I roll my eyes at his non answers. “Well, you’re no help, Golem.”
“You’ll get nothing out of him but half-truths and leading answers,” the Prince adds behind me.
I slowly turn in my seat with a frown. Keane’s brown gaze is looking past me towards Golem, his eyes dark and unreading.
“Hello, Golem.”
Golem bows low to the Discerni Prince in greeting, his own features giving nothing away as well. I quietly peer at the Warrior table and see Cal now sitting with the rest of the Discerni, every single one of them watching the Prince and Golem’s small interaction from afar.
“A busy morning for you already, Lady Alexis,” Keane finally glances down at me.
“So it would seem,” I nod, holding back a scowl.
I don’t like the tension that’s suddenly come to the table. I can feel the stiff posture of Golem at my back, not to mention the completely cool emotions emitting from the Prince.
“I came to ask you both to join our table for breakfast,” his eyes flick back to Golem in small disinterest, as if wishing he didn’t have to extend the invitation to him as well.
Suddenly, my appetite for the morning has just vanished.
I stand up slowly and look at the Prince with a disappointing smile.
“I appreciate the offer, Your Highness, but no. Thank you.”
His eyes quickly dart back to mine.
“No?”
I walk around the table and feel Golem moving with me, the tense discomfort that rests between the two of them filling the space between all three of us.
“No,” I nod, “as I already ate on the ride here.”
“You can’t be serious,” Keane scoffs in disbelief.
“I am,” I nod again, then look between him and Golem pointedly, “whatever this is, I want no part of it. I can think of nothing worse than sitting through an awkward breakfast between the two of you.”
The Prince watches me as I walk past him and head towards the wing that hosts my room. I pass by the Warrior table on my way and spotCal sending me a grin in solidarity. Alanna grins in my direction as well, though that smile is quickly replaced by her cool laugh as it follows me all the way down the hall.
Holis and Mana bow deeply to the Prince from their saddles, the last of our group to be introduced. I yawn and watch with the rest of the crew as we wait on our horses, all of us ready for the new day’s ride to begin.
“Let’s not meet tomorrow morning,” Cal moves his horse next Millie, “you need your rest.”
I smile gratefully at my friend and hide yet another yawn.
“He wasn’t too happy with your snub this morning,” he leans in.
I shrug in response, genuinely not caring. If the Prince wasn’t happy with my comment, then he could fix whatever was going on between him and Golem.
“Try to stay on his good side, Alex,” Cal continues quietly, “he’s very powerful where we’re traveling to.”
I nod at the advice, too tired to talk, and watch as the Prince moves away from the twins. He surveys the rest of the group from atop the same beautiful horse from this morning, the full of him looking formidable in his attire of Warrior black. He says nothing, just let’s his eyes roam quietly over the rest of us, then motions for Desmond to join at his side before leading the group out of the courtyard.
We take the ride through Agnor at a slow pace, heading in the direction of the twin bridges that connect this city to Dalloway. The plan is to stop for an early lunch on the outskirts of the Warrior city, then ride hard for Gaumond to try to cover as much ground as possible. We’d camp off the Great Road in the Green Valley tonight and hopefully reach the Black Capitol before nightfall tomorrow.
When we finally reach the massive twin bridges connecting Knowledge to Warrior, it’s late in the morning and crowded with hundreds of travelers. I smile at the morning rush and take in the strong waters from the River Poise below, my smile beaming even wider as a coolness sets over the bridge.
It’s a coolness I remember from our last time traveling into the Court of Warriors, something that is half attributed to the thicker forests in this area and half attributed to the dark black facades the Court fashions for all its buildings. Most, if not all of the cities within the Court of Warriors are made from black granite, the dark stone vastly contrasting the softer greenstone that we use in Knowledge. In fact, the Green Valley that we’re traveling through today is known for the mining of that granite, with the land hosting dozens of massive quarries that contribute to a significant portion of the Court’s economy.
Warrior is also known for its proud and dark banners that are raised high above all of its cities and towns. The black fabric only adds more coolness to the black buildings that surround them, while the deep greenemblem in the middle of the banners melds well with the forests of their land. Their symbol is a bit different from ours in Knowledge, with the encircled oak hosting two broadswords resting over the trunk in lieu of an open book, a true representation of the Warrior culture. The city we’re riding into now, Dalloway, is also a perfect representation of the Court…
