Everything was red instead of the usual inky black and I opened my eyes to a beam of sunlight shining directly on my face. I looked around and we were still in a forest, but it was different this time. The forest before was all dark pine-looking trees but this forest was bright and lush, filled with tall, bright green trees and stumps littering the ground.
I sat up and looked around, but everyone else was still sleeping, even my father. I shot him a glare and turned to face away from him. The horse pulling us continued to walk even with no direction from my father, but it must have been tired. I jumped off the side of the cart and reached into my containers, but remembered that I already used all the water. I hesitated for a second before running off into the forest and quickly found a stream of water. I filled up my pouches and found my way back from the sound of the horses' hooves trotting along the dirt path carves into the middle of the dense foliage. I stopped the horse and gave it some water to drink and regretted not having any food for it, but hopefully, the water would suffice for now.
"Why the fuck are we stopped" came a groggy voice from above.
My father was stirring and rubbing his eyes, but very much awake. He sat up and looked around before quickly narrowing his eyes upon me and the horse I was caring for.
"Did you hear what I said? Why are we stopped?" He repeated.
"Sorry dad, the horse was tired and thirsty so I just wanted to give her a break, she's been walking non-stop since the middle of the night. She's probably exhausted" I replied, bracing myself for a stern response.
"Ok, do whatever it is that you're doing, but make sure you hurry up, I want to be home by noon at the latest," He said and he lay down again, resting his head gently on his balled-up jacket.
I stood there frozen in place, totally stunned that he didn't yell at me. I felt a wet extremity brush up against my hand and I looked down to see the black horse's bright pink tongue licking my palm.
"I'm sorry old-girl, I don't have anything for you to eat," I say and brush her mane gently. "But I promise that when we make it back home, I will personally get you some hay to make up for tonight"
"Hmph" Scoffed my father, but he said nothing else.
I climbed back into the carriage and gently patted the horse's behind and we started to move along the path again. I rest my head back and re-lived the past twelve hours in my head, relishing in my accomplishments and successes. Before I knew it, the bigger man was shaking me awake as we passed under the wooden gate to the city of Velglow.
"Finally we're home," I say to myself as I stifle a yawn.
I stretched my limbs thoroughly before we came to a stop outside my house. I go climbing off the carriage when a hand firmly slaps my chest and pushes me back into the bed of the carriage. I look up to see my father with a malevolent smile on his face.
"Where do you think you're going?" He said, meeting my eyes. "I thought you promised to get him some hay?"
His tone made my blood boil, it was like he was mocking me for being kind. I let out an annoyed sigh and climbed out of the bed and into the driver's bench. I shot my father a glare before I shook the reins and we set off along the dirt roads of the city in the direction of the horse stables.
As we neared the stables on the other side of the city, we passed by a man standing on a stack of wooden pallets. He was waving some papers in the air while shouting about the "Hidden order" or something like that. I made a mental note to see whatever it was that he was raving about on my way back from the stables.
We reached the stabled and I gently tugged on the reins to get the horse to come to a stop. I hopped off the carriage and walked up to the stableman who was humming to himself while scrubbing the hooves of a chestnut-coloured horse.
"Hey there" I called out to him, "I have a horse here that I think would be better in your hands"
He looked up at me with the most confused look. "You just have a horse that you're going to give me? Where did you get this horse?"
"It's a long story, but I can't take care of it, and I know that you will. So will you take it or not?"
"I mean I guess, but let me see this horse before I agree to anything" He strolled out of the pen and onto the street where he did a walkaround of the horse, "She seems to be healthy, I guess I can take her"
"You can even keep the carriage, I do not need for it," I say and I begin to walk away.
"I am rather suspicious of this whole situation but I don't want to turn away an innocent horse," He said, and he detached her from the carriage.
He led her into the stable, but she began to neigh very loudly and made an attempt to run out of the stable, but he held on tight.
I turned around to see what the commotion was and I remembered what I said to the horse before. I ran over to the stable and the horse calmed down right away.
"Make sure to give her some hay, I promised that she would get some, that's why she is probably freaking out"
"You got it, now get out of here so she'll calm down," He said and literally shooed me out.
I strolled down the street and remembered the mental note I made, so I turned down an alley and popped out in the very square that he was preaching on.
He was of average height with beach-blonde hair and stubble all over his face. The large purple eye bags under his eyes suggest he hasn't slept, let alone even seen a bed in days. He was waving a handful of papers, offering them to the crowd to no avail. I could see that he was talking, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. I pushed through the crowd and made it to the front, I'm the main character so they can get over it.
"We seek to end the unfair treatment of magic wielders across the world!" He shrieked, spit flying out of his mouth and into the crowd.
It was suddenly self-evident why no one was taking him seriously; he looked like he just escaped the local mental hospital. His brown hair was sticking up in every direction, his green eyes were surrounded by dark bags and he was visibly filthy. I could imagine would he smelled like without even getting close enough to him to know for sure.
"These!" he shouted, waving a wad of beige parchment in the air. "These pages are the key to everything! The pages contain a map to our hideout where you can help us liberate our magical brethren!"
