" he unsheathed his own sword from an ornate silver sheath. The sword was beautifully made and was encrusted with jewels.
"Having an expensive weapon doesn't make you able to use it," Zane answered his anger rising quickly.
The Kid laughed, "At least I have a proper weapon! Any man could wield a simple kitchen knife like that! Your filthy whore of a mother must have been busy to make enough money to afford that little piece of rust!" Zane forgot about his sword leapt across the wagon and tackled him over the side of the wagon. They tumbled and rolled on the road behind the wagon. Zane could hear shouts coming from the wagon, but he didn't care. He rolled himself on top of the kid and punched him square on the nose as hard as he could. Blood spattered the kids face and clothes. With surprising strength, the kid kneed him in the stomach and leaped onto him. The blow had knocked Zane's breath away and he was preparing for the kids hit when a hand grabbed the kid by the back of his tunic and lifted him off.
"Lebbe Go you filby beasant!" the kid yelled through his broken nose. Zane got stood up from the ground and saw the hooded man holding the kid back from attempting to kill Zane.
"What is this about?" he said in a commanding voice.
"Bat crazy fool backled be off the bagon!" replied the rich kid before Zane could open his mouth. "He shouldn't be allobed ib bublic! The filby bonster!" The hooded man turned his gaze on Zane. His deep gray eyes bore into him.
"Is this true?" he directed toward him. Zane nodded,
"But he insulted my mother sir!" he said defiantly.
"It doesn't matter what he said!" the man replied sternly. "They are only words! Control your anger! Now what are your names?"
"Wibston!" said the rich kid. The hooded man turned his attention to Zane once again.
"Zane," he answered glaring at Winston.
"Ok then, Winston, Zane, I want you to shake hands. The Vitae is no place for fighting. We all have the same enemy and that is not each other." Winston brushed brown hair out of his face and stared daggers into Zane with his black eyes. Zane reluctantly stepped forward and shook hands with Winston. They spent the handshake trying to crush each other's hands. When they let go the hooded man said, "There we go, now this is settled." But from the look on Winston's face and the way he stormed off Zane guessed that it was far from settled, which was fine with Zane. He would gladly take a chance to break more than just his nose.
"You need to learn to have better self-control," the hooded figure said to him. "Or your anger may be the death of you or someone close to you one day."
Zane looked at the hooded man, "He called my mother a whore," he said simply.
"As I said before," the man replied. "It does not matter what he said."
"I never knew my mother sir," Zane replied coldly. The hood man stood silent for a moment. Then he took off his hood. Zane tried to hide his surprise as the face of a young man a little older than he appeared. He had light brown hair and deep grey eyes that seemed to take in everything. Due to the cloak and staff Zane had expected an old man.
"I'm sorry. I too never knew my mother," he told Zane. "But still you should try to control your emotions." Zane nodded noticing the sorrow in the man's eyes. "Now go back to your wagon we can't afford to hold up the line any longer." Zane looked up the road and saw that their fight had stopped the entire group of wagons. The other recruits hung of the sides of the wagon, trying to get a glimpse of what had stopped their progress. He hurried back to his wagon and sat down in his spot next to Pug. He noticed to his pleasure that Winston had been moved to a different wagon.
"Man, as awesome as that was I'd have to say it wasn't the best idea," Pug told him as he sat down. Zane grimaced and looked at Pug,
"You're probably right," Zane admitted. "Sometimes I can't control my temper."
"Are you kidding?" Came a voice from across Zane, he looked up to see that the girl from before was speaking. "I've been waiting for someone to land a good punch on Winston for years! That was awesome!"
Zane looked at her in surprise, "Umm thanks?" he said uncertainly.
"Sorry about the comment he made about your mother," she continued. "He can be a real jerk sometimes." Her words just made breaking Winston's nose that much more satisfying.
"So how do you know each other?" He asked.
"Sadly, he's my cousin," she replied. She sighed, "That's how most of my family acts. The rich are supposed to be the more civilized, but if you ask me they're just a bunch of stuck up pigs."
"I see," Zane replied lamely. Pug nudged him with his elbow,
"Name!" He coughed trying to hide his word.
"Zane," He said in her direction nervously. She looked at him quizzically.
"Her name! Her name!" Pug said coughing violently.
"Zane," he repeated. "My name, it's Zane. What's yours?" he finished hoping she wouldn't notice Pugs advice. Pug was still coughing trying to make it less obvious.
"Is your friend ok?" she asked looking at Pug with concern.
"I'm . . . fine," he said between fake coughs. His eyes were turning red and starting to water. Zane patted him hard on the back and he stopped coughing.
"He'll be fine," Zane said giving Pug a look that said that he'd overdone it. Pug shrugged and held up his arms in a sorry gesture.
"Rosalia," the girl said suddenly. Zane looked over at her in astonishment. "My name, it's Rosalia." She grinned at him. Zane suddenly had the feeling that she had noticed Pugs advice and the silent exchange they just had. He blushed and looked away.
"It's a nice name," he told her returning his gaze to her. She smiled uncomfortably and looked away. Pug gave Zane thumbs up and mouthed, nice one.
"My parents thought so too," she said. "Really I think it's a bit of a girly name though."
"But my dear Rosalia," Pug began grinning. "You realize that you are a gir . . ." She threw him a look like knives.
"Call me Rosalia, or DEAR again," she said emphasizing dear. "And Winston won't be the only one with a broken nose!" The awkwardness of the conversation lifted like a veil after Pug's comment. Zane learned that Rose and Winston had both been sent by their parents. Rose told them that her parents believed that she needed to learn some discipline, so they sent her to the Vitae in hopes that she would come back a more distinguished woman. Winston had been sent along to make sure she stayed out of trouble. Ironically, Rose had spent most of the trip to Piscium keeping Winston out of it.
Pug's story was similar to Zane's, his family was extremely poor, and Pug was the oldest of seven kids. He was trying to find a way to earn money for his family. He also said that he had decided to go because with him gone, there would be one less mouth for his parents to feed. The three quickly became friends, and the rest of the trip passed quickly with little excitement except for the extra wagons that joined the train every so often from other recruitment points.