The Girl with Golden Eyes

Chapter 4

The Capital of Clarines was abundant and full of life. Every street and every person seemed to be bursting with life. No matter how often I came here I always found the sight beautiful. The mountains had a feeling of peace with its beauty. Clarines had a sense of madness and business in its beauty. The air wasn't nearly as fresh as smoke clouds rose from the smithery and the bakeries. Still, I glanced over at Kazu to see the way his eyes sparkled.

The city would be good for him.

"Alright, let's head to castle grounds." I gripped the reigns of Anri knowing that getting to the castle on a horse would take a decent amount of time. Thankfully, the castle grounds had a stable where the horses could stay and they could travel by foot in the towns. It was too busy for horses.

"We will have to present ourselves to the crown prince before you can go explore." I turned to Kazu looking at him with a sympathetic smile. While I was sure that he would rather do anything else he needed a castle badge. Then he could go in and out at his leisure instead of having to stay with me.

"Do we have to?" The boy whined leaning his head back in exasperation. When he locked his eyes once more with her he rolled his eyes, "Okay, Okay."

"My own castle badge should have enough pull to get you in to meet with the Crown Prince." However, I could not promise him that the Crown Prince wouldn't send me out to talk to him personally. I was not positive though and could certainly be wrong. The Crown Prince was just as unpredictable as he was stubborn.

"So then, you've met the Crown Prince before?" Kazu peered towards me with an unasked question in his eyes. 'Was this prince the reason why you dislike all royalty so much?'

"I've only met him a couple of times, so you may not want to take my words to heart. He's what you would expect from nobility, however he is by far one of the better ones in my personal opinion." I spoke looking ahead as the castle grounds finally came into view. I took out my castle badge which was a a brilliant blue color.

The Castle Badges had a color code to them that gave the guards knowledge of the clearance level of the individual.

Red was for those who worked within the castle grounds that relied on intellectual or a skill of some sort. Green were for the individuals who were in service to the crown such as the guards. Blue were for those who were guests to the Crown, such as other nobility from nearby nations. Yellow were for the nobility themselves, however the had a silver plated if they were lesser lords and gold plated if they were royalty.

I could not guarantee that my blue badge would be high enough to warrant bringing a guest into the castle grounds. Should the guards not allow Kazu in then I would simply have to talk to the Crown Prince himself and ask him to allow him in. I was not sure if they would give him a blue badge though. That would be a lot of power for someone who was my guest and not theirs.

"Halt!" The guards spoke forcefully and we slowly came to a stop in front of them. Before they could get a word out I held out my badge to them.

"My name is Raiyama Mirayuki." I spoke with my voice hard as steel saying the name my father had bestowed upon me. Raiyama was what my father had decided to become our surname instead of the name his father had held. The Rai was part of the word Raion, meaning Lion, and Yama is our word for Mountain. It was the closest he could come up with to give thanks to our village.

"Who is the boy?" One of the guards asked looking over at Kazuki.

"This is my younger brother Raiyama Kazuki, it is his first time visiting Clarines now that he has reached of age." I could see from my peripheral vision the way his eyes looked over to me. It was rare that the people of the mountains ever spoke the surnames aloud. Which, I suppose is why I had never called Kazuki with my surname before. Even if he was my adopted son, it would be easier for the guards to see him as my younger brother for now.