This caught my attention, but his appearance and waterworks for talking still gave me many doubts. Even if he was clinically insane, my interest was certainly piqued. Any real chance of bringing justice to the elves of this world was one that I wanted to know more about.
"On these pages are clues to a scavenger hunt of sorts, and at the end is our location! If you manage to find us, you are worthy enough to join our just cause!"
"Hey!" came another deep voice.
I couldn't see where the voice was coming from, but the crowd that now surrounded this preacher was being forcibly parted by someone. A glint of silver caught my eye and suddenly an iron-clad guard burst through the crowd and drew his sword.
"By order of the law, you are to stop your hate-speech and come peacefully," The guard said, pointing his sword directly at the man.
The crowd split again and two more armed guards burst through and took position on both sides of the first guard. The man on the pallets took a step back but regained his composure, tucking his papers into a pouch slung over his shoulder. He raised both of his hands, stopped, and began to flail his arms wildly around his head.
I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from laughing, but a pebble hit me in the forehead and made it very easy. I looked up and a column of wind began to surround the flailing man, but the winds weren't going very fast.
"Magic-users deserve to be treated fairly, that is the goal of The Order of the Black Dragon!" He shrieked. "For far too long now, magic wielders have been suppressed by the royal family. It is their belief that magic is the root cause of all conflict among us, but they are wrong!"
His voice was loud and high. It was quite annoying to listen to, but due to its shrieky qualities, it was hard to ignore and it successfully overcame the deafening ambient sound of horses clip-clopping their way down the cobblestone roads.
"The Chuvith of Equinox and Solstice, the Relmith of Ashijan, and the Suvith of Inkabal. Each of these races has been blessed by the Gods themselves and granted the use of the elements. Chuvith the Wind Elves, Relmith the Sea elves, and Suvith the Earth Elves! Do you think the Gods would have bestowed these great gifts upon our mortal souls if they didn't want us to use them?"
"Back down and come peacefully! We will not ask you again!" The guard shouted back, but his voice was drowned out by the now roaring wind surrounding the man.
The winds weren't high speed, but they were extremely loud. Dust began to swirl around him and small stones began to lift and whip around, clobbering people as they swirled. By now, there were about ten guards positioned throughout the small crowd he has accrued thus far. They wielded long wooden spears with a curved blade on the end, all of them pointed directly at the preacher.
"We have dealt with other members of your organization already! I can confirm that some of them suffered the same fate you're about to if you don't stand down right now! This is your final warning, if you don't surrender now, we will have no choice but to exercise lethal force!"
The man lowered his hands and reached into his jacket, but at the same time, a loud grunt echoed throughout the crowd. An arrow stuck out of the center of his chest and bright red blood began to soak the edges of the wound. All ten guards thrust their spears into his body and impaled him from every direction. Blood spattered everywhere. He fell to his knees, crimson spluttering out of his mouth as he gasped for his last few breaths.
In one final act of defiance, he stuck his hand into his pouch of papers, but two more arrows cut through his body and punctured his chest with a sickening crunch. I could see his chest heaving as he struggled to muster the strength to finish his job. In one fluid motion, he threw up a hand full of the puzzle pages and the spiralling wind took them and flung them in every direction.
One of the guards began scrambling to pick them up off the ground, and I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me. I grabbed the corner of the page with the tip of my shoe and dragged it on the ground and behind me. I bent down and slyly picked up the page, folded it up and tucked it into my waistband in the back of my pants. I looked around and it seems like everyone was too flabbergasted at the gruesome sight before them to even try to snatch a page out of the air, let alone right in front of a guard.
The guards ran around and managed to collect all of the loose pages and were scouring the ground looking for any pages that could have escaped his sight, but he found none. It seems like I was the only one to start the process of carrying out the crazy man's will. The lead guard dispersed the crowd and we all went our separate ways, walking out of the alleys and back onto the main road. I walked tensely down the street, my mind on the second murder I had witnessed in less than twenty-four hours. I tried my best to keep my mind off the man's face, the drop of blood dribbling down his chin as his collapsed lungs struggled for air. His body was leaned forward, but the spears and arrows imbued in his chest propped him up and prevented his body from falling.
I ran as fast as I could home, dodging horses and weaving in between people. I needed to make sure that I got home safely with this page or else in my head, that man was killed for nothing. Crazy or not, he was still a living breathing person who wasn't harming anybody until the guards showed up.
I made it back to my house and pushed open the door; the house was predictably empty, or so I thought. I walked around the table and was about to go into my room when I noticed the floor outside my father's door was bathed in an orange glow. I quietly pressed my ear to the door, but all I heard was the sound of a quill scratching on parchment and the occasional sniffle. It was unusual for him to be home around this time, but I thought nothing of it and entered my room, closing the door behind me. I took out the page and opened it, taking it in all at once, but I quickly realized that this was going to take more intelligent eyes.
A weirdly drawn map illustrated one side of the page and even I could tell it was incomplete. On the other side was one sentence printed neatly and large so it was easy to read. I did a once-over of the text and accepted the fact that I can't do this alone. I am going to need to see Alea tomorrow and we are going to figure this out.