Wing: Ok for those who were anticipating a fourth chapter for the Hammer and the gale...Sorry to say that it won't be happening.
Zai: Why is that...Wait is it because we're all alone in here?
Wing: Yep, King hasn't been seen for a while so I kinda gave up on him.
Zai:...So I'm alone on this one?
Wing: ...For now.
Zai: ... I find those words frightening. Anyway the author doesn't own White Knight Chronicles. Please do not sue poor people.
It was a bright evening when the sounds of galloping filled the air as a party moved through the plains on horseback. They rode for about a minute they stopped at a cliff that overlooked the nearby kingdom, Balandor that was in the midst of a celebration with cheers emanating from the town around the castle.
The party consisted of two identical black suited men that appeared to be infantry. The ones that were more notable was an eye patched Farian garbed in green lizard scale armour, and was a swift swordsman judging by the katana strapped to his waist. The next one was more dressed like a circus troupe leader then a fighter with a handle bar moustache, dressed in a red and gold over coat and black poufy pants, all in all he looked out of place but the insane glint in his eyes told otherwise. The last one looked to be the leader, dressed in demonic black armour with a horned helmet with red slits for eyes and his face is not shown.
"General, I give you Balandor." the short man said
The man did not give any indication that he heard but the short man continued as if he did.
"heh, heh, heh. Yes, General Dragias, I think tonight's celebration will be one to remember." the short man continued
Dragias still did not answer and kept staring at Balandor, the place where their prize was.
(The gates)
The scene changes to the gates of Balandor with a cloaked man with a long wrapped up package walking towards the gates where several of the castle guard were standing. Now normally they would be slacking off but today was the princess's birthday so security was tightened.
Just as the hooded man was about to pass through, one of the guards stationed at the entrance called out to him causing him to stop.
"Hey, you with the hood! Not so fast." He called out to the stranger.
"Hm? You wouldn't be talking to me would you?" The hooded man said as he turned his head so that a beard and tanned skin could be seen
"Let's have a look at your face." The guard said as he walked up to him
"Surely you've better things to look upon then the pockmarks and wrinkles of a tired old man, no?" The hooded old man tried as the guard stood in front of him blocking the way forward.
"I said, take off the hood and show me your face!" He demanded pushing the old man's shoulder in warning of what may happen should he not go along with the order.
The hooded man slowly raised his head and his dark eyes could be seen flashing bright red. This seemed to have done something to guard #1 as he jerked once and dropped his spear.
"Good enough. Proceed." The guard said in a dazed voice as he seemed to sway a bit.
"Oh, many thanks. You soldiers are truly a credit to your king." the hooded man said and he started to walk into Balandor
"Hey, you sure? I don't like the looks of him..." Another of the guard asked as he walked over to his companion who only groaned in response
The same hooded man could now be seen standing in town.
"Any moment now. The prophecies were very specific about where it would begin." The hooded man muttered
(The Castle)
The scene changes to Balandor castle where the princess could be seen looking out into the town with her father the king standing a ways behind her.
"Cisna..." King Valtos sighed as the old attendant Sarvain walked up so that he stood next to him
"Your Grace? How does our young princess fare today?" Sarvain asked politely
"Look at her, Sarvain. She's the picture of her mother." The King said wistfully
"Ten painful years since that day and still my Cisna speaks not a word." The King continues thinking of when his beloved wife was murdered in front of his daughter
"Are you certain we should proceed with the ball? Presenting her to the people now might only add to their alarm." Sarvain tried
"Oh, what nonsense. None of those attending expect Cisna to speak. Her presence and her composure will suffice." The King shot down
Sarvain hummed, apparently not convinced.
"Still...I would give all my riches to see a real smile cross her face again." The King wished sighing sadly. "Floraine, She would know. She always knew how to make Cisna laugh..."
"Sire...Forgive me, but the princess's heart-breaking condition begs the old question. Why in creation are we making peace with the same people who robbed her of her mother?" Sarvain asked desperately.
"My wife is gone Sarvain. War has taken her, just as it has taken so many before her. But war will not bring her back." The king started as he turned towards Sarvain
"The Farians speak our tongue. We ought to trade words with them from now on, not lives." The King finished.
The old attendant did not look pleased but said nothing.
Cisna noticed her father and ran towards him, when she reached him she curtsied close to the ground in respect.
"Oh, Cisna! You look radiant. That dress suits you beautifully." The King complimented
Cisna expectedly did not answer and graced her father with a small strained smile.
"Your grace." A castle guard said as he walked in and kneeled
"What is it?" The King asked as he and Sarvain turned towards the guard
"Archduke Dalam of Faria will be arriving shortly." The guard informed
"Good. See that he is given a proper welcome." The King said
"Yes Sire. Also a group calling themselves the Marcus Revellers are outside the gates. They say they wish to perform in honour of Her Highness's special day. Shall I turn them away?" The guard inquired.
