Apprentice of the Mountain [Book 1]

Chapter 1, Part 1

The path in the woods was like a tunnel of trees and leaves. The sunlight tried to make it through the leaves, but was only let through in some places, to give life to plants beside the trees, making a pattern of light and shadow. The air was heavy after the rain, as if it was thunder coming in over the land even though it just rained for two days straight. The road was muddy and a horse with carriage had gotten stuck in the mud. A girl and her horse tried together to get up, but the carriage wouldn't budge. The girl plucked her brown hair behind her ear and breathed slowly, as if she was preparing herself for an attack.
"Okey girl, let's get this carriage out of the mud so we can get everything sold!" she said low to herself as well as to the horse. The horse snorted and stomped her hoof as an answer. The girl smiled softly and then they pulled together, one more time. The carriage moved, a little too fast for the girl who fell on her face. She stood on her knees in the mud and after a moment of silence she started laughing as she stood up and tried to get off the worst mud from her beige brownish skirt.
At least the carriage got loose again, and she could continue to Doon, the biggest city in her duchy. She sat up in front of the carriage and with a slight touch from the rein the horse started moving again and they were once again on the move.
Not long after, they came out on plain ground and they could see the city of Doon, surrounding the castle of the duke. The girl stretched out and let the horse trot. She wanted to finish all her business so she could go home again. Some strangers recognized her as she walked into the city and she greeted them with a smile. She set the horse's pace to walk again and swiftly moved upwards to the marketplace. Now more and more familiar faces showed up and she even stopped and talked to some of them. More and more stands with different things became visible and she had to make a turn to the backside of the market.
"Hey Cassia!" a male shouted and the girl stopped the carriage and turned around to greet the man.
"Rocco! Long time since last" Cassia answered gladly. He walked up to the driver's seat and swiftly jumped up. They smiled at each other and then the horse started walking again.
"Ya could put yer horsey in our stable as usual ya know" Rocco said and she nodded quietly. More people had come onto the backstreet so she had to look out more. Cassia stopped the horse after a while since they had already arrived at Rocco's house. He started taking care of the horse and she started with the clothing and fabrics. She carried them towards the street where she had a stand waiting for her, like it always has. She hung up and folded the clothes as she had been taught and then she waited for Rocco to come to her since she forgot her own stuff.
A woman came up to the stand and asked to see some of the clothes, so Cassia started unfolding them one by one so that the woman could see. It was a pretty light blue dress that didn't have much decorations, but just the color was pretty. They started an auction about it, and she ended up with 1 silva and 45 coppyr, which was pretty good for that cloth.
Cassia put the money in her money pocket and smiled at anyone passing, hoping they too would come and buy something. She also listened closely to what the gossip around her were. And apparently there was something big going on in the castle. An engagement feast was about to happen. She wondered who it was that was going to get married.
She felt a pat on her shoulder and she turned around to see Rocco with her bag.
"Thank you" she said with a smile and took the bag from his hand. He had something in his other hand. As he held it out towards her she could see what it was. Soup. She smiled brightly. She took the bowl and started drinking it directly out of the bowl. It was warm and filled up her empty stomach.

Cassia could feel how Rocco looked at her as she was drinking her soup, but she didn't have more time to talk since yet another customer was checking her clothes. She put the bowl in his hands and then got back to work. She negotiated with the customer who also shared some gossip with her. She laughed and listened closely. She was going up to the castle afterwards, and it seemed as if the preparations for the feast was already ongoing, and that it was going to happen this evening.
As the customer left she started fixing the order of the clothes. It was going to be a long day where many might buy clothes since they were going to have a feast in the city aswell. So she had to prepare herself well.
"Could ya ask yer mom to bring me lunch as well?" she asked Rocco, who still stood behind her.
"Yeah, leave it to me. I gotta go aswell. I'll join ya for lunch later alright?" he answered and started walking away.
"Yeah o'course" she answered and continued working as the next customer arrived.

