War has broken over the four countries. The world beyond has dissolved into chaos but life still goes on for Prince Libra, who's never been anyone special. He's mostly gone unnoticed as one of the many nobles in his royal family; the only people at...
I'm doing Art Fight this year (feel free to search it up if you're wondering what it is) and got artwork of Cancer by ken.core on Instagram! She looks really cool and I love how she looks in his style, so go check out more of their artwork if you're interested. (Reminds me that I should attempt to draw Cancer more, too...) Anyway, on with the story! (You can also see the parts where I get caught up on writing their conversation, then go 'oh wait right the story' and force myself to move on. The very reason this book is so long is because I can't help but write out each and every conversation...)
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The village wasn't hard to spot. The road they were walking down cut directly through the quaint little town, after all – they stopped at a small restaurant and took a wander around once they'd had their fill, glancing over the shops for some while studying the mountains above for the others.
They heard Enubi before they saw him. The idle chatter of the few civilians of the town grew louder and more excited, and the sound of hooves clopping on concrete led them straight to the person in question.
"Are you doing well? Yes, hello – I'm afraid I cannot stay long..." Enubi trailed off in his conversation with one of the people who had approached him – a woman who had been loitering in the restaurant they had been in – as he noticed Aries approach, his hood set firmly over his head. He cleared his throat. "My apologies, but there is something I must tend to."
The people scattered fairly quickly after that without much fuss as Enubi guided his horse over to where Aries was waiting. "I'll need to stable Archnium somewhere after dropping off all of the supplies." He explained, setting a hand on one of the large pouches attached to the stallion's saddle. "There should be a stable directly next to this village, and I'll be back in a few minutes. Here, take this..."
Aries helped to unclip the bags from Archnium's saddle. As the two worked to stack up the equipment, Scorpio slipped out from where he had been waiting in an alleyway and moved to start lifting the bags.
"Would it be unsafe to travel up the mountain at night?"
"Unfortunately, yes. If I had the choice, I would prefer if we made this trip during the day." Enubi replied. "However, it is a very long hike, and impossible to complete within a day – so we'll have to travel during the night, no matter what. The best choice here is to make the less steep and snowy climb at night, where there is less risk of avalanches or storms... and stop to rest before we travel up to where the temperature begins to get colder."
Scorpio frowned. "Will we be able to make camp on the mountain?"
"Yes, it's not too steep. I've tried before – as long as you find a good, flat area, then it's possible."
"Where are the others?" Aries asked, turning towards Scorpio.
"They're in the vicinity of the village, I hope. I believe Libra, Gemini and Aquarius are keeping out of sight in one of the alleyways here, or at least disguised with their hoods on... but I wouldn't know about the others."
