Part I: The Monster and the Fortune-Teller
"Now, Eight. You go find Master Rylus and ask him if he knows where Dhulmagus might be. He did train him after all," a small green monster said to the 18-year-old boy with a blue shirt under his dark yellow overcoat with a belt tied securely around him and grayish-green pants with black traveling boots, when they were finally in Farebury. The boy had gentle pure black eyes and brown hair that was hidden a little under his red bandanna, aside from the wild unkept parts that managed to go through.
"What will you do," Eight asked the monster as they entered the town.
"Me? Well, I guess Medea and I will wait for you here until then. We don't want to cause uproar or anything," it replied.
Eight nodded in agreement; it would be a VERY bad idea if anyone saw the half-huma, half-troll monster. Eight walked a little away from the monster to go to the wagon, where a man older than him was looking for something. "C'mon Yangus let's go," Eight said his stocky bandit friend that was travelling with him. The man was definately was a odd sight to see. He had a odd green spikey thing on his head that Eight assumed to be a helmet of some sort, along with a large fur vest of some sort that, unlike Eight, he wore no shirt under. Yangus had a large ocean green pants with with a long red stash to hold it up, with a knife that obviously was for emergenices since he had never really seen Yangus use itwhile they had travelled together.
"I'm right behind ya, Guv. Lemme just get somethin' first," Yangus replied as he got his monster mallet.
"Yangus, we're in a town. I don't think that there's a need to bring your mallet around here," Eight told him, looking at him with an amused look.
"Ah, don't worry yer 'ead 'bout it, Guv. Its fer people who get any funny ideas with you," the bandit said to him.
"You know, I can take care of myself Yangus. I don't need any help with fighting someone," Eight told the bandit as they walked away from the monster.
"Bandit Rule # 4 Look out for yer buds no matter what happens. Ya 'elped me go on the straight, even when I attacked ya. I 'ave ta look out fer you," Yangus said sternly.
Eight sighed a little; sometimes he wondered if Yangus was a long lost over-protective brother that he got seperated from at birth. When Yangus noticed the sigh, he smiled in victory and the two finally stopped talking and asked people about Rylus, a well-known wizard that trained the jester that they were looking for. But all the people didn't seem to know. Many gasped when Eight mentioned his name and stayed quiet. "Well, Guv why don't we check the pub 'ere? I reckon we might 'ear somethin' 'bout the old geezer," Yangus told the tired soldier.
"We better find out something about him. I'm starting to get tired with this search. Besides it's almost night. We have to get back to the others before something bad happens," Eight said with a groan. With that agreement settled they entered the bar. It was oddly loud and very lively compared to some of the other places, but that was the last thing on the minds at the time; they needed to know about Rylus. Eight groaned silently; these people looked a little too drunk to get answers out of them "Hello there, can I help you," a bunny girl that worked at the asked Eight.
"I'm just looking for someone," Eight said; to be honest he didn't want to draw so much attention from anyone. INCLUDING bunny girls; they made him a little nervous.
"Oh! Is that your pet? It's so adorable! What's it's its name," she asked pointing at Eight's pocket. In it was a mouse that had light brown fur, a long furry tail, and spiky dark brown hair that went through the middle of his head to his back. He looked at Eight with his large black eyes and squeaked.
"Oh that's Munchie. He's been traveling with me since I was a kid," Eight said as he started to stroke the creature's head softly.
"Well, I hope that you and Munchie will enjoy yourselves in here. As for information about someone you might want to go to the barkeeper. He knows a bunch of things," the lady said.
Eight thanked her and went to the barkeeper to ask him. But then he saw a middle aged man with wild black hair and a small mustache who seemed to have had too many drinks and he backed away from them. This was partly because he wasn't sure about the guy and partly because he overheard him and the barkeeper mention something about Rylus. "So what if I saw it?! So what if I foretold the fire?! If I had stopped it then what?! It would only have led to another disaster that's what," the man said loudly.
