Chapter 2

  Matteo took a sip of his drink at the bar. He placed the cup down on the wooden table inside the warmly lit building. He put his feet up on the table and leaned back on his chair, resting his hands behind his head. The building was filled with cheerful bardic music. The musicians played their instruments as some customers either enjoyed the music or danced. Matteo slightly tapped his foot on the table to the beat. He was relaxed and sober.

  As he shut his eyes, his mind wandered off. The warm orange lighting created a sense of comfort and warmth.

  Only a minute after he was relaxing, a shadow loomed over his face, disturbing his rest. His eyes flickered open and he grunted softly, before he saw Sonas looking over him. She said, “What are you doing?”

  Matteo chuckled. “Relaxing, of course. You didn’t want a drink, so I’m here by myself.”

  “Get up, Matteo. We need to talk. Do you know how to get to the city of Orilon?” She asked. Pushing Matteo’s chair back up so he was sitting up straight.

  Matteo paused, a little confused as to why she asked a question like this. He raised an eyebrow. He stayed silent for a few more seconds before he spoke.

  “Yeah, I do. Why do you want to know about that stuff anyway?” He groaned.

  “Because as princess, I order you to- “

  “Princess? You’re joking. Besides, what’s in it for me? This won’t come free, you know?” Matteo laughed, interrupting Sonas mid sentence.

  Sonas grumbles and places her bag on the table. She opens it up and pulls out 13 bronze coins, the same amount of money to buy 2 shots. She asked, “Does that satisfy you?”

  “Hmm…” Matteo ponders for a moment. He thought for a few seconds before speaking, “You got yourself a deal. Fine, I’ll take you there, your royal highness” He spoke in a sarcastic tone.

  Matteo got out of his chair and stretched. He looked down at Sonas for a few seconds before looking at the door on the other side of the room.

  “In that case, we should get ready to leave. Preparing for the long journey will take us at least a couple hours. Can’t wander all the way to Orilon without resources. We’ll most likely eat each other on the way.” He sighed.

  “Are there any dangers that we could face on the way there?” Sonas asked.

  Matteo scoffed, “Pfft! Of course there are! Loads. It’s not gonna be an easy trip. They’ll be goblins, dragons, demons, vampires, sirens, sea serpents, cannibals, rogues, orcs, you name it. Not to mention the horrific weather, and other hybrids like myself, but don’t worry, I won’t eat ya.”

  He pulled out his map from his bag and placed it on the table. The map looked old. The paper was a slight dark shade of yellow. This was one of the very few times Sonas had ever seen the world map before. This map had lots of detail and markings, which was helpful for travellers who wanted to know the best routes. There were markers of towns, cities, and a big marker for Orilon. There was a red marked circle around Deersheild, indicating their current location. Sonas and Matteo looked down at the map in silence, before Matteo spoke up.

  “Right, so…There’s us here.” He spoke, pointing at Deersheild on the map. It was the town furthest to the North. It was incredibly small.

  “We’ll be travelling down south to Orilon. As I said earlier, it’ll be a rough month's journey. The whole trip will be at least 2600 miles, so each day we will travel at an estimate of 86-87 miles. Let’s not forget that there will be many obstacles that we will have to face during that time. It’ll take us a week to reach the Ethereal River, and we’ll have to pass through the mountains before we make it there. When we reach there, there will be a raft there ready for us. Consider it a ferry. Once we cross it, we will walk to the east to avoid enemies if we were to continue forward. That should take us at least a week and a half to not only travel down that way, but to sail into Skyhelm territory. After about two days down south of , we’ll depart back to land, and enter through to the back of Orilon, which’ll take us one week at least. This also all depends on the amount of obstacles we’ll have to face along the way. I’ve tried getting into Orilon once, and got chased down.”

  “Why?”

  “Because your so-called “Father” doesn’t allow Hybrids into the city.”

  “Oh, right. So how much time to get us ready?” Sonas asked.

  “It’ll take us a couple hours. We’ll have to carry a cart with one of the horses for supplies. If we run out of said supplies, we might have to find food for ourselves. But don’t worry, the way we’re going, we’ll have enough supplies to last us before we head into the Barren Desert after crossing the river.” Matteo answered.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “Right, then let’s do this!” Sonas nods, about to rush out the door.

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hang on, now. I’ll take care of the supplies.” Matteo stated.

  “Why?”

