Falasys and Zolis swung the doors of the large building open, and quickly realized that they had walked into a tavern. When they walked in, the bustle of the tavern became silent for no more than two seconds, and it restarted as if they had never entered. Upon entering, Falasys and Zolis both noticed a group of higher class men standing further away from the other rowdy bunches, and took note of the definite seperation.
Zolis found her way over to the barkeeper.
"Could I get something to drink?" The barkeeper looked up, and smiled at her in a way that made Zolis think he was attempting to be charming.
"Anything for you," the barkeeper winked at her. Ignoring his flirts, Zolis requested,
"Can I get a martini?" The barkeeper flashed her the same smile and quickly whipped up the drink. "How much?" Zolis asked trying to hide the fact that she did not, in fact, have enough money to pay for the drink.
"It's on me." The barkeeper winked. Zolis sat down at the bar across from the barkeeper and drank slowly.
Falasys, who was 18 and had never really experienced the "tavern life" before, was standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. The barkeeper seemed to notice the youth in her feature, and for once his eyes broke away from Zolis.
"Hey you! You don't look old enough to be-" The doors of the tavern swung open once again and the old lady from the department store walked in carrying the sheep creature. This time, the quick silence that had greeted Zolis and Falasys didn't seem to end.
"Your Majesty." The barkeeper bowed towards the woman, and Falasys attempted to scurry over to where Zolis was. Zolis dove under the bar where the barkeeper had been.
"Yes! Fowt is your ruler! Bow down to Fowt!" The sheep creature shouted from the lady's arms. The more refined men from the back of the room looked at "Fowt" in disgust.
"He was addressing the Queen you stupid creature!"
"How dare you call Fowt stupid!? Fowt is your ruler! Bow down to Fowt!" Fowt continued to protest from the Queen's arms.
"Take this Fowt away to my shop, men." The Queen ordered in her nasally voice. Two of the men from the back of the room came forward and took Fowt out of the room. After Fowt was gone, the Queen set her eyes on Falasys. "You," she spat out. Falasys quickly responded,
"I am sorry, Your Majesty. I meant you no disrespect. Please forgive me." The Queen's eyes softened.
"Oh don't worry dearie. I give second chances. On one condition. You must buy the sloth backpack and the stone. And they will come at a price." Falasys nodded fearfully, and the Queen smiled. "Lovely then. Now I really must get going. I have people waiting in the store! Customer service is very important to me. I trust we will be seeing more of each other in the future." The Queen left the tavern and walked down the street towards her department store where Fowt and her men waited for her.
The tavern resumed its normal rowdiness after the Queen had left. Falasys approached the barkeeper and shyly asked,
"Could I please have a grape juice?" The barkeeper looked kindly towards the girl.
"Of course!" He handed her a small juice box- the ones with the straws attached to the sides and the flaps that you flipped up.
"Could I at least get a glass?" Falasys complained. The barkeeper looked apologetically towards her.
"Sorry, we don't give glasses to minors." Falasys looked down sadly at her juice box and sipped it sulkingly.
In the Queen's "department store," Fowt was still insisting that they were the ruler of the people. The Queen looked disgusted in Fowt's presence. "Do what you want with this Fowt creature. Just don't let him free." Fowt began screaming.
"I have to go to the bathroom! Let me go to the bathroom!" The guards exchanged a look with the Queen, and she sighed and nodded at them. The guards led Fowt right up to the bathroom door, and let Fowt go inside. The bathroom had a large bath with tall columns around it. On one side there was a sparkling, clean sink, and on the other side was a toilet. Fowt inspected the floors, and found that they were made of tile. The walls, Fowt realized, were made of wood. Beginning to form a plan, Fowt sat down on the toilet and made obvious sounds of relieving themself. Taking in a deep breath, Fowt rammed through the wooden walls of the bathroom successfully, and ran out. The guards heard the loud noise, and the chase began.
Fowt ran out into the middle of the street, and ran back into the candle shop that they had wrecked earlier. The store owner looked terrified of Fowt, and Fowt began to knock candles off of the shelves again. When the owner was looking, Fowt looked maniacally at him, laughed evilly, clapped their hands together, and took one of the candles. Running out of the shop, Fowt realized the Queen and her men were still chasing them down the street. Forgetting what had happened last time (or just not caring), Fowt again tried to wedge themself through the narrow space between the houses. To nobody's surprise, Fowt got stuck, and dropped the candle beyond reach. Struggling out of the alley, Fowt continued running from the Queen and her men.
