The next morning as the sun peaked over the horizon, Darniss was preparing breakfast while Archie was feeding the horses. Being the last two on lookout duty, they were the ones who had to prepare food for the others. Darniss, knowing they had to set off early, simply roasted a large amount of a vegetable that looked like corn on the cob. He did this so they could be eaten while they travelled, allowing them to set off earlier.
As the fragrance from the food roused the children from their sleep, they got themselves ready for the day. They changed their clothes, washed themselves and the clothes they wore the previous day. Afterwards, instead of having breakfast, they were told to pack up the tents.
Ten minutes later the coachmen had packed the tents onto the wagons. The children boarded the wagons in the same groups they slept in. With everything quickly sorted, Darniss handed them all their breakfast and they set off towards the town, just as the sun had finished rising.
The journey this time was short-lived as they reached the town thirty-five minutes later. Surrounding the town was a fifteen foot grey stone brick wall with a tower on either side of the gate. They went around the city and approached the northern gate. Some of the children looked out of the wagon, gasping and oohing in awe of the town. At the northern gate, there were already thirty or so wagons waiting. The wagons had all already split into separate groups, some of them having vastly different wagons and creatures pulling them, while others were more uniform, presumably being from the same company.
When they came to a stop, Darniss got off his wagon and boarded the only one that wasn't carrying any of the children.
"Stay in the wagons for now, I'll return with information on when we are going to set off." Saying this Darniss and the unnamed coachman left towards the gate.
While he was gone, the children asked Archie and Oliver why they moved all the stuff to one wagon.
"Tha's 'cos we only 'ave four wagons in da firs' place," Oliver said. "While we be takin' ya all ta da city, that wagon'll be da one dat's gon' troo ya 'amlets."
After that, the children started to talk and play games in the wagon as they waited for Darniss to return. When he did return, Darniss looked like he had swallowed something bitter.
"It looks like we're going to have a bit of trouble on this journey." Darniss said, a tinge of irritation in his voice. "One of viscount Enrague's sons turned thirteen this year, he will be travelling with this convoy to the city. So, we'll have to wait until they arrives before we set off."
Hearing this, Archie shook his head and Oliver sighed while using his left hand to feel the burn on his face.
"I'm gonna tell ya li'l scamps one thin' ya need ta know 'bout nobles." Oliver lamented, "Nevah annoy a noble, dey'll punish ya fo' anyfin' dey can. Dis burn mark on ma face," he then pointed to the left of his face, "wa' done 'cos da noble dinae like da way I spoke." Oliver went silent for a while, frowning as his eyes flicker. "I tink I'm a lucky one dough, 'leas' I'm still aroun' livin' ma life. Udders are'n' sa lucky, I seen time's when da noble kills or tortures dem fo' ta death."
Hearing this, the children collectively gulped. More warnings were given to them by Darniss and Oliver to make sure they didn't do anything stupid
Time passed and more wagons showed up at the northern gate of Engal town. It was only two hours after Darniss' group arrived that a luxurious carriage exited the town.
The carriage had a completely wooden exterior, a deep brown wood that shone from its polish. The wagon had various creatures engraved on the bottom of the sides, with a large engraving of a two headed reptile. The reptile stood on two legs, facing to the right whilst its body turned to be facing outwards with two short arms on its body. The two heads were pointing in opposite directions looking diagonally outwards. This was the noble crest of viscount Enrague's house.
Pulling the wagon was a reptile that looked similar to the one on depicted on the crest, except it only had one head and walked on all four legs. Its scales were a fiery red, with them turning duller and darker the further away from the head the scales were. The body was shaped like a dogs, except it had no tail and was the size of a horse. Its head was shaped like a crocodile and was perfectly proportioned to its body. A short horn, that glowed red, was on the end of its snout. Three rows of black, sharp spikes ran along the spine of its back. Its eyes were a murky yellow that showed no trace of intelligence, only the wild instincts of a beast.
Behind the luxurious carriage, two more carriages drove past, stopping on the left and right. These carriages were simple with no decorations other than the Emblem that was on the luxurious carriage. Two men, roughly the same height and clad in metal armour, stepped out of the wagon. The metal armour had an emblem engraved on their chest plate and pauldrons indicating that they were two of the personal knights of the Enrague house. One of the knights had a silver cobra, sleeping on their left shoulder, the other had a bird that looked like a robin on their head.
The two knights then walked next to the luxurious carriage and stood either side of the door. The door to the carriage opened and out stepped an elderly man with short, grey hair. He wore a black tailcoat suit, with a black tie, white gloves and a monocle. His eyes were cold and stern, releasing an aura of seriousness that would make one listen to his words. As he left the carriage, with a perfect posture, he pulled out a silver medallion with a ruby inlaid in the centre. He moved the medallion close to his mouth and opened his mouth.
