The War (All Chapters + Synopsis)

Chapter 5.4 - Katlyn

I walk back to my room, trying not to show my fears. Entering my room I grab a few weapons, pack a bag full of my simplest clothes, and leave the main portion of the castle. Walking quietly on battle trained feet I make my way through the servant's passages and the kitchens. Through a small wooden door by the stables I make my leave.

I lead Ilena's black mare from the stables and tack her quickly with Ilena's saddle and bridle. I get on the horse and follow one of the less used trails down from the castle. I whisper my farewells to the city as I ride between houses and shops, and race across memory filled streets.

The city gates are starting to close for the night as I gallop through on my horse. The guards wave to me as I ride away and urge my horse to go as quickly as I dare to.

I arrive at a small village between the ocean shore and Moor shortly before sunset. I trade Ilena's mare for a wild pony, hoping that whoever I stole the pony from forgives me.

The pony is a lot slower and much clumsier than the mare I traded it for, but I still reach my destination before the sun is fully above the horizon line. The stars are still fading as I sell the pony to pay for passage to Mawrhydi.

In the harbor I find a small trading vessel, the Exodus set for Mawrhydi. The Exodus's white sails billow with the morning wind as I talk to the workers and try to find the captain or someone who can give me permission to get on board.

When I finally find him, the captain, a middle aged man with a white beard and greying hair, immediately agrees to take me on board as long as I help out on deck when I'm needed.

I've never been overly fond of traveling by ship, but I can't arrive in Mawrhydi on wings if I want to avoid being conspicuous. A porter on the boat shows me to my bunk in the hull of the ship. I discover that almost every bunk has at least one person on it. There are people of all ages, young and old, none of them pay me any mind as I enter the hold, and I show them the same courtesy.

***

I wake up on the fourth day at sea with a pounding headache from all the storms. The Exodus was met with wild seas on the second day, and the mast was nearly cleaved in two from the wind on the third.

The ship has lost at least two sailors to the shadowed waters of the Shadowed Sea. Four of the refugees have died as well, a baby, a sick elderly male, a young boy who washed overboard, and the mother of the baby who jumped overboard after losing her infant.

A cheer rings out from crew and passengers alike when the lookout calls that there is land in sight. Eager voices chatter over the plain meal of cornbread, baked corn, and watered down ale in the mess hall.

"Attention all passengers, when we pull into the harbors of Porthladd we will be greeted by Mawrhydi Customs officers. You will be asked for a name, a place of origin, and a reason for being in Mawrhydi. I'll give you a piece of advice, say that you are political refugees not war refugees. Say that you are peasants not soldiers, Mawrhydi does not want to be forced into the war and they will treat you better if you aren't a part of it," The captain of the ship tells the collected passengers of the Exodus. "If you are a person of note, please tell them so that they treat you as such. Though Mawrhydi tries to play neutral, they are tied to Feralis by treaty and are obliged to help anyone who has a position in the court of the Conclamatas."

That's me I suppose, but should I tell the customs officers? Or should I try to find King Lues first and then go to Cyfala? I'll try to find the King first, but if that search bears no fruit, I'll have to get to the capital myself and hope that the Brein will at least grant me leave to search with his resources.

A loud exclamation draws everyone from the mess hall and onto the decks of the ship. I soon realize why.

I look out over the railings on the deck, a large mountain seems to rise from the waters and the looming shoreline. The mountain is strange though, it seems to be made of a series of shelves with cities and villages built atop them. The Spiraled Mountain, is what the monstrously large landmark is named. A long river winds its way down from Cyfala and opens to sea in the harbor of Porthladd. At the apex of the mountain, a shimmer of light on glass marks the Glass Gardens of Mawrhydi.

When we land in the port, I give myself my sister Lia's name. People passing by stop to stare at me, and I wonder why until I realize that these people are all for the most part ambros or human. My eyes must stand out terribly with their star-shaped pupils and golden coloring. I try my best to ignore their stares, something I perfected long ago when I was a child.

My family weren't the most well off. My father joined the Royal Navy as a boy so that he could get his parents away from the volatile volcanoes further inland. My mother was drafted into the Navy. My parents met, and got married when they both had leave at the same time. Then they had my siblings and me.

My father died a well respected admiral in the Royal Navy, and my mother quit her job, as a member of the Queen's Guard (one of the most admired positions in the army), so that she could take care of me and my siblings. My older sister, Lia, had air magic and was a knight who served the then Heir to the Throne, Ilena Conclamata, up until her death when I was five years old. My older and younger brother both had water magic like me. My older brother, Lucas, was in the Navy like my father, and my younger brother, Markos, was a civilian, studying to become a politician.

I was growing up in the shadows of four heroes. I had to learn to deal with the legacy of my family for ages, until I learned to ignore the whispers and expectations, to forge my own legacy and step out of my parents' and siblings' shadows.

Now I ignore the stares and whispers, and march on to complete the mission set for me by the only family I have left, for Ilena, dying alone in the Pits. I have to find Lues so that we can end Carber once and for all.