*****
Thanks for your reviews y'all! And don't worry I will be more discriptive in this chapter! And I've changed Isabel's nickname to Isa, so it's easier to understand, sorry about that... Well read and review, have fun! haha, yeah... Disclaimer: Tortal and all that stuff is not my orginal work, and I didn't invent it, but Isa and everything is from my stuff. (I don't know if we have to have one of these, but I don't want to get in trouble or anything so....yeah) ******
Chapter 2
I looked down at my finished note. It was kind of bad, but oh well. I took a satchel and put another pair of breeches, another shirt and stuffed it all into my satchel. In a few minutes Will climbed silently through my window, carrying a satchel identical to the one I had on my back. He was also wearing a dark blue cloak with a blue leaf clasp, identical to my own except mine was emerald green. I smiled at him and we silently tip-toed out the door. He was about a head taller than me, which was extremely tall, considering the fact that I was taller than most men, almost all men. I loved surprising men with my height, they always expected me to be really short and extremely skinny. I was practically the opposite. I wasn't fat, no definately not, but I was a little smaller than the average woman, so not skinny to a scary extent but, I guess healthy. Will was a little bigger than me, he had more musle, but for a woman I do have a lot of musle. Father and Mother thought that it would be best to train me in the use of daggers and bows and arrows. For my protection, they claimed that, "You never know when an assasin from an enemy will try to kill off the heirs to throne, you need to be able to protect yourself when you're alone." Will and I had heard that speech so many times that when ever Mother and Father chose to remind us we would mouth it with them.
"Ready, Isa?" Will asked, motioning to the door.
"Yeah, let's go to the kitchen first." I said, grinning.
We were very familiar with the palace at night. We had snuck to so many places, especially the kitchens, that by the time we were 10 we could avoid the guards without worry, and no one except us new about these 'midnight trips' that we constantly took at night.
Our experienced feet made no sound on the stone floor as we traveled noiselessly down the many dark passages of the castle. Finally after about 5 minutes we reached the kitchens. We raided the pantry, taking rolls, cheese, and sausage, then we wrapped them up in cloth, and preceded to stuff the whole lot into our satchels. I took two canteens, handing one to Will. We filled them up with some left over water from supper. Then, using the kitchen door to the outside, we snuck to the stables, sticking to the shadows. We slipped through the door and began tacking our horses. The stableman didn't stir, he was very used to our random horsebackriding at extremely odd times, since we seemed to tend to ride out to town at night and go to taverns.
In the taverns people didn't care who you were, they just treated you like anyone else. When Will and I were too annoyed with being caught up with royalty we escaped to one particular tavern the most, it was called the Dancing Falcon. The people there weren't particularly the kind of people that a prince and princess should befriend, considering the fact that they were all thieves. Though thieves they were also spies, and they would be familiar with what really happened in Tortal. Therefore, Will and I had decided to stop there first and tell Jay, (the kind of leader of everyone there) what we were planning to do, and see if he knew anything.
We finished tacking the horses and snuck out of the door, and out of a side gate that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. Once we had slipped through the gate we kicked our horses to a canter, riding towards the Dancing Falcon.
Jay was in a side room that had it's own desk, and he was probably going through reports. We walked in, grinning at Jay. He looked up, his dark eyes seemed to pierce through us, then he shook his head, his blonde hair swinging with the movement.
"So, you're running away to Tortal, trying to save the alliance, aye?" Jay asked.
I wasn't surprised that he knew this, and neither was Will.
"Yeah, how did you know?" I asked, just for the spite of it.
"Well, I didn't until you walked in, but you both are wearing traveling clothes and I know that you both have been worried lately that we will have to go to war. Yes, I know what really happened in Tortal, and you can solve it. Before you go to the Royal Palace, stop at a tavern called the Dancing Dove, I have a few connections there, and they will tell you what you want to know. I've already sent word ahead that you're coming. They'll be expecting you." Jay said.
How he knew to send ahead I wasn't going to ask, but I did want to know about "his connections".
"Who exactly is this 'connection'," I asked, curious.
"My cousin, he runs a similar tavern, just like mine." He said, grinning, "You'll be able to find it, just follow the road to the palace, alright?"
We were used to his dismissals and took this as one of them. We walked out of the tavern and climbed onto our horses, urging them to a trot, we reached the edge of the city and traveled the remainder of the night, until we were 5 hours away from the city. We slept for 2 hours and ate, not stopping until night. Then we thought it would be safe to sleep for the whole night.
We continued traveling in this style, traveling all day, eating while riding, and only stopping after sunset, until we reached the border between Harding and Tortal. We had rode our horses hard for 5 days, and after crossing the border we decided to stop at the closest inn and have a good nights sleep.
I gazed over at the land in front of us.
"Will, this is so strange. I would have thought Tortal would look different somehow, but really it's just like home." I said, watching the fields wave in the wind.
"Yeah, you're right. It's a little unnerving, hunh?" Will said.
"Definately." I agreed.
"Well, lets get going."
We rode until evening, then we found a small town with a nice inn, and stopped. The stableman came out immediatly and took our horses, and they had 2 rooms open and supplied us with a warm meal and comfortable bed. A very uneventful day, compared to the next.