Several hours later, the people in the shops had started packing and getting off the streets to join the feast that had already started outside the castle.
Cassia packed the remaining clothes and then went to Rocco's house to say good bye. She fetched her horse and fixed the carriage and then took off to the duke's castle, as she was going to sell clothes to the family, as she always does. She went to the side door where the servants were entering and leaving. The guards recognized her, and sent her in to meet with the duke. She had always thought that the white castle was quite beautiful. But she wanted to see more castles, and more beauty in the world.
She looked ahead and saw that they were nearing the stables. She stopped the carriage and then asked some of the servants to help her with the trunks of clothes. The duke came to meet her.
"Ah, Cassia dear. Welcome! It's a big day today, but please come in. Make yourself as home" he said. This man was very caring and everyone loved him. Everyone believed him when he said something, and he had even gone so far as to invite common and poor people to a feast, on a completely normal day. Cassia had deep respect for him, just because he did so.
"Thank you, sir" she answered with a small bow. She always acted like a boy during business. She heard him talking about the princess who had come to marry his little boy, and that this was a very big opportunity for the duchy to get closer to the royals.
They walked towards the duke's work office, where he usually took care of his business. But Cassia hadn't seen anyone else but herself and the duke family in this room. And she couldn't possibly be the only merchant that they had business with. She stopped thinking about it as they arrived.
Duke Anthos was really old, and Cassia thought he should stop walking around. But that didn't seem to appeal to him at all. And she couldn't really talk back to a duke.
They sat down in a couch and a servant poured tea for them. The duke thanked the male servant and then looked at Cassia.
"So, what does Miss Cassia bring us today?" the duke asked her. She didn't like being called miss, but there wasn't anything to talk back to.
"I have clothing for you, sir, and your son. And also two dresses, may I assume that they are a gift to someone?" Cassia said as she stood up and started packing up the simple clothes that the duke had ordered. As she came to the dress she held it out in front of her, and she could see that it would suit her perfectly.
"That you may assume, Miss Cassia" he answered with a smirk. "One of them are for the Miss, and the other one is for the princess. And I do hope that you will accept this gift, together with an invitation" Duke Anthos said with a small laugh.

Cassia couldn't say a word. She was speechless. She got a hold of herself and coughed lightly. "May I ask what the invitation is to?" she asked with a low voice and put down the clothes into the trunk.
"Why it is to the wedding feast, of course" Duke Anthos said with joy, spreading his arms as to point out the whole castle.
"I-I don't know what to say..."she said in a whisper as she looked at him.
"Say thank you, be my guest. I have already talked it over with your father and he said that as he can't go himself, he will send his daughter to represent your family" Duke Anthos said.
"Then I thank you. But, I'm still not sure if I can attend. I don't even know how to behave" Cassia said with without confidence. She was still confused. What had her father cooked up now?
"Oh that is easy, child. You will walk with me, and say hello to everyone that comes up to us. And we shall dance, your father taught you this when you were young, did he not?" the duke asked her.
"He taught me, but I have not yet been on a dance feast and has almost forgotten how to dance" she answered.
"Oh but the body do remember, Miss Cassia" the duke laughed and then called for a servant. "Please show Miss Cassia to a guest room, so that she can change. And do get her a maid that could assist her with anything she needs" he said to the servant, who then bowed and held out his arm to show the way.
Cassia bowed slightly and then walked out the door. The servant took the dress with him, and then followed her.

As she entered her room she held her breath. The room was shining, and the insides were slightly yellow. Even the walls and bed, everything within her sight was egg white. Cassia touched the walls and furniture, one after another and lost herself with all the beauty. The servant coughed to get attention. She looked at his way and pointed at the bed.
"Put the dress over there, please. And then you can go" she said loud enough to get heard. The servant did as she said, and bowed before leaving. She breathed out as he left and looked once again at the bed. She sat down and jumped slightly. It was nice, very nice actually. Her own bed was a lot harder than this one, and she didn't know if she would be able to sleep or not this night.
She looked out the windows and saw people on the yard, working with sweeping or carrying water or just swarming around for the preparations. The white castle had red cloth hanging from the wall, making it look absolutely marvelous. Cassia looked at the sky. It was starting to change. From blue, to red and yellow and orange, then making everything pink. It showed itself on the stones of the castle. It slightly changed color, matching the sky.