Chapter 2
With a quick flash, they arrived in the Centaur Garden, the same yellow and red leaves as before. They all made it through safely but Anneliese didn’t seem to know how to work the portal and fell on her behind. She stood up rubbing the painful spot. King turned and saw how pathetic she really was.
“You can’t walk through a portal?!” said Pete in shock as he watched Anneliese stand up. Pete started to laugh at her. He was soon laughing so hard, he was on the ground. Anneliese, still in her other form, clenched her fist, shaking in anger.
King stepped up and held Anneliese by the arms. “Don’t use magic against each other,” she said. She looked back at Pete who was now rolling around. King let go of Anneliese and walked over to him.
Pete continued to roll around until he ran into King’s feet. He looked into her warning look and quickly stood up, keeping up good posture, standing like a soldier. King saw him and chuckled. “I’m not a queen.”
Pete turned pink as he relaxed from his attention stance. King smiled but didn’t say anything.
“Where do we head first?” asked Dork.
King thought for a moment. “We need a map or something. Does anyone know of a nearby town or village?”
“Even better,” said Pete. “Scenturion – a rich kingdom we could get supplies from.”
“Well, then, lead the way!”
“Wait,” said Mars. “Shouldn’t we change back to normal?”
“Oh, yeah,” said King. She searched herself for wherever the coin could be but couldn’t find it. Then she saw a blue something around her wrist. It was the coin on a silver chain around her wrist. She easily slipped it off and flipped it. She was back in her blue skort and blue tank top which was woven together in the front, her hair as straight as it ever was.
Mars looked the same, though her clothes a bit more natural-like. She also had tight green tights, connected to her heels. It was an elf fashion unlike Anneliese.
“You’re wearing a skirt?!” said King in shock. “What did you think you’d do in the forest?”
“Nothing! I was in my daddy’s plane when it gave out and crashed!”
“Fine, you’ll just have to buy some better clothes – at least a skort!”
“Don’t worry,” Dork assured, “we have to buy some more too. We can’t go around in Sahlvenia’s uniform.”
Pete just grunted at the comment.
“Let’s go,” said King.
They left through the northern gate of the Centaur Garden. It was a tiring journey through the trees. The Phoenix, Suri, seemed to be enjoying herself as she flew around their heads and talked with fellow birds and animals.
Pete kept reassuring them that it was not too much further but King had her doubts. She knew she would make it but Anneliese was tiring out fast. King was worried she’d faint soon. Mars saw Anneliese too.
“How long until we arrive, Pete?” asked Mars. “Anneliese is exhausted.”
“A few more hours,” said Pete and looked back at the stopped group. Anneliese was resting by the trunk of the tree, out of breath.
“Let’s just get something to eat first,” said Mars. “I know a few fruit trees around here. I’ll go collect some.”
“I’ll come too!” said Dork. They left into the forest. King and Pete watched them leave until they were out of sight. King looked back at Anneliese.
“You really need to get into shape, Anne,” said King.
“It’s Anneliese and no doubt I will get a good tan along the way.”
“We can’t keep taking breaks for your sake,” said Pete. “A few hours walk is really close for those who have traveled before.”
“Well, I’m sorry!” snapped Anneliese. “My daddy is the richest man on Grandia–”
“That’s a lie,” mumbled Pete.
“Well, he was close to it!”
“Oh, really? And what did he do? Farm?”
“No! For your information, he’s a businessman–”
“Stop arguing!” said King. All they did was glare at each other. Suri flew down and sat on King’s knee and cocked her head at King. King smiled.
“We’re back!” said Mars as she arrived through the trees, Dork following behind her with arms full of fruits and one in his mouth already.
“Wow, Dork,” said King, “you must be hungry.”
“Oh yeah!” He dropped the fruits in front of them and sat down. He started chowing down. Anneliese reached for one too and ate it. They all joined in, talking. King was surprised there were no arguments…yet.
When they all were full (and that’s saying something for Dork) they continued to walk for the remaining hours toward Scenturion. It really was a short journey, though Anneliese would have argued that.
They stopped inside the entrance gates and looked around. The streets were full of people. As they walked to the mall, there were much more people, bustling around shops and restaurants. Children played and animals were as friendly as the people. Then King remembered something.
“Um…Mars, do you have any money?” she asked as she remembered that nature elves didn’t need money since they knew how to survive without it. Mars shook her head at the question. King looked at Pete and Dork.