Thanks for your reviews y'all! And don't worry I will be more discriptive in this chapter! And I've changed Isabel's nickname to Isa, so it's easier to understand, sorry about that... Well read and review, have fun! haha, yeah... Disclaimer: Tortal and all that stuff is not my orginal work, and I didn't invent it, but Isa and everything is from my stuff. (I don't know if we have to have one of these, but I don't want to get in trouble or anything so....yeah) ******
Chapter 2
I looked down at my finished note. It was kind of bad, but oh well. I took a satchel and put another pair of breeches, another shirt and stuffed it all into my satchel. In a few minutes Will climbed silently through my window, carrying a satchel identical to the one I had on my back. He was also wearing a dark blue cloak with a blue leaf clasp, identical to my own except mine was emerald green. I smiled at him and we silently tip-toed out the door. He was about a head taller than me, which was extremely tall, considering the fact that I was taller than most men, almost all men. I loved surprising men with my height, they always expected me to be really short and extremely skinny. I was practically the opposite. I wasn't fat, no definately not, but I was a little smaller than the average woman, so not skinny to a scary extent but, I guess healthy. Will was a little bigger than me, he had more musle, but for a woman I do have a lot of musle. Father and Mother thought that it would be best to train me in the use of daggers and bows and arrows. For my protection, they claimed that, "You never know when an assasin from an enemy will try to kill off the heirs to throne, you need to be able to protect yourself when you're alone." Will and I had heard that speech so many times that when ever Mother and Father chose to remind us we would mouth it with them.
"Ready, Isa?" Will asked, motioning to the door.
"Yeah, let's go to the kitchen first." I said, grinning.
We were very familiar with the palace at night. We had snuck to so many places, especially the kitchens, that by the time we were 10 we could avoid the guards without worry, and no one except us new about these 'midnight trips' that we constantly took at night.
Our experienced feet made no sound on the stone floor as we traveled noiselessly down the many dark passages of the castle. Finally after about 5 minutes we reached the kitchens. We raided the pantry, taking rolls, cheese, and sausage, then we wrapped them up in cloth, and preceded to stuff the whole lot into our satchels. I took two canteens, handing one to Will. We filled them up with some left over water from supper. Then, using the kitchen door to the outside, we snuck to the stables, sticking to the shadows. We slipped through the door and began tacking our horses. The stableman didn't stir, he was very used to our random horsebackriding at extremely odd times, since we seemed to tend to ride out to town at night and go to taverns.
In the taverns people didn't care who you were, they just treated you like anyone else. When Will and I were too annoyed with being caught up with royalty we escaped to one particular tavern the most, it was called the Dancing Falcon. The people there weren't particularly the kind of people that a prince and princess should befriend, considering the fact that they were all thieves. Though thieves they were also spies, and they would be familiar with what really happened in Tortal. Therefore, Will and I had decided to stop there first and tell Jay, (the kind of leader of everyone there) what we were planning to do, and see if he knew anything.
We finished tacking the horses and snuck out of the door, and out of a side gate that everyone seemed to have forgotten about. Once we had slipped through the gate we kicked our horses to a canter, riding towards the Dancing Falcon.
Jay was in a side room that had it's own desk, and he was probably going through reports. We walked in, grinning at Jay. He looked up, his dark eyes seemed to pierce through us, then he shook his head, his blonde hair swinging with the movement.
"So, you're running away to Tortal, trying to save the alliance, aye?" Jay asked.
I wasn't surprised that he knew this, and neither was Will.
"Yeah, how did you know?" I asked, just for the spite of it.
"Well, I didn't until you walked in, but you both are wearing traveling clothes and I know that you both have been worried lately that we will have to go to war. Yes, I know what really happened in Tortal, and you can solve it. Before you go to the Royal Palace, stop at a tavern called the Dancing Dove, I have a few connections there, and they will tell you what you want to know. I've already sent word ahead that you're coming. They'll be expecting you." Jay said.
How he knew to send ahead I wasn't going to ask, but I did want to know about "his connections".
"Who exactly is this 'connection'," I asked, curious.
"My cousin, he runs a similar tavern, just like mine." He said, grinning, "You'll be able to find it, just follow the road to the palace, alright?"
We were used to his dismissals and took this as one of them. We walked out of the tavern and climbed onto our horses, urging them to a trot, we reached the edge of the city and traveled the remainder of the night, until we were 5 hours away from the city. We slept for 2 hours and ate, not stopping until night. Then we thought it would be safe to sleep for the whole night.
We continued traveling in this style, traveling all day, eating while riding, and only stopping after sunset, until we reached the border between Harding and Tortal. We had rode our horses hard for 5 days, and after crossing the border we decided to stop at the closest inn and have a good nights sleep.
I gazed over at the land in front of us.
"Will, this is so strange. I would have thought Tortal would look different somehow, but really it's just like home." I said, watching the fields wave in the wind.
"Yeah, you're right. It's a little unnerving, hunh?" Will said.
"Definately." I agreed.
"Well, lets get going."
We rode until evening, then we found a small town with a nice inn, and stopped. The stableman came out immediatly and took our horses, and they had 2 rooms open and supplied us with a warm meal and comfortable bed. A very uneventful day, compared to the next.