22 The Queen's Journey, pt. 3.5

A group of confused citizens separated as a random caravan moved into the village. Their eyes slowly opened wide and hushed whispers commenced as they realized who was contained within the first cart.

Jin felt his cart halt, and went to look outside.

He peeked out through the open right side, but stopped when he saw the queen standing in front of the caravan.

"Greetings, citizens of Nova. I am deeply sorry that I have not the chance to engage with you, in the same pleasant manner you'd usually expect from me, but I am short on time, and I carry with me a grave proposition I must make to all of you. As many of you know, I have spent some time up north, negotiating with the demons for their aid in our war against the Griffins. I am sad to say, that the negotiations did not bear fruit. And thus, I find myself on a return journey to the capital. However, the Griffins took this moment to strike, and now, I find myself without an adequate amount of soldiers to defend me, and my daughter who travels with me. And so, I must ask of you, citizens of The Midland Village, are any of you willing to aid me in my time of need?"

Jin arched an eyebrow. It was the same speech she gave at Daysinn.

And it had the same reaction. As soon as she stopped speaking, the crowd buzzed once more.

"I understand my request is sudden. I will remain here for one day, to give myself, my daughter, and my soldiers a moment of rest. Tomorrow morning, we leave for the capital. Anyone willing to assist me, need only show up in front of my caravan. Good day."

Again, she repeated her earlier discourse, and returned to the cart.

Jin felt a tug on his sleeve, and saw Decena pulling him back inside. The caravan rolled on.

It was just a few minutes before it stopped once again.

This time, everyone left their wooden surroundings, and stood outside.

In front of Jin stood a large castle. A bleak construct of silver and brown that extended upwards, as if it were scraping the grey sky above.

A voice spoke beside him.

"The Midland Castle. A spire that acts as both the duke's home and a watch tower for the lands beyond the village." Theresa said, approaching Jin from his right. "Come, we're heading inside."

The queen up ahead, surrounded by her Saviors, began to move towards the large gates tha graced the front of the impressive structure. The enlisted followed behind her.

However, just as the group began to walk forwards, a small amount of guards unsheathed their swords.

On instinct, Jin unsheathed his.

"What's that thing doing here!?" One guard desperately screamed, pointing to someone behind Jin. The boy turned and found Ker'Tallen standing with his arms crossed across his chest. "A Griffin is inside the village!"

"What!?" Another guard spoke up.

"Oh my..." Another said. "S-Send word! A Griffin is here! An enemy is here!"

Did they think Ker'Tallen was on the other side?

Jin scowled. He remembered being back at Snowfall, holding Ker'Tallen as a spike of ice had just been embedded in his leg. He didn't really know Ker'Tallen that well, but he knew damn well that he was no enemy.

"Halt!" A powerful voice commanded from the front. Jin didn't realize that this tone had erupted from the queen herself. "He rides with us."

"What?" The prospect of what the queen had just said appeared to have destroyed the foundations of the guard's reality. "B-But, your highness, that is a-"

"I'm well aware, soldier." The queen hissed back. "Now, sheath your blade at once, unless you feel like fighting a Savior today." Cerena spoke with a venom in her words that Jin didn't think could come from such an elegant woman.

As if to illustrate her point, Olyneces half-pulled his blade out.

The guards gulped collectively, and sheathed their blades at once.

Satisfied, the queen continued forwards.

Wandering inside the castle, Jin's mouth hung open.

It was gaudy, but no less dreary. Dust-covered, slender weapons hung on the walls that stretched forwards, leading to one large seat lying beneath grey windows.

A carpet made of some kind thick fur was spread throughout the room, sadly tainted by the enlisted's dirt-ridden boots.

The servants all stopped their work and bowed when their eyes found Cerena walking past the pillars that held the ceiling up at a height Jin couldn't believe anyone had reached. How had this place even been built?

When they got to the large seat at the back, Jin noticed the man using it.

His hairline was receding into a small black pond, and his portrait displayed a line of hair on top of his lip that made him seem no less depressing than the castle he lived in. He was dressed in a red robe, like he was coated in blood.

He stood and stretched his arms out before dipping into a long bow.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" He asked, before flashing Cerena a smile. He didn't even pay any attention to the men behind her. "The queen of Nova, here, in my castle? My heart sings."

"Duke Gerard of house Hielthen, you flatter me." Cerena said with a sugary tone, but Jin thought it felt a little off. He'd heard her when she sounded pleased, and this was not the same. "But, I am afraid I have not come for trifles."

