“My lord!” Aeron cried out, scrambling to the man who emerged from the wagon. “You mustn’t show yourself!”

  “The danger has passed. I also want to thank the children and demon who protected us,” the man said.

  “Who is he?” Renna asked.

  “A prince?” I asked.

  “He’s part of the king’s council,” Arsted said.

  “That is correct!” The man said.

  I was surprised he could hear us considering how quietly we were talking, and he was a decent distance from us.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Peruvian Stir, and, as the demon said, I am part of the king’s council. Before you ask, I am on a mission to sue for peace, though there are many in Dracaena who don’t want this.”

  I looked over at the dead soldiers. So, they were sent by some lord for a political assassination. That explained the secrecy. That didn’t explain something: why hire unknown guards? “Why the secrecy?” I said.

  “Well, there are many who want to stop any peace talks. If I brought my own guards, that would attract more attention. Aeron is one of my most trusted friends and knows how to keep important cargo safe.”

  That made sense, to a point. It felt foolish to send someone on the king’s council alone without some special guards. Surely, he could have brought a couple of Sentinel-classed warriors or a mystic mage. Ah, who was I kidding? I didn’t know the first thing about politics in this world, and I wasn’t going to try and learn it.

  “Why Dalabar? That isn’t close to the capital of South Ornea,” Renna said.

  “Unfortunately, that is confidential.”

  Okay, if I had doubts about him being on the king’s council, that went away. I would have been suspicious if Peruvian ended up telling us everything about his mission and how he was going to accomplish it. He seemed like a nice guy, at least from this brief exchange.

  “Thank you all for risking your lives to protect mine.” Peruvian bowed, which felt weird to see from a high ranking noble. “I doubt there will be any more attacks, so the rest of our journey should be easy.”

  “My lord, you shouldn’t say such things…” Aeron said.

  “Children, what are your names?” Peruvian ignored Aeron.

  “Oh yeah, my name’s Thorian Ashford.”

  “And mine is Renna Melordia.”

  “I’ll remember those names. Both of your skills were extraordinary. I’ve never seen children with such strength.”

  Renna deserved this praise. She didn’t have the advantages I had coming into this world. Still, I needed to be polite. “Thanks, it’s an honor to hear that from someone so important,” I said sheepishly while rubbing the back of my head. I should bow or something, but I didn’t know the first thing about etiquette when speaking to a lord! My parents hadn’t taught me that.

  “My lord, we should get on our way. These bodies will attract monsters,” Aeron said.

  “Hmm, that is true. Let’s get moving then,” Peruvian said.

  Aeron sighed with relief and waited until Peruvian was back inside the wagon before signaling us to start moving. We walked past the bodies, while Aeron had to go around them. He didn’t want to run over the bodies. It didn’t take long until the stench of the dead was just a memory.

  I had hoped to speak with Peruvian a bit more. Alas, that didn’t look like it was going to happen. He had gone inside the wagon, and it didn’t look like he was going to come out. I wanted to ask him how he went to the bathroom or how he wasn’t going stir crazy in there.

  The more I thought about it, perhaps it was for the best I couldn’t ask him those questions. He may seem kind, yet I couldn’t forget he was a high ranking noble. He had to be one of the highest rankings you could get and if I learned anything in my old life, they were always the most dangerous. History, in my world, showed how scary a powerful political figure could be.

  The rest of the journey went smoothly, with no more attacks. We didn’t see Peruvian for the rest of the journey. We were near the entrance of Dalabar when Aeron ordered us all to stop. To my surprise, Peruvian did come out of the wagon, yawning as if he’d just woken up from a nap.

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  “This is where we part ways,” Aeron reached into his cloak and pulled out a bag of coins. He gave the bag over to Arsted, who handed it to me.

  “Before we do, I have a question,” Peruvian said.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Would you children be interested in joining my services? I see a lot of potential in you both, and I would love to help you flesh out those skills of yours.”

  “I’m sorry, my lord,” I felt awkward adding my lord. “We’re on a mission to rescue our families and once that’s done, I don’t see myself leaving my village anytime soon.”

  “What Thorian said, we have a mission of our own. Thank you for the offer,” Renna said.

  “I see,” Peruvian didn’t look surprised. “I’m sure we will meet again. I hope to see how strong you both become. Good luck on rescuing your families.”

  “Thanks,” Renna and I said.

  Then Aeron and Peruvian were gone, leaving the three of us alone for the first time in almost a month. For some reason, Peruvian’s words of seeing us again rang in my head. I believed him when he said we’d see each other again. I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be for quite a while.

  That worried me. I hoped I never ran into Peruvian again. It didn’t sound like a good idea to get tangled up in politics.

