The Breakaways

Chapter 7

Liz's pov

He was right.

As soon as the forest came to an end, I felt the heat. 90 degree weather, but at least it was a dry heat.

Beyond the forest lie stunning golden fields of wheat that never seemed to end. Before that, though, a large patch of dirt. Tiny bits of grass grew in patches, and where there was no grass, there was a dirt path. Highlighting the edges of it was dirt of a lighter color, sprinkled delicately on. Beside the dirt lay smooth stones, laid there in a pleasingly purposeful way.

The path led down a decline towards what was presumably the stable, judging by the whinnying resonating from within. It was beautifully made. It had two stories, the top level presumably not for horses, and was made out of a light wood that I was soon told was bamboo. It had darker accents of oak. The roof hung over the walls by a good four feet, and was triangular until the very top, where it had a curl, like on top of ice cream, made up of many small pieces.

We finished the walk down to the stable, and a boy came around one of the sides of the hut.

"Hello," I greeted. "I assume you're the stableboy?"

He nodded. "And I assume you're a newbie?"

I smiled. "Got me right." He turned towards the man I hadn't yet managed to remember the name of, and greeted him as well. I probably should've been paying attention, but instead while he was doing that I was inspecting him. He had dirty blonde hair with darker streaks. His eyes were a pleasant sage green that made me feel calmer-I loved that color, it helped to see something I liked a lot-and he wore a calm, kind smile proudly. He wore a sleeveless, muted green jerkin and sage green pants that matched his eyes. The two combined didn't allot to too much green, due to the accents of other colors.

His nearly knee high boots were dark brown with a small black heel, and he wore leather...thingys on his forearms. They had elaborate golden designs embroided on each one, and I couldn't tell if they both had the same swirls and edges or not.

On one wrist-his right-he wore a simple bracelet, just a golden loop around his wrist. On his neck, he wore a golden chain necklace with what looked like a slim version of a whistle on the end. I couldn't tell if they were real gold or not, but they kind of gave off just a little "rich boy" vibes even though that didn't seem to be what he was going for at all. In fact, he seemed quite humble.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw him shake hands with the guide and I quickly shook myself out of my thoughts. When he outstretched his hand to me, I was ready. I shook it, feeling its warmth and therefore worrying if my hands had gotten sweaty from the heat.

"I'm Awilyn," he introduced. "Though some just call me Lyn." Lyn, I thought, trying to make sure I could at least remember someone's name. That one's short. I can remember that, right? ...RIGHT?

At least I knew I'd be able to remember his face- that was one of my strengths when it came to new people, thankfully. And especially when these new people are from a fantasy world I could only dream of actually ending up in, instead of in something boring that my luck would normally have me eventually come to.

"I'm Liz," I told him. "But I'll soon be changing that." I don't know what made me decide so abruptly, but Liz suddenly just seemed so...plain and boring, compared to an awesome name like Awilyn. Not dissing on the name Liz, though. I just felt like... I don't know. Maybe I should change it.

"Mm, I see." With a warm, welcoming smile, he tipped a hat that wasn't really there on his head at me, then continued, "Would you like to meet the horses?" I nodded, and out of the corner of my eye I could see my guide nodding enthusiastically. Horses were amazing, but his excitement seemed like a bit much. Still, I brushed it off. Turns out I shouldn't have, because he opened a padlocked door to the stable, and I gasped.

The entire interior was a big, very well maintained horse paradise, that looked much bigger on the inside than it did on the outside.

Off to one side, there was an obvious training area, with all sorts of different training obstacles and other things meant to train them, and was a wide circle of dirt. Where we were right in front of was a grassy landscape. Off to the other side were smaller stables that I couldn't see inside, but from the outside looked completely decked out. I assumed that most of their food was in there.

In the far back, there was what looked like a tropical jungle. Lush foliage invited me to come closer, and I could hear a rushing river, and I could see a small creek reached, stretching itself out towards the smaller stables. Backed against an empty wall was a few bales of hay, and two pieces of riding gear I didn't recognize. They seemed kind of like a lead and a less-than-effective saddle in one.

He led us in further, and I noticed as he made sure to double check that the door was locked shut. I was surprised, I felt for some reason that he wouldn't want us to go in further, but at least this was a pleasant surprise.

Because in a fantasy story, many surprises were already doomed not to be pleasant, or even remotely OK.

A/N

Double update! :)