On a whim, Elijah decreased the size of Root and coiled his first minion around his other arm, imitating Timber’s form, which was still covering his entire right arm. He stepped onto the rabbit and took the reigns.

He had never ridden a horse, but how hard could it be to ride a giant rabbit with wings?

Chapter Begin

It wasn’t as easy as the members of Lepus made it look like.

The first obstacle was mounting the rabbit in the first place. Elijah tried to climb up but when he grabbed its fur, the rabbit became restless. Afraid of hurting it he let go, letting himself fall back to the ground.

Aric stepped next to him and started to cuddle the beast, which closed its eyes and leaned its body forward towards his hand. “You have to show it first that you are friendly. They would let you ride nonetheless if you just climbed up, but they would be nervous all the time.”

The rabbit let out a low purr and began to tap lightly against the ground with a back paw before it licked Aric’s hand.

“What’s more, the animals already know us.” Erik climbed on Kael and his mount. “It’s not like any of us managed to ride them on our first try.”

Elijah joined Aric in cuddling the rabbit. He was hesitant at first but seeing the rabbit enjoying it, he continued. Having a rabbit all for himself would probably be more comfortable than sharing with Kael or Erik, who was still somewhat dirty.

“Try climbing up now,” Aric suggested. He continued to cuddle the beast behind its ears while Elijah tried to mount it again. This time it worked and he found himself on the rabbit seconds later. He took the reigns while Aric and Kael jumped on their respective mounts.

“Everyone ready?” Erik asked. He was sitting in front of Kael who made himself comfortable behind his cousin. Elijah threw a glance at the saddle he was sitting on and noticed that there was enough room for two people to fit comfortably.

“Just imitate what we are doing, Elijah,” Aric said before he made a clicking sound with his tongue and leaned slightly forward in his saddle to indicate his mount to start moving. Erik did the same before Elijah tried it as well.

Elijah leaned forward and copied the clicking sound with his tongue. The sudden movement of his mount startled him and he gripped the reign with both hands. He grew used to riding the rabbit after a few minutes and they settled into a slow pace.

“Have you ever ridden?” Kael asked, turning around to look back at him.

“You’re doing pretty good,” Erik nodded without looking at Elijah.

“No, but it seems easy,” Elijah answered before Aric slowed down to ride next to him.

“Let’s increase our pace. Lose the reins and lean forward to indicate it to break into a faster gait. Quick taps also work.” He demonstrated the motion without tapping his rabbit. “If you want to slow down, pull back the reins lightly and apply gentle pressure with your legs. You can also lean back slightly but I wouldn’t do that as a beginner.”

“They can understand commands to a certain intent too, so you shouldn’t have any problems,” Erik added.

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After Elijah signaled that he was ready, Aric repeatedly tapped the rabbit with his feet before it increased its pace. Erik and Kael’s mount also sped up, leaving Elijah behind.

Elijah did as Aric told him and managed to increase the pace of his mount as well. He was startled, though, when his mount started jumping and held tight as it glided through the air.

He grew accustomed to riding over the next two days it took them to reach their goal but after a long journey and significant pain in the buttocks, Elijah and the other tree managed to reach their destination.

Kael pointed forward. “That’s Whisperwind, Elijah!”

Elijah looked ahead. Whisperwind was a massive city in the Western part of the Eldrid kingdom. A stone wall encircled the city, protecting it from bandits and monsters alike with only a few gates on each side to allow entry and exit.

The other three told him a few things about Whisperwind. Only two guilds had their headquarters here. The Lepus guild, which was led by Alex, and the Green Thumb guild under the leadership of Garth, a Tier 7. Elijah didn’t ask about the location of the base of the Cloud Raiders as they thought he was a member of them but he assumed that they had their headquarters in a different city.

He also learned about the reason for the conflict between the Cloud Raiders guild and Serpent’s Embrace. Jasper, the leader of the Cloud Raiders guild had an altercation with a member of Serpent's Embrace over loot from a rift and killed him when neither party would give in. After that, there were several confrontations in which Jasper killed more members of Serpent's Embrace, until Darius, the vice leader stepped in and declared war on Jasper and his guild.

It looked like Whisperwind wasn’t affected by that conflict, though. The city gave Elijah a peaceful impression. He could see a small crowd assembled in front of the gate they were heading toward and spotted a few guards on top of the walls as they approached. They all wore the same armor and insignia, indicating their association with the local noble, which was Lord Rider, Aric’s father, as he had learned.

A few individuals were wearing a sign of a white rabbit or a hand with a green thumb on their clothes, in addition to the square shield with a rose in the center, which was the crest of the Rider family.

Elijah glanced at Aric who had the same symbol on his back. He was curious to see how the crowd would receive the arrival of Aric but to his surprise, his group lined up like everyone else to gain access into the city. The large rabbits drew only a few curious glances. The townspeople were already used to the sight of these mounts.

One of the guards approached their group upon seeing Aric and bowed to him. "Young Lord Rider, you don't have to wait in line."

Aric smiled at the guard and shook his head. "I prefer to wait like everyone else, thank you." The guard didn't even try to ask a second time and his gaze landed on Elijah for a moment before he bowed again and went back to his post. Elijah suspected it was behavior he already knew from Aric.

“I would have loved to skip the line and take a good long nap,” Erik said as he leaned towards Aric.

"I don't like using privilege to my advantage," Aric answered.

Elijah continued to look around before his eyes landed on the wall. He noticed that it was not made of wood. It wasn't relatively tall at fifteen feet, but it seemed wide judging from the space the guards seemed to have as they walked along the top.

He jumped off his mount before taking a closer look at the other people in line. They were travelers, some with wagons, others with only a horse or another kind of mount, like them. There were even individuals standing in line with no mount or luggage at all.

Erik followed Elijah's gaze. "Quite a few adventurers today. It's rare to see so many independent adventurers in Whisperwind."

"It's not the first time, though," Kael added before Erik nodded.

The four of them only had to wait about fifteen minutes for their turn but Elijah's nervousness increased with each passing minute from the time he saw why it was taking so long to enter.

The guards conducted thorough examinations with everyone. As their group approached the checkpoint, Elijah could overhear a conversation.

The guard asked each person for a Nexus ID and let them pass after a brief check. There were exceptions, too. Aric and his mount, for example, were let through without being checked. Kael and Erik, with the other two giant rabbits, were also granted direct passage after they showed the badge of the Lepus Guild.

Elijah was the last of their group to go through inspection and could only give the soldier an apologetic smile when he was asked to identify himself.

“Elijah Oak." He put his hand on the back of his head. "But I don’t have a Nexus ID."