"A circus, today?" The King asked himself.
"A gift! What day could be more deserving of a little extra celebration?" Sarvian said with an unusual amount of joy in his voice.
"Hmmm… Very well, let them into the city then." The king said after he glanced at his daughter
"Yes sire." Sarvain nodded and the guard behind him stood up bowed and left with Sarvain following, as Sarvain left he smirked with a Dark look in his eyes.
(Castle gates)
"Anything to report?" Cyrus Captain of the castleguard asked the guard on duty as he walked up.
"No sir" The guard answered
They then heard the Farian procession approach with their two beasts with the Archduke in the middle being carried in a chair that was being held by his attendants with Farian soldiers marching in front.
"That is quite the procession." The guard said impressed
"I hope the Archduke has enough pillows. Tch! Warmongering, Farian scum." Cyrus said darkly.
As the procession started to pass them the Archduke raised his hand in a stopping motion and the procession stopped and Cyrus and the guard kneeled to the archduke.
"Who are you?" Dalam asked in a semi-interested tone
"I am Cyrus of Balandor. Captain of the castleguard." Cyrus answered bowing his head so that Dalam could not see the rage in his face.. "Your Excellency, we are most honoured by your visit"
"Hmmm… Are you now? Tell me sir how is his grace? Is he doing well these days?" Dalam asked.
"He is doing quite well, your excellency." Cyrus answered.
"Is he now? That's good to hear. Now then if you will excuse me." Dalam said and the procession continued forward once more.
"Does His Grace really hope to make peace with these people?" Asked the still kneeling guard.
"Peace with the Farians?" Cyrus scoffed as he and the guard stood up "The idea makes my blood boil."
"Has the king forgotten so soon?" Cyrus asked as he looked up at the castle with an unknown look.
(Rapacci wines)
"Hello?" A male voice called to Rapacci, the warg looking up to see a very tall young man staring down at him. The man was bordering on 7'0 feet with dark tanned skin, spiky snow white hair that hung over his shoulders but most was held under a black hooded T shirt with its hood up. Over that he had on a brown sleeveless vest with a black shoulder bag that hangs on the right side of his waist. Finally he had on black cargos with brown boots. "I saw the sign and..."
"Ya want tha job? Great!" The Warg grinned as he stood up, happy to finally have a capable looking guy ask for it. Rapacci then pushed the young man towards a few barrels. "Now I want ta give ya a trial run ta see if you can do the job right. Start by putin the barrels of wine in the racks."
"Ok." The taller one sounded in a slight accent as he went over, surprising the Warg by easily hefting a barrel over his shoulder. And Rapacci's jaw actually dropped when he hefted two barrel's up with one arm and put the three on the racks.
Rapacci did a little cheer in his head as his new employee did the heavy work quickly. He'd thought he get lucky to find someone who could actually get the bare minimum done, maker forbid he get another Leonard! But with this guy, he could do more work with one arm! He was getting that commendation, alright! The Warg's thoughts were interrupted the door to the shop opened drawing their attention to it. It turned out to be Leonard the one Rapacci was muttering about killing, flaying, and various other ways of instilling death on the copper haired youth.
"Dammit, Leonard!" Rapacci yelled getting out of the lazy position behind his desk and glared heatedly at him.
"Whoa!" Leonard exclaimed surprised and stopped walking suddenly. The instinct at the back of his mind telling him to flee while the getting's good
"Where the hell have you been?" Rapacci yelled slamming his hands on his desk and standing up. "You better not have forgotten what today is!"
"Yeah I know." Leonard said placing his hands in a placating gesture. "Today is the Princess's ball. She's introduced to society, and we step into the big time, got it" The youth continued, as the warg had ranted about it for weeks and practically pounded it into him. Those past few days were very painful...
"This is a momentous day for Rapacci wines" Rapacci said excitedly as he made motions with his arms. "The court picked us to supply wine for a party at the castle!"
"We gotta do it right and earn the shop a bona fide royal commendation!" Rapacci said thinking about all the obstacles he faced to get to this point as Leonard held his hands behind his head. Clearly he had heard this speech dozens of times before.
"Ah, I've worked my fingers to the bone to get this far..." Rapacci said as he clenched his fists, he then did something that made his new tall worker sweatdrop...he threw back his head and sobbed loudly into his arm. It made it rather hard to believe that he used to be a famous fist fighter, if the rumours were true.
"Look, I'll leave for the Parma winery now, and I'll still be back with time to spare." Leonard said, taking his hands out from behind his head.
"Ha You better." Rapacci threatened "I rented a beastwain at the village for you, use it ta cart the wine back here like your life depends on it." The warg continued as he got out from behind his desk. "Cause it does!" Rapacci finished as he got in Leonard's face with a finger.
