The Heroes of the Elemental Academies

Chapter 12: Coffee and Introductions

Chapter 12

They rode in complete silence for the first hour or two of their journey. For Seth it all passed in a blur of beauty and sightseeing. The land was amazing, greens, browns and darker greens were so rich that it was hard to not think of the land as straight out of some fantasy. Rolling hills filled with daises and other such of flowers wee common, and the trees they passed seemed so vibrant with life. It was truly paradise on earth. They stopped about three hours in by a small grove of trees that rested on a hill top. As they began to dismount Lord bannot turned to them and cleared his throat, clearly getting ready to address the group. Seth turned to give him his full attention.

"We are only three hours in to our trip so many of you might be wondering why it is that we are stopping," he said then without waiting for a response he continued on. "Well the reason is that I want to explain our game plan to you all so that you know what is going on although most if not all of you were in the war room. Were are entering enemy territory from here on out and we have to be ready for an attack at any moment. So we must stay vigilant. the lives of a lot of people rest on our shoulder's and we can not fail. Now some of you are more new to this than others so just know every night me and Lord Peterson will hold training sessions to refine your skills so that we don't lose anyone to demon blade." Seth took this all in he had yet to see Lord Bannot or Lord Peterson in action but from what he had heard learning from them would be very beneficial.

"Well first things first," Rylee spoke up her voice soft and gentle like the summer breeze. "We should probably stop with the honorifics for now, it could draw unwanted attention if we find ourselves amongst other people." Rylee's hair fell down around her cheeks and she errantly shook the hair out of her eyes.

"You're right Rylee," Lord bannot said agreeing. "Just call me Strat from now on."

"And me Jack," Jack said.

"Will do," Seth replied and the others nodded.

"Well now that that's out of the way anyone want a cup of late coffee it should help in the invigorating process." At that a bunch of hands were raised and a small fire was lit. Strat took a pot from his saddlebags and filled it with coffee beans and water from his supply sack. He looked at all of us watching him. And Seth was thinking who goes on a quest to save the world with a pot of coffee.

"What?" he asked apprehensively "I never go anywhere with out coffee, Anywhere." At this Seth cracked a smile as did several others.

"Well there isn't any shame in that," Matt said as he came forward to help Strat prepare the coffee.

"You guys see Matt understands, the wold runs on coffee and friends." Strat said. Rylee came up behind Strat and swatted him on the back of the head.

"Ow!" he exclaimed "What was that for tiny she-devil." Rylee didn't respond she just simply rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"That is not how the world works and you know it, Strat," She said with a flick of her hair. "Seriously you and your coffee addiction are going to get you into trouble one day." Strat raised and eyebrow at her.

"Oh yeah how do you figure that?" Rylee didn't respond but she had the ghost of a smile on her face so Seth guessed it was an argument they had a lot.

Well don't just stand there like flag poles," Jack announced, "come sit down we have about half an hour before we should be on our way." Until he had said that Seth hadn't realized that he and most the other agents from his squad like Aria, and Travice had still been standing around awkwardly staring. Seth tied his horses reins to a tree branch and then proceeded to sit around the fire next to Strat. Strat grabbed a stainless steel mug and filled it with the black brown liquid.