Waking Up

           I awoke on the side of the bank still dazed by the dream that I had encountered that night. My clothes were still damp from the river. I started to shiver as a cool breeze blew by me. I quickly grabbed my spare change of clothes and changed. I was unique from most girls. I usually wore clothes that a man would wear. My family could never afford to buy the nice dresses that most of my earlier childhood playmates had acquired. I was now on my way to the market. During the summer me and my father had accumulated a large amount of fur, so I was going to the market to see what bargains I could partake in. My father and mother were back at home tending to the farm. We lived in a small yet comfortable house that my dad had made with his own hands shorty before I was born.This would be my last time to the market. I would be starting school after this and it usually took up all of a person's efforts. School in Taria was all year round. The reason why Tarians start school when they are eighteen is because Tarians live for a much longer time than that of other creatures. Eighteen years is nothing. The kids with great power usually need this time to mature. Although they have great skills in magick they are not always level with others in their level of maturity half because their parents have to teach their children how to keep their magick stable before they can teach them how they are suppose to act. My parents told me that people with large amounts of power age differently and that is why it takes them so long to mature so if a kid was eighteen it would seem as if they were only one and eight tenths years old and that makes a great difference on the person's maturity. The real hard thing about this is that the person would not look the age of a two year old so it can very hard to diagnose such a condition. I am glad that I never have to worry about such things.

            I started to pack my gear. It would take another days travel before I reached the market. I loaded my wagon and strapped my saddle on Ragweed. Ragweed was an inukeni. An inukeni is similar to a dog but is the size of a grizzly bear. Ragweed was such a good inukeni. He was a tan color and very shaggy. He was my favorite traveling partner. He would protect me from any wolves and would never leave my side. Inukeni are better than horses because they can put in more hours and can be fed some scraps from the table.

           We started out. I was a little dazed from just waking up still, but soon gained my clear headedness once again. The road was of dirt and usually very uneven. The wagon periodically got stuck in a rut or two, which would require me to push it as Ragweed pulled. The trip to market was always trying, but it was usually worth it and I enjoyed the peacefulness of it all. My father had come with me in years past but he figured I was old enough to go on my own this year. My mother had also been a but under the weather and she could not do her usuall tasks, so my father stayed to help. The place were I was going was full of lights and colors. It was were any child could find amusement with ease. There were usually plays, games to play, and turnaments of all sorts which all costed a pretty coin of course. I sometimes went to a play but never played the games. The games were rigged so that no one would ever win. This of course was very disappointing to all the kids that tried and to the parents that hear that their chirldern had spent thirty pices on a silly game. The plays were usually of a great hero that saved damsles in distress, magick, and mythical creatures that are almost realistic. I use to dream of being able to save people and to fight the bad fiends that had surged upon the innocent. I was a hero and loved the feeling of happiness that came from adding safety to the world.

          The tournaments where really exciting and were in many different areas. The tournaments were usually for the more wealthier of sort. I have only been to one or two in the twelve years I have traveled to the market. It costs a good bit of money for admission unless it is a tournament of the lower classes, then the prices range froma couple of coins to being free. The lower class tournatments are not as exciting as the ones of the higher. At the higher ones there is a chance to meet a knight or two or even a noble. The armor of the knights are so shiny and and clean at least until they are thrown in the dirt by a joust. I was planning to see a grand play and a great tournament. I had been saving my money for two years to be able to do this. I do not know quite which tournament I will see or what play for that matter but I know what ever I see will be great. I cannot hold the exitment that I have for the upcoming days, but the dream of mine puzzles me. 

                 My dream ran through my mind over and over again. I thought of all the meanings that it could hold but nothing ceased the puzzlement that consumed me. Then the thought crossed my mind that before last night I had never walked during my sleep let alone swam. I thought of the fate of the mother and shivered. Such a gruesum ending, I would wish not on my worst of enemies. She was so gentle and now her baby will never know her mother. The child had the pretties of eyes. The amount of power and skill that the child would eventually poses is undescribable. I broke from my concentration when Regweed stopped.

               The wagon was stuck behind a rock. I jumped off of Ragweed and went to the back of the wagon. I lifted it over the rock as a man upon a horse walked up behind me. I stared at him as he stopped his horse. "Spagatorin" he pronounced.

            "Spagatorin" I repeated with a slight smile. He moved his horse in front of  Ragweed, which made me slightly nervous. In Taria, if a person comes of a higher rank in front of you you are probably in trouble.

            "Where are you off to?"

            "The market"

            "A girl, all alone?"

            "Yes, and I am not alone I have Ragweed."

            "Yes but still, a girl should not travel alone."