“We only have enough for ourselves and even that’s not enough if we’re to take a long journey far north,” said Pete.
King looked at Anneliese. “How about you?”
“Of course! This is a human city. I’ll just use my account. My daddy trusts me with his money.”
King smiled out of relief.
“How about some money you could lend us?” suggested Mars.
Anneliese searched her pocket and took out a small maroon leather pouch. She handed it to King.
“Thanks a lot, Anne,” said King.
“It’s Anneliese, and no problem.”
“Okay, do you think we need food?” King asked Mars.
She shook her head. “That could be a waste of money. You and I as nature elves can easily catch some meat and with fruit trees around, I think we will be fine. We may need a few canteens of water, though.”
“Okay, Dork and Pete are responsible for water, then,” said King. “You are each responsible for fit travelers’ clothes–” she eyed Anneliese “–and Mars and I will get anything else we may need. We’ll meet back here in two hours. Any questions?”
“Yeah, why are you telling us what to do?” asked Anneliese.
“Because I’m special like that,” said King, mimicking Anneliese’s snotty voice. She said in her normal voice, “Spread out.”
King stood and watched Dork and Pete leaving one way while Anneliese went the other. She turned to Mars and said, “Let’s go!”
Two hours later, the Secret Dwellers gathered together where they spread out. Pete and Dork held five water canteens around their shoulders and wore a new change of clothes. Anneliese came back with a short white skort and a white top with white two and a half inch boots. King wore the same general outfit only light blue clothes and dark blue hair things and two inch boots—Mars had green like King.
Mars and King arrived with a beautiful brown horse. Anneliese gasped at the beautiful sight. She ran up and started patting it.
“She’s beautiful!” Anneliese managed to say.
“Mars picked her out,” said King. “She was and is named Shantina, meaning warrior princess. The pouch on the side of her saddle holds anything else we bought.”
They all took a few minutes, admiring Shantina.
“Where do we go next?” asked Pete.
King looked at Mars then back at the group with a smile. “The gym. Some of us need a bit of training. We booked it to ourselves and made sure no one would disturb us so we can practice our powers too for a brief moment.”
“Alright! The gym!” Pete exclaimed, punching the air with his fist.
King led the way to the gym next to Shantina, being led by Mars.
When they arrived in the building, King walked up to the front desk to confirm their arrival and that they wouldn’t be disturbed or eavesdropped. Then they went to the gym which turned out to be huge. The white floor was freshly waxed which gave off a strong odor. The supply closet on the opposite side of the gym contained anything you needed to work out, practice, or just have fun.
But the gym seemed to be all set up for them. Balls of every different kind sat on the floor in a row, hoops were put down, and the weight room was all ready for abuse.
They all flipped their coins and started training. Suri flew to the top bleacher to watch their poor performance. It was difficult to get Suri in but she did.
“Ice Sword!” A sword appeared in King’s hands. It was a long, thin silver blade but it worked like a charm. It gave King great speed and the design of the handle was magnificent: Sapphires decorated the silver handle but was arranged in a way that would not irritate King’s grip.
Dork took out his own Flame Sword which was built like King’s only with rubies. It was much bigger, though, and fit for a burly man like him and Pete.
Dork agreed to spar with King and teach her a few moves. King was a quick learner but it would take some time before she could match Dork. She could tell he was going very easy on her. She saw it in his face, trying to hold back.
They were careful to not scratch each other whenever the match got serious and made sure that, when they struck the other person, they used the flat side of the blade.
When it was time for some water, King stood there drinking and watching the others, mainly Anneliese. She was forced to run a few laps around the gym every now and then to get into shape. Then she’d practice her powers on a few balls under Mars instruction. As elves, Mars and King already knew how to use magic well enough.
Pete wasn’t in the gym. He was in the weight room. It took him a few telling-offs from King before he came in and tried his electricity. King allowed Mars to switch spots since water was weakest against electricity and could therefore easily injure her if she stayed near Pete.
The next day was difficult for them to remember how to perform their magic and moves from the previous day. It took King a while before she could spar with Dork again and Anneliese had trouble starting off as well.
Anneliese seemed to be improving very much with her power of air. She easily lifted balls from the ground using the surrounding air as wind and soon moved on to people, practicing to lower them down carefully so as not