The Girl In That Hooded Jacket

Castle Grounds

She hadn't even had time to react to his words when they entered into the forest. The beautiful black stallion under them dashed expertly between the trees. The leaves swished passed and she caught sight of a darting figure to their right. She jumped in the saddle, fear sparking in her lungs. Frantically she tugged on Lucien's arm around her and pointed at the figure through the trees. He held on a little tighter and drew his sword halfway, then sheathed it again. She shook his arm more violently and he loosened his hold on her. "It's just Sybbyl." Faith exhaled in relief and turned to face forward. From the trees in front of them emerged the bottom of a huge cliff reaching towards the sky. The blood that had returned to her head, evacuated twice as fast and she smacked Lucien's hand repeatedly. But the large rock still grew nearer. "Wait!" Closer. "Wait! Wait!" Closer. "The wall...! Wait, stop..." She covered her face and braced for impact. "Aaaahhh!!!" There was no more space between the wall and the jet stallion under her. She flinched as a cold wall of air slapped itself across her frame and she shivered. The movement of the horse under her didn't stop or even slow and she peaked out from between her fingers. The forest continued and she looked behind them. A large wall of glass like stone stretched high into the air, and softly curved inward then opened up to the sky. The riders behind them halted at the wall, their horses rearing onto their hind legs to avoid the magicked space. After a second of pacing mounts the riders wheeled around and galloped back to where they'd come, letting the small group carry on their way. They emerged from the forest seconds later to see a huge castle reaching towards the clouds. Around which sprawled a large city. They slowed to a trot and she held onto Lucien for dear life. (If you've never ridden a horse, let me tell you, you'd think that when the horse is running it'd be hardest to stay seated. Wrong. It's when the horse is trotting, you go up and down and up and down again, hard, on the saddle, just fast enough that when you're falling back down, the horse comes up to meat you. It is the single most agonizing gait possible). She was going to have to get used to it sometime. Faith attempted to watch the things around her as she desperately tried to keep her seat and still be observant at the same time. Lucien chuckled a little at her efforts and she contemplated smacking him for it, only deciding not to because the extra movement might be the thing that would knock her off. "Okay Dristan, you're going to make her fall, so quit it." The horse tossed his mane and slowed once again to a walk. She sighed in relief and said, "Okay, so if this is Dristan", she pat the handsome stallion on the neck, "then what's the name of the horse Sybbyl is riding?" While silently she wondered why it had been so important to bring him along and not some other horse. Sybbyl rode a light brown bay with white boots and a dark mane, a beautiful horse, but not anything as magnificent or regal as Dristan. Lucien laughed, "Camel!" he said with a smile. Then whispered in her ear, "Personally I find her ride much more accommodating than ours." His wicked grin made Faith uneasy, like he was telling her a joke only he understood. Dristan's ears flipped back in distaste. He didn't seem to appreciate Lucien's joke either. They emerged on a dirt trail that wound closer and closer to the castle. She marveled at its size. The hole city seemed to be built in layers, almost like it made it's own little hill, it's center being the castle situated higher on a hill. The roof glinted in the sunlight, a beautiful golden color and the walls were a soft white. Surrounding the main body of the castle, towers, much smaller in comparison, were connected to the structure by bridges high above the ground. Each was situated in the green strip of ground winding its way almost all the way up. Every now and then you could see a relatively small patch of grass and trees separated from the main spiral. The lower you got the more brickwork made its way into the design, elegant and necessary with a strong defensive wall at the very bottom surrounding the base. "Home sweet home." Lucien said behind her, smiling. Even the horse seemed excited to enter through the gaits. The city around it was rich and busy, people, and some animals, bustling from one place to another. Rushing from here to there, weaving their way through the crowds. More than several animals lined the roofs, cats, birds, raccoons, squirrels, monkeys and even some creatures that didn't exist on earth. Faith blinked in surprise, not believing that anyone could be so joyous and unaware of the threat beyond the wall. Not even Lucien bat an eyelash at the event that had scared her half to death, but by the way he was glancing around a little too... interested in his surroundings, she suspected it bothered him more than he was letting on. They moved forward and with so many people she feared that they'd trample someone, but