The smart, the skilled and the BRAVE

The prophecy

I tripped and landed at the top of the steps, and immediately grabbed onto a heavy looking stone to keep myself from falling to my death... or rolling actually.

That would be entertaining.

I groaned, pushing myself up onto my feet, glad that the stairs were over for the time being...then saw that stairs led up to the prophets building. I growled and kicked a small pebble that went down the side of the mountain.

Why did I want to follow the rock down?

I breathed in deeply and looked over at the building. It was a rather tall and impressive building and it seemed that they had just carved into the mountain to make it. In all seriousness they probably did. How else would they have gotten all the stone up here?

I walked over to the steps, following an excited Wilder and reluctant Kinbridge.

"I'm going to kill the guy who made these stairs," I growled out.

"It would be difficult since he has been dead for two hundred years," Came an amused voice at the top of the stairs. I looked up startled and saw a man in thick robes. He was a tall figure, but the smile on his face made him seem more approachable. Several men stood behind him.

I blushed, wondering when they had gotten out here and if they had seen my little tantrum. The king walked up the stairs and the prophets bowed. Wilder walked up after, looking around at the architecture of the building. It was almost like a mix between a fortress and a castle. I wondered briefly if this was where they actually lived, or if they lived in buildings located behind this massive structure.

I walked up the forever present and irritating stairs with Kinbridge following behind me closely. The man who had first spoken to me turned and opened the door and entered, the others following him.

He seemed to be their leader... or as much of a leader as they had... I didn't know if they even believed in leaders here.

"You come here for Bravery," The man said turning around as soon as we got into the main room, a large room in which seemed bland and without any color... but who am I to judge. Maybe someone out in the world likes all the walls in their room to be a black stone that seems dark and cold with creepy drapery hanging from the walls.

"Yes," The King said, as if it was perfectly normal for the prophets to know why they were coming up to meet them. Well... maybe it was normal.

"Is she here then?" Wilder asked from where he stood at the King's left. I stood a ways behind him to the right, looking around the room. There were twelve men in the room and no women.

"We do not know, but we do not think she has returned from the forest," The man said and Wilder frowned, probably disappointed. I know I was. Great.... we come ALL the way up those crappy stairs to find that Bravery isn't here... oh wait... but that meant she was alive.

"So Bravery is real!" Kinbridge said, following my optimistic point of view. One prophet frowned over at him.

"Did you think we just made a prophecy about a dead girl saving the day?" He asked and I could almost feel the embarrassment coming off of Kinbridge.

"So does Bravery know about the prophecy?" I asked the prophets and they frowned over at me.

"What does that matter?" One asked that was the shortest. He had a long grey beard and seemed to be the oldest, with wrinkles lining his face.

"Well... Will she actually WANT to help the kingdom... or will she just say that it isn't her fight?" I asked shrugging. The king looked over at me nodding, in thought, as if the thought that the girl might not want to actually give up her whole life style to save a kingdom she knew nothing about since the age of six.