Arata Sakaguchi loved more than her father and mother, and they were the most important people to her as her friends were always limited to her security issues. The few times she made a few friends, they talked about uninteresting things.
War was her inheritance from all her family in the past. She knew that her father, mother, grandfathers and grandmothers had belonged to war, the conversation about collecting flowers or mining gems fell so insignificant to her.
People were unlucky to be born lower than her and would struggle their entire lives relying on her father and his counsellors' decisions to guide their future. That is how their future is supposed to be, her mother had taught her and she observed it right now.
Her chariot was riding through the streets of the capital, which was still brimming with people, more soldiers than common folk on the path she travelled.
The soldiers dressed in lighter jackets and pants unlike, in the old times when knights exited who wore shining armour with capes and kept a sword with them, delivering justice to the evil.
Guns had changed the world of warfare faster than any discovery before it, a discovery of which Arata was not an admirer.
Once, the knight would have bowed down to her presence as her chariot passed in broad sunlight. Now, there were only salutes of soldiers who looked her in the eye while doing it, few even frightened her. Arata dreamed of how good the past must have been.
"I wish I had been born before the Civil War." Arata dreamed of becoming a knight one day when she was 5, but her expectations changed when she grew older and wiser. She dreamed of being something different now.
Arata looked out of the window at the people who roamed around the new markets, repaired after they were set on flame by a mysterious attacker during her father's attack on the capital city of Horizon. Now, it has been under construction for months already.
Horizon was under construction and repairs to make a properly defensible city from the otherwise mess it had been. There was a proper reserve army, stables, a training ground and more barracks and military offices to chew down bureaucracy. That much Arata deciphers from the papers on the table of her sleeping father.
She knew that nobody could hurt her inside the city walls but, there was a guarantee of what might happen when she was not inside the protection of the walls.
The front gates of the city were open, and the chariot exited the walls and began riding out into the open lands, Arata stopped looking out of her window. Her attention was now on her upcoming challenge.
The trees acted as excellent shade from the sunlight throughout the journey. Arata's umbrella was left unused beside her seat. The sunlight was extra sharp on the day, so the mother had advised her to bring an umbrella but Arata paid no attention as there was much more to see.
Arata observed the inns and restrooms throughout the way, horses standing outside, and men and women standing outside. Some cleaned their horses, some had a jug of beer in their hand, and some inns were having people mud-wrestles surrounded by the crowd. She could see the lives of the people who had complete freedom. She felt a little sad.
The view remained in her eyes for a while but soon after they cut away from the main road to the smaller path, with no trees, inns and humans but, Arata did not feel like bringing up her umbrella as the shade was still falling on her. There were pigeons in the sky, a good lot flying with some hawks moving around them and, they did not hunt the pigeons.
Stange site indeed. What is next? Arata felt a little excitement.
After riding for a while, they arrived near a small wooden house not much bigger than Arata's older home in Asphodel. A large fence surrounded the ground behind the house. Arata saw the horses grazing as the distance grew less.
The chariot soon reached the house's entrance and Arata could see the house's entrance. The door and walls were made of dark oak wood and a deer's skull hung outside as a decoration over the door. There the house was present but, the owner wasn't this allowed Arata a moment to act like a high-born kid.
"Chauffeur James, why isn't Sir Robert here to address me? Wasn't the message about my arrival delivered to him?"
James was a young fellow barely 18 years old, he was a master at riding horses but not the best when it came to answering difficult questions.
"My....my lady, I... I told the messenger... he left two days ago... He must be here... Look! At those trees!" Stammering and pausing as he spoke, James pointed at the trees nearby.
Standing in the shade of a few trees nearby, a man was cleaning his silver-white horse with a brush and bucket beside him. He was wearing a vest and a black skirt to his knees, but his body was well built with a height more than double that of Arata, he felt like a mountain. Arata's fear grew along with her curiosity to learn about the man.
"James. Go and tell him to come and attend me. I want to talk with my new teacher under his roof before I begin my training."
"Yes, my Lady." James got off the chariot and ran to the shady woods nearby while Arata finally raised her umbrella and kept sitting on the chariot waiting. Her heartbeat was rising each second and, it would, even more, when she would start riding her horse.
