“Fo’ when Equin finawwy wetuwned to his home at Weakytown, 6 yeaws aftah stawtin’ my adbentuwe. I fewt boff a sense of wewief an’ despaiw. Wewief in that I had actuawwy made it home, boff famiwy an’ possessions waitin’ fo’ fwuffy. Buh ‘ou awso had dah despaiw, sebewaw famiwy membews wewe boff bown an’ dead wiff them wong mobed on when equin wetuwned.”
[A paragraph from the Last chapter of the book, Book Of The Known World. Authored by Equin “The Adventurer”]
[Pov Emily]
We only ended up traveling through the Wildlands for about 1.5 days, before we made it to the Chicago-Motor border. And we knew that the moment actual roads began to form and we saw an old neglected sign.
[WindTrail 10 miles]
As we all looked at the sign, Dar spoke. Him having a a mix of confused and dumbfounded tone of voice.
“That map has to be some sowt of magic, how can we awweady be dis cwose to windtwaiw!?”
I speak, chuckling a bit.
“Hey when ‘ou been smuggwin’ fo’ centuwy, ‘ou weawn thin’ fo’ to!”
Dar smirks and Aubrey speaks, her laying down at the back of the wagon.
“We headin’ to am bwothews house?”
I speak, looking out to the sun that had started to fall.
“Yeah Emiwy wants hew famiwy to know she am otay, an’ it’s goin’ to get dawk soon an’ I dont wan’ to sweep on a wooden fwoow again…”
As we enter WindTrail my prediction was correct, the sun was now almost completely gone and the sky was darkening rapidly. As I park the wagon at the stables, Dar speaks to me while petting the Raccoon.
“Daw has nu idea how we am goin’ to wetuwn dah wagon an’ wacoon, do we just tuwn them it ow something?”
I think for a moment. I knew what we did was stealing and that if we were caught we could get in big trouble, but I also wanted to set things right with the person we took the Racoon from, who knows that wagon may have been their only form of transportation. Finally after a few seconds I speak.
“wet’s put dah wagon back, wite whewe we found it. An’ awso weabe some cash to, it am onwy wite.”
Dar sighs and speaks.
“Yeah am wight, wet’s head inside.”
Once we make it to Lip’s house, I knock on the door. Instantly I could hear the sounds of footsteps and a few seconds it opened, me seeing who was at the door. It was Mother who had opened it and for a brief moment her face was of shock before turning to extreme joy as she went over and hugged me, speaking in a way that almost sounded like screaming.
“Oh fank Anu, mawia’s daughtew has wetuwned!”
I hug her back and she begins to cry and I speak, a few tears coming down my eyes and my voice filled with joy.
“Mummah it’s su gud to see 'ou! nu can wait to teww 'ou what has happened, am Wip hewe?”
Mom begins to wipe her tears and speaks, regaining much of her composure.
“oh, wip? dewe keepin’ him fo’ extwa houws at dah cawpentewin’ miww, ebah since dah mobiwization stawted fwuffy’s been wowkin’ 3 times as hawd. Hewe come inside, aww of 'ou wook as though ‘ou nee’ a west.”
Staying in Lip’s house things were great. Mom had went to go prepare food for an extra 4 people (This night we were having fish with dried fruit) And after around an hour of me telling her about our journey Lip had finally returned home, looking so exhausted it was a bit scary… Even in his state he looked at me with happiness, saying that he missed me and was happy I was ok before quickly eating his food and laying on his bed, falling asleep less than 10 seconds later. We were awoken by the sounds of many wagons, with one wagon having to be so large it caused stuff in the house to shake. After about an hour of all of us getting ready and prepared to leave, I asked mom the question I was a bit scared to ask her, about Seaside and the house.
“Am ‘ou headin’ back to motow wiff fwuffy? dewe’s enough nummies an’ space if 'ou wish to-”
Mom interrupted me, speaking in a low tone.
“Mawia thinks am bwuddah needs me hewe badwy, he’s not doin’ weww at aww. An Besides dewe isn’t anythin’ weft fo’ us at Seaside anyway, not aftah…”
She looks down and for a moment it looks as though she was about to cry, I speak quickly.
“Nu wowwy by dah time aww of dis am obew, I’d hab made enough to get us a fwesh stawt, buiwd us a new house.”
We give each other a hug one last time and I turn to look at my brother, who was getting ready to leave for work. We hug and he speaks to me.
“Pwease nu get youwsewf kiwwed Sis, gud wuck out dewe…”
I speak.
“Gud wuck to ‘ou to Bwuddah. Keep stwong fo’ Mummah wiww 'ou?”
He nods and I leave, with me only looking at the house one last time and waving as the wagon leaves Wingtrail.
Our journey through Outer Motor was about the same as it was the first time. Traveling for about 10 hours, before making camp and sleeping for the night. The only real difference during the travels was that evidence of the giant wagon and the many smaller one were obvious, dozens of fresh wagon wheel tracks sometimes made things very bumpy… Aubrey mentioned stopping at Bomber Bay for a rest stop, but I quickly declined it (Much to her frustration) We had been gone for far to long, and the thoughts that Charles and Ix could be in trouble were eating me up. As we made it to the half way point I noticed something as we passed Bomber Bay, a giant new sign that was stationed right outside the path to the forest behind Bomber Bay.