"Yes, of-" His words stopped in his throat when he finally bothered to look at the group of men and women gathering in his hall. "GRIFFIN!"

He shouted the word, and everyone in the hall either ran or pulled a weapon out.

Once again, Jin didn't hesitate to take his own sword out. The queen raised a hand.

"Halt!" She yelled as she had before, but with even more thunder in her voice. "He is a member of my army. He is no threat to you."

"Preposterous!" Gerard yelled back. "He is the enemy! Have you, have you betrayed us?" He said.

The servants and knights of the castle started speaking amongst themselves. Jin didn't need to have lived here to understand that things were taking a bad turn.

"An enemy?" Another voice spoke among them. Cerena and Gerard both looked back. It took Jin a moment before he realized the voice had come from him.

His legs started moving on their own. Before he even realized it, he was weaving his way through the small crowd.

"I don't know much about this war, but I can tell you right now, he's no fucking enemy. An enemy..." He uttered, as if tasting the word. "That's the dumbest shit I've heard all day."

An uncomfortable silence spread through the room.

"... As my soldier put it so colorfully," the queen said, looking back at the duke. "This Griffin is just as much a part of my army as anyone else. The next time you question my loyalty, I'd advise you to gauge the worth of your own life." She stated. Her words rang out like a bolt of lightning, stopping everyone there in their tracks. "Now, if this foolish display is over, I would like to speak with you regarding my reason for being here."

"S-Surely, your highness." Gerard knelt and replied. "We may speak in my council room."

"Good." Cerena smiled. "I'd also appreciate it if you could show my enlisted where exactly they will be staying, I'm sure that's not too much to ask for, right?"

"Of course not, your highness." Gerard replied. He nodded towards a man nearby dressed in black and white, who bowed in response and began walking towards the enlisted.

"The guest rooms are right this way. Please, follow me." He said, but Jin didn't miss the occasional glances he'd cast in Ker'Tallen's direction.

Idiots. What do they know? He thought. Was society actually like this? People just making opinions about other people without knowing a single thing about them?

They were led through a sequence of grey, stone passageways, up a few floors before they arrived at a hall with numerous doors going in a few different directions.

"This is where you will be staying." He briefly stated, not before offering the one Griffin in the group a cautious leer.

With that, he bowed and left.

The enlisted stood for a moment.

Decena didn't hesitate to go in the room nearest to her. All of the enlisted looked inside with her, spotting two quaint beds, about five feet away from each other.

There were a few paintings on the walls, and some empty cups and plates sitting on plain, brown drawers.

There was one window on the wall, overlooking the grey village below.

Decena shrugged and walked in, with her young blonde friend following after her.

The door closed behind them, and each one slowly dispersed, walking into different rooms.

At then end, Jin stood next to Ker'Tallen with just one room left unused.

"Well, let's see ourselves to our quarters, eh?" Ker'Tallen said beside him.

They went in. It was the same as the one Decena had discovered.

Jin set his bag down on the lefthand bed, plopping down onto it with a sigh.

It was comfortable, better than sleeping on wood, at least.

"If you get mad every time that happens," Ker'Tallen spoke up, forcing Jin to turn around, "you'll be mad this entire journey."

"... It's unfair." Jin stated.

"It's expected. Hell, I think I'll probably be murdered when we actually get to Nova." Te Griffin was standing by the window. From his position, all Jin could see was a clouded sky, and the dark yellow haze of light coming in and hitting Ker'Tallen's scaled skin.

"... If you knew it was going to be like this, why'd you join?"

"I had nowhere else to go." Ker'Tallen replied. "It was terrible, you know." He said, smiling up at the sky. "Every day, I was whipped. Every day, I was beaten. I watched the elders personally execute my best friend. So, I escaped. One night, I killed my master, and I ran away. When I arrived at Daysinn, I was expecting to be killed on sight. When I offered myself to the queen's service, I was expecting to be laughed off and hung. And if it had happened, I wouldn't have minded much. Truth be told, I never expected to get this far. I don't even know what I'll do when, or if, we get to Nova. So," he sighed, "their reactions, their words, they do not hurt me, Jin. Do not be mad on my account, but, I appreciate the thought."

"Any time." Jin absent-mindedly replied.

As he lied on the bed for a few minutes, curiosity tugged at his mind. This might be the last place he sees before they reach the capital. Would he spend his time hold up here?