"My lady!"
James broke away from Arata's dreams as he returned after than he expected and James brought with him the man himself. Robert was sitting on the silver horse, he had grabbed its reins gently it seemed like he was holding a small lamb, and his control impressed Arata. Now, she needed to do her best to introduce herself.
"Sir Robert Lake, I am Arata Sakaguchi, daughter of my honoured parents Yuuka and Kriska Sakaguchi. I am pleased to make your apprentice." Arata removed the umbrella from her hand and raised her skirt to perform the best bowing gesture he could manage.
" Raise your head, My Lady. It is all my pleasure to teach you." Robert climbed down from his horse, he spoke while he still held his horse's reins in his hands. When Arata raised her eyes, she could see the uncut brown beard suited his large face and scar spanning through his entire forehead. Arata knew she had to ask about this only when the right time allowed. It was time to build her connection with animals first.
"Your horse looks very beautiful and majestic. The best I ever have gazed upon. What might be the name?" Arata got off the chariot and approached the white horse towering over her extending her hand to try to touch it. The horse did not move at first and Arata approached it more, the horse turned his head away. The sudden turn made Arata discouraged.
"The horse does not seem to be in a mood for interaction with new people, Lady Arata. It is still good that allowed you to get this close, and you might be able to ride him someday. Your chauffeur here was given worse treatment by far." Robert caressed the horse's skins and ruffs.
"That right, my lady. He tried to kick me away immediately when I approached them. I might have a bad omen for animals. Even the chariot forces don't like me." James shrugged funnily and it made Arata laugh. He was becoming her favourite person after her parents.
The birds flew through the sky and sat on the horse's back and the horse did not mind, there was something humans couldn't clean. What it was something Arata didn't know, her father said that people would figure out how to deal with it like they did with smallpox and swords.
"The birds, Sir Robert. Are you their caretaker? I have seen a flock of pigeons and hawks flying in the sky nearby, did you raise them?"
Arata saw Robert's jaw tighten for a second, no smile and eyes suspicious and it happened so fast. Something was different now. Did the birds mean something?
"No, Lady Arata. I have not raised pigeons and hawks in my stables. Those birds are roaming around due to the presence of hawks around them. Pigeons and wolves live together in a pack to survive predators and hunt their prey, respectively. That is how the animals survive in nature." Robert eyed James and cracked his neck before turning towards him. He did not wait for Arata to give a remark.
"I suppose your purpose here, young man. Take your chariot back to the city gates. I will deliver the Lady Arata back to the city with the city before the sun settles on my regard." The order came out of nowhere and caught Arata and James by surprise.
"I cannot do that, Sir. I have my duty to bring her back every day. I don't yearn to learn what will happen to me if I betray the Lord Commander's orders. I hope you understand my fears here." James looked panicked and afraid whoever his voice did not seem to retain that it felt almost threatening.
"I understand your concern and honour towards your duty, Chauffeur. Then I remind you that the bandits have been reaching the region recently. An inn on the castle road was attacked last night. So, I suggest you leave me to her security or, do you prefer riding with her in the open when she is free to attack? Our enemies must drool for getting a hostage." Robert spoke in a sharp and well-cleared tone.
He does not care about anyone's orders when he thinks he is right?! Arata was impressed with his control of his words regarding the situation. James wasn't in agreement with those words yet and he was going to argue more but Arata had other plans.
"James, Go away. I think Sir Robert says it right. I'll be more secure staying with a veteran than riding in an open chariot. Any harm to me will be punishment for Sir Robert, not you. I will give you this in writing. You need not worry about anything happening to yourself." She stepped in conversing her way in the most formal yet aggressive way.
James was dismayed but, he could not argue further and the conversation ended.
The three stepped into the wooden house and Arata gave James a proper letter in writing and he took his leave with a disappointed look. He climbed in his red chariot and took his exit after bowing to Arata. The house now had only two humans and horses left. One of them was very proud of themselves.
"Do you think you think I will be a good predator?" Arata asked dropping her formal language.
Robert smiled at the question," I think you are the easiest prey I've ever seen."
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