"I'm sorry Kalderasha sir I don't follow. If you KNEW about the fire shouldn't you at least have warned Master Rylus," The barkeeper said to the man.
"Ah, poor Rylus. I can't believe he's dead," Kalderasha said shaking his head.
Eight eyes widen with fright when he heard this, wondering if this was also Dulmangus's doing. "Wot's wrong, Guv? Ya look like you 'eard somethin' bad," Yangus said with a worried look on his face. So Eight told Yangus all the stuff that he had heard. "Ya sure you didn't 'ear wrong? Let's ask that guy nearby and see if you're right," Yangus said. When they asked him they didn't like what they heard. "What? Master Rylus? I'm sorry but a fire killed him last night. Between you and me I think he got murdered before the fire even started. If you want more details about it ask the town fortune-teller, Kalderasha. But he has been telling some no-good fortunes these days. I don't know what happened. He used to be so good at it," the man told Eight. "Well, we might as well ask him," Eight said to Yangus. So Eight went to Kalderasha to ask him about Rylus. "What? What do you want," Kalderasha said, looking at him with a grumpy look. Suddenly Kalderasha eyes widen when he saw Eight. Then he went closer to get a better look at Eight and said," Hmm… you! Come; show your face to the great Kalderasha… yes, so it is you!" Before Eight could ask him what he was talking about he heard a shout and a young man appeared at the door. "C-come quick! T-there's a monster outside," he stammered. With that the men in the pub followed him. "That can't be good," Eight said to himself and he grabbed Yangus and quickly ran to the middle of the town. "What's happening," a girl asked Eight.
"There's a monster in the middle of the town," Eight said calmly.
"What!? Shouldn't you be panicking more," the girl said as he ran passed her.
Eight didn't say anything but in his mind he thought," If you all knew who he was you wouldn't be panicking…"
As soon as they were in the middle of the town they saw the monster and the pearly white horse surrounded by people. "This ain't good Guv! C'mon," Yangus said.
"We better do this quickly," Eight told Yangus, who knew what to do since they both had experience in this stuff.
With that they went in the middle of the crowd, stopped the people from throwing rocks at the monster, and quickly got the monster into the cart and started to leave. The young man that told everyone about the monster tried to throw a stone at Eight but Eight turned swiftly around, caught the stone, and tossed it back at the guy, aiming at his head. As soon as they left the town the monster started to stamp his feet, saying," Well, that was a fine reception! Don't they realize who I am?! Judging a book by its cover! Don't they know it's what's inside that counts!?"
"Yeah, you can say that again. If they knew you were King Trode under a curse and the horse was the princess, Meda, they might've reacted differently," Eight said shaking his head.
"Well, enough of that. Eight, did you find Master Rylus," King Trode asked.
"We did King Trode but… I think we were too late," Eight said sadly.
"What wrong Eight," King Trode asked. So Eight and Yangus told him everything, from the search all over town to what they heard at the pub about Rylus. "What!? He's dead!? Oh, no, no, no," King Trode said with shock. They all remained silent until the king finally said," Well, I guess there's no use crying over spilt milk. It's Dulmangus we're after! He's the one that cursed the princess and me after all! He's the one who made us look so ridiculous! I was hoping that Master Rylus could help us locate him. Well no matter! We have nothing to gain staying here. Let's be on our way." Before they left a voice said," Please don't go! I want to ask you for a favor." They all turned around and saw a girl a bit younger than Eight standing near the town gate. They all looked at each other with surprise but the king finally said," Are you not afraid of me, young lady?"
"I've dreamt of you… I've dreamt of a strange creature that was sort of halfway between a human and a monster come the town with a stocky man and a young solider with a red bandanna and I dreamt that they could make wishes come true," the girl said to him.
"A strange creature!? Are you referring to me," King Trode said with an insulted look on his wrinkled face as Yangus howled with laughter.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be rude," the girl said quickly.
