Walking back with the deer, drakai was starting to get rather tired. Then, finally, drakai saw the forest fence come into view. Then, hearing the swooshing of snow being moved, he turned his head and saw vitule on a ramlik. Its robust body cutting through the snow like a hot knife through the ice.
Stopping before he reached drakai, he looked at the blood on drakai's clothes, but his attention was drawn more to the creature on his shoulders. "What is that?" Pointing at the monster on his shoulders, drakai just laid the beast on the ground. Shrugging while he looked up at vitule.
"When I was out hunting for the Hobgoblins, they were currently trying to track this monster.
Rushing in while they were about to kill it, I slaughtered hob's before they could. Seeing that the creature was still breathing, I thought fast and wrapped up its wounds." Sighing to himself while looking at the young eldrasie and what he assumed to be a common deer in front of him, he looked at the quickly darkening sky. "Bring that shaggy beast here." Smirking at the way vitule called the deer, he lifted the creature up again and handed the deer to vitule.
"Alright, come on now." Hoisting drakai up with one hand, he placed him in front with the deer in the back tied to the saddle, grabbing the reigns. They made their way back to the castle, where tired guards labored to remove the snowy that wouldn't stop piling on the ground in big heaping clumps.
****
One day remained until the Braden family would be leaving for the contest. Drakai was currently practicing his forms. He wished he was practicing with his sword because he dearly needed to practice. But he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control it and would hit the deer that was prancing around him. Every once in a while, it would shake its shaggy pelt and lie on the ground. Then, after a couple of seconds, it would be fast asleep.
The deer had a nasty wound on its leg the past night. Not wanting to keep it in unnecessary pain any longer than he had to, he went to his father to see if he could have an intermediate potion. His father agreed only because he thought his son would try his hand at dolor-kai again. The wound closed up pretty much the instant he poured it on the deer's leg.
Seeing that the weird creature was actively making its leg feel better and not worse, the deer instantly fell in love with its savor. This could be seen as good or bad. Good because now drakai had something that was looking after him and bad because it kept getting in his way of training.
"OI GET OUT OF MY WAY, YA SHAGGY BEAST," Snapping at the tiny creature in front of him. The deer started to take a few steps back in fear. Looking at the evident fear on the creature's face.
Instantly feeling bad for the animal, he walked up to it. The deer backed up and closed his eyes, fearing that it was about to be hurt. Instead, it felt it's the head was being rubbed. The creature had never felt something like this before and started pushing his head into Drakai's hand, its brain realising more and more endorphins. Dralkai then began to scratch behind the ears of the deer, and the poor thing almost fainted from happiness.
****
Hours later, dov was walking through the castle. They were leaving tomorrow, and he wanted to make sure his son had packed everything that he needed. Passing by the multiple maids and butlers that would bow the instant they saw their lord walking past them. He would either nod or smile. Mostly smile at the men and nod at the women. If his wife ever found out that he was smiling at other women, he would probably not see her in his bed for a month.
Shivering at the thought, he walked up to his sons' door and paused. There was a commotion on the other side of the door, some banging and shouting. Instantly on guard, he grabbed the door. He didn't even bother to grab the handle and just ripped the door off the hinges, and what he saw left him speechless.
His son was currently wrestling a creature with a comb in his hand. After the door was ripped off, both the deer and drakai looked at dov. Then, three blank faces looked at each other. This lasted for 10 seconds without anyone moving or saying anything.
"Ahem, well... I was just seeing if you're ready to leave tomorrow." Dov took the initiative. "Did you get your stuff packed and your sword cleaned?"
Drakai snapped back to reality, looking at the deer who was now sleeping on the ground due to the nervous energy being gone. "Yes, everything is packed. Also, I want to bring this deer with me."
"..."
Dov stared at his son. "So, you have a companion now. What's its name?" Drakai looked at his father with a pained expression. "Deer." Dov looked at his son with a look that made drakai feel stupid.
"You can, but you have to give him a name. It's rude just to call it by its species name. What if I called you eldrasie and only that?"
Drakai looked up. "I probably wouldn't like it much."
Then, nodding his head at his son, he started to leave. "I'll wake you up tomorrow, so make sure that things are ready and you are too." Dov began to walk out the door but then stopped. Picking up the door, he put it back into place and then left.
****
The next morning drakai was lying on the ground on a mound of blankets in front of the fireplace in his room. On his lap was the head of the deer that was peacefully sleeping. Last night he was trying to think of names for his furry companion. He came up short, but he did notice that "it" was actually a female. As soon as he fell asleep last night, he realized there was no way he was going to eat her. That was the original reason for saving her. He was planning to drop her off at one of the barns and have someone raise her but soon realized that was going to work.
*Bang, Bang, Bang* They were both startled awake from the huge knocks.
"Oi, we gotta go. Your mother is already pissed because we were supposed to be gone 30 minutes ago. Meet us in the courtyard with your stuff." Walking away, the two could hear the giant man's footsteps. Looking at his little companion two his side, he saw the firelight in the deer's brown eyes, making them seem a little red like the embers in the fireplace.
"Ember, that's what I am going to call you." The deer perked up its ears and started to walk around, stretching out its cramped body. He quickly got all his stuff packed into multiple bags and a back-back full of some crystals he had jacked from his parents. He also still had the bag mostly full of gold with him. He hadn't spent it all yet. And he was hoping that the capital would have a book store of some type, even if it was small.
Walking outside, drakai was followed by his furry companion, the two silver moons illuminating the white snow. The distant stars twinkled in the cold black sky. They seemed distant, which made the cold empty sky seem even colder.
Arriving in the courtyard where there was an escort of 30 guards, all of them on ramliks. His father and mother were bundled up in thick tunics and scarves. The guards had thicker clothes than his parents since they would not be inside the carriage. The carriage itself was one of the few enchanted things his parents had bought.
It had the unique ability to create a heat shield that melted the snow, and after that, there was an inner shield that instantly froze all of the melted snow that way. So the carriage didn't get stuck in the snow. It was powered by another king-tier Mana-Core, like the one powering the castle, making it warm. If drakai knew about this, he would probably be highly jealous.
Walking up to his parents with all of his stuff, a couple of guards hopped down and took his stuff, and strapped it to the back of the carriage. The carriage was enormous and roomy. Inside there were many furnishings and even food and drink. It was a fancy carriage, to say the least. "You ready, boy?" Nodding his head, drakai stepped into the massive carriage with ember fallowing him and sat down on the plush leather seats.
His parents followed him. Sitting down, they opened a bottle of wine and started drinking and talking lightly to each other. Then, calling ember over, they snuggled up and soon drakai passed out since it was still pretty early in the morning.
And just like that, drakai's first adventure started with a cozy bang.