By morning, there were small droplets of water racing down the small musty window.
The sound of the droplets continuously hitting the window woke Claude up. He was a light sleeper for someone who falls asleep so easily.
"Kai?" In his half asleep state, Claude opened his eyes a little bigger and scanned around the room. Where exactly was Kai?
He wasn't sitting on the chair or laying down on the bed either. He wasn't one to leave without saying anything.
After a few minutes of worrying, the door opened and there stood Kai who seemed paler than usual.
"Where did you go?" Claude immediately asked.
"We need to get moving." Kai ignored the question and anxiously looked at the window.
Claude stood up from the bed with his hair knotted and one of his eyes still half closed.
"I found a stable that'll let us rent horses. We have to return it at the next village branch." Kai said, tapping on his pocket pants that had two cards sticking out of it.
Leaving the inn, the two boys were given an unorthodox goodbye.
Claude was surprised to see how different the village looked compared to it during nighttime.
It was a spectacular sight. Flowers growing on every walkway as its vines entangled with the concrete. The flower petals were dripping with water.
Holding out his hand, Claude realised it was drizzling. He splashed the water on his face and felt the cold liquid cooled down his temperature.
"Move out the way!" A loud harsh voice boomed.
Immediately, the villagers dodged and stood back with their face down. Scared to make eye contact as they hugged tightly onto their children.
Inevitably, the guards roughly grabbed onto the children's shoulders and scanned their faces.
Some didn't bother even checking the moment they eyed the children.
To the parent's demise, children with either white hair or eyes that ranged from orange to yellow were taken away for investigation.
Not being able to fight against the knights, parents screamed in horror to release their pain. They bawled their eyes out as they reluctantly let go of their children.
Claude frowned at the scene before him, was this the usual for Clematite? He then noticed that some children were left alone.
And the ones tied to the chains were ones that had white or looked like white hair. And had eyes that resembled the cruising sun.
And the ones that covered both of those characteristics were tied to a black chain that hung around their neck. They were treated as if they were animals.
Turning his head as fast as possible, Claude realised Kai fulfilled both of these characteristics the knights were looking for.
"Kai.." he murmured, seeing how close the knights were getting to them as they rushed down the rows of villagers.
Kai nodded and pulled up his hood and kept his head down as he ran ahead into the back alleys. He turned his head away at the disgusting smell.
"Kegh!" Claude puked, he kept his hands to himself and didn't touch the walls at all and he made sure his clothes did the same.
Soon, they made it out of the smelly alleyway. It was a blessing to breathe in the fresh air again.
With Kai guiding the way through the complicated districts and trailing around the knights, he managed to find the stables from earlier.
However, the owner was nowhere to be found. He left his property completely empty and unprotected.
It wasn't unusual however, as on the way here, no villagers were to be found near their shops or houses. They were all preoccupied with handing their children over.
Why were they all listening so intently? It was terrifying to see. No matter how scared the villagers were, they were intent on listening to the orders given.
Claude felt the hair on his body stand as he took a glance at Kai. He wondered who exactly he was to have been able to raise up such a ruckus.
To Claude's surprise, he saw Kai sweating as he nervously looked around. His eyelid occasionally twitched between each gasp for air. He had never looked this uncomposed before.
Making his decision, Kai kicked the small wooden gates to one of the horses and bust it down. He didn't have the keys to open these gates, only a card of rental evidence.
A brown horse with black printings stomped its front hooves as the pieces of wood flew past him.
"I heard this was more tame than the other. You take this one, Claude." Kai instructed, putting on the saddle with haste as his hands worked fast and not missing a beat.
Claude watched and gulped as he looked and stared at the face of the horse. He had taken lessons earlier last year..but he hadn't done that well.
"Get on. I'll break the other one." Kai immediately crashed into the fence gates with the side of his body.
Frightening the horse, it retreated back into its penn and neighed in rebellion.
Kai clicked his tongue and grabbed the saddle from the crate and attempted to place it on the horse but he was kicked back.
Feeling his patience run at an all time low, Kai took a deep breath and tilted his head and cracked his neck to relieve his tension.
After a few more attempts, the horse finally allowed Kai to place the saddle as it accepted its fate. He hopped onto the horse.
Kai moved out of the horse's penn to only find Claude struggling with controlling the horse.
"I thought you could ride it." Kai remarked, about to jump off and help.
"I'm trying!" Claude yelled, pissed off as the reins didn't guide the horse the way he constructed it to.
Kai sighed and looked around, hoping to see that neither the villagers nor the knights had wondered their way over.
In that time, Claude managed to gain control over his ride.
"Claude, run straight ahead over that fence. Quick, they're here." Kai urged, gaining stability and pulling the reins as he kicked the horse using his heels. It surged forward.
Once they were on the move, sure enough, there were sounds of screaming and yelling booming from behind.
"Come back here!" The owner yelled as he grabbed onto the knight and pointed ahead. "That kid has white hair and yellow eyes!" He proposed.
This immediately made the knight's ears perked up as he set his comrades into position. He showed his badge and ordered for 4 horses to be given.
"Dammit. You swindlers of a knight." The owner remarked, dragging his body to his precious horses.
The knights immediately got to work as they set off on a chase. Their movements are harsh and forceful but it sets themselves quite the speed to be reckoned with.
In a few seconds, they closed up the distance behind the clumsy riders who were struggling to make it far with their new rides.
"Stop and apprehend yourselves under Whitlock's authority!"