Of course not. He had to check things out. He had to commit these new surroundings to memory. That was why he left Elizabeth's cabin in the first place, right?

It didn't matter that this place was so dreary, he had to see it.

He rolled off his bed.

"I'm going out, is that allowed?" He asked. Ker'Tallen simply shrugged. "Guess we'll see." He said.

The instant Jin left his room, he came across Theresa who appeared to have been headed for his room.

"Ah, just the man I wanted to see. Come with me, I want to show you something." She said.

Decena's POV

She sighed her troubles away as she dipped further into the hot spring.

How long has it been since my last shower? She thought.

The journey had worn her out. She placed a hand over her shoulder where one of those damned thralls had bitten into.

Heathens. But they weren't the problem.

I thought I took them out. She noted as she stared at the stone ceiling above her. How are they back?

It was another ten minutes before she decided that enough was enough, but if she had her way, she'd melt into that warm water.

She returned to her room, and found Jess hunched over on her bed.

After a brief pause, she decided not to investigate, and threw her towel onto her own bed. She grabbed one of the generic looking tunics on the wall, and cleared her throat.

"I'm going into town, will you be okay here?" She asked.

Jess didn't seem like she was expecting Decena to speak at all, and looked confused for a moment before responding with a timid nod.

"Yeah, don't stay too long though. We don't know what this place is like."

Probably the same as any other village. Decena thought, but kept to herself.

She pulled up black pants, and tied on leather boots. With that, she left her room.

It took just under a minute to get back to the village.

In front of her were several men and women, all dressed in some shade of brown, all showing not a hint of emotion.

What's with these people? She asked herself. Quickly though, she remembered why she even exited the castle to begin with.

She approached a random citizen.

"Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest tavern is?" She asked with a polite smile.

"That way." The person responded with a small gesture towards a building that looked to be somewhat bigger than the rest.

Decena approached the structure, and from the outside, she could immediately recognize the sounds of laughter and drunken bickering she had grown accustomed to back at Daysinn.

For all her moping, she missed the comfort of the place.

With a sigh, she opened a wooden door and walked in.

The haze of a few scattered lamps lit the room. Several round tables were spread out like rocks across a lake's shore, with the drunkards confidently raising their drinks acting as the inhabiting fish.

She strode through, dead set at reaching the bar at the back, when something caught her eye.

She saw a familiar black figure crouched to the left of the room. Squinting, she saw that it was Mariana crawling near an unsuspecting patron sitting with his head leaned back, probably drunk out of his mind.

Is she seriously... Her thought process stopped as soon as she saw Mariana reaching for the man's pocket. Yeah, no. She thought.

Walking over to him, she snapped her fingers in front of his face.

"Wha..." The man whispered out. Mariana, who had been entirely focused on staying hidden, glanced up and saw Decena. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"Excuse me," Decena began, a sly smirk tugging at the corner of her lips. "I think you dropped something."

In an instant, Mariana was nowhere to be seen when the man looked down and scanned the floor for any personal belongings.

"What the..." He wheezed out.

"Sorry, my mistake." Decena replied, making her way towards Mariana who had her back to a wall near the bar. She could have passed for a statue with how still she was.

As Decena approached, she noted the scorn in the young girl's eyes.

"You need money?" She asked. Mariana remained silent.

Without another word, Decena grabbed a gold coin from her right pocket, and tossed it on the floor in front of the younger girl.

Pure disbelief graced Mariana's face, and as quick as Decena had ever seen her move, she grabbed it.

"Good. So, stop." Decena didn't really care what Mariana did, but it wouldn't look too good for the queen's soldiers (which, at least for now, Mariana was one of) to be stealing.

She turned on her heel and began walking back to the bar, but something in her mind told her to turn around.

When she did, she saw Mariana once again beginning to crawl towards the drunk man.

Seriously!?

She paced over to her, and grabbed her by the wrist, trying to do it as lightly as she could.

She pulled Mariana to an empty table, and set the whining girl on one of the padded, brown chairs.

"Stop that." Decena commanded. Mariana looked at her, and her scorn slowly dissipated, leaving a blank expression on her face. "That was a gold coin I gave you. You should be fine for at least the next week." She said, as if they weren't going to leave this village tomorrow.

For a time, Mariana didn't respond. The silence annoyed Decena, who crossed her arms and clicked her tongue.

