Chapel Orahamm

I was sore, tired, and hungry again by the time we emerged from the woods on the opposite end of the castle from where we left off to the village.

“So, what is a Wraith?” I looked up at the sky between the woods and the fields, wondering just how far I had dropped.

“Flying semi-incorporeal being of blood and fire that prefers live prey over dead,” Farrow answered. He had pulled a floppy hat from one of his many pockets on his voluminous pants and squarely shoved it onto his head at some point during our walk. Peeking at it, I had to find it interesting that these people had learned nålebinding. His clothes were course, handspun, and woven. What else could these people do? Castles, political systems, some kind of religion if there was a high priest. I had embroidery on my shirt. There were irrigation ditches along the road we were walking. Just how far along were they? But then there’s talk of ghosty fire beasties, and froasts. Medieval Europe was full of myths, why couldn’t this place have it’s own type?

I side-eyed Farrow, then looked to Rowan to see if the redhead was still messing with me. He nodded. I swallowed. “Semi-incorporeal?”

Rowan nodded again. He found a round rock and kicked it over to Farrow, who passed it back before sending it over to me.

“Wanna elaborate on that, tall, dark, and mute?” I tapped it to Rowan. Even medieval alternate reality guys played kick-the-can.

“Oh. They’re hard to shoot, hard to cut, impossible to rationalize with or bribe. They do like certain types of live prey over others.” Rowan gave me a long up and down. I got the rock back and tapped it over to him.

“Skinny, chicken wings with no meat on their bones?” I guessed.

Farrow colored up pink. “He doesn’t kiss like he doesn’t know, Row.” He stepped in to take the passed rock.

I scowled at him, trying to think through that insinuation. “Oh, come on, virgin sacrifices? Seriously?” I spat.

Rowan shrugged.

“A’ight. Incel wizardlet living in mommy’s tower probably would have been an internet toad. Got it. How’d you get me away from a Wraith?” I decided not to dwell on Wallace or how much of a douchebag I was painting his character as. I sighed. I was just mad at Wallace. She genuinely seemed happier in her new body. Maybe she would have actually discussed this with me if she had been given the opportunity. Painting someone in a rude light by misgendering them wasn’t something I wanted done to myself. I shouldn’t do it to her.

“Mander droppings on an arrowhead. I’m not sure it actually injures them so much as upsets them.”

“I mean, I’d be upset if someone shot me with poop too,” I huffed. “You seem surprised I pull Manders out of walls.”

Farrow strangled at that statement, eyes going wide.

“I do. Shut up. How do you get Mander droppings if you can’t do what I do?” I flubbed and kicked the rock too far off the path. It tumbled down into the ditch ringing one of the ag fields.

Rowan shrugged. “Same way you find Wraith droppings. They leave steaming piles in the most inconvenient locations.”

“Let me guess, they sparkle or glow green or some such nonsense.”

“No. They just reek so badly that it’s hard to ignore from a distance.” Rowan frowned at me then looked to Farrow to share a silent, if judgmental, conversation.

The conversation dropped when some kind of flying creature buzzed by, making a clucking sound that spooked little beasties in the ditch water to start making a popping racket. The air was perfumed with tilled dirt and sweet almost citrus scents. I couldn’t see anything blooming, but from what Rowan said, the ag plants seemed to have a different mechanism for fruiting. A light, warm breeze cut the crisp air around us, leaving my skin prickling under the wool like cloak I had wrapped myself in.

Looking out onto the vast agricultural fields and the castle towering over it I had to question it’s position. The monstrosity held four towers, a thick wall, and a series of small interconnected buildings. But there was no wall surrounding the agricultural field. The village wasn’t even a village, but a handful of buildings near the foot of the hill below the castle that surrounding what could be a commons. It didn’t match up to what I imagined a protective fortress would be. One where the villagers would either live or run to in times of trouble. “Why is this area not heavily populated, for this dude being an Emperor?” I trudged behind my two companions who seemed to be having an animated discussion about the finer points on the prophecy. I was coming to the conclusion that even if Farrow deserved being decked for insinuating I was a whore, that he also was probably the more level headed of the two.

