8 Fortress Gates (2/2)
”Fenmore. Fenmore Rhodes,” shyly answered the boy, who smiled cute enough to make everyone grin.
”Nice to meet you Fenmore. Welcome to our little family, which will be bigger when we get back to the village... For now, it's time to eat.” Seran poured soup into two of the wooden bowls they'd brought from the village, giving one to Fenmore, who almost immediately began to eat.
Storm yawned and shook his feathers, ”Now that he's okay, I'm going to go hunt for a rabbit or something. I'll be back quickly.” After lightly patting Fenmore's head with his wings, Storm moved away from the camp before taking off with a short run. After a certain height was reached, he shrank down and dove towards the forest.
Fenmore watched the bird with the eyes of a child who just discovered magic, making Etienne and Seran chuckle. ”You'll be riding on his back with us in the morning. You'll love it. After we eat, we're going to get some sleep. We'll be leaving at dawn.” The odd-eyed boy nodded at Etienne's words as he ate eagerly.
Not twenty minutes later, Storm came back and transformed into his huge form next to Fenmore, who immediately hugged his side upon being covered with a wing.
--
An extremely happy Fenmore was squealing with joy as he and his newfound companions flew in the sky. They'd broke camp about 4 hours prior, but that hasn't stopped the little boy from loving the experience of flying. Granted, it was an unforgettable experience and Seran was certain he'd grow up with a desire to fly as well.
About ten minutes ago, they'd spotted the great fortress that was their destination, Lightwood Fortress. With worn but solid stone walls capable of withstanding heavy assault for days, the fortress city stood tall beside the Primeval Forest to its northern side. Several caravans, citizens and soldiers made their way in and out of the city now that the gates were open. It certainly stood out as a major military and trade hub on the Everd Kingdom's northern border.
As the enormous Golden Crow began to coast downward, the guards on the walls spotted them and began to prepare the ballistae and the longbows. In order to not directly cause problems, Storm began to circle downward outside of the walls by a good 100ft (30.48m) before deftly landing on the ground a ways from the road so as not to startle the civilian horses.
After Storm shrunk himself and perched on Fenmore's shoulder, who gave him lots of scratches, the group walked to the gates. The guards were visibly wary at the sight of the golden bird on the littlest boy's shoulder, but as they weren't behaving aggressively, the guards didn't prepare for combat.
One of the guards, a man with a thick mustache, stopped them, ”After almost putting the city into a state of alert, I hope you have an ID. It'll make it easier to explain to the General about it if you do.”
Etienne nodded and took out a card from his pocket, ”This is my Adventurer Card. I am Etienne Greenwood, the chief of Greenwood Village. I came to bring one of my village children to the Adventurers Guild for the job awakening. I apologize for the misunderstanding earlier. This crow is one of our village's protectors, so I'd forgotten how others react to him.” The chief made it sound like Storm was always this powerful, which made the bird puff up with pride, much to Fenmore's amusement.
”Ah, it's Sir Greenwood, I remember you now. The last time you were here was about 13 years ago. It makes sense that the Gateway Village would have such special creatures,” said the guard, who Etienne quickly recognized as a previous new recruit the last time he was here.
”Yes, well, it's the first time since then that we've had someone old enough to be awakened. I see you've been promoted. Congratulations.”
The guard captain smiled and nodded, ”Thank you. It's still my first year as the gate guard captain, though, so you can tell I'm pretty worried about any problems.”
”I believe it. Well, good luck to you.” Etienne thanked the captain as he took his Adventurer Card back before heading inside with Seran, Fenmore, and Storm, with the captain relaying the information to the walls that everything was fine.