The Four Mages Tale

Chapter 2: The Natsu Mage

The tunnels lead me to the kitchen, where I'm able to blend in with the chaos and snag a few snacks before dashing back to my escape.
        I leave through my garden. A survey of the wall shows a weak point. It's just a tree hanging above the wall, but it'll work. I climb up the tree, then down the wall side.
    The castle is situated on a hill, with a long road leading downwards... this may be harder than I expected.
               I run down as far as I can without getting a side stitch, and start to walk instead.
      I don't see any carriages for what feels like forever. But, the one that comes by is coming from the castle.
         I start to move into the forest, but the carriage passes me first, before slowing to a stop. The driver eases them backwards until he's right beside me.
   "What's a young girl like you doing out here?" He asks.
"I- well..."
       "There's no reason to be shy, hon. I'm
not gonna hurt ya. My wife would kill me if I did. Not to mention my kids." He laughs like he told a funny joke. "Heading into town?"
        "Uh- yeah."
"Well, hop on in. I just unloaded my merchandise at the castle, and the carriage is empty."
     Should I? It doesn't look like he intends to hurt me. "Okay." I climb in and he spurs the horses forwards.
  "So- what were you doing on the way out here?" He asked me.
     "I got lost in the forest."
"I was just dropping off some random knick knacks for the castle. I transport valuable items."
    "In this open carriage?"
"Yeah- no one suspects an open carriage has anything of too much worth. It makes me more comfortable than the soldiers."
    "Soldiers?"
"Yeah. The king likes to send guards to his merchants, like me, to make sure his things aren't robbed."
    "Huh. That's interesting."
"Yep. Do you know where you're going once we get to the village?"
       "Yeah."
"Good."
We make it to the town and we both say our goodbyes to each other. As I walk into town I notice something strange. Everywhere I look people seem to be happy on the outside but I can tell that it's all for show. I always suspected that our kingdom was prosperous and that everyone was happy without a care in the world. But sadly I've come to realize that's all a facade. I continue through the little town to look and see if I can find a place to buy food, when I come across a small shop by the name of White Dragon. I open the door to the small shop and find a kind looking old lady sitting at the front counter.
"Hello young miss, what brings you here to our little shop?"  She says cheerfully in a kind voice.

"Well I've come to see if you had anything I could buy for a long trip?" I said shyly.
"Of course we do! But why on earth would a young girl such as yourself need food for a long trip?" She looked at me with worry in her eyes.
"Oh! I just came to get these for my group!" I said quickly, lying to her.
"I see" she eyed me suspiciously. "Well then how long of a trip are you expecting to go on?"
I thought for a moment.
"I'm thinking about a month or two at most."
"I see." She repeats, looking over her shoulder." She starts walking to the back. When she comes back she comes back empty handed. "Young miss, I forgot to ask you how much money you have on you?" 
Aw crap! I completely forgot about money. I hope I have some on me. I search through my bag that I had brought with me and find about 2 thousand dollars. Oh thank goodness that Myla put money in my bag. After all, one of us has to be the responsible one. "I have about 2 thousand dollars miss." I say to the lady not exactly realizing how much that actually is to commoners.
"I see." The old lady says to me. "Then that is more than enough for two months of provisions of food. And by the way, young Miss, I have prepared a cart and horse for your trip."
I looked at her confused. I thought I told her I was going with my "group". "Um, why would you give me that?" I ask while handing over the money.
"Well I just thought u might need it. After all we don't need it, we have a different one."
"Oh! Thank you very much!" I say smiling at her.
"We have already loaded everything into the carriage for you."
"Oh thank you very much. Then I will be on my way." I say to her attempting to climb up to the reins.
"Of course young miss." She says handing me my change for the food provision. "But may I ask what your name is?" She asks politely.
"Oh! My name is..." 'shoot. What should I tell her? I can't have my father finding me so soon.' 'Oh! I've got it!'"my name is Bella, miss." I replied.
"I see. What a beautiful name for a young lady."
"Thank you." I replied back. "Well, I'll be on my way now. Thank you so much for the food!" I tell her as I start to ride away. Well, that is until I accidentally get stuck in a ditch and a young man comes and pulls me out. After he helps me I once again start my way... wait I don't know where I'm going.
"Hey excuse me!" I yell to the young boy who starts to walk away. He turns around and replies.
"Yes, what is it that you need?"
"Um do you by any chance have a map on you of all the kingdoms?"
