Chapter 1

THE ORDER

I hit the axe into the log, splitting it with little effort. I’m not very big, but I most definitely have strong arms. I go to grab another log to chop when I hear my mother yell for me.

“HOKU!!! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!” My mother enjoys being dramatic and I don’t think she notices how stupid she sounds, but I am an obedient child so I, slowly, walk back to our house.

I’m my mother’s only child, and she seemed to enjoy making me panic, at least when it worked. I open the door to my mother standing angrily over a pot of stew that I just finished.

“Why does this have celery in it? You know I don’t like celery!” My mother crosses her arms and glares at me.

“Oh, I’m so sorry for forgetting about that, I’ll make it better next time.” I glare right back at my mother and smile sarcastically.

“You bastard child, I never should’ve let you stay here, now get out and go buy some more chicken for the stew!” She walks away to her room and slams her already broken door and screams when it falls over, of course I laugh but then she goes to yell at me again so I scurry out of the house with a pouch of copper coins that was on the counter.

I walk out of the house and down the road a little before I burst out laughing, I absolutely love pissing my mother off. Many people say it’s disrespectful, but I think it’s deserved! Once I recovered from my laughing fit I continued to walk down the road and make my way to the village. We don’t live very far but it’s still a small walk, and it’s super annoying when I have a load to carry, luckily I don’t have much to carry.

The village is really nice with smooth farmland and beautiful gardens full of tulips and azaleas, most everyone is friendly but the older generation of the village are pretty rude, though I can’t really blame them. I mean after all, who wouldn’t grow grumpy after living that many decades? The butcher shop, which is my destination, stands in the middle of the village in the “shopping center”. It’s not really a shopping center since it’s too small, I’d probably call it the trading post of the town, since we don’t have a port or anything like it.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

The butchers’ shop doesn’t smell very good but it’s probably my favorite place in the village, because my best friend works there with her family that owns the shop.

“Hey Hoku!” My friend Lela greets, from her spot behind the counter chopping a pork tenderloin for a customer.

“Hey Lela!” I greet her back and wait for her to finish, once she’s done with the customer I walk up to the counter and ask for a pound of chicken.

“So how are you Hoku? You usually don’t come ‘round out of your market days unless you're in trouble, so what happened?” Lela, being her usual self, knew exactly what I was feeling.

“Ha! You know me too well Lela, but yea, my mother got mad at me because I put celery in the chicken soup, so she wants me to remake it.” I sigh dramatically and smile at her. “Stupid, right?”

Lela laughs at my dramatic sigh and nods her head, she then goes to the back to collect the chicken I asked for, but comes back frowning.

“Hey Hoku? I guess we don’t have any more chicken, can you substitute for turkey?” Lela looks at me and apologetically smiles at me.

“Oh, ok then. It’s fine you know my mom doesn’t like turkey anyways, I don’t know how she can tell the difference but she does.” I smile and wave Lela off and drop two copper coins on the counter. “Can you give me priority though? If I don’t make the chicken soup soon, Mother will be terribly angry.”

“Oh, yea I can do that sorry Hoku! I would’ve saved you some chicken if I knew…” Lela looks upset so I smile at her and wave it off again, she looks at me and smiles. “Ok then Hoku, I’ll tell you when we have chicken again, ok? Love you Bestie!!” Lela waves at me as I walk out and back to my house.

I walk home and arrive to a fancy looking carriage outside of my house, I walk up to my front door very confused. I open the door and see my mother talking to an older man, probably in his mid 40’s.

“Um Hello? Who are you?” I move into the house and hesitantly set the money pouch down.

“Hello Hoku. I am a royal guard of the Sol Palace. You have been requested to ride to the palace for a very important test. I've been granted your mother’s permission, so all I need is for you to pack your things.”

“I’m sorry, what?!” I whip around to my mother. “You agreed to this, do you even know if he’s a royal guard?!”

The old man spoke again, “I have a verifying letter if you must see.” The old man pulls out a letter decreeing that I, Hoku Sae, must travel to the royal palace of Sol and take a test, by declaration of the King and Queen of Sol.

I stare at the letter in complete disbelief and quickly run to my room in shock.