"I have to." A soft voice spoke across from her. Decena looked up, and saw that Mariana had turned awfully sad. It was such a jarring change from the challenging expression she'd been giving off, that Decena recoiled at the sight.

"What?"

"I... I have to." Mariana spoke up louder this time. "I have to." She reinforced.

"Why?" Decena asked.

"It helps, how you say? Concentrate." Mariana replied. "Whenever I close my eyes, I see those things." She hissed that last part out.

Immediately, Decena understood. Not because those thralls had traumatized her in the same way, but because for the longest time, after her dearest had died, all she could see was that same scene playing in her mind, time and time again.

Mariana wasn't trying to harm the drunken fool, she was just trying to cope.

With a sigh, Decena pulled the nearest butler.

"Two greybloods." After showing it to him, she placed another coin in his pocket and the butler nodded. With that, she turned back towards Mariana. "I understand. I know that's probably the last thing you want to hear, but believe me, I do. That, though, isn't the way."

She didn't feel she needed more explanation than that.

As they sat and waited for their drinks, a hand fell on Decena's shoulder. She looked up, and saw Theresa standing there, with Jin just a few steps behind her.

He seemed to be handling things well, albeit he carried a slight edge to him, Decena noted.

"It would appear we all had the same idea." Theresa said. The elven blonde pulled two chairs from a nearby table and put them at Decena's. "Two greybloods!" She yelled at a butler near the bar.

"That would be four then..." Decena heard the butler mutter.

"Now..." Theresa said, as she settled near the table. "I wanted to make sure you were all ready."

"Ready for what?" Decena asked.

"The rest of this trip." Theresa replied. "From the Midland Bridge, to the Diamond Plains, and to Nova, it should be another two weeks before we reach the capital. I spoke with her highness, Queen Cerena, and she told me that there would be no more stops at any of the nearby villages. We'd stop to sleep, of course, but no other distraction than that. Said the Griffins may be too close as it is. Heck, at this point, the Griffins may be the least of our worries."

"Yeah, you're right." Decena couldn't keep herself from muttering.

"... Anyway, this is our last stop, as far as villages go. Make the most of it." Theresa said, as a man approached carrying four thin cups in both hands. "Ah, our drinks. Cheers, loves!"

Her energy didn't quite carry to the rest of them. Decena grabbed her cup quickly, and chugged its contents down. She enjoyed the fire that flowed down her throat.

Mariana grabbed it timidly, wondering if she was even allowed to drink this.

Jin didn't seem to understand he wasn't drinking water, and as soon as he took a sip, he damn near coughed his lungs out.

... An hour later.

"Seriously?" Decena asked, with a bit of a slur in her voice. "So, you lived in a forest, with just you, and your aunt, for sixteen years?"

"Yeah." Jin replied.

"I feel sorry for you, man."

"Yeah." Once again, Jin replied.

"And you left Daysinn so you could go to the academy?"

"Yeah."

"That sucks. I went to the academy. It's boring as shit."

"Yeah." Jin replied. Decena arched an eyebrow, and only now did she notice that he wasn't even looking at her.

Ah... Decena saw. So, Jin was what she called, a still-drunk. The type of drunk dude that tries their hardest not to show how drunk they are.

Across the table, Theresa had one leg crossed over her thigh, listening to Mariana ramble on about something.

"Y despues, el vino y me tiro la bebida encima, y yo me quede como 'que carajo?' y el se quedo como, 'vas a quedarte ahi? Muevete!' Hahahaha!" Mariana had gotten the most bubbly Decena had ever seen her. Theresa didn't even understand what she was saying, and she was still smiling back at her. Her energy was just adorable.

But, as time ticked on, Decena drew more and more sober, and the thought suddenly appeared in her mind.

Are we ready? Maybe we'll be getting some help from this place, but even then...

As she pondered the matter, she felt Theresa's stare on her. She crossed her arms.

"What?" She asked.

"You're making progress." Theresa replied. "You're actually worried about things now."

Decena scoffed. What's that supposed to mean?

...

The sun came up, and all of the enlisted gathered at the village's southern exit. Decena turned to see how many people signed on with the queen's caravan.

One. A lonely-looking old man.

Decena shook her head, and watched as a depressed head of an entire nation walked over to her cart. Her daughter, on the other hand, looked too excited to contain herself.

With a reluctant shake of her head, she boarded one of the carts.

The Midland Bridge waited beyond the horizon.