He looks at me strangely.
"Um no I don't." I looked down in disappointment.
"But I know a map shop nearby that does." He runs off. Later he comes back with what looks to be a very old looking map.
"Here you go." He hands it to me and I take it.
"Thank you so much, how much do I owe you?" I ask as I start to reach back into my pocket.
"Oh! You don't owe me anything the lady that owns the White Dragon paid for you."
"She did?" "Well please tell her I said thank you and that when I can I'll pay her back."
He nods his head to me and starts to walk away. I look down at my newish map that I now have. Normally you would think that a princess such as myself wouldn't know how to read a map. But you would be wrong. I do know how and it's all thanks to the fact that I had nothing better to do.
Since I wasn't exactly treated like a normal princess I would spend most of my time in the library. So that means I also know how to read sea charts, land maps, you name it and I can almost 100% be able to read it. Anyway I look down at the map and see that I must head west towards the mountains of Mushu. I continue on my way to Mushu for an extremely uneventful three to four weeks. Now it does seem surprising that an inexperienced princess such as myself would be able to last this long and to tell the truth I'm pretty surprised myself. Anyway, I have almost reached Mushu when I see something big and white soaring through the sky. I thought it was just a cloud until it swooped down, grabbed me by the shoulders and yanked me into the air. To tell the truth I didn't even realize what was happening until I looked down and saw that the ground was about thousands of feet below me. And it didn't exactly help that when I looked up there appeared to be a giant white dragon holding onto me.
     "Hey! Put me down!" I yell. The dragon digs its claws into my shoulders, which makes me shout. "Please stop!" I insist. I'm
about to yell more, when the dragon starts to dive. I feel like I'm screaming, but I can't hear it. The wind behind us claims my voice.
     I'm relieved, and exhausted, when the white dragon finally lets me go onto solid ground. I attempt feebly to get up, but every time I fall back onto the ground.
   "Hey there, Rocco. Did you find another orphan?" I try really hard to look up, but I can't for the life of me. "Who's this?" I can hear the man stepping closer to me. "Are you okay?"
     "I can't get up."
"Let me assist you." He helps to sit me up.
    He has a shaved head and is wearing baggy clothes that look really odd compared to the dresses and suits I grew up seeing.
   "I apologize. Rocco can be a little too rough while picking up travelers. Are you hurt?"
   "Just my shoulders."
"I will take you to our physician. You may stay until you are fit to leave." He lifts me up with ease, and starts walking.
   "Maybe you can help me, sir?" It's a stretch, but it's possible he'll be able to help me find the Natsu Mage.
      "If it is possible, I will. What do you need?"
   "I'm trying to find the Mages." He stops. "Would you happen to know where one is?"
      "Why do you need to find the Mages?"
  "I want to stop Primavera from taking over the other kingdoms, and the Mages are the only ones who can help me. They've
already caught the Spring Mage. I need help."
     "What makes you believe you will be able to stop the king of Primavera?"
  "I-I don't know. But I've got to try. Please. Do you know where the Summer Mage is?"
     He answers a little too quickly for my liking. "No." And starts walking again, faster.
   "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay."
      He drops me off in front of a tent on the cobblestone path and goes in to talk with the physician. When he comes out he looks at me. "Did you drop anything when Rocco picked you up?"
    "He pulled me from my carriage. If you could, could you grab my bag for me?"
          "Yes, Miss." He picks me up again and leaves me in the tent, exiting quickly.
The tent is pretty big and spacious. There are desks and books everywhere. There are two men in it with me.
    "My name is Lance, and this is my apprentice Samson. He will observe my methods as you visit me. What is your name?"
   I glance at Samson. He seems to be focusing on writing down notes. He doesn't glance up so much at once. Unlike Lance and the man who brought me here, he has his hair. And instead of the low-collared shirts most of the men I've met, his is high and stiff, covering his neck. There's a bird perched on his knee. It has a lovely mix of red and gold feathers.
    "I'm Bella."
"Nice to meet you. I was told it's your shoulders that are injured?"
     "Yes."
He stands and digs through a few drawers
until he finds bandages, and a container full of a greenish goop.
   He comes back and rips off what's left of the straps on my dress. He rubs the goop on my shoulders, and wraps the bandages around the places where he put the goop.
    "You are very lucky we clip Rocco's talons, or you wouldn't be able to use your arms. Your shoulders weren't punctured. They will be sore for a while, but will heal.
      "Thank you."
