Reincarnated - A Solitary Love

Chapter 11 - Walls Of The Beginning

The sun stood firm above the horizon, with some clouds roaming free around it. A delicate and constant wind swept the land. It could not have been more than afternoon tea time yet the light was already starting to wane, picturing the long, vast, alley with some initial shades of orange. 

An alley whose birth could only be found in myths and nightfire stories. An alley which, for hundreds of miles, cut in two one of the longest mountain chains of the known world.

Skyscraping peaks stood as guardians on the edges of such valley while a lonely lake gave a stroke of blue to the scenery. This lake was known as Lake of Droplets or Pitfall's Lake, due to the few-dozen-meters-high cliff right on its waters, courtesy of the unnaturally steep hill right beside it. A noisy river, after a brief stop in the lake, continued its watery journey through the entire valley.  Luxurious forests of diverse species adorned valley and mountains alike.

There, not so distant from the lake, stood the city of Yuvna, one of the only cities to have an academy of magic.

Interestingly enough, it was not the city which built the school, it was the other way around.

The Academy came to be from the will of a powerful Sage, a mage specialized in the hoarding of knowledge, who seeked to enlighten the common folk on the mysterious, and for many also cursed, ways of magic.

Slowly, as the Academy grew in power and influence, men of business and rich merchants started to build around it.

From a small group of buildings, it grew into a town then a trading hub and finally a fully fledged city, with various districts, a small army and dominance over the entire valley.

"Yuvna" came from a good portion of the citizens who wanted to honor that Sage: it was in fact, one of his names.

This is where that god invited me to go for my first years. He told me it was a fair city, where the hatred towards half-humans had been mostly silenced by the words of the Sage himself. Somewhere, during my journey to reach Yuvna, I pondered if the god had put me in a non-human body precisely for this reason.

So, here I was, after a week or two of walk, hidden in the shadows of the woods, observing a modest queue of wanderers and merchants under the external walls. A small squad of knights guarded the only entrance to the city within, a simple gate with little to no decorations. Other men patrolled back and forth directly on the walls. 

To be honest…I had no idea what to do. I thought to sneak into the city and ask around but that idea crumbled when I saw the walls, smooth enough for the hand to actually slip on them. Simply going through the gate was the only alternative but the knights…I didn't really trust them.  It's not like they've done nasty things…but I really didn't want to waltz right in their territory when my only mean of defense was a glorified taser, albeit extremely potent.

In my usual train of thoughts, ideas and whatever would pop in-between, I must have moved somewhere less hidden, because one specific guard spotted my figure and proceeded to run, scream like a demon to his captain and last but not least, openly pointed at me, turning quite a lot of faces towards my direction. The captain, before being handed two beautiful horses, chose another guard from the lot  and the two of them sprinted towards me…...and I noticed NONE of these events. 

I "woke up" only when said captain, at a safe distance, shouted at me

…man, I love my brain so damn much.

{Ser Galen, Shield Captain of the West Gate's garrison} 

Full glad I am that we are not forced to use the ceremonial armor for guard duty… 

The only thing I wanted to hear was the bell. Only one left and the next turn would free us of this damn boredom. 

…what I didn't want to hear instead…was Rudolph screaming some shit about a spy.

The boy was still a sprout, way too lively for the guard life… and famous to give false alarms.

Even knowing this, I couldn't tell him to piss off nor ignore him. We were in public and it would reflect poorly on our image. 

On the other side of the coin, now I had a good reason to move around a bit. 

Under my orders, Lindhart marched slightly behind me - as per etiquette - while a couple of knights rushed to the stables, bringing out 2 horses already prepared. Both me and the knight jumped on the mounts without much thought, then we sprinted in the general direction of Rudolph "sighting". 

After a few seconds and a decent distance from onlookers, I loosened my shirt-collar slightly. 

Damn blessed air! 

The leather vest was indeed more comfortable than metal plates… but it was even worse for the heat. Luckily, those guys who made it did not ignore the problem entirely, adding a couple of hidden openings on legs, wrist and shoulders for the air to circulate. 

I slowed my mount a little, getting closer to Lindhart. 

"Shall we take the long path as usual?"

"With all the pleasure in the world, Sir. Guard duty is the only place and time where I wish for war and battles" 

"Ha! The gods only know how much I understand you, my friend. If there is one thing battles definitely lack is boredom."

"Yes, battles also lack sassy merchants with a sense of entitlement and petty fam-" The man stopped mid-sentence, his eyes slightly more narrowed.

I didn't take the conversation onwards. I was already acquainted with his eyes and I simply waited for him to prepare the bow, aiming at a bird or any other wild animal.

When I didn't see the arrow, I looked at him.

"Sir. There is someone there." 

Following his finger I spotted something, amidst the trees, that was no trunk nor bush. It was not moving at all but the pinkish shade was definitely not vegetation.

"For fuck sake, he was actually right!"

Launching the horses at full speed, we covered the short distance in mere moments. From our position, the person was well-hidden in the leaves which meant that we too were fairly concealed. As I jumped from the mount, Lindhart nocked an arrow but stood on the horse, bow resting on his legs and ready to shoot. Her face came into view after several steps.

…A woman?

She doesn't look armed…

The grip on the handguard of my sword loosened a bit. A few more steps but she was still unaware of my approach.

I announced myself.