Pen did not have enough coin but he sure has enough berries to sell for a hefty sack. To the stables where he buys a horse, get taught how to ride by the kind stablelady and spend an entire day just practicing how to ride a horse. He grows fond of the stable lady, but eventually he waves her goodbye. Riding for the plains---no, he heads with all the buzz about prisoners of war and where they are being held. It is a new fort that they call, “Plainsight Fort…Berberry, are you excited to go there? Because I really am! I cannot wait.”
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“Berry~ Berry~” speaks the mark on his palm, and Pen smiles. Nudging the horse with a leg for the winds to cheer for him.
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And the boy spread out his arms, dangerously that the native barbarians wandering around the plains yell at him to hold the reins. Which he embarrassingly does so, “I—I did not know there are people around—”
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There is no road nor dirt path from the capital to the new fort. He only has a map as well as the mountains to tell him if he is heading the right direction. The forests also help although they are freely walking around. Along with rolling boulders that has a group of juvenile grassland meerkats balancing on it. A horse-large hawtail---hawks with rope like tails--hawks the clear blue sky. They dive down whenever a giant mouse foolishly runs out of their dens. Mostly because these mice are kicked out from other mice’s dens.
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The tall grass stretches far towards the horizon before shrinking and thinning at Orlorn plains. They say a dwarfized deity lives here, wearing nothing but a skirt made out of leaves and has pole to drive off pests away. No Nautren wishes to go near his plains. Not because he is scary, just that he is an overly territorial neighbor who finally got a land to call his own.
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At the end of the plains starts the uphill and a hut. Pen decides to stop and rest here for a bit, drinking water from the waterskin the stablelady gave him, and eating lunch—bread with blueberry jam. Berberry who rolls around stare at Pen’s food. Wondering why that jam looks so familiar. “You want to try? It is Bread with berry jam, I made a can of jam you see, with the berries you share with me everyday.”
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And Berry shakes his head, simply happily dancing left and right before fluttering their leaves. More blue berries sprout from the grass around the boy. With a young man peeking out from his hut open window and asking if he can try one.
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Pen looks up at the stranger. Pale skin with crimson eyes, sharp fangs... The sight of him prance the boy’s legs up and excitedly ask, “are you, perhaps, a vampire!?”
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The stranger nods and tilt his head, “First time you ever seen one?”
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Pen nods as quickly as he plucks some berries. With Berberry rolling around the hut sprouting more blue berries. “I thought vampires are only found in Xzykylly!” Wrapping the berries with cloth and handing them over,
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“That is what they all say, but I am different.” Gladly taking the clothed berries without going out of the shade.
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“How so?”
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“I…I ran away. That’s all I have to say. Thanks for the berries”
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“Wait, but I want to know more about you and vampires!” already with a pen and note in his hand,
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“Nah, I just want to be left alone.”
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“Aweeee, but I want to.”
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“Come back another time”
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“At least, tell me your name”
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“Sion Sanguiris” He tells, with his hand on the casement stay rod, “you?”
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“Pen, just Pen”
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“You do not have a House?”
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“Well, I ran away from home…and mother or father did not have a House surname as well so I guess, no.”
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“Nice meeting you, Pen.” Closing the window with a gentle smile, feeling warm in the cheeks at the thought of another runaway child. “What are the chances…” He mutters low and quiet, “… I was right to flee.”
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And Pen rides on his horse. Berry wishing to roll around the grass and catching up to the horse’s gallop. They ride pass the hill, and through the open woodlands residing the plains leading to Plainsight Fort. A fort that watches over the plain of a Noir princess as well as the body of the great river Micelea. Tall mountains cast a shadow towards the far river, a breezy cloudy sky reflecting the streaks of white flowers and ponds all over the vast stretch of tall grass.
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The fort is houses larger than Hearty inn back at the capital. Its freshly polished granite walls draws the boy closer, but not too close that he will be seen as one of the prisoners lining up at the entrance. Simply staying close to the trees, and drawing from there. The fort, a village behind it, and of course the plain of a Noir. It would be great to ask who among the Noir owns it but oh well…a band of horses gallop out of the woodlands—Pen sees and hears them. “Goodness, are they royals?”
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A lady with a long green hair, flowing by the wind like silk as she slides off the horse of a bulky man with ashen hair. The lady greets the fort gatekeeper and the soldiers on the wall. They bow, and the prisoners of war duly follows. “Who is she?” Pen asks, and wants to sneak up closer when suddenly, someone pokes his behind, “Gyaa!” he shouts and the people at the fort all look at him, EMBARASSING!
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“And what does a boy have to be in a place as far as the capital? I doubt you have the legs to even walk this far. And this horse? I bet you stole it. You do not have to say anything, because I know everything. Perfectly so such as I am. Zephyr” This wavy verdant haired lady says, “you are pleased to meet me, lost child.”
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How did she---Berberry hides behind Pen although he wants to hide somewhere else as well too. His chin and lips trembling and not knowing where to look by how open Zephyr’s bearings is.
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“Well, I am sure that you are not here for bad hands and do not worry, the trees tell me of your innocence and records.” She points down towards Pen’s notebook, ‘If you wish to complete the map you are making then write down White Amaranth Plains and the tower that resides on it is called Princess Amerie’s tower. And if you wish to stay since it is already nearing sundown, then do stay. I doubt you have any place to go even. So come on then~” Forcefully grabbing the boy’s hand, “Let us be off and give you a bed”
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“W-wait—Too fast—too fast. I do not need to go to the fort--”
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“Leaves rustle faster, and of course you need to go to the fort. No one will wonder about you when you get attacked in the night you know. Maybe the berry spirit but she herself cannot talk other than berries.”
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And Pen gets dragged to the entrance of the fort, with the bulky man—Haures, asking who the boy is, with a suspicious glare. Pen did not even hesitate to hide behind Zephyr who tells Haures to look away because of how ugly the man looks that the boy has to hide from him. “Take care of this boy for the day” she tells the gatekeeper before heading off with the green lady. Waving farewell and yelling wish for a good adventure. Pen shyly waves back before the amaranth soldiers take him in.
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The sun sets and it did not take him long to merry with the soldiers, taste the brew of mead for the first time, and since he is the only youngster among gruff men in armor, he freely teases and jokes with everyone. Pointing out ugly noses, beards and twig hairs. Which the soldiers calms the boy down in their arms before telling tales of their own adventures. One took an arrow in the knee and never wanted to become an adventurer again, while others claim to have set sail through the thirteen Constoceans. Some tells of their fights with Xzykyllean monsters, their experiences with Djahatian belief in almost becoming a tribe’s sacrifice, and the craziest claim is remembering his past—then the journey he had in Necrophos—then resurrection. So wild that nobody believes him and the soldier simply joked along with his mates.
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