Across the ocean Book 1: On the run

Introduction

Across the ocean

First Book : On the run

Introduction

Soaring above a big castle was a curious bird of prey, a young female mountain kite who could not get bored of spying the humans below her. A close relative to the red kite, she shared much of their appearance, yet had some unique features. She was bigger, and her feathers had their tip striped with a golden brown and a reddish brown. If one behaviour could describe her kin, without a doubt it would be their insatiable curiosity. At the moment, she was following a lady riding a horse along some roads. Those sparkling stuff the human wore interested her, so did the many colours of her cloths.

Slowing her flight, she perched onto a pole with a flag depicting her kin; it just so happened that the imperial emblem was now in company of what it was an image of. The banner belonged to the Kastosian Empire, a civilization of Man with old roots. She could not care less about the flag though, even the lady she had been spying lost her interest as the hunter's instinct reminded her what time it was: lunch time. For the past few weeks, she had travelled much land for her maiden voyage as she had left her nest in the Demiory Mountain Chains. What brought her this far was simply the urge of following what picked her interest, most of the time merchants and travellers. The last one guided her here, to the capital of Kastos. Hunger echoed her instinct's statement, ravenously. It had been a while since she last had a morsel, curiosity often drowning the stomach's voice in this first adventure of hers. The world had been unfolding below her with every mile she flew!

She knew innately that in approximately two or three years, her journey back to the mountains would begin, along with the quest of finding a mate to live with. Semantic memory, the ability to recall facts such as locations, was an innate ability of her kin. Despite having travelled a lot, the need for a map would never arise should she wish to revisit a particular place. That said, she knew not the names of the regions she crossed, starting with the Demiory Mountain Chain, Nelf province, the Jarvenir River, then the capital province of Kers surrounded by the river. To the north was the province of Celezia, while to the south was Vernastun. This young adventurous mountain Kite was at the very heart of this nation, and a nation which was the center of a world: the Kastosian Empire was the most powerful and influential civilization of man in the whole north-east of the Evozen continent. But prestige is what if not abstract and nonsensical? Honestly, of what importance where the matters of the featherless ones to those who soared the sky? Her intentions had never been to make pilgrimage, this was pure roving. Mountain kites were known, after all, to travel much before their mating age, and then settle in pairs somewhere in the mountains and raise their fledglings. Once the young kites would leave the nest, the parents would travel together again.

Silently soaring with grace in the calm wind above a residential area for nobles, she spotted a prey. Several fancy wooden balconies had climbing plants braided around their balusters, and a few saw their vines going all the way down to the floor as they found lower balcony railings, pillars and whatever architectural features humans could braid them with. As a whole, if given a few more years, that area of the city would look like a garden. But this bird was not feeding her mind with thoughts regarding the future, she was exclusively focusing on the present. She dived like an arrow fired from the top of a wall and caught in her talons a rat, oblivious of the merchant trying to sell some white fox fur hat to a nobleman. Norther still than the province of Celezia, the Kastosian territory spread into more provinces. To the northwest, the twin provinces of Zeria and Northern Zeria. Some foxes lived there, but they were not white, those were found in the northeast: Karas, Torsun and especially Tekias.

Selection of a place to eat in peace was easy: she only had to fly for the nearest rooftop. Highborn people living in big cities had houses bigger than others and they expanded upwards, and the highest floor often had impressively intricate windows. Social status meant nothing to her, and trespassing was not a concept she knew, nor would care. Once her meal was done, she sought to clean her beak and talons, as while as preening her feathers. A fountain of water surrounded by a flowerbed of roses and tulips laid in the middle of a wide-open area. She flew down and began to dip in where it was shallow enough for her. Fishes swam and she looked at them in between the preening of her feathers. She noticed there was a golden coin at the bottom, sparkling under the sun and attracting her for shining so. Alas, a woman carrying a bucket and a broom chased her away, misinterpreting her attention as being directed on the fish. The mountain kite protested for a time; she knew better than to dare a human holding a long stick of wood.