Star and Salem flew on Opals back for a good hour before Salem ordered a stop. Opal gave a single chirp in acknowledgment before descending from the sky from high above the clouds, slowly drawing near to the ground. They touched down on the sandy beach several miles out from the capital city. Opal flopped onto her belly, allowing Star and Salem slipped off her back in one smooth motion. Their feet hit the sandy beach without a fuss.
“Alright, we’re here.” Salem said, rolling her shoulders and stretching her legs.
“Finally.” Star leaned one way then the other, trying to get the knot out of her back and sides. “Man, I hate sitting for so long…”
“Yes, yes,” Salem waved her off, “The city is about a dozen miles that way, best start running.”
“What?! No.” Star refused, huffing and crossing her arms, “You’re just going to ride on Opal’s back and make her run! Why do I have to?”
Salem hid a laugh under a huff, covering her mouth and turning away slightly, “Well weren’t you just complaining about how much you despised having to sit for so long?”
Star sputtered, “Well I- Not like that!” She tried to plead her case, “Come on Salem! Opal would be happy to carry me to, right Opal?”
Opal looked up from where she lay, rolling around in the sand. Her big round eyes stared up at her as she gave a small confused chirp. Before immediately sneezing and continuing to roll. Salem looked back to Star with a blank look.
“Yeah she wouldn’t mind.” Star chuckled a hit of nervousness in her voice.
“Right.”
“Right!”
“…”
“Please?”
Salem hid her smile behind her hand, “Well, I suppose.” She looked back to the wyvren, “Opal, up we’re leaving now.”
Opal stared for a long moment before rolling back over to her belly, looking at Salem and Star expectantly. Salem hopped on without issue, Star following not far behind now that she had the ok. Free ride.
“Off we go! Run Opal run!” Star cheered.
Opal didn’t move.
“Uh, Opal?” Star leaned to the side in order to check on the fluffy wyvren.
Salem saw her chance. “Opal, go.”
Opal took off. Star let out a short scream as she suddenly lurched back, not expecting Opal to suddenly take off like that. She quickly regain her bearings in the next instant,i leaning forward and clutching Opal’s fur in a desperate attempt to not fall off. She slowly regained her balance, placing her legs on either side on Opal body and pushing up to see where they were headed.
The ocean blurred by on one side and on the other the trees seemed to be a haze. All around them Opal kicked up sand spraying the surrounding area with it, including Star and Salem at times. Her steps left holes in the sand as they bound down across it at breakneck speeds. It only took them a matter of minutes to cross the dozen or so miles needed to reach the outer wall of the city.
The first thing Star thought was that the scene before them seemed to be from a book or something. Whole lines of people waited outside the gates to be let in. What seemed to be hundreds of people in carriages, or walking in groups, or pulling carts were lined up one by one in a few neat orderly lines. The shortest to the left and the longest right in the middle. Salem patted Opal, signaling for her to slow to a stop as they approached the road.
Once they stopped close to the edge of the treeline, Star and Salem slid off Opal’s back. Once they were off Opal shrank to her ‘I’m just a really big dog I swear’ size. In the next moment the wizard, alchemist duo pulled on their masks and wigs hiding the features that may give them away. Once they slid on the last of the accessories they brought they exited the forest, stepping onto the road. They left their hoods down as they walked, drawing closer to the lines of people.
“What are all the lines here for?” Star wondered aloud.
Salem stayed silent, looking intently to the lines to spot the different between the three. One line held just people in carriages or wagon, each seemed to have a selection of goods that Salem could see if she looked closely. From the looks of it, this was a line of merchants. It was the line in the middle, the longest and slowest moving it appeared.
“The longest line are merchants,” She concluded aloud, speaking softly to Star.
“Really? How can you tell?”
“Look closely.” She instructed turning her attention to the left most line. This line held carriages as well, though different, more extravagant if Salem had to put a word to it. These carriages had more color to them, finer details decorated all about. The carriages looked to be for comfort rather than practicality. Each was pulled by on odd looking beast. Each was different, but all were, undoubtedly, a monster of some kind. Nobels then.
“Oh I see it now!” Star snapped her fingers, “Their merchants because they’re all carrying high quality merchandise back with them. These guys are carrying things from all over!”
“Did you use your scan?”
Star blanched, looking down, “I used scan.”
Salem rolled her eyes, “Well I can tell you that the shortest line if for nobles.”
