It all started as a normal day, with the sun high in the clouds while birds littered across clear skies. Men and women of Edrighton went about their morning business with smiles on their faces and words of greetings on their lips. It was always fun and busy in the land of Edrighton, maybe more so for Bran, a jolly young boy born of the dawn star.
Bran was the son of a single mother and had two younger sisters who lived with him in the outskirt of the village. He spent most of his morning running through thick forest and hill tops to get to the village market square, where he goes to hawk his mother's grilled fishes, to retailers or customers who crave them.
The market was a big part of the kingdom and was quite famous for it's size and the caliber of goods and services they provided. People from all over the world gathered as early as the first cock crow to either buy or sell things, and among them was the young energetic boy, Bran, who had built up a bit of a reputation for himself.
He was barely fifteen years old but had the strength of a grown man, always ready to take on any task bestowed on him. You're meant for great things, his mother often said, and although he couldn't tell at the time, it always made him push himself more to get work done around the house. His routine thanks to that was usually packed from sun up to sun down, and although he didn't complain, he regularly missed the moments he shared with his friends.
Today, unlike most other days was a special day for him, for he was a boy in a mission. His junior sisters 10th birthday was fast approaching and the twins birthdays, were a magical moment in the house of the Julionos. A day were the star shinned brightest in their family house.
It was easily one of the most celebrated moments the family shared, and considering that they've had way little to celebrate ever since they lost their father, it meant a lot to them. They usually spent days and sometimes weeks preparing for the occasion and this today was one of those days when Bran had to do some errands in light of the preparations.
To kick off the excitement for the young boy, his mother gave him a secret mission to get two beautiful braided wristbands his sisters always wanted, and a baked pie from Mr. Rosie's cakes.
A trip to the rainbow bridge waterfall was also on the list, and if he was fast enough, they were all going to go pay it a visit. The rest of the day Bran imagined would be wasted playing around in the mud and murky waters, which was all a young boy could ever ask for, he smirked.
"Bran be! Bran be! Bran be!" the market folks hailed him as he approached, carrying his basket of fish on his head. Bran may not know why they always did that, but his clear brown eyes and braided black hair was a magnet for most of his aunty retailers. And even though he was just fourteen, his smile, and innocent baby face usually warmed their hearts.
"Ohh my Bran Bee, you're early today" a retailer called out to him while he dropped his basket by her shop. "Yes aunty", he smiled excitedly while his black hair swayed to rest on his back. He looked up to meet the gaze of the red hair shopkeeper who ran a two block shop of locally processed groceries, beverages and some little arts and crafts all beautifully made.
The blue in her eyes swallowed him whole, and her olive skin glowed as if treated by oil from the pot of Olinus, the goddess of beauty. She wore a red apron and packed her hair in a twist, with a hairpin. Her smile was always as heart-warming as the early morning sun glow, and she out of every other person made it a duty to make him fluster in her bewildering charm.
"Tommorow is Jessy, and Jane's birthday, we are having a party". Bran uttered excitedly.
"Ohh my, that's lovely" she walked up to him, and arced down so that she was directly in his face. "Am I invited?" she teased, attempting to get a reaction from the young boy even though she knew in her heart, she was too booked up to make time for it.
"Yes!" Bran replied mindlessly, totally ignorant of her tease and just excited she asked. But then, a thought flashed through his mind that made him immediately recall his decision. "No!".
"No?" The shopkeeper wondered.
Brans eye deviated from her, he recalled a particular worrying behavior of his mother, which he would rather not trigger, at least for that day.
"Uhm?" realizing his response might have been a bit rude and sudden, he sorted a compromise to make up for his mistake. "Aren't you always busy with the shop, expecially now the king's festival is a moon away. There would be no need to leave your shop to come, and I could always save you some of my pie, if you would want some?" he muttered in a low tone, seeing as that was the only thing he had to offer.
