Chapter 3 - "Welcome to the past!"
(Negi's Group)
The journey lasted for what seemed like an eternity.
In a nervous silence, Chao and Chisame were traveling side by side protecting themselves from the weather with the cloak given to them, walking in the midst of the three men.
Marcus led the way, with a firm step he led the way through bushes and weeds while back, without saying a word, Erik and Arthur followed him.
"There... can I ask you a question now, Mr. Holyway? It has nothing to do with the village or who you are." Chisame asked, breathing heavily. She was not used to all that walking.
"Of course! Come on, tell me!" He said without turning around.
"Yes, well... but are we really in Wales? That is... I do not remember these great forests by geography books that I studied! In short, there should be vast pastures in their place. And why we have not yet crossed a road? Even just one of those unpaved little country roads... Then, with a car we can do definitely more quickly... excuse me, what did I say that was so funny?".
"Sorry... sorry... " Marcus answered chuckling "Is that you say things... so strange! One thing? Anyway... Yes, we are in Wales. And no, what your books of 'geography' say is completely wrong. It 's true that there are several pastures, but here the land is primarily wooded! Regarding the roads... well... there simply are not! The only thing that you can call a road in this place is the one that leads from Castel Grey to Cardiff passing through the village." the man replied serenely, leaving quite dumbfounded the girl with glasses.
"Oh, that's it! Here we are!" He added after a few minutes: in front of them opened a gentle slope, on which was built a small village with all the buildings mainly in wood, and one that probably would have become a church in the center, still under construction.
A few hundred meters upstream, stood the famous castle, a massive stone building, completely smooth, of a dull gray color from which effectively started a cobbled path that crossed the village only to disappear into the forest.
If there were no been rain, the girls would have defined the place enchanting.
"Come on, come on, we are almost there!" Their guide encouraged them.
Gone through the little space that separated them from the first houses, they noticed that despite the early hour there was a great turmoil in the small town.
Carts pulled by oxen passed through the main street of the town going to or coming from the fortress overlying, while some residents walked away holding antiquated farm implements. The rain did not seem to bother anyone, and the air in the city was serene.
Marcus accompanied them through some back streets, right in front of a massive edifice made up of large fir trunks, overlooking the small square with the building under construction.
A crude bronze plaque inscribed with two jugs led back to the building to an old and crumbling pub, but an inscription almost illegible placed immediately under the insignia called him as 'Hostel of the Magician'.
"Name what ever guessed, is not it ladies?" The guide whispered with a half smile on his face, watching the girls surprised to observe the words "And now, with your permission, I would be happy to reunite you to your comrades.".
Told this he pulled from a pocket of the shirt he was wearing, what was supposed to be a key definitely singular: twenty centimeters long, ending in a small sphere surrounded by a raised band.
In a few moments placed it to the lock muttering something, then put it back away with the same speed.
The door opened with a slight creak.
"Come on, come, come!" The man invited them glancing circumspect around. As the girls entered, the three individuals followed them and closed the door behind.
The environment in which Chaoand Chisame found themselves to observe was a large stone hall, with small windows almost adjacent to the ceiling, from which filtered a clear light of a cloudless sky. To heat the room there was a large fireplace in the center of the left wall, while in the middle of the room there was a large solid wood table with about twenty chairs around. Several tapestries covered the walls of the room, except in the wall in front of the fireplace, where there was another door.
Several people were sitting around the table.
As they entered, some of them got up and ran to meet them with surprising speed, embracing them: others were not that their companions in misfortune.
"Chao! Chisame! Are you all right!" Negi was on the verge of tears "After a few minutes of running we have not seen you more! We went back to look for you... but we have not found anything. Some friends of William arrived and brought us here... they told us that you were safe..." he said sniffling.
"I'm glad to see you guys, ne... atchu!" the Chinese girl replied in turn, as opposed to Chisame, that in the close of the teacher was slowly changing color.
"Good! I am pleased to see your happiness in rejoin, and never ever mean to interrupt this joyful moment..." Marcus interrupted in a cheerful voice, accompanying his words with large and emphatic gestures, silencing everyone.
