Rise Up, Stand Together (KingdomCraft Story)

Chapter Two- Journey and Arrival

----- Desert Kingdom ------

"Shelby, are you sure about this?" Ross asks as he watches Shelby pack a bag of items she might need, "The Mesa King could be luring you into a trap for all you know" he tries to say.

"Ross, calm down. I'll be fine!" Shelby chirps, throwing her bag over her right shoulder and walking out of her bedroom. Ross sighs, and jogs to catch up with his chirpy younger cousin, but not before he heard Shelby's dog, Shadow, begin chasing after them.

Shelby had gotten Shadow as a birthday gift last year from Ross. The Shephard and Schipperke mixed dog was all black, mostly, but she had a white belly and dark brown eyes. She jogged gracefully next to her owner. Ross shook his head with a smile before continuing to catch up to them.

"What makes you so sure that you're not walking into danger?" he asks.

Shelby sighs, "Ross, I know you're worried, but I have a guard coming with me, you know this" she says.

"Can you at least take your bow with you? In case you need to defend yourself?" he asks.

Shelby nods, "Fine, but only since I like bringing my bow with me everywhere" she giggles, turning to Shadow before asking the dog to gather the bow from Shelby's room.

The black dog bounds back down the hallway to Shelby's room, going inside and looking around for the bow. The Birch and light blue bow was hung up on the wall next to Shelby's bed. She jumps up and pulls it off of the hook, before jumping back up to grab the quiver that held all of the arrows. Picking up them both into her mouth the best she could, she bounds back out of the room and back to her owner.

Shelby takes her bow from Shadow's mouth and straps it around her, sitting it on her back, along with the quiver on her other shoulder.

"You happy?" Shelby asks.

"Yes" Ross says, "Now please, be careful out there" he says before walking off, "Come along Shadow" he calls. The dog bounds after the 18-year-old. Shelby makes her way down the stairs and out to the front of the castle where a guard is waiting for her with 2 horses. One of the horses, Fayren, belongs to Shelby.

She smiles and pets the horses muzzle, going around to the side. The guard comes up and helps the Queen up onto her horse. The Palomino horse lifts her head as soon as Shelby takes her seat in the saddle.

"We'll be walking a while, Queen Shelby, do you have everything you would like to bring?" the guard asks.

Shelby nods, "I'm prepared, Sir Wesley" she smiles. Wesley nods, getting on the back of his tall black horse, "Very well, your Majesty" he says, "Stay close, you haven't been outside the kingdom" he says before leading the way down the path, away from the castle, heading North.

By the time Shelby and the guard got to the Kingdom gates, they could see the grasslands. Shelby had never seen so much grass in her entire life, it surprised her. She was pretty sure that all the guards that were nearby could see stars in the 17-year-old Queen's eyes.

Wesley chuckles at his Queen's excitement, before turning his attention towards the top, where 2 guards were awaiting a signal. "Jake! Open the gates!" he orders.

"Yes boss!" Jake calls back before pulling a lever. Shelby watches as the gate fences begin to rise up, allowing them access to the grasslands ahead of them. "We'll be back sometime tomorrow!" Wesley calls up to Jake and the other guard. "No worries sir! Keep Queen Shelby safe!" the other guard says.

Wesley nods and begins leading the way out of the Desert. Shelby following him while looking around in amazement. It took her a moment to realise the wind that was now passing by her. She had only ever felt a tiny breeze before, and that was almost 5 years ago. Most of the time, it's seriously warm and you don't feel even a speck of wind, in the Desert at least.