Pt.9

The morning starts foggy, a part of the villagers have started their daily routine, taking out the sheep, opening the market, some are even getting ready to fish and hunt.The horses are being taken care of. The messenger from the king heads out of the inn followed by the horse rider. Ulf is approaching as well. Freyt on the other hand is heading out of the house followed by Enar and Anna.

"Anna, Enar, stay here together until I am back, Anna can cook and you can help her with other things. The money should not be a problem, just be careful. Alright?"

"Yes uncle..." Says Anna.

"Yes Freyt." Says Enar.

Meanwhile Ulf is now talking to the messenger.

"So, where is the witch?"

"She left, no use in having her if there is nothing for her to do."

Ulf stares off in the distance.

"I see."

Freyt approaches slowly.

"Is everything ready?" He asks.

"Yes, we are ready to go, sir." Responds the messenger.

The carriage starts moving and heads off in the distance. Horses make galloping noises, those noises fade slowly, leaving their place to the noise of the people living their lives in the village. Anna starts preparing, she can be seen in the kitchen preparing some food to eat in the morning. She breaks a couple of eggs with her small hands, places the pan over a small fire she managed to light up, then she starts searing the eggs.

Enar on the other hand is in his room, looking for something, he shuffles through clothing, until finally, he finds a black hoodie made out of animal skin and fur. After that he stands up and walks close to a desk in that room, he slides open one of the drawers and pulls out a small box.

Enar opens the box slowly, inside there seems to be a necklace, it seems to be made out of a thick thread and a crystal-looking stone, decorated with gold ornaments. He pulls it out, lifts it, and wraps it around his neck. The size of the necklace is too big for his narrow neck, but it's not a big problem.

Afterward he walks into the kitchen. Anna turns her head and notices the necklace.

"What is that necklace around your neck Enar?" She asks.

"That's... that used to be my dad's necklace, I feel like it is time for me to make it mine."

"That is a very nice memory Enar, hold it close to you."

"I will..." Enar starts wearing the hoodie that he found.

"Why are you wearing that hoodie?" Anna asks.

"I am going somewhere colder than here, I will be back soon." Says Enar in a serious way.

Anna grabs his nose playfully.

"A-a whot ah yo doin" Enar asks.

Anna lets go of his nose.

"Lets eat something first." Anna says.

Enar giggles and responds:

"Alright, alright."

Meanwhile, in the carriage, Ulf, Frey, and the messenger are sitting in front of one another.

"How long until we arrive?" Ulf asks.

"We will be there in a couple of hours. If you get tired we can take breaks along the way." Responds the messenger.

"You know, I find this war quite sudden, our people were living perfectly in peace. What drove them to attack us." Freyt wonders.

Noone talks for some seconds.

"Power of course." Ulf responds.

"There is nothing more tempting to people than power, be it money, fame, strength, or authority." Ulf adds on.

"You told me this before as well, but i still do not understand what power we are holding," Freyt responds.

"I don't understand it fully either, but i know it is not normal..." Ulf stares at the messenger, he is listening carefully to their discussions.

"In any case that is just a hunch I have, it's not like I have seen anything," Ulf responds trying to steer the conversation somewhere else.

"It is indeed a mystery." The messenger says.

"We really have to find a solution to this, that's why the king is taking action." He proceeds.

The carriage travels slowly in that gravel road as the horses gallop slowly fading into the distance.

Enar is resting, floating in the water, the skies are closed, the water stretches in all directions to the horizon with Enar in the middle.

*Boy, what are you going to do now?* The great old tree echoes in Enar's head.

"First thing I want to do is learn how to use these powers i have better... I want to be stronger oldie." Enar says.

*Boy, you can always ask me about some things.*

"Huh? What do you mean?" Enar is confused.

*You see, you might not be able to control your powers but as the king of nature, one of the powers that I had were the ability to talk to animals and to understand the building structure of all the plants.*

"You are saying that I can do those as well?"

*More or less, yes, I suppose.*

"How do I do that?"

*We will have to test it out.*

"Do you think that woman, Baba knows how to deal with this power?"

*With this power, I doubt it, but she can teach you the basics.*

"That is good to know..."

Meanwhile, somewhere far away among the trees, a big house is zooming through the forest. Its long chicken legs covering 30 meters in every step. Animals run away from it and the ground shakes.

Suddenly the moving house stops moving and stands still in place.

Baba inside notices the sudden action and starts yelling.

"You old two-legged weird chicken house! Why did you stop all of a sudden!?" She steps outside the front door.

Below the house, in front of it there is a small boy in a black hoodie.

"Huh?" Baba is confused.

The boy raises his head and stares at Baba, it's Enar.

"Yo, Baba." Enar smiles.

Some time passes, somewhere else, a big city on the side of a hill covers the land. The outskirts of it are made of farmers and villagers performing their peasant activities. The further deep you go the greater their buildings become. Even tho the architecture still remains undeveloped, they are way more different than the peasant houses.

The road carriages and people travel on are covered in cobblestone and the people dressed in raggy clothing. It is rare to see someone dressed in fancy clothes.

In the highest point of the city, there is a castle clinging on top of the hill. Made out of stone and great strength the castle stands out from everything else.

Inside that castle, there are some gardens, and in those gardens, there is a man, he has a tall built figure, red hair, a well-kept beard, and strong facial features.

This man roams around the garden picking up flowers. A flower here, a flower there, until a big bouquet of flowers rests on his hands.

After this, he takes the walking path in the garden. At the end of it there lie two gravestones. In the first gravestone, a name is written.

Freya North.

Deceased.

The man takes part of the flowers and places them in front of the gravestone.

"How have you been feeling my love? Is it cold here, do you get lonely? I certainly do..."

He caresses the gravestone softly.

"To think that such a sickness would take away from me my most precious people..."

He turns his head to the other gravestone.

Eric Hayse.

Deceased.

"My son." He puts the rest of the flowers on the other gravestone.

"I am afraid my son, I fear that I do not have the ti-"

"Your highness, I am sorry to interrupt, but it seems that hour guests have arrived." A servant shows up and notifies the man.

"Ah yes, it is about time, thankyou Sylvie, I will be there shortly." The man responds.

"Yes, your highness." The servant leaves.

The king then turns towards the gravestones again.

"It seems like I have to go now." He turns around rubbing his left arm softly.

As he heads inside he opens the door, the hallways are wide and gray, decorated with carpets, hanging ornaments made of gold and animal heads. The windows are big, filling the halls with a warm orange glow.

The king takes a turn right and enters a room that has a big dining table.

At that table, Freyt and Ulf are sitting.

They notice that he enters and they stand up to greet him. He signals them with his hand to sit down.

"It is alright, welcome in my home, you are the guests here."

As he gets closer he notices their faces.

"Wait a minute... I know you two..." The king says.

"Yes, it has been a long time hasn't it?" Freyt says.

"Indeed it has been, Harald North." Ulf responds as well.