Star quickly looked to the line, “How can you tell so quickly?”
“Its rather obvious.”
Star gave her a deadpanned look. “What about the right row?”
Salem looked to the right row, it wasn’t really right to call it that. While the left and middle row were on the same road the right most road was at least fifty yards out on entirely different road. A road that seemed to be in far worse shape then the one they stood on now.
From where Salem stood she couldn’t make out much detail, but she could see the distinct lack of much of anything in terms of personal possessions. All of these people seemed to be traveling with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a rucksack. Her eyes softened slightly as she looked over at them, “Refuges, people moving to the capital with not many other options it looks like.”
Across the way she could see soldiers prowling the ranks of the other line, interrogating the people occupying it. A tight frown fell over her lips. “Hm.”
Star looked where she was looking and her goofy smile dropped from her face near instantly, “That’s not right…” She muttered, squinting her eyes at the scene. Her hand clenched at her side as she glared.
A soldier approached a small family of three, a father and his two young children. From where they stood the duo couldn’t make out what was being said, not even close. They could, however, see the man push the children behind him as he spoke. He made himself slightly smaller, dipping his head and avoiding eye contact. All while holding his kid’s hand tightly to his side.
Star and Salem felt concern fill them, they glance once at each other before they advanced, stepping off the road they stood on and onto the dirt. They walked quickly, side by side, drawing closer and closer to the group. Slowly they began to pick up their voice mixed in with the chatter of all the other people. With each step they could make out more and more.
“… Please sir, we need to pass. My children have not been able to rest since we started out journey.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
As they drew near the friends were able to make out the smaller details. Like how the man looked half starved and the children looked dead on their feet one had her eyes closed, leaning against her brother, looking ready to pass out at any moment.
“Do you have a ticket.” The soldier didn’t phrase it as a question.
“I do.” The man jostled a slip of wood in his hand at the guard, it appeared he’d already showed it to the guard and he had ignored it.
“Do you have a ticket for your children?” The guard stressed the last part.
Salem pulled up her hood and tapped Star to do the same. They stepped onto the road no more than a few steps away from the group.
The man stayed silent.
“Do you have a ticket--”
“Are you so heartless you’d separate a father from his children like this? Because they don’t have a ticket?” The father voice dripped with barely restrained rage. His fist clenched at his side, “ARE YOU SO HEARTLESS?” He screamed in the guards face, all the rage and exhaustion rippling out of him in one furious roar.
The guard remained unfazed, “It is the law. If they don’t have a ticket they don’t get in.”
Salem’s eyes widened as she spotted the guards hand tighten on her sword, watched as he tense slightly, looking ready to draw the deadly weapon.
“Do you think your above the law?” The guard questioned, danger in his tone.
The father didn’t seem to notice the change in atmosphere in his rage, but his children had. They began crying into their father’s clothes holding onto him as tightly as they could. The man spat at the man, “The law is wrong.”
Star watched the following scene in slow motion with wide eyes. First the guard’s hand tightened, preparing to draw his sword. From where she stood it didn’t appear the guard would wield the blade against the man, rather hit him in the face with the handle. Next Salem burst into action, rushing forward at an incredible speed, intercepting the blow. Salem moved a dozen feet in an instinct, stepping in front of the father and his children with her hand raised, catching the sword’s handle end just as it came up.
“W-What?! Who are you?” The guard attempted to jump back once he realized his blow was intercepted, however found himself stuck in place as Salem’s grip refused to falter.
“What do you think your doing?” Salem hissed, voice low and dripping with venom.
The guard clicked his tongue, “What am I doing?” He hissed, still trying to pull his sword from Salem’s grasp. “Who do you think you are? Interfering with a capital soldier!” He screamed in her face, spit flying.
Salem looked down at the guard with an emotionless expression, only cold furry evident in her eyes hidden behind a pair of googles as she gazed at the sorry excuse for a man. “Pathetic.” Her voice hissed out, rage barely contained.
The soldier faltered for only a moment, “Excuse me?”
“Attempting to hit a father for worrying about his children what the hell is wrong with you?” Salem’s voice remained calm, but Star could sense she was about to lash out. Her lips tugged into a frown as Opal growled by her side, restrained only by a Star’s hand on her fur.
