Sorceress

Chapter 7

We were both silent as we flew over the trees. Every so often a tear would roll down my cheek, then fall off into the endless green.

"Alice it wasn't your fault. If it's anyone's then it's mine. I'm the one who burned down the hut," Ignis tried to comfort me whenever he saw a tear.

"I guess you're right, it's just that their story was so awful, and they'll have to look for new herbs and hut material... and if their story is true then their resources are limited, and they have to share them with the other tribes..." I proceeded to tell him the campfire tale that the centaurs had told when he was asleep.

"I know it's awful Alice, but there's really nothing we can do about it."

I nodded. I knew that, but the thought of their suffering still saddened me. We didn't talk much throughout the day, nor did we stop unless it was to eat. We got out of the forest before noon, and most of what we passed over were farming fields and small towns.

We spent the night in a field full of poppies. They were quite comforting and reminded me of home.

Home. I was starting to miss it. I had planned to find a mentor as soon as possible, but at this rate I wouldn't find one any time soon. So far I'd done nothing but get rejected by a witch, put myself and Ignis in danger of getting eaten by a serpent, and burned down one of the most important huts in a suffering centaur tribe.

I sighed rolling onto my back to view the open sky, tears rolling down my face.

No. I wipe the tears from my face and set my jaw. I would keep looking. Someone would be willing to teach me, and as for the centaur incident, I couldn't change the past. I would find a mentor, if it meant going to the edges of the earth.

I rolled back onto my side and drifted into blissful slumber.

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The next day passed somewhat the same, until we stopped to eat by a small lake.

"This is the last of the food we left with... We'll have to stop somewhere and buy some more," I called out to Ignis, who was sitting at the shore, stalking a fish who was feeding at the shallow bottom.

After I ate the last of the food (apples, bread, and cheese) and Ignis finished off his fish, we took off, heading north to all the big towns I had heard about.

The land became more and more populated the farther we went.

"Shouldn't we stop an get some food?" asked Ignis as we passed over a large, busy town.

"Not quite yet, I want to get a bit farther. There's still plenty of towns ahead."

We flew about an hour more until we came across an enormous town, bigger than any we'd seen before. The cobbled streets glistened as we passed, their stones polished and pristine. The streets were busy with coaches, the sidewalks with richly dressed people. The city was built on and around a giant hill, and at the very top was a huge castle, stone grey with countless turrets, towers, walls, and windows. 

"Oh Ignis, look! We're at the capital! I'll have to write to Mother about this!" Mother had always wanted to come to Vestill, the capital, where the King lived. 

"It looks so big... so busy. Do we have to go down?" asked Ignis as I started lowering down the the glimmering streets.

"Of course! This is Vestill, we may never get another chance to see it!" It was hard to find a place on the sidewalk to land, for it seemed that every square inch had people bustling over it. I finally found a spot and landed, Ignis hopping onto my shoulder. We were right outside of a bakery, it's richly decorated pastries and cakes sitting on display in the window.