"But alas, I am compelled by my imperative duty to do so. Now I would ask you kindly to sit ... quiet, no one has the slightest intention of damaging your person, but despite this we need some answers, which we hope to achieve through peaceful cooperation." he continued with a persuasive voice.
"Marcus! Can not you see you're scaring them? They're just kids."
The intervention came from one of the figures still sitting.
"Sorry for his haste, but your arrival has created quite a bit of confusion here. Now let me introduce myself to you, Lin Sheng Chao and Chisame Hasegawa: I am Richard Westwind. I was one of the 'friends' mentioned earlier by Negi." the man was in his forties, with a prominent belly and completely hairless in the plump face, except for a large pair of orange mustache.
"Sorry Richard... and you guys forgive me, I never wanted to be rude. I'm just a little... nervous." Marcus looked really sorry.
"Well, coming back to us: the substance of what my friend said is true. So you have the courtesy to answer us bluntly.".
The boys, more and more confused, looked at each other a second then nodded.
"Excellent. First I would like to ask you where you come from: these are not clothes of Welsh invoice, for sure. And your pronunciation, apart from that of Negi, is anything but confident." Richard began to ask, with quiet make.
Setsuna answered "We come from Mahora Institute, Japan.".
The man nodded "I have heard of a land called Nippon, where the sun rises. But I do not know any 'Mahora Institute'. And how did you get here? Better yet, why did you come here? "
It was the turn of Chao "We do not know ,ne! In the sense: there was a malfunction in a magical tool and we ended up here. ".
Richard nodded again "And I can see this artifact?".
The wreck of Cassiopeia was handed to him, and the man examined it carefully.
"What an incredible invoice! Looks like it came straight from the forge of a dwarf! You should know that as you are 'landed' here you have sparked quite a ruckus. Your magic circle was visible from the entire valley! You run great dangers here. The Baron is trying to prove to the world the existence of the magic for years, to be able to use it against the French on the front...".
"Wait! Against the French?" interrupted amazed Chao.
"Y-yes. The French. It is now about twenty years since this endless conflict goes on." Richard explained dumbfounded.
"Excuse me ... but in what year are we?" the girl asked, undeterred "You know, we use a different counting for the flow of time!" she justified inventing out of whole cloth.
"We are in the year of the Lord 1327." Said a grim and powerful voice. It was Erik.
With the air dazed the girl slumped back in his chair, while others tried to hide their amazement as best they could.
"S-sorry... but go ahead..." Chao murmured.
"Are you all right girl? You are very!" Richard asked worried.
"Yes, do not worry. It's just weariness: it shall pass."
"So, I was saying, the Baron has tried in every way! Capture pixies, summon spirits, call up the winds, alchemy and so on and so forth. Now, if it were even just for case to get his hands on you, or on this object, you risk to provide him the opportunity, between artifacts, magicians and demons you are! ...Do not make those surprised faces, we saw you land... So now anything that is out of that magic circle, then you, will have at thieir heels all the palace guard, or any mercenary available to capture you in the county."
He looked at them seriously.
"And here we come. Our small magic community has so far always managed to put a spoke in the wheels to the baron, but now it will be really difficult! If we have to protect you, we can not at the same time prevent him from continuing his insane research. Some of our informants have just reported for example that he managed to persuade a Child of the Night to provide service to him!"
All stood at attention. There was never to joke when talking about vampires.
Richard relaxed a little.
"At least now I know that you were not here for him. Do you understand the reason for our nervousness? What is Arthur, you're talking with your familiar?"
Richard turned to Whitehand, who stood with his head bowed, as if listening for something.
"We're in trouble. Henry says that the baron has captured a witch escaped from the portal and her familiar. He claims to have seen him speak in front of a guard who was dragging away the witch, a girl with gray hair and ruby eyes, in tears. He is instead a rodent of some kind. Tomorrow the Baron will make a formal announcement and send a letter to the King"
-Chapter End-
I would say that in this chapter we are laying the foundation of the story, right?
Aside from a character who is yet to come, I would say that the cast is complete too!
Thank you so much for following me so far! And do not worry, the story I do not think it will be anything 'too' classic, so I hope it is not boring!
Thanks again and see you soon!