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Setting
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The King was seated in his throne. The man was aging and had a grey beard and hair. His robe was made of green and gold threads, the royal colors. He gave Isamu and evil little smirk which the young man did not respond too.
Isamu took a seat on some floor cushions, but not bother to bow to the King. For now, they would wait for the other's to arrive.
Lantis was on the job.
He walked up the castle steps, glaring at any guard who eyed his spear, which was strapped to his back at the moment. They had heard the stories, they knew how valuble his spear was. He had killed some of lands strongest bandits with it, that alone had it worth a lot. The guards at the top stopped him, but all they needed to see was his spear, they knew what he was here for.
They also knew that he wouldn't lay a hand on the king. He was too loyal to his land. After asking them directions to the throne room he walked off.
He entered the throne room and approached the king. Stopping at the foot of the steps leading to the throne and bowed at the waist. "My name is Lantis Stormrider, your grace. I am here to bring you a hawkling." Curiously he eyed a brown haired boy sitting on some cushions, wondering who he was. He'd have to ask in a minute, but for now he stayed bowed, waiting for the king's permission to rise.
When Lantis entered the room it made Isamu twitch with uncertainty. He had heard his footsteps, but was very uneasy. Then, he saw the spear and flinched. What a large weapon. Isamu was not at all eager to set off on the journey to the hawkling mountain, nor was he impressed that he had to bring one back. Most of hawkling were terribly afraid of large crowds and often acted in violence, to protect themselves. Isamu figured that the king thought bringing one back would be easy peasy...
The King smiled at Lantis, "You may rise, and join the boy there on the cushions."
He also saw a scar. He loved scars, not because they looked cool, but because they told a story. He himself had many stories to tell with the scars he had gotten over the years. He held out a hand to the boy. "As you may have just heard, I'm Lantis Stormrider. What's your name?"
He did not know whether to be scared or violent towards this new person. Maybe the hawkling were right. Maybe when someone was scared they should act in violence. perhaps it would scare the other person away. But this was not in Isamu's nature. he was not violent nor did he want to make any enemies so early on.
His face reddened with embarrassment and he turned his attention to his feet, and sat there quietly.
King Saiforro watched this quietly, with what seemed like a small smirk on his face. "You are the only one to arrive thus far, Lantis Stormrider. But, I imagine more will join you along your journey. I thought more would show up today, but I imagine they are too scared or would rather stay home and protect their families."
"Anyway, that is a bit of a sidetrack. Isamu here is one of the few to have ever gotten to the top of White-Face Mountain. And so, it is he that will show you the way. Be wary, as he may try to trick you... he may not look it, but he is a very crafty fellow. Do not worry so much about bringing him back with you, as I do not believe that he will make it back anyway. Have him help you find the hawkling, then hurry back here to the kingdom as soon as you can. We need their healing abilities to help all who have been infected by the horrid fever that is going around."
He didn't like the look on the king's face, but didn't say anything about it. When the king got to the part about Isamu being one of the few to get to the top of White-Face, he couldn't help but let out an impressed whistle. "Don't worry your majesty me, Isamu, and whoever else decides to join us, will all return with a hawkling. I swear this on my life." Lantis then turned to Isamu and spoke to him. "I will keep you safe. Demon or not you're obviously important to the kingdom."
Perhaps everything was going to be okay.
The King waited a few more moments, for others to arrive. But none did. "Well, they can't say we didn't wait for them. if you would like, you may head out now. Im sure any other who want to join you will catch up."
Usually he was alone though, he had no idea what Isamu could do, what kind of supplies he would need. It would be interesting working with a demon, he didn't know much about them. It was a challenge that Lantis was prepared to take. "I'm ready go to whenever. Do you need to get any supplies?" He asked Isamu.
He watched Isamu curiously, trying to learn how he moved and acted without asking his usual million questions. It was obvious the kid was nervous and he didn't want to scare him, that would just make things harder down the road.
Once outside, he looked at Lantis, "I am sorry... for flinching earlier." He then walked over to his horse and untied him. "I do not need any supplies. I do not eat very much, nor do I usually sleep in a shelter when traveling."
Lantis nodded, wanting to ask more questions about why Isamu didn't need to eat very much, but again that would have to wait until later. "Oh its fine, I'm used to it. Spears aren't exactly the most subtle weapon, that and my reputation usually scares people." Lantis decided to make some small talk, try and ease the atmosphere between him and the demon. "So, what kind of things can I expect from White-Face Mountain?"
Isamu's horse, Moo, was a bit on the short side, in fact, he was almost pony size. He was rather chubby and all black except for a white stripe on his face and one white sock. It was clear that the horse was well fed, and that he also very much enjoyed eating. Isamu and the horse were on complete opposites of the weight chart.
"It's a pretty rugged mountain. The paths are thin and lined with thick brush and some poisonous plants. We will have to travel single file a bit of the way up. White-Face is covered with trees up until about halfway, after that it is all stone and sometimes snow. It can be a difficult trek on foot... maybe we should get you as horse as well?"
She was late, very late, an unexpected and complicated birth in her village had delayed her journey. She couldn't just leave the young mother, not when she was the only healer for miles, and the apprentice healer she had hired to take her place while she was away, had run late.
Larkin's bare feet pounded on the ground with surprising force, causing her leather healing bag, filled with numerous herbs and carefully bottled liquids, to bounce painfully against her hip, but she was beyond caring at this point.
Turning a corner sharply, she noticed two boys one a top a short horse, and the other with striking blue hair and a large spear.
"Please wait," Larkin yelled with what little breath she could spare, as she sprinted up to them with unexpected speed.
Stopping just a few paces in front of them, she bent over, placing her hands on her knees in an attempt to slow her pounding heart. With this accomplished she straightened herself, only to bow deeply.
"Please forgive, my tardiness, there was some unexpected business that required my attention," Larkin raised herself once more, her long, white hair falling around her like a waterfall of snow.
"My name is Larkin Creed. I assume that both of you are going to White-Face Mountain in search of a hawkling, correct?" She said, adding a dimpled smile at the end.
A yell caused Lantis' head to turn, years of training had told him that sounds were bad. He warily examined the girl who ran up, listening carefully to her as she introduced herself. "That's right, I'm Lantis Stormrider." Lantis said with a bow, "Will you be joining us?"
As nice as it would be to have a female travelling with them, Lantis didn't exactly want another person to join. Nothing against them personally, he just didn't do well with lots of people. It was hard to swing a spear around when you had to watch out for multiple people. Killing your allies wasn't exactly the best thing to do.
Isamu hid behind the horse's neck. But, Moo thought this inappropriate so he got down onto his knees with such a swift movement that it sent Isamu tumbling off of his back and onto the ground. The boy grunted in pain and sat up, rubbing his back. "Dammit Moo!" He snapped.
The horse seemed to snicker as he stood to his feet and walked over to Larkin, where he then proceeded to lightly nibble on her hair.
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