The ashes before Strife

Episode 20 : Elven castle ; 2

Cayden Barbaten POV:

after waking up this morning Lumine has not once been able to look me in the eyes. During breakfast she sat away from me, when I tried to talk to her she said she had to use the bathroom, whenever i looked at the head maid she also acted strange smiling at me as if to congratulate me.

"Am I going crazy?"

"We've long gone past what's mentally considered sane, Cayde," Thorn spoke out as we made the final preparations on the carriage. "At best your just getting crazier."

"I'd prefer it if you said energetic or sarcastic at least." Thorn rolled over atop the carriage ignoring my words

My bed also smelt funny this morning. My eyes then wandered to Damian who was talking with his father. He's also coming as a representative of the Nallos duchy and the Searigan king for Alma's birthday which was surprising but since Alma invited him directly he couldn't deny it.

As I questioned if it was a prank from him Ronik and Lupra finally came out of the house with my sisters trying to stop them.

The elf knights didn't like the idea of more people to watch over but they had no say in the matter. Giving a final sigh I clambered into the carriage and sat in the corner trying to fall back to sleep.

Damian then came in whinging "why do I have to come? This is adult business I'm just a pre-teen!" Someone spoke behind him as he sat down "fine. I'll be respectful and that but I'm not making any promises about finding a marriage partner!"

Opening my left eye I saw Damian sitting in an angry huff opposing me as the two elves got on behind him. Alma quickly sat next to Damian and although my eye was squinting I could see Lumine shakily sit next to me as if she committed a grave sin.

Pretending to already be asleep I ignored her thinking she broke something and can't fess up to it. A clattering of claws was heard atop the carriage answering where my tames went and then a metallic fist hit the side of the carriage.

"Princess and her friends! We are leaving!" With a tug, the carriage pushed forward preparing us for our journey.

It was just a few days' journey thanks to the rare panther-like beast that would be pulling us along. If anything troublesome occurred on the way I left it to Thorn to decide what to happen.

I hope we don't get obstructed too much.

On the first day, a bandit party tried to kidnap us. Thorn ate them all before they could even get on the road.

On the second day, a tree had blocked our path. Ronik removed it while also damaging the knight's pride after their failed attempts to lift it

On the third day, nothing bad happened but as I slept I fell onto Lumine's lap from a bump in the road. She pushed me off her falling onto the carriage floor. Her expression looked embarrassed but I was too confused to figure out why she was so flustered.

On the fourth day, we arrived at Entrana where the guild was located. After getting out of the carriage it shrunk in size and the knights put it into their pocket. It was very interesting so I gave them a little clap as they put on cloaks to cover their armor.

"How familiar are you here, Cayde?" Lumine asked as we walked down a bustling street.

"Fairly. I had a hut here for two years but rarely ever slept there since I was always out on adventures."

Lumine had a sour expression but as I had difficulty understanding her the last few days I didn't press for answers as it may just worsen her condition.

arriving at the guild's doors I pushed them open remembering their heavyweight as I struggled against them with my pure body strength.

Finally opening the door fully a few eyes were surprised to see me giving silent nods and toast with their drinks glad to see me again. Looking behind me Damian looked unnerved with Lumine by the natural pressure coming from them all.