Star decided she should probably move in at this point. Still with her hand placed on Opal’s shoulder, she moved forward, walking to the father and children trio. She pulled her hood off to reveal her presence before speaking, “Are you three alright?” She asked voice soft as she beckoned the trio to her
“What- Who- Yes we’re alright.” The father elected to not ask questions as he moved away from Salem and the guard, guiding his children as the while.
Star nodded her head, “Alright, then would you mind me asking a few questions? I’m afraid I don’t have much information about the situation at hand.”
Star heard a sharp yelp of pain before Salem’s voice follow. She took a brief moment to turn her head, only to see the guard holding his cheek as he lay on the side of the road. Nothing special going on there.
“--That you even considered for a moment something like this would be acceptable--”
Star tuned out Salem’s ranting as she waited for the father’s response. She looked down to see him looking rather worriedly at Salem and the guard, “Don’t worry about my friend there, she got it taken care of.” Star tried to reassure with a bright smile. “Do you two want a candy?” She turned her attention to the children, holding out two suckers she retrieved form her pocket out towards them.
The two kids looked hesitantly to their dad.
“It’s alright…” The man said, prompting the kids to grab the candy, before turning his attention back to Star “I can answer your questions.”
“Great! I was wondering what this whole thing was about, I heard something about tickets and you only having one for yourself?”
The man’s face became down turned, “I- yes you heard correctly. Unfortunately the capital is only accepting refugees that can work. They have no regard for children, the elderly, or the uneducated.” The man gritted his teeth as rage returned to him, “Those bastards…”
Star’s expression hardened as she shared in the man’s anger. “That’s awful.”
“Quite, I thought it must have been a joke at first, I mean to separate families like that…” He trailed off, “Not to mention most people don’t have much of a choice at this point. Once your town or village has been breached there’s not many places you can go. The capital’s always been the safest. Its either head there or risk going to another town that might not even be in tact when you arrive.”
“Do you know what’s causing all this?”
“We don’t know. There’s been a resent up tick in monster attacks, not low level one’s either. Ancient monster are coming out of their homes for the first time in decades. Its nearly unprecedented.”
“Damn, is the government doing anything about it?”
“… Their trying I think. Sending guards to the important towns and sending supplies to the bigger villages, but the rest of us are left to rot.”
“Its not effecting them so why should they care…” Star muttered, the harsh reality of a world she had long forgotten hitting her in the that moment. “Damn. I hate politicians.”
“What’s going on here!?” A new voice boomed, causing all the refugees around them to scatter.
Star quickly lifted her head staring up at a commanding officer glaring down at her group plus battered soldier Salem had just finished ripping into. “Ah, are you in charge here?” Salem’s voice echoed through the now silent crowd.
“Who are you?” The commander turned his head to Salem, glaring down at her and the soldier on the ground.
“You three should get out of here.” Star whispered to the trio, “Take this.” She held out a small box to them, across it read anti-monster portable campsite. “This can will provide you with shelter and food for a while, be safe.”
“Thank you.” The man whispered back, taking the box, “Lets go, Jasper, Hannah.” He led the children away quickly disappearing into the crowd.
Star hardened her expression and turned to gaze at the commander and Salem.
“Tell me, why are you refusing children refuge?” Salem’s tone returned to a frigid rage.
“Who are you.” The commander didn’t budge.
“Answer the question.” It appeared neither would back down.
The commander sneered down at Salem, “If you refuse to cooperate then I shall make you.” The commander prepared to draw. Both girls tensed.
“Star.”
“Yes!” Star pulled the man’s stats out in a moment, displaying them for the world to see.
Current Skills:
* Call to arms [78]
* Commanding voice [90]
* Sword mastery [99]
* Quick heal [76]
* Intimidation [84]
Current contracts:
* Capital commander contract
* Contract of loyalty
* Contract of due service
The commander faltered as his screen appeared before him without his consent, “What? How?” His angry eyes turned to Star, “You…” He hissed.
“So that’s what you were trying to use on me,” Salem pulled his attention from Star, “To bad its so weak.”
The commander turned his focus back to Salem, “You know nothing! On your knees!” His voice boomed with authority, everyone that heard it fell to their knees in the next instant, leaving only the commander, Star, and Salem standing.
“Oh? That’s quite the application of skills. I mean what that must have been commanding voice alongside intimidation no?”
“Really? I thought he just yelled really loudly…” Star commented, looking mildly lost. She hadn’t even noticed the commander skill.
The commander gawked at them.
“Teacher!”
Was that the little mage boy’s voice Star just heard?