“Hmm? Oh, this is one of his country houses. We’re only ever here for two or three weeks out of the year,” Rowan tossed over his shoulder.

“Country house? It’s a megastructure that dominates the land around it!” I protested.

“The royal estate in the capital is probably five times larger.”

“There’s a better use of money than squandering it on vacation houses!” I hissed. Farrow and Rowan turned to raise an eyebrow at me. I frowned back at them. “I said what I said.”

“What’s a vacation?” Farrow finally cut the awkward silence that had descended on the heels of my outburst.

“You know, a vacation. That thing where your boss doesn’t fire you when you don’t show up to work for a couple of days and go do something fun or relaxing so when you go back to work you aren’t liable to kill your coworkers.”

“Oh, you mean feast days? Well, I guess that the nobility do go out to their country homes in the summers for those feast days,” Rowan mused.

“Rich snobs,” I seethed.

“Says the Yujin slated to become the next Emperor to the Throne of the West and become one of the wealthiest men alive.” Farrow shrugged.

I paused, staring off into the middle distance as a thought occurred to me. Rowan circled back to me when he realized they’d walked further away. “Matchstick?”

“This is a whole year trip?”

He nodded.

“And I have access to money?”

He frowned.

“So, what we need is a fat stack, a couple of horses, and we can just leave tonight, right? I never have to meet the Emperor or his wife, right? I can just disappear from here and go on an adventure? It’s that easy?” I asked.

He chuckled at me, a smile playing at his eyes. “You sound excited. Horses are one of your burden-beasts, I’m guessing.”

“Growing up, adventure stories were the best thing ever. And I get to go on one.”

Farrow regarded me like I had Manders crawling out of my ears. “He’s going to get us killed, Rowan.”

“Why?” I demanded.

“You make it sound like we’re going off to watch the acrobats in town square. This will be incredibly dangerous. No one travels if they can help it. Not unless they’re royalty or part of the royal retinue. They have protection.”

“Well, most adventure stories from back home are like that – they have dangerous animals, bad people, terrible weather. They are full of challenges, but you get to see the world! You build character, learn about your friends, find some big bad villain you can unite behind and become a better person for it. You get to go see things and do things in an adventure. I thought moving to New York was my adventure. But it was just more buildings, more traffic, and more people. This, I get to see some beautiful scenery and learn about new cultures.”

“I have to wonder what your parents are going to make of Wallace.” Rowan mused as we continued kicking rocks on the path back to the castle.

I shrugged. “Dad passed away about three years ago and my not-so-great mom’s in a home for early onset dimensia. My sister, who is twenty years older than me and has hated my guts since I was born, takes care of her and refuses to call me, so, I don’t think anyone’s gonna care. Grandma was the one who paid for me to go to ballet. She’d set it up in some kinda trust just before she passed and made the lawyer my guardian on that so my mom couldn’t take the money. I walked to class every day, eventually got dance friends’ moms to drive me. Only people who’re gonna notice are the ballet. If Wallace can’t figure out what she’s doing in the course of a week, she’s probably going to be jobless and homeless – rent is due tomorrow and I doubt she knows how to log into my accounts and forward the payment.”

The two both stared at me, slack jawed. Farrow looked up at Rowan, “did you understand any of that?”

“Some of those words were real words,” he replied. “Right, so, you’re willing to leave your nice tower and books to go on an adventure?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m not doing anything else interesting right now, and I don’t want to interact with people who look at you like you’re dirt if I can help it. Who knows, maybe you are more like dirt, but I guess I’m in the mood to find that out on my own.”

“Well, let’s get in and get out then before we’re noticed and obligated into an awkward after dinner evening.” Rowan got us moving faster. He led us through the guard’s entrance and up the back service stairs to the groundfloor where the stairs to Wallace’s tower lay. My calves burned with all of the walking and going up and down the five stories of staircases twice in one day.

“This kid was a weakling,” I grumbled, bent over and huffing hard at the door to Wallace’s room.

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