Arbitrary Assembly
The soft breeze awakens me from my slumber, and I slowly stretch my arms above my head. One day down. Another to go.
We are projected to get to Illea by evening. The ride is brutal, crossing over a large portion of uneven terrain and unpredictable weather. My legs are sore, rubbed to the max with my thick riding boots and harsh conditions. But I am still functioning. Barely.
I swallow the uncomfortable feelings wanting to come out, keeping my mind blank. Everyone is tired, and it shows. Usually, the trip to Illea is three days, but the prince wanted to cut it down to two.
Normally, I would be fit to be able to endure this kind of traveling, but clearly, I have not been doing my usual activities. Physically training every day and constantly being on alert has honed my body into a machine when I was in Clairemont.
The prince leads us forward, and we all trudge through the mud, the wagon getting stuck multiple times. I bet that the crown prince is glad that we left the carriage in Arcana. That would have been its entire own headache.
The team pushes the wagon out of the sticky mud several times before finally hitting flat terrain. Illea is now in the horizon, and the troop cheers.
Walking into the kingdom of Illea is a strange experience as I have never been around this many humans in my life. Some look at us curiously while others sneer at our arrival. I click my tongue in displeasure. The human race can be such closed-minded beings.
The houses are tiny, built very close together, with no property in the back at all. The kingdom of Illea clearly have classes, the rich constantly ragging on the poor openly in the streets. Any plain person can see the unethical treatment here.
Slavery is also legal here, and my nose twitches in disgust. How anyone can treat another being like property goes beyond me. Schooling my features to a clean, I keep my eyes down. I am not trying to pick any fights today.
The investigative team make it to the large palace, and the Illean guards let us pass. There are many territories that make up Illea, but the main city is where the King of Illea resides.
Kingdoms are named by their main city. It is the place where most of the justice is brought, and of course crime as well.
Inside the gates of the palace, there are people running around everywhere. Some men come and take our horses for us, leading them to the stables, and more men come to help us unload our wagon before taking it to who knows where.
The team sticks close to one another, inwardly suspecting anyone, outwardly smiling at everyone. The crown prince is to my left, and a vampiress named Clara to my right. T
he line to get into the palace is long. The process of unloading is quick when we get to the front, and soon the Illean guards leads us to large throne room.
In the center of the room is a large gold throne, and a smaller one to its side. King William of Illea is seating upon the main throne, a welcoming smile on his face, and his wife, Queen Madeline on the other.
Our group bows low at the waist in greeting. I curtsy deeply while Prince Fallon at my side merely dips his head in acknowledgement at King William.
"Welcome to Illea! My kingdom is overjoyed to have you all here," King William says, his loud voice booming through the room.
Ah yes. The welcoming folk who sneered at us are pleased to have us here. The townsfolk were borderline rude if I had to say. Some were even unashamedly gossiping when they caught sight of the trolls, imps, and more.
"I am sure you are all exhausted from the journey, yes? Go get freshened up. The ball does not start in few hours until the late hours of the night."