A Trail of Lathyrus Behind Citra’s North Gate

*knock knock knock*

An endless void opened beneath my feet, the fog rushed back to cover her eyes before I fell through, and she completely left my sight.

“It’s noon already, are you awake? You got a lett…”

*knock knock thud*

I was simply laying on one side of my bed, but my mind and body still perceived that I was falling, scaring me awake and the already decaying bed legs failed and snapped.

“Are you alright?! What happened?”

Twisting the bronze door handle, my companion let herself in and was greeted with me lying with my face on the ground, elbows pointing at the roof, and knees tucked in, pushing myself up. She rushed in to help me up and placed me on the slanted mattress.

Looking into her eyes, they were so similar that I thought I was still in that dream. I’m not in the dream anymore… But that, truck, thing never showed up… Thinking about it hurt my head, it was too confusing, and the bright sunlight shining through the window didn’t help. I placed a hand over my face to shield the blinding morning, or noon sun to try easing the bulging headache.

“Did you hit your head? Give me a second.”

She rushed off and returned with her staff, closing the blinds behind me, then casted a simple healing spell.

“Is that better?”

I gave a quick nod as I gathered myself.

“I’m glad it helped!”

Her eyes closed, and her shoulders relaxed, head tilted to one side, giving a warm smile. The rings on her staff danced and sang as the heavier side dropped.

“Oh, yeah…”

She reached for an envelope she had placed on the end table when she came in. She broke open the wax seal that had been resealed and handed me the contents.

“The guild sent us a letter, they thanked you for giving them an update but said we should start heading for the forest as soon as possible.”

I gave the letter a quick read, saving the details for later and following with her summary.

“I guess we could leave town tomorrow then… Bu”

“I’ll start packing my bags then!”

She sped off with starry eyes before I could finish my sentence. The end of her staff got caught by the door frame, stopping her from advancing.

“But we should take the rest of the week to prepare…”

I murmured out, knowing she wouldn’t even be able to listen being blinded by the excitement of a new adventure. Weren’t we supposed to part ways after we got here? I guess I should let her go with me, after getting to know each other and all… And it’s not like I’d like to see her go.

I sat there with that thought cycling through my mind for a moment before I got up and packed my belongings, then turned around and saw the remains of the destroyed bed. How did she manage to not notice this…

###

Dawn had just broken through the night sky, but I was already awake, checking through our luggage to see if we had missed anything before making my way to the stable. The owner was already there, sweeping off the fallen leaves on the pathway, woken up by their flock of chickens.

I showed her the document we got when we left Caramel in their care a week and a half ago. The stablemaster took the paper and returned with a caretaker with a leash in hand, dragging the chestnut horse out before continuing to clear the dirt path laid with dead leaves.

The caretaker pulled and tugged as Caramel refused to move, only letting go a couple steps at a time and tugging back, making it as difficult as possible for its caretaker. When our eyes met and Caramel finally realized why it was being let out, it lunged forward, dragging the caretaker along who still had her hand on the leash, letting her crash into the dirt. The stablemaster covered her face, leaving a slight gap for vision, feeling the pain from the caretaker's scraped chin.

My companion made it just in time to witness the whole ordeal. We helped her up, and she brushed off the dust on her dress as my companion healed her chin then turned to her horse.

“Caramel, you need to be nicer to the people who care for you!..”

The caretaker fixed her glasses, recomposed herself, and let out an annoyed sigh, placing both hands on her hips and staring into Caramel.

“That’s right… How do you two manage to wash him? It took four of us to exhaust him enough before letting us do it.”

She gave a light slap on its side, unaware that Caramel had a leg raised, ready for a kick. Lucky for her, it lowered its leg back down, probably because of my companion’s little scolding early, letting out an angry snort as a substitute.

“Anyway, that will be fifty silver deltas for the two week stay, and thanks for your patronage.”

I took out a small coin pouch and sneaked in a few more coins, feeling sorry for her having to deal with that horse’s attitude. She gave one last good look at Caramel then spun back inside.

We hauled our supplies onto Caramel’s back, and started heading for the north gate, ready to leave the city.

“Wait! I almost forgot.”

The caretaker came back out with a tome and a crystal with a belt hook, one similar to the one the wizard borrowed me trying to teach me magic.

“Your wizard friend left these here after the festival a few days ago. He asked us to give them to you when you leave town.”

Flipping open the book, each page was filled with text and diagrams on spell casting.

“He also said that he would give it to you personally, but he had to travel to the capital for the academia, and you could sell it for a decent price if you don’t want to keep studying magic.”

I closed the tome and slipped it into a sack on Caramel’s back, then shook her hand.

“Well, thanks.”

“No need to thank me, but I’ll tell him that if he ever returns. That should be it… Save travels then!”