Things were getting hectic as we prepared to travel to the capital to meet the king. I couldn’t shake off my worries about what the grown-ups meant; why they were so against the idea of going to meet the king. In the first place, thinking about it, I didn’t know much of anything about the country. I never had much of an interest in the world at large, after all all that mattered to me was close at hand. As a result I have no idea what kind of person the king is or why everyone hated him. All I knew was that he was the most important person in the country.

“Brother,” I started while packing clothes in a simple traveling backpack. “What kind of person is the king?”

“I am not so sure I can answer that. I don’t know more than the rumors that arrive at this village. Did you pack your underwear?”

“Yes, brother. What kind of rumors?”

“Well, for one, our country has a custom of kingship being won through a duel to the death, which means if you can kill the current king and be recognized by the ministers and running government, pretty much anyone could theoretically become king, no matter where they’re from or who they are and our current king did just that 10 years ago, he’s been reigning ever since. Did you think about your brush?”

“Yes, brother. Does that mean even a girl could become king?” I asked him.

“I suppose so, but it hasn’t happened so far. Since anyone who defeats the king can become king, it’s more or less only strong people, almost exclusively gifted warriors at that. And women normally don’t really fight. I bet you also realized that all the knights and soldiers you ever saw were men. Also, it would be a queen, not a king.” He stopped for a second and looked up from his backpack. “Where are my socks?”

“Here, brother.” I handed him the socks he was searching for. “What’s a ‘gifted warrior’?”

“Thanks. ‘Gifted’ is what we call people who have supernatural abilities, such as being able to fly or make fire appear out of nowhere. Did you …”

“Yes, brother. I got everything. Is the king also gifted?”

“Yes, though I have no idea whatsoever what his abilities are.” My brother answered me while looking over my backpack one final time. He finished packing his own while talking. Finally, he picked up his backpack and stood up.

“Alright, the knights will have food and water for us, so we should be good to go now.” He put his backpack on his back. “Come on Mira, we can’t keep the knights waiting forever.” He opened the door. I picked up my own backpack and made my way outside in front of him. My brother closed the door behind me and put away his key.

“The knights are waiting at the entrance to the village, so this way.” He pointed to the entrance.

“Okay.” I nodded my head and started walking in front of him. On my way I noticed a bunch of villagers looking at us from their houses. Some hid behind windows and doors, others who were outside were watching us with perplexed expressions, I had no idea what to make of their faces though.

Making our way through the village we found our ride after a short walk. Two knights, both wearing the same uniform with the same emblems on it. The emblem looked like a broken castle, cracks appearing on the walls and towers, I, once again, had no idea what it meant. The knights themselves were wearing tired expressions. They noticed us approaching before we spoke up and their expressions changed. They didn’t look happy. Were they not okay with me coming along?

My brother called out to them. “I’m sorry it took us so long. We couldn’t decide on who would take the journey, after all there aren’t that many young people in this village.”

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“It’s no problem, but say friend, who’s that girl? Your… sister?” One of the knights responded with a smile. His face was kind, but he had a bit of an edge around him, unlike my brother.

“Yes. She insisted on coming along and simply wouldn’t leave the matter alone. I hope it doesn’t pose a problem to bring her along.”

“To be honest, I would much prefer it if she didn’t tag along, is there no way to convince her to stay.”

“NO!” I shouted. “If my brother has to go, then so do I! In the first place, why does he have to go with you guys?”

“Now now Mira, don’t be rude to the knights.” My brother scolded me.

“It’s okay, friend.” He turned to me. “ It’s just that this will be a rather difficult journey. The king insisted we make haste, so we will not be stopping much and to make it easier for the horses you will have to walk almost all the way.”

“But why does my brother have to go with you in the first place?” I pouted.

“It’s the king’s order. He didn’t tell us why, I assume it’s to give a report of life and harvest in this region, but either way we have to simply follow his orders and I would hate to anger him by having you slow us down. I am sorry, but please be a good girl and stay here.” The young knight smiled at me. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t like it. I turned my face away from him.

“No, I am coming with. I swear I won’t slow you down.” I didn’t relent.

By this point I could see cracks forming in the smile of the knight talking to us, while the other knight, a middle aged man, was just openly annoyed at me, but it didn’t matter. Not to me right now at least.

“Listen girl, I am saying this for your own good. Stay here.” The knight said with an icy tone that nearly made me flinch.

I hesitated, scared of how the soldier would react, but held my ground and answered. “N-NO! I am coming with.”

The soldier's smile broke completely, but instead of getting angry at me he simply sighed.

“Fine. Suit yourself.” He said dismissively. “But if you slow us down we are leaving you behind.”

“If she slows us down, I will carry her. It’s the least I can do.” My brother stepped in and protected me from the two knights glare.

“Yeah yeah, now let's get going.” The knight turned around and started walking to the carriage. I could hear him mumble under his breath. “..try to be nice for once and this is what I get. Just don’t come crying to me.”, as he approached the horses.

He gave the horses a slap on the butt and with that the carriage carrying our taxes started rolling. The knights walked along and my brother nudged me on to move.

With that, our journey to the capital started without many more words being spoken.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

During the trip, true to their words, we barely ever stopped. Of course we slept during the night, but we were woken up early and walked almost the whole day, drinking and eating while walking. It was harsh, but I could manage; not like I had any other choice, since my brother wasn’t in a shape good enough to carry me, even though he said he would. He was keeping pace, but I could tell that it was more draining for him than it was for me.

The knights hardly spoke at all. I could occasionally see them speaking to each other, but they pretty much only spoke to us to tell us what to do, like when to rest or where to walk. The old, grumpy looking knight didn’t seem to like us very much, he openly wore a frown all the time, or perhaps that was just how his face looked?

Either way, he didn’t strike me as the friendly type. The younger knight on the other hand wore a smile every time he addressed us, but something about it unsettled me. It wasn’t an honest smile like my brother’s. Regardless he tried to be friendly when he spoke to us, at one point he even complimented me for my stamina.

The road itself was unremarkable to be honest. Most of the land around us was either open field or forests, it wasn’t hilly either, so most of what we saw were fields, trees or the occasional village, which we didn’t stop at however. I wondered if they had already collected the taxes from those places, but the atmosphere wasn’t one where I wanted to ask the soldiers about it, so I let it go. If I had to say something, I guess I liked seeing a bunch of different animals I didn’t often see in the village, but that was about it for interesting happenings on this journey.

Since we were walking most of the time there wasn’t much free time to begin with, but what little time we did have we spent talking to each other, wondering what the king would be like. Of course we were careful not to say anything negative, since the knights might overhear us.

As such the anticlimactic journey ended on the fourth day when the massive capital city came into view.