MullenGuard the Kings return.

Travel

Everyone was on the move, they were traveling through the woods, sunlight peeked through the cracks in the tree leaves as they walked to their unknown destination.  Joe looked around then moved closer to the front of the line where Faiah was.

    “So...any idea where we are going?” he asked.

    “We are moving towards the abandoned castle, far beyond the mountains.” Faiah answered.

    “How many castles are there?” he asked.

    “Only two, there’s the castle of Ironclad, and there’s the old one that burnt down because an ancient dragon attacked the kingdom.  The dragon’s name was Tintreach, the dragon that breathed lightning, its wings were like thunder as they moved through the sky.” Faiah said.

    “Why did the dragon attack the castle?” Joe asked.

    “No one knows, some say because it's a vicious creature that will kill anything in its path.  Others say it was protecting something dear to it. I say it had a reason of its own. But of course we can’t asked it.”

    “Why not?” Joe asked.

    “Because he’s dead.” Faiah answered.  They continued to move along, Joe looked around the woods, admiring the beauty of nature and the mysteries of this world.  He heard the sound of birds chirping, he saw a flock of birds fly in front of everyone, they were moderately large birds, the size of horses, they looked like normal birds but their beaks had a horn on them.  The tigerogs moved frantically as they were startled by the giant birds.

    “What were those?” Joe asked.

    “Birgulls, peaceful creatures but rather terrifying.” Gaylen answered.  The tigerogs settled down and continued to move along. They continued to ride for a couple of hours, they rode for so long that it began to rain, the rain hit everyone really hard that it began to tire out the tigerogs.

    “Alright everyone, let’s stop here for the night.” Faiah said, everyone stopped moving, got off of their tigerogs or off of a centaur and began to drop some stuff and set up camp.  Joe got off of Fuzzykin rubbed his nose and gathered some items off of the saddle. He got a tent and put it up, so did everyone else, he looked over to see what was going on.

    “Who gets first watch?” Minx asked.

    “Well Minx, since you asked, you can go first.  Stay for two hours then Cat’ell can take your place and so forth.” Faiah said. Minx poofed away in a puff of dark blue smoke. Cat’ell walked away leaving Faiah there on her own.  Joe stood there looking at her.

    “Lose something over there lad?” Gaylen said jokingly. 

    “What...no...shut up.” Joe said.  Gaylen laughed and handed Joe a wooden mug of what looked like beer.

    “Gives this to her, lad, it’ll calm her down.” Gaylen said.  Joe sniffed the liquid and almost threw up, he handed the drink to Faiah still looking rather disgusted. 

    “Here, this’ll help you.” Joe said, he gave the drink to Faiah, she took a large gulp and exhaled in relief.

“Ah, thank you Joe, this really helped.” she said with a smile on her face.

“Just curious, what was that you drank?” Joe asked.

“Birgull milk.”  Faiah said. Joe almost threw up again, he didn’t bother asking more about it.  “So, you were pretty skilled out there on the battlefield. Still don’t think you’re the king?” 

“I’m slowly moving towards the possibility.” Joe said.  He looked out to the others as they helped each other set up their tents, place down items, helping one another like a community.  “But how could I rule over these people? I couldn’t keep the orphanage in control when I was there.”

“I’m not one for advice, but a wise man once told me ‘A strong man stands up for himself, but a stronger man stands up for others.’.” Faiah said.

“That was king Ironclad wasn’t it?” Joe asked.

“Yes, your father.” Faiah answered. Joe cringed a little after hearing those two words.

“If he was my father...why did he leave me? Why did he dump my ass in the orphanage?” Joe asked.

“King Ironclad was a very wise man, I’m sure he had a great reason for what he did.  But for now, I’d suggest that you get some rest, my king.” Faiah bowed at Joe, he laughed uncomfortably and lifted Faiah’s head back up to make her stop bowing.

“I don’t think I’ll get use to that.” he said.

“Oh yeah?” she dropped the mug, her wings popped out and began to buz.  “Well what about this?” she flew up over his head. “Gotcha Prince!” she dived down and tackled him, they rolled around on the grass Faiah had Joe pinned down on the ground, he rolled over and managed to get the high ground.  

When he looked back at Faiah he was something else, the grass was greener and brighter, Faiah looked younger and her voice was higher, she was laughing as they tackled each other.  Joe heard a voice from his own mouth, he sounded like he was five years old again.

“No fair, Faiah. You’re using your wings!” said the five year old Joe.

“It’s not my fault you can’t fly, Prince Joseph.” said the young Faiah.  She managed to get up and fly a little in the sky circling Joe. “Come and get me!” Joe sees a tree and runs over to it.  He climbed the tree fast like a cat, and jumped off of a branch and landed on Faiah’s back.  

Everything that he saw turned back to slightly dark, Faiah was back to before and so was Joe, they both landed on the ground Joe over her and Faiah was pinned on the ground, her wrists on her wings preventing her to fly.

“Pinned ya.” Joe said.  He looked at how he pinned her and looked behind him, there was a tree with a branch that was shaking as if something jumped off of it.

“Well look at you.” Faiah said with a smile on her face.  “Took you twelve years to finally pin me...but how long can you hold it?” she jerked her head towards him and gave him a kiss.  Surprised he let go of his grip and Faiah flew off the ground and landed on her feet.  

“Hey, no fair,” Joe said as he got up and brushed himself off.  “I wasn’t expecting that.”

“And that’s why I always win.” she said.  With a giggle and a wink, she flew away to her tent, and prepared for the night.  Joe smirked as he saw her fly away. He headed towards his tent, he saw Fuzzykin lying down beside his pillow and sheet, all snuggled up like a dog.  He laid down on his sheet gave Fuzzykin a little pet and heard it purr so calmly, Joe then rolled over and went to sleep.