            "So"

            "So, I will travel with. My name is William Ernest Mark-Anthony Tomalando"

            "You can call me Alex"

            "Like in Alexandria?"

            "No like in Galechka"

            "oh"

            "Just kiding, haha so where are you from?"

            "I am from the north near Shukana."

            "Wow, you have traveled far to reach Eothram"

            "Yeah I a ... am competing in a tournament"

            "That's great! Maybe I will come and see you."

            "I would like that"

            Mr. Tomalando looked away from me for a few minutes and I figured our conversation was over with. We continued or journey in silence until I could no longer take it. I do enjoy my silence but not the awkward silence that we were partaking in.

           "So how old you be?"

           "I be eighteen "

          "Cool, I am about to turn eighteen in a few weeks"

          "Oh okay, will you be joining school come Agustagan "

          "Yeah, I can not wait to learn all of the things there are to learn."

          "What school do you plan to go to?"

          "I do not know."

          "hmm.."

          "So what school are you going to?"

          "I am going to..."

          He looked like he was trying to make up some name to impress me with the fact that he had looked into the topic at hand but I could tell he had no clue. Mr. Tomalando was begining to become a pecular type of person. I call him by his last name, because I do not wish to offend him. In Taria, if a person does not tell you want to call them you simply call them by their last name, because you are not on a common level enough to call them by their first name and if you are you never introduce them by their first name because that shows that you have no respect for the person. I hope to be one day on a level to call him simply William or Will, because he seems to be such  nice person compared to the guys I have incountered in my past. His expression was blank as I puzzled what could possibly be going through his mind.

         Ragweed stopped once more and I got out to look for what was holding us up. I looked at the wagon and it was not caught up on anything. I looked torward and saw why he had stopped. A wagon was overturned and bodies layed scaddered along the road. It looked as if it were a family. My breath became thin at the sight. Mr. Tomalando road ahead of me searching for what could have caused such a gruesume blood spill. I looked frantically around not wanting to share the same fate of that of the family. Then I heard a cry. A small cry, one that would belong to a child. I quickly jumped off Ragweed and started to search through the wreckage of course  watching to make sure that the coast is clear.   I found him, a little boy that was one of my neighbors children. I stared at him blankly.  Then I realized that the bodies around me were of my neighbors. 

           My neighbors were obviously traveling to the market as well. I grabbed the little boy and started to sooth him as if he was my own. Mr. Tomalando came back to me. I stared at him concered by the fact of how close these people were to me. These people had lived down the road from me. They had left a day before I and here they lay. My parents would be devastated. These people helped my parents during their time of need and this is what their fate was. The name of the boy finally resurfaced in my brain and I started to sooth him even more. A tear went down my cheak as I remembered everything that had been lost by time.  I pulled the boy to Ragweed. He would defend the boy while we barried the bodies. It would take to much effort to carry the bodies with us. We salvaged any thing that came from the deestroyed wagon and continued on. The boy shivered as we rode. I could not tell if he was merely cold or was still getting over seeing his family massacred. 

           We rode in silence and the silence almost drove me mad. I looked to Mr. Tomalando and he did not look back at me. I wished to let out all that I was holding back. The emotions were at the surface to the point were I was about to scream until the sound of horses broke the silence. "Were do you think they are coming form?" said Mr. Tomalando. As he said that the horses rounded the courner and came to a halt in front of us. They were a legion of the army. Their horses were of the best of all breads. They sat in thier black armor talk and aggressive looking. I stared at them with awe. Never had a legion come to these parts. 

         "William Ernest Mark-Anthony Tomalando!"

         "Yes?"

         "Come with us"

         "Where are you taking him?"

         "To his father"

         I stared at him blankly, wondering how and why his father would send a legion after him.

         "I will only go if she does."

         "What?"

         "She can come."

         "Wait a minute"

        Then the leader of the legion looked at me with a glare that meant that my opinion did not matter. If Mr. Tomalando required me to come with, I was coming with. I did not ask any more questions as they roped Ragweed to one of the horses and cotinued to march onward. The little boy became amazed at the fine horses and started to play with the frill on the end of the blanket on the horse. Ragweed did not like this change which was easily seen by the look he gave on his face.  He constantly growled when the horse became to close. I tried to confort him by rubbing behind his ears but my efforts were wasted. We rode in silence which resulted in awkward moment. "Your father is angry", said the leader to Mr. Tomalando.

        "I know"

        "Then why did you leave?"

        "I needed to!"

        "why just to waste my time and his trying to capture you again?"

        "Capture?" I mutured in surprise.

        "Yes capture so they can force me to continue the endless quest that they are on."

        "What's that?"

        "None of your business"

        With that the conversation ended and once again all was silent except for the clopping of the horses.