"Of course. Now what is this wrapping for? Your wrist seems perfectly uninjured."
"It's... nothing. More like a bracelet than anything else."
   He clearly doesn't believe me, but doesn't press any further. "Samson will lead you to your room. You may stay here until you are healed."
    "Okay."
I let Samson go in front of me. He has a pretty slow pace, but when I try to walk beside him, he moves faster. The bird is nested in his blonde hair like it's straw.
     "Where are you going?" His voice startles me.
"I'm following you."
"No- where are you journeying to? What's your destination?"
     "Oh! I'm trying to get to Natsu."
"What for?"
  I ponder whether or not to tell him the truth. In the end, I decide it's best. "I need to find the Mages before Primavera does."
    "From what it sounds like you were coming from Primavera yourself, so if you find them then technically hasn't Primavera found them?"
   "I-well-it's different. I want to help the Mages stop Primavera."
     "Uh-huh. That's a pretty fancy dress you're wearing."
  "No it isn't. It's tattered and dirty." I counter. What's with this guy?
           "You and I both know well enough that's not true. Yes, it's been torn and dirtied, but that doesn't mean it's not a nice dress."
  Oh. Was he trying to compliment me?
     "And no- that's not a compliment." There goes that theory. "It's an observation. Your skin doesn't have any calluses that aren't recent..." he turns into an area between two buildings. "Which might mean a few things. Your family recently lost its wealth or something along those lines-" I'm about to say that's what happened, but he continues. "but that's unlikely. It's more probable that you left your family for your little quest. But it sounds like you only recently discovered about the war. Which means you can't be the daughter of a noble, or advisor. Their kids have to interact with others like they're normal people. In order to be completely oblivious to current events, you'd have to be completely cut off from the world. And the best possible position for that?" He stops abruptly and turns to face me, which his bird didn't like. It ruffles its feathers and nips at his hair before going to sleep. Even though his body's facing me his eyes are closed, which I find odd. I'm so focused on how weird this guy is that I almost forgot that he was accusing me of something. "You're a Princess aren't you? And your father was keeping you a secret."
    "I- what? No."
"I knew it!" He passes me out of the alley. "Aren't you coming? I have to take you to your room."
This guy is so confusing. But I follow him anyway.
     He takes me all the way to my room without another word.
   How could he have figured it out so fast? How could he have figured it out at all? Nobody's that smart.
    I try to focus on my room. It's simple and small. There's a bed, dresser, a window, and a door on the other side of the room leading outside to where the bathroom is.
        This'll work great.
"Miss?" I turn to see the guy who found me at the doorway. He's holding my bag out to me. "I'm afraid your carriage left."
   "That's fine. I was renting it anyway." I take my bag.
"The head monk would like to see you once you are situated."
    "Okay. Thank you." He leaves and I close the door.
A quick rummage through my bag shoes that everything is still there. Thank goodness. Well, since I'll be here for a while anyways... I put my clothes in the dresser and the bag in the one empty drawer.
     I wonder why the head monk would want to see me? Maybe he knows where the Mage is! With that thought in my mind, and hope in my heart, I head out. The men I meet along the way are very helpful, and point me to the head monk's favorite place- a garden.
     I follow a path and find an older man talking with Samson.
Samson turns to see who came up- and immediately turns away. But not before I saw his eyes. As golden as his hair.
   "You're a mage?!" I exclaim. This boy. Who discovered who I am in five minutes. He is a Mage?
       "Hello, Miss Bella." The man greets me. "I see you've already met Samson. Quite smart, isn't he?"
   "Something like that." He looks at my left wrist, the wrapping dirtied by my weeks on the road.
"I hear that you're looking for the Mages."
     "That's correct, sir."
"Are you sure you can find them?"
    "Not really... what do you know about them?"
"It should be easier with Samson."
   "Really? How?"
"Well, he's a Mage. Mages feel a certain pull to each other. So, when you get closer to a Mage, Samson should be able to find them."
      "Really?"
"It is pretty neat. But- your journey cannot
continue until you are fully healed. For the time being, we'll teach you how to defend yourself. Do you have any powers?"
     "No, sir."
"Okay. Lessons start tomorrow- for now, try to get better acquainted with Sam. And don't be surprised if you're stared at. Most of the men here don't even remember what a woman looks like. We don't see very many up here. Samson, remember to take her to dinner."
    "Okay." The head monk leaves, and Samson turns to me with a smile. "Let's go find Ashley.