as they made their way into the turmoil the crowd parted. The multitude quieted a little, and the shouting becoming bearable as they passed. Men and women alike stared openly, pointing at them; some dipped to the ground in a sort of bow while others curtsied with varied amounts of grace. Her cheeks flushed a delicate rose as she blushed for no reason, averting her gaze down to the saddle horn in order to avoid everyone's gazes. Who knew how they'd react to her cursed appearance. As Lucien and Sybbyl slowly made their way farther into the crowd, she noticed strange people among the more more normal looking ones. The first one she noticed, witch was originally why she began glancing about, had dark black skin. Not like the humans back on earth. It was as black as the night sky with hints of dark blue. Tiny spots freckled his skin in bright colorful clusters like stardust. His irises were a striking violate that gleamed silver in the right light. He was bowing next to their path, almost close enough to touch. He smiled tentatively up at her and she quickly averted her eyes. Scanning the rest of the crowd she spotted another night like individual, a woman this time, as well as several other strange beings. Some were almost human looking with only small differences such as long bony limbs, white skin, pointed ears, sharp canine like teeth, or horns. While others were more beast like than man with animal heads and tails, or ghostly in appearance, almost seaming to faze through objects or other people. There was one being, hiding in an ally, with some sort of dark gray material making up his skin. It looked a lot like petrified wood with streaks of white in it. And although she only saw him at a glance, she could see clearly his eyes. They were large, black pits that seemed to stain his surrounding eye socket with dark ink. She shuddered and quickly decided she was done looking around. The small group made their way to the castle gates faster than she'd anticipated only talking about 15 minutes. 5 of which were navigating through the large crowd in what seemed to have been the market. Lucien's smile was real this time and as wide as it could be, his teeth gleaming in the sunlight as they approached the large portcullis leading into the castle. It was made of thick metal bars as wide as Lucien's forearm. As they approached the gatehouse, she looked up at the looming structure. Now that she was closer she could tell that it was built on a large hill of stone. It stretched above them as high as the tallest skyscraper, if not a little taller. It's beautiful out casing hiding whatever fanciful goings on happened inside. Dristan gave 3 deep whinnys loud enough to carry over the wall, tossing his head and heaving a great sigh of air through his nose. She pet his neck a little and watched as the huge portcullis began to move. It took only a minute. Whether that was fast or slow she could only imagine. As soon as it was a few meters above their heads they trotted inside. The darkness of the short tunnel was surprising. They emerged into a courtyard, the horses hooves echoing off the walls. Inside a building loomed over the common aria in an elegant ancient way, it's grand entrance and beautiful stonework only adding to the effect. To the right the stables nestled against the corner, a little farther along the wall what looked like a church started. It's design was longer in a way, more Romanesque. Lucien dismounted and offered a hand to her as soon as the stallion stopped moving. She gratefully took it and swung a leg over the saddle. She slipped to the ground and the horse walked away. She didn't have time to wonder at this before Her companion walked after him. With nowhere else to go she hurried after them, only caching up once they reached the stables. She paused outside the entrance and glanced around, wondering if she was even supposed to be there. Ya Lucien had spouted all that "You save us and we save you" nonsense, but she didn't really believe him yet. She couldn't deny that she'd been somehow transported to another world, however, that was all she'd confirmed. Faith contemplated for a millisecond trying to escape. From what she didn't know, but from what she'd seen the real threats were actually outside the castle. So she discarded the idea immediately. She turned back to look inside the stables and found that Sybbyl was missing. She was already walking across the yard towards the building in front of the portcullis. Lucien, who had just finished taking off the beautiful stallions saddle, stepped back and smiled. Around the back ankle of the horse was a bracelet, she hadn't noticed before do to the fact that she hadn't ever really looked at his hooves. As she watched it began to glow. Dristan's figure blurred and he seemed to disappear. In his place there appeared an older boy.

(A.N.) Thanks for waiting. ;)

(PS: I got the picture off of bing and have no idea who's it is. Sorry. Also, The castle looks something like the one in my book, but a little bigger. The city in my book also has a magic wall around it.)