[ENTRY TO BOMBER BAY FOREST IS FORBIDDEN! FLUFFY AND GRIFFON EATING MONSTER REPORTED!]
Dar who had also noticed the sign, slowly shakes his head and speaks.
“Dah shit these peopwe wiww bewiebe Emiwy…”
Finally after 5 days of traveling we had made it back to Inner Motor, An inkling of fear beginning to form at the bottom of my stomach. As we entered through the gates of the city there was a thought that people would soon recognize me and I would be swarmed, but nothing happened, nobody came… I parked the wagon exactly where I had found it, leaving the Raccoon there to. And as I put the note in a small chest that also held the cash, I got off and looked at Aubrey speaking.
“Emiwy guesses dis am goodbye Aubwey?”
Aubrey looks down and I already knew her answer, I speak again.
“Emiwy wishes ‘ou wuck expwainin’ why ‘ou wewe gone fo’ su wong.”
Aubrey chuckles and speaks, her voice slightly tired.
“My Ma an’ Pa get su bwackout dwunk, dey nu can eben wemembah what happened yestewday. Dey pwobabwy nu eben know am gone, I’ww manage Emiwy. An’ make suwe to pay aubwey a bisit sometime!”
Aubrey begins heading home, and as I turn to look feeling a bit depressed by Aubrey’s comment. I notice Kri looking down with an awkward expression, I speak.
“Somethin’ wwong Kwi?”
Kri speaks.
“Sssince completing this diplomatic assignment, my work is now complete…”
Dar speaks.
“Fank ‘ou fo’ comin’ wiff us on dis jouwney, am a gweat fwend.”
Kri smiles and speaks.
“This won’t be forever! I’ll just be at the camp near Nickel city, I’m going to help you get to our homeland probably!”
Be both shake Kri’s claw and I speak as she begins walking towards the docks.
“Goodbye Kwi!”
With that she leaves and Dar turns to me.
“Shaww we head to Stabwewot, we hab wot’s to teww Enoch…”
The fear in my stomach grew tenfold. Meeting Enoch with my families past, what will he think!? But suddenly I felt a rush of clarity and reason. Enoch he knew me, I was one of the first people to tell him he had this secret Royal past. He had to understand. With a sigh of calmness I speak to Dar with a faint smile.
“Suwe wet’s go, he’ww wan’ to know ebewythin’.”
It took us a few hours before we made it to Stablelot and by the time we did, the sun had started to set. As we began to walk towards the government district I had noticed how many signs there were against mobilization, Dar had noticed this to and spoke sounding disgusted.
“If these peopwe saw what those monstews wewe capabwe of… Uwghhh!”
I put a hoove around him and speak.
“We just got back fwom a successfuw mission, nu wet those dummeh signs wuin am day.”
Dar sighs and speaks, sounding tired.
“Daw just wished dey couwd undewstand that we am twyin’ to pwotect them.”
I continue to have my arm around his shoulder until we finally make it to Enoch’s residence.
Well this was not what I had expected… The entire place was under heavy construction, with us even seeing the entire ceiling in the process of being removed. I go up to one of the workers who was about to leave and speak.
“Excuse me we nee’ to see dah King, it’s bewy impowtant!”
The worker speaks, annoyed.
“Hab ‘ou been wibin’ in dah fowest ow something? Hewe wook!”
They give us a paper and leave.
[His majesty and Chicago leadership continuing discourse at King’s private residence]
Dated yesterday… There were two pictures, one that showed Enoch and Vissarman and the other that showed a large luxuries carriage (That must have been the noise…) I was about to put the paper down when Dar spoke, his voice rushing with energy.
“Emiwy wook!”
Dar pointed to the picture of the carriage and I looked more closely and I saw it. The carriage was drawn at the Camp Driscoll location and behind it several figures wer drawn as well. They were all Royal Guard recruits! And not just that, at teh far side of the image I could see three figures in Royal Guard armor, two giant ones and one slightly smaller one that with a better look could not be mistaken anywhere else… Charles! I speak with a smile streched across my face.
“Daw we hab to go to Camp Dwiscoww nao!”
As we began rushing up to Camp Driscoll Dar spoke, sounding a bit worried.
“Dah pictuwe nu did show Ix, do 'ou think she’s otay?”
I speak, the Camp now in view.
“Emiwy hopes su, maybe she was just cwopped out ow somethin’.”
The sun had no set when we got to Camp Driscoll and we were both breathing out of our mouths, completely exhausted. As we looked up, we saw dozens of recruits looking at us for a brief moment… Before starting to rush us. We were complexly overwhelmed, voices coming from every direction. But we were able to pick up a few things, there were multiple instructors and Charles and Ix were two of them. Me and Dar looked at each other and smiled, they were both ok. And just as we were about to start going through this crowd I saw a fluffy dressed in full Royal Armor come through, him looking at us with an expression of complete shock. I speak to Charles, the joy in my voice unmatched.
“Its gud to see 'ou owd fwend!” Fin
Thank you for reading my story! I hope to have the next part done in a few day’s to a week and of course constructive criticism is appreciated. May you have a good day!