The king glared angrily at Yangus and then said," Well, I've had worst things said to me today. You know, you remind me of my Meda. You both are about the same age. A-anyway you said you had a dream about us? Most peculiar."
"I'm sorry. I didn't even introduce myself. I'm Valintina, daughter of the great fortune-teller, Kalderasha. I'll explain everything at my house. It's by the well at the far end of town. I'll be waiting for you," Valintina said as she went back in town.
"Wot's she talkin' 'bout? 'Come 'round my 'ouse she says," Yangus said after a while. Then King Trode finally said with huge pleasure, "Mmmagnificent! She wasn't afraid to look at me at all! Not one bit! Ah, she reminds me of my Meda! Right then! Eight, my boy go see if we can give this girl a helping hand! I'll wait for you out here. That's the last time we go into a barbaric town like that." Eight and Yangus looked at the kinda little funnily but both went back in the town to go see what the girl wanted. "Whew! It's a good thing that's its night! I guess we just 'ave ta go to the 'ouse. But ta make things a bit more excitin' lets do a bandit race, aye," Yangus said with eagerness. So they both leapt noiselessly from roof to roof. Yangus was in a great mood because of the race and Eight smiled to himself, remembering the mysterious past that few knew and that he cherished the bits with his life, as they finally reached Valintina's house. "Man, Guv! You're really good at these races for a kingdom soldier! You'd think that you were a bandit," Yangus said watching as Eight leapt boldly and gracefully ahead to the house. When they went in the house they saw Valintina sleeping near a crystal ball. Eight started to shake her gently until she woke up. "Ah, you came! I-I'm so sorry I must've drifted off how rude of me. I wanted to ask you about this crystal ball… I'm getting ahead of myself aren't I? Should I start at the beginning," Valintina asked when she got off of the chair.
"Yeah, maybe you should," Eight said, wondering if it was a good idea waking her up.
So she started to explain that her dad used to be the world's greatest fortune-teller that had an ability that allowed him to find anything, be it lost treasure to missing people. "But then", she said to them"one day he had lost all his powers. Nothing he foretold came true. It's probably because he stopped using a real crystal ball. This glass ball isn't-" Before she could finish Kalderasha came in. When he saw Eight he glared at him said," Aren't you that boy from the pub, why are you here? Never mind, I think I know. I do not know what my daughter has asked you, but you can forget it! I am fine as I am!" Kalderasha turned to his daughter as walk up stairs," I am going to bed. Valintina, say your farewells and show our visitors to the door." When they were sure that he was asleep, Valintina began to talk again. "I'm sorry about my father. But he's the one that's really suffering. So I want to ask you to do something for me. Can you get him a new crystal ball, one that's big enough to bring back his powers," Valintina asked pleadingly.
Eight stayed quiet for a while but he finally said," Sure, we'll get him a new one."
The moment those words came from Eight's mouth, Valintina hugged him tightly in gratitude, causing Eight to blush a little in the process. "Really? You will? This is exactly how it happened in my dream! So far everything is coming true! I also dreamt that there's one in a waterfall cave at the south of town. I guess that only the daughter of the Great Kalderasha could know a thing like that," Valintina said smiling at Eight. Eight thanked her for the information and left to tell King Trode. When he told the king everything he finally said with excitement," Mmmagificent! Such devotion to her father! Just how a daughter should be! Aside from that, if we help Kalderasha get his powers back then we might be able to find Dulmangus. So we'll kill two birds with one stone! But we'll check tomorrow. You and Yangus go rest at the inn tonight. I'm sure no one will give you trouble after how Eight demonstrated his power. We should get ready for the things we might have to fight to find the ball tomorrow. In the morning, we leave for the waterfall cave!"
Go first chapter! Hope you all enjoyed how it all began. I tried to keep everyone into character as much, although Eight may change a bit during his journey. Oh, and can you give me your opinions while your at it? I want to know what everyone thinks so far. Mainly about the story, characters, and if you found it interesting.