"All...all right!" Leonard stammered holding his hands up, backing up a few steps for safety purposes...
"And while you're at it, that's the new guy." Rapacci said as he pointed at the tall young man...who thought he was blending into the background for a moment. "Take him with you"
"Oh." Leonard said and walked up to them "Hi there, I'm Leonard." The copper haired youth quickly found he had to look up to have even the chance to see the young man's face. "Wow...wish I was that tall."
"Not really, have to duck a lot of doors." The Young man chuckled as Leonard quickly found that, despite his tall frame, he was a nice guy. "The name's Zai Zarongi. It's nice to meet you too."
Before they could talk any more Rapacci threw a wooden bucket at Leonard's head making Zai instinctively shield his head with his arms out of reflex.
"Just get your butts moving!" Rapacci yelled still in his throwing pose. "You can talk on the road!"
"All right, gods..." Leonard said as he rubbed the back of his head where the bucket hit, finding a lump was forming there quickly.
(outside)
"Let's see..." Leonard muttered as he looked at the paper Rapacci shoved in his hand before they left. Zai taking a look from his right as he figured breathing down the boy's neck wasn't going to rack him up in his good books. "So we have to fetch the barrels from the Parma warehouse using the beastwain." The copper haired youth groaned as he put his hand down. "Boy that's a lot of work!"
"It could be worse..." Zai sounded as the boy put the paper in his pocket.
"How could it be worse?" Leonard asked as he looked up at Zai with a raised eyebrow. The taller one looking back at him silently before the youth got it. "Oh right, cart it back ourselves...That is worse." Leonard shuddered at the very thought.
"The wine's waiting and I may be strong..." Zai started as he walked down the cobbled street. "But I don't fancy a huge fist in my face on the first day."
"Hey! Wait up!" Leonard called out and followed after, doing his best to catch up to the other's longer strides. "Darn your long legs!" After a bit the boy caught up with the giant. "So what did Rapacci make you do before I got there?"
"Lift barrels of wine, not much else then that." Zai answered simply.
The next moment they passed by a hooded old man who was walking in the other direction. Leonard who felt as if he was compelled to do so gazed at the old man before being slightly surprised that he was looking back as if he were studying him before turning and continuing on his way.
"You know him?" Zai asked seeing that Leonard lagged behind and caught up
"I was about to ask you the same thing." Leonard said. It was...weird. Zai just shrugged at that, having never seen the guy.
Before they reached their destination the two noticed a large crowd gathering and festive music playing, they were curious so they went to see what it was about.
"Hey look!" Leonard exclaimed as he spotted two giant green lizards with white eyes pulling what looked like a circus theatre enter through the gates.
"A Circus?" Zai sounded before grimacing at the loud noise.
From the theatre a short man in a top hat, white overcoat, wiry moustache and a red nose called out to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen! Young and old of Balandor! In honour of Her Highness's coming-of-age day, I give you wonders aplenty and sights unlike any!" Then with a wave of his arm fireworks, streamers, and confetti exploded out of various places of the theatre with the clown acrobats doing tricks with props and beach balls. "Step right up, the Marcus Revellers have arrived" The short troupe leader yelled as he waved to the crowd.
"I've never seen a circus! This is going to be some party!" Leonard exclaimed as the circus made its way past.
"Well you can watch after we get the wine, hop to it." The taller of the two pushed the distracted youth towards the gates.
"Hey you don't need to push!" Leonard complained.
(Balastor plain)
The party then reached the gate to the Balastor plains and equipped their respective weapons, Leonard had a plain short sword and a buckler shield and Zai had a large dark green war hammer with black inlays and a dark brown handle strapped across his back.
"The village of Parma is due south of here, so it's pretty much a straight shot." Leonard explained as he pointed down the dirt road lined on either side by green lush grass. "There's not much to it, but it's a nice enough place." The boy then turned back to Zai, then remembering-"Say, you guys are new to Balandor, aren't you?"
"Wouldn't know if I've visited here or not." Zai answered.
"Why?" Leonard asked tilting his head.
"I don't remember anything beyond four years ago." Zai stated rubbing his head where the scar was hidden by his hair, plus the black hood hiding...his other feature.
"Wow that's gotta be rough." Leonard stated wincing at the thought.
"Eh it's annoying but I get by, and like I said earlier I'd rather not be flayed on the first day." Zai chuckled as Leonard paled.
"Y-yeah lets go..." Leonard laughed nervously before his demeanour turned serious. "Just keep on the alert for monsters. We're in the wild now."
"I got your back." Zai patted the boy's back, who nearly got floored by the force. After Leonard picked himself up they both walked across the plains...
Wing: Welp I hope you liked this one a bit better than the other...
Zai: Not much difference other then I'm the only one there...
Wing: Yet.
Zai: ... You have no idea how much you scare me when you say that.