"Would you really do that for me?" the lady asked, which got a nod from him while he focused his gaze on his foot, precisely his thumbnails as if something stuck between them.
He rather gave up his favorite pie, than have people come over to their place to ruin their planned trip to the waterfall. Knowing his mother, the presence of an unexpected guest meant she would spend more of her time preparing for them. This usually ate a considerable chunk of her day, and maybe even more if the guests were close friends of hers. She had promised to spare some of her time to take them to the waterfall today, and that was enough reason to stop the shopkeepers invitation, he thought.
The lady chuckled on seeing his puffed-up face. "That's, sweet of you" she responded while picking up five fishes from his basket to put on her display cabinet. She quickly went for her purse to get the money for the fish.
He nodded again in response whilst parking up his basket. He couldn't tell what amused her, but he was glad she was finally going to pay him his first Rudy for the day.
"Before I forget, tell the twin's aunty says happy birthday".
"And here, have this too" the lady added, offering him two more Rudy to complete the five for the fish, "get an extra slice of pie for yourself".
"Thank you aunty Susan" he replied with a glowing smile on his face as he hopped off to the next shop with his basket.
"Out of the way!"
"Hey, move it!"
Men carrying long spears, and sharp sheathed steels strapped to their waist, called out at the crowd of people, while waving them to the side so that they could make it to the palace. They wore the famous red and black military issued uniforms, that it wasn't any wonder how they commanded the crowd, but what stood out to the masses, especially to Bran, was the carriage that followed right behind. Three maidens walked alongside the travelling carriage while two men pulled the horses forward.
"Who might that be?" the people wondered. "Is there's something wrong in the palace?", "Something must be wrong, right?". The thought spread like wildfire as the villagers pulled them self to the side to make way as commanded.
"Is this not the third carriage we've seen today?", "the tenth one, by my count". "Fifteenth by mine", the villagers murmured as they observed the light travelling party. They seemed to be rushing and bared no flag or crest to show what family they belonged to.
A closer look showed a lady seating within the four cubical upper chamber of the cart. Her silhouetted figure looked majestic, but nothing beyond the green and yellow scarf covering her window could be clearly identified.
With a little trick of the wind, Bran's eye caught the gaze of the silhouetted figure, but just as quickly lost it thanks to the pestering crowd behind him. One of them bumped into him from behind and while he tried to safeguard his basket, he found himself running into a second man going the opposite way, away from the palace.
"I'm sorry sir", he apologized, noticing some oil from his basket of fishes spewed over and onto the man's robe. His eye met with the man's hooded face, but froze like he had been turned into stone. The man paid no attention to him nor the oil stain on his brown robe, and just brushed past him.
Bran's eyes, as widened as they were, saw nothing he could scream or cry to the crowd about. His throat suddenly dried up that he swallowed loudly while fastening his grip on his basket. The air around him felt pale and like the man he just bumped into, he felt he had just been brushed pass by the cold hands of death.
That was not human, his mental voice screamed. There was nothing under that man's robe, and still yet, it felt and moved like a man. At this point he could barely take another step forward, his muscles stiffened with fear and confusion, that he couldn't tell whether to move forward or back.
He knew what he saw, he definitely looked directly into the man's hood, yet he was unable to make out a single imagery of what the man looked like. Not His flesh, eyes, or nose were visible, and if anything was vaguely familiar, it would only be the frame of wind which held up the jacket, so it could move. That is, if it could be called movement anymore, maybe it was flying, or perhaps it was only a floating jacket, He thought. The man was also so fast that it made more sense to him that he was nothing more than a cloak carried by the wind.
Perhaps his eyes were playing tricks with him, or the heat was finally getting to him, He convinced himself. And loosened his grip before turning around to see if he could find the man or maybe a floating jacket. Whatever it was, he'd rather not bump into that man or anyone again.
The travelling group raced past him and his basket of fish, and just then the road was free again. People now walked without bumping into each other and even better he could now see a customer by the end of the road waving and calling his name.