Chapter Five
Trouble in Paradise
Having only really lived at the Magic Academy, Richard didn't really know the scale of the kingdom he was now a part of. He knew it had to be large, but he really had no idea. It wasn't until he, along with his family and Lisbeth, began their journey to the Dark Elf kingdom that he truly realized just how large the country of Alysia truly was. They travelled through valleys, mountains, skirted around massive lakes, and spent a lot of time on narrow dirt roads that ran through lush and thick forests that teemed with life and noise. And that was all just during the first day.
They travelled in a large and slightly comfortable carriage, with twenty armed guards and ten military mages that were solely there to protect them in the event of an attack; a thought that gnawed at Richard's insides with fear. The fighting was isolated only to the Northern borders of the kingdom, but that didn't mean that they were safe to travel across the kingdom without fear of attack. Only months ago people would never have believed that a rogue band of criminals could assault the palace and murder the Queen, yet it had happened. So the guards were a welcome presence in his mind.
The trip to Elothia was to take two full days, with them arriving in the city the morning after the second day. It was a long trip, and it became even longer with Lythia's continual grumpiness; something that didn't seem to go away at all. She apparently hated travelling long distances, and she constantly let people know how unhappy she was by snapping at them, arguing about the smallest things, and even threatening to get out and walk back home when she and Coni got into a fight about who one of the pillows actually belonged to. It actually got so bad that Aura had to step in and use her magic to gag both of her sisters so everyone could have some peace and quiet for a little bit.
The second day of travel was spent mostly in wide open plains, with not a tree in sight and the sun shining brightly on them as they traversed the road towards their destination. It was actually pretty boring as there really wasn't anything to do but sit there and wait for the hours to pass them by. Lisbeth tried to engage a fuming Lythia in conversation, Coni read from her book, and Aura sifted through a dozen different scrolls, reading each one before writing her own.
She was actually working, completing tasks from both Reiea and the Academy at the same time. This just once more reminded Richard that they were not on a vacation, and that the whole reason for their trip to Elothia was to try and persuade King Dycoz to join the war as their ally. But that was something that the Dark Elf King, Daiya's father, wasn't willing to risk. They had to try and convince him though, or Alysia might be in a hole that they couldn't climb out of.
“M... mom,” Richard said a little past noon on the second day, stuttering on the unfamiliar word slipping past his lips.
“Hmm? What is it?” Aura slowly responded as she stopped reading a long report and looked over the parchment at him. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, it's fine. I was just wondering something. How do you and Reiea plan on convincing King Dycoz to join us? Everything I've heard so far about the situation doesn't paint a very promising picture.”
Now Aura disregarded her report altogether, folding it up and stashing it away to give Richard all of her attention. “It won't be easy,” she admitted softly, crossing her legs one over the other. “King Dycoz is worried that there isn't enough information on this conflict, and he believes that we don't truly know what is going on right now. And he's not exactly wrong.”