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"The third son of the lord of Engal town, our beloved Viscount Astra of house Enrague, Feegal V Enrague has arrived." The man announced, his voice spread through the area without losing its clarity. "Young master Feegal shall be departing soon, lord Astra has given you all the honour of forming the convoy that young master Feegal shall be travelling with. You have five minutes to prepare before the departure towards Ebonhearth city"
The man then walked back into the carriage, leaving no chance for arguments or questions. Knowing what would happen if they dilly dallied, the coachmen prepared to depart, gathering the children, readying the reins and ensuring everything was already packed inside.
The convoy then set off exactly five minutes later, the old man's voice resounded through the wind, informing them that they will now depart. The wagons and carriages of different types then set off, quickly leaving the front gate deserted, leaving only the tracks and footprints as evidence they were there.
"Mister Darniss, how come there are less wagons than my father said there would be?" Wendy asked.
""Not every year has the same number of children travelling to the city," Darniss said, "though we did set off an hour earlier than we had planned, so a second convoy is likely to form behind ours. Though it will probably be about a third the size of ours, maybe even less."
"Then why did we set off early?" Louise asked, poking her head out the front of the wagon with her sister.
Darniss quickly looked at the wagons around them and at the luxurious wagon near the back of the convoy.
"Because the butler said so, he is one of Viscount Enrague's retainers, though I don't know much about the viscount in the first place." Darniss carefully said, nervously.
"But-"
"Stop!" Darniss hissed, releasing a slight aura of fear, "since you lived in the countryside, you probably won't know. Badmouthing a noble, or anything that can be seen as besmirching their image will be met with consequences."
The girls, slightly scared from Darniss' sudden change in attitude, hid back in the wagon. Hearing the movements behind him he shook his head slightly, regretting having to use such a harsh tone. But it couldn't be helped, if it wasn't hammered into them now, they could end up in a terrible situation.
The wagon then continued on for a few hours. Delia and Flora were making more flower accessories out of all the flowers they had picked, while the other girls were plating some of the games Archie taught them. Delia and Flora joined them a few times, placing flower crowns on the others' heads in the process.
Knowing that the girls were avoiding him slightly, he decided to try and amend the slight awkwardness that remained.
"What do you girls know about the blessing?" He asked abruptly.
A little startled from Darniss sudden question, the girls took a while to register what was asked.
"We can create a pact with our first tamed creature." Started Flora, gesturing for Delia to say something before she missed the chance to.
"You find out your elemental aptitude and soul affinity," Rein added on, quite happy to show off her knowledge.
"You can start to learn spells from your pacts," Wendy and Louise said in sync, much to their dismay as they both glared at each other.
Hearing no other responses, he quickly glanced back to see the girls looking at him curiously, wondering why he asked something they were taught when they were ten years old.
"That's just the bare basics of the blessing, but there is more to the blessing than just that." Darniss said. "Since you haven't said anything else, I'll ask this, what can you tell me about soul affinity?"
Hearing the next question, the girls realised Darniss was trying to teach them something new about the blessing. This time the girls helped Delia speak first, as they had all realised how bad Delia was with speaking around people in the first place.
"You-Your soul affinity te-tells you what type of c-creatures you can form a pact with." Delia nervously said, doing her best for the new friends she had made.
"That's almost right," Darniss chuckled, "though this isn't common knowledge, quite a lot of people know that you can form a pact with any creature you wish, it just takes longer the less compatible you are. My soul affinity was fifty-five percent feathered creatures, thirty-five percent small creatures and ten percent creatures with lightning affinity." He then glanced back to see slight confusion or distrust on their faces, "Don't jump to conclusions too quickly, my second pact is with Fleur, it took me three whole days to form the pact though. If you don't believe me, at Ebonhearth city I'll go and get my soul affinity verified for you. Next, let's hear what you know about elemental aptitude."
Rein started off this time, mentioning that elemental aptitude shows you one to three elements and the numerical aptitude you have in that element. The girls then said all the elements they knew of: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, wood, metal, sand, light, dark, poison, ice, space, shadow, illusion and demon.
"That's a good coverage of the basic elements actually," Darniss said slightly impressed, "but there are more advanced versions of elements, though I've only witnessed two myself, blood flames and holy light. I guess you guys should know that you can raise the value of your aptitude of the elements, right?" Darniss then looked back again to see Rein and Delia nod their heads while the other three had surprise plastered over their faces. "Guess not all of you knew, not that it matters much in the first place. It's quite easy to figure out so I was shocked myself when I found out, only to be laughed at when I told my friends my discovery."
Silence filled the wagon for a while as Darniss tried to regain his composure.
"Anyway, that's going off topic." he said, coughing off his embarrassment, "the only other thing I found out about elemental aptitude was that you can gain new aptitudes. I've heard there are many ways of gaining a new elemental affinity, but I only know of gaining one through a pact. But there is one thing I must warn you about now, the more elements you have, the harder it is to get more. I've heard the record for most elements a person had was eleven, though I never found out anything else about them."
After having finished, the girls in the wagon started to talk about the blessing, with renewed enthusiasm that had slightly died down after the first day of travelling.