  “Because I know what I'm doing. I’ve been to Orilon before, so I know what to pack and how to pack it. How about you just get your books or something, and pop it into a little bag you can throw over your shoulder? Don’t worry your little royal ass about it” He said, acting all cocky.

  “Just get packing, then. I’ll just sit there and watch you do all the work. I am a lady, after all.” She grumbled.

  “Damn right you are.” He smirks.

  Matteo rolled up the map and placed it back into his bag, throwing it over his shoulder. He gestured for her to follow him. Sonas paused as he made the gesture at the door frame, before sighing and following him out the door. The warm orange colours of the bar slowly faded, and the colour was more green and bright.

  ??

  Matteo started to lead Sonas to the stables at the end of the village. He walked up to one of them, assumingly his horse. It was an Andalusian horse with a cream colour for the fur, and a black mane. Matteo brushed his head.

  “This is my horse, Apollo. He’s the fastest horse in the village.” He introduced.

  Sonas looked to the left and looked at the horse in the other stable. It was a beautiful brown Shire, with a blonde mane and white splotches on its fur. Sonas walked up to it, gently doing the same as what Matteo did with Apollo. Matteo looked at her with surprise.

  “Huh, strange, Domino never likes anyone. He seems to like you, Sonas.” He spoke.

  “Domino, huh? That’s a good name for a horse.” Sonas said.

  “He can be your horse for the trip. I don’t care. I’ll carry the supply cart with Apollo. It’s best that you stay with me where I can see you at all times. If word gets out to bandits and Rogues about your existence, it could get messy, like bloody messy.” Matteo spoke.

  “Why is it that Domino is always aggressive around everyone else?”

  “I don’t know. There are many rumours as to why he acts aggressively.” He shrugged.

  “Really? Was he a wild horse?”

  “Yes. We found him about a month ago on a hunt. We don’t kill horses, we tame them.” Matteo stated.

  “I see. I’m sure I can handle him.” She reassured him.

  “You die, that's not my problem.”

  “We’re working together on this. Plus, you wouldn’t want my ‘little royal ass’ getting into a life threatening situation, now would you? You could be beheaded for being responsible for a royal's death.”

  “How do you know all that crap?”

  “I’ve read it in a few books. The cottage I grew up in had lots of books to read, and it’s not crap, it’s just the pleasure of being a smart ass.”

  Matteo grunts in frustration, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He then opened up the stable for Apollo and led him out by the rope on the bridle. Sonas copied Matteo’s actions, attempting to get Domino out of the stable as well. But there was no bridle, only a rope strapped around his muzzle. That might have been because those who had tried to put on the bridle must’ve struggled due to how aggressive he was around other people. On the wooden fence of the stable, was a bridle. Sonas thought that since Domino is quite friendly around her, it won’t be difficult trying to put it on him. Sonas walked over to the fence and picked up the weighted bridle. She then walked back to Domino and tried to calm him down before trying to put the bridle on him. It was a little hard at first, but then she managed to put it on. Domino didn’t like it much at first, but calmed down after a moment.

  After strapping the saddle onto Domino, she sighed in relief that it wasn’t so hard for her to put the equipment on him. She looked towards Matteo, who already left to grab supplies for the trip. Next to the stables, was a small paddock, where people must’ve trained the horses by the looks of it.

  Sonas tried climbing onto Domino’s back, feeling a little more confident now. Sonas was rather small, around 5 '3”, making it rather challenging for her to get on the saddle.

  Finally, she climbed on, and puffed. That wasn’t so hard, she thought, adjusting herself on the saddle.

  ??

  When Matteo returned after at least 2 hours, with the supplies in the cart, he saw Sonas surprisingly getting the hang of riding a horse. He scoffed in amusement, watching her gallop in the paddock.

  “You learn fast!” He called out.

  Sonas slowly slowed Domino to trot over to Matteo. She smiled.

  “Thanks! Looks like you’ve got the supplies all packed. Are we ready to go?” Sonas asked.

  “Mhm, all packed. You remember what I told you, right? You better be wary of the risks, or it’s your grave.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m smart, I got it”

  “Alright. Anything you want to say goodbye to before we leave? You probably won’t be coming back for a long time, or ever”

  Sonas frowned slightly. She looked at the village, and nodded at Matteo’s question.

  “I promise I won’t be too long”, Sonas said, trotting her way to the village. Matteo watched her leave with Domino, and make her way to the village. He let out a small sigh.

  “That brat…” He mumbled.