From inside the tavern, Falasys and Zolis both heard the scene that was going on outside, and with her grape juice, Falasys left the tavern with Zolis. Down the road, they could hear shouts as Fowt screamed, "Fowt is your Ruler!" and loud sobs coming from the candle shop. The two went over to the candle store first.
"Those candles! They were my only hope. I had lost everything except for my candles." The grown man sobbed on the floor, cradling his candles. "My son and daughter. They both went to the disputed lands to fight for them against Ador. They never came back." He sobbed. "My daughter was reported as dead. But my son. They say he is probably in the hands of the Adorian men! But they won't go back for him."
Acting on impulse, Zolis said, "We will find him. What is your son's name?" Falasys looked a little upset at being included in the "we" without agreeing to it first, and her frustration grew when she found that her juice box was empty.
"His name is Isor. He has dark brown hair, brown eyes, dark skin." The man looked thoughtful as he came up with more details to help identify his son. "About… yay high." The man pointed to where his shoulders were. "I'll give you all my candles. I'll give you my whole shop if you bring Isor!"
"Ok. We'll find him. But first, we have to get one more… person. After that, we will be on our way to Ador." The man looked up gratefully.
"Thank you, Zolis." He said as the two exited the store. Falasys quickly caught on as to who the other "person" was going to be, and looked to Zolis for approval. Zolis nodded her head, and Falasys yelled out in another language. "Fowt, keep running that way! We are going to help you!" Fowt understood, and Zolis assumed it was some sort of sheep language. Zolis cast a simple illusion spell, but it drained her a bit, and the Queen and her men began chasing after an illusion of Fowt as the real Fowt, Zolis, and Falasys made their escape.
When they finally stopped running, they found themselves in a forest with no defined road. The three heard a faint rustling sound, and the sound of scraping on bark. Looking up in the treetops, they made out a humanoid figure, scurrying down a tree. Fowt dove behind the nearest bush that would fully cover them, and Falasys and Zolis hid behind a tree directly behind Fowt. From out of the shadows, a girl who looked around Falasys' age walked closer to them.
"You lot are not very good at hiding." The girl said amusedly. "I'm Faila." Zolis stepped out from behind the tree, and looked at the girl. "What are you doing here?" Faila asked Zolis, the only member who had come out from hiding.
"We are looking for someone. What are you doing here?" Zolis questioned.
"I guard the forest from… unwanted guests." The girl answered simply. Changing the subject she asked, "Who are you looking for? I could be of some assistance?" Falasys stepped out from behind the tree, and Fowt peeked a bit out of the bush, and dove back in.
"Hello." Falasys greeted. "We are looking for a boy named Isor. We believe he came through here with his sister to fight for the disputed land up north." Faila looked deep in thought.
"Is that the candlemaker's boy?" She asked. Falasys nodded. "Yes. I remember him coming through. I'd say it was 'bout a year and a half ago. I never saw him come back. He traveled with his sister, I remember. Very kind boy." Zolis still looked at Faila skeptically. She inspected her carefully.
The girl appeared to be human. From what Faila had said, Zolis also would have thought her to be druidic, but she didn't have the green undertones to her skin that so often defined the druid race. Instead, she carried a bow, quiver, and arrows, and around her waist were many different herbs. Half of which Zolis recognized as medicinal herbs, and the other half that Zolis had never seen before in her life.
Fowt decided to pop out from behind the bush. Faila looked at Fowt kindly.
"Are you by any chance the one they call Fowt?" Faila asked Fowt. Fowt bounced up and down excitedly.
"Yes! I am Fowt! You have heard of me? Was it Micheal who told you?" Fowt looked ecstatic at his fame. Faila looked thoughtful before she responded,
"I do believe he went by Mike." Fowt nodded vigorously. Falasys and Zolis looked overridden with confusion.
"Excuse me, but um… who is Mike?" Falasys inquired politely. Fowt turned to her eagerly.
"Mike is a deer! Mike believed in me. Mike thought that I could be a great ruler! All the other deer thought I was stupid, but not Mike." Fowt giggled. "No sir-ee." Falasys and Zolis exchanged looks as if conversing with one another. They settled upon the agreement to trust Faila. Zolis nodded her head towards Faila.
"Ok. Show us the way." Faila nodded back at Faila, and a mischievous grin came on to her face.
"Follow me."