Tales of the Five Nations 1-Scarblade

Chapter 12-Fire Festival

Alban and Feris walked out of the huge stone castle holding Alban's sword up to the sunlight to read its message. They would've teleported to the Fire Nation, but since they hadn't seen where they were, teleporting wouldn't have been very useful anyway. They looked at the sword Alban was carrying, and it was like the words had been magically carved into the hilt:

Fourth Base, North

So they headed north until they had found guards with spears standing around a bunch of huge multiple room tents. "This is it," Feris whispered in Alban's ear.

"Let's do this. They've been waiting for us for seven years now."

"You mean they've been waiting for you," Feris pointed out.

"You're in the prophecy, too," she reminded him, approaching the two guards near the tents. The sun was setting, and looked beautiful with the surrounding mountains.

"Who are you, stranger?" the guard on the right asked, raising his weapon and pointing his spear at their chest as the other guard did the same.

Alban crossed her arms. "Alban Cecil Armastus. And put the point down." The guard on the left only raised his spear higher than the other's in response, and glared at them.

"How are we supposed to know that you're not lying?" The guard on the right raised his eyebrows and smiled triumphantly.

"Aren't her marks enough?" Feris asked, pointing to the red and black dots next to her eyes. "And before we get into this, I'm Feris Erasmus Carwyn." Alban nodded, and told the guards that he was telling the truth.

"Remove the gloves and do something only Alban would be able to do," the guard on the left said, not sounding excited at all. Alban took off the black gloves Eliada had given her, and then she focused on her hand, which ignited into orange and yellow flames. She grabbed a stick from the ground with her other hand, and tossed it up into the air. She threw the fire from her hand, and it hit the stick as it fell into the grass, blazing and burning the plants beneath it.

The guards' mouths opened wide and their eyes did the same, but yet wider. The guard on the left was the first to break out of the stare, and he ran into the campsite, waving his arms yelling, "Alban Cecil is here! The last Armastus!"

The right guard that was still standing there stunned let them into the campsite as people came running out of their tents and towards Alban and Feris. They all gasped as they walked to them, and soon, everyone was out of their tents and gathered around the last Fire Mage and her friend. They all stood there for a few seconds, staring at the red dots beside Alban's eyes until a little girl holding a doll walked up to her and pulled on her cloak. "You know that the Sage of the City is going to have a big party, right?"

Feris leaned down so he was at the eye level of the little girl. "Are you excited for that party, then?" He was always better with little kids than Alban was. Yet another thing added to the list of what she wasn't good at.

The little girl nodded, and she waved to her friends in the crowd, signaling them to come over. Soon, Feris was surrounded by little kids asking him questions, pulling on his cloak, and talking to him, and he managed to answer every child's question, and respond to every speech. After a while, their parents called them back and a man wearing a dark red robe walked over to them, and welcomed them back.

He asked them to follow him into a large, orange tent with at least five other rooms in it, and they all sat down on pillows on the ground. "You are very welcome to do whatever you like here," the man said. "But before I begin, I assume you would like to discover my name. I am Kavi, the current Sage of the City here." He cleared his throat. "As you know already, it is near the time that the beginning of summer Fire Festival is coming tomorrow. Would you like to cancel the event?"