  “Let’s find an inn,” I said.

  We walked into Dalabar and quickly found an inn. We sat at a table and had some food served. Eggs, cheese, and bread. Nothing fancy, but I wasn’t going to complain. Once we all ate, we remained at our table for a moment, sipping on our wine.

  “Arsted, is it possible to teleport?” I asked.

  “What a strange question to ask. Did the Morthis give you this idea?”

  ““Yeah.” I had been thinking about it and kept forgetting to ask Arsted about it. “I’m not talking a short distance like the Morthis. I’m meaning to a far distance, say from South Ornea to Dracaena, or beyond.”

  “No, at least I have never heard of traveling great distances like that,” Arsted said.

  I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. It had to be possible. If nobody had invented it, then it was either incredibly difficult or no one had tried. I doubted nobody tried, which meant it would be something to try myself.

  Then I remembered there was a good chance I would screw it up and get myself killed. Maybe there was a good reason teleportation isn’t a thing; one mistake could result in killing yourself. I could see my body splitting apart, teleporting to random parts of the world.

  Perhaps, once I learned more about magic, it would be possible to test this without putting anyone at risk. A short distance would be a good first step. Not that there was much point thinking about this right now. It would be decades before I might be ready to try such a thing.

  It was a shame. If Teleportation did exist, it would have made traveling back to Alcion easier. I needed to accept that there wasn’t a faster way to travel. Arsted was over three hundred years old and traveled via foot or horse to this day.

  “What about teleporting like the Morthis to short distances? Is that possible?” Renna asked.

  “I’ve never seen someone replicate it myself. I have heard stories of someone being able to teleport short distances. Whether it’s true or not I couldn’t say.”

  “That’d be cool to do. Guess I could never learn since I don’t know magic,” Renna said thoughtfully.

  “How come there aren’t any soldiers here?” I said, changing the topic. I hadn’t spotted a soldier in Dalabar. There were guards, which was expected.

  “The war is more to the south-east,” Arsted said. “This place isn’t worth attacking. It’s too small and holds no strategic value.”

  There wasn’t much else to say and eventually we got up and went to our rooms. As usual, Renna and I shared a room while Arsted got his own. Our plan was to buy a mule and leave for Starcrest. We had a long journey ahead of us and we needed to hire help.

  The thought of what we had to do began to stress me out. Thankfully, sleep took me quickly.

  The three of us left the inn early in the morning and bought a mule. The mule was cheaper than I expected, only costing us five silver pieces. We loaded our supplies on the mule and headed toward the exit. Our journey to Starcrest was about to begin.

  “Excuse me. Are you Thorian and Renna?” A man asked.

  “Yeah,” I said. I had no idea who he was.

  “I have a letter for you,” the man handed me the letter, then walked away without another word.

  “Ooh, what does it say?” Renna said.

  Even Arsted looked curious as he watched me open the letter. I figured it would be better to read the letter aloud. “Here is what it says, thanks for protecting me on our journey to Dalabar. Thorian, Renna, I have a place you should visit. I highly encourage you to go. If you travel to the South-East, you’ll come across large blue rocks. Once you get there, turn South. You will come upon a hut and an old man. Show the old man this letter and you will each receive a reward. I urge you to do this as soon as possible. You won’t regret it. Signed by Peruvian.”

  “What reward would this old man have for us?” Renna asked.

  “I’m not sure,” I couldn’t help frowning as I re-read the letter. Was this some plot to get us entangled further with Peruvian? A part of me wanted to ignore the letter and go straight for Starcrest. The reward did sound interesting. I bet it was a good one if Peruvian was recommending us to go. But was it worth the potential trouble in the future?

  “We have time. Esmond won’t have anything for us for a few months at least. I think we should go,” Renna said.

  “I don’t know. We don’t know how long this journey will take.”

  “If we are going to some large blue rocks, that won’t be long. I’ve been there before,” Arsted said.

  Why am I the only one who doesn’t want to go?

  “Come on Thorian, what are you so worried about?” Renna said.

  Maybe I was being paranoid. Perhaps this wasn’t some secret plot to get more involved with Peruvian. If it was… Well, I’ll cross that bridge if we come to it. “Fine, let’s go. Then we go straight to Starcrest, agreed?”

  “Fine with me! I can’t wait to find out what our reward is!” Renna said.

  “It’ll be fine, Thorian,” Arsted put his hand on my shoulder. “I don’t know why you are hesitant but a reward from a high noble is a rare thing. This could be an item, a weapon or something else. I don’t think you’ll regret this decision.”

  I hope you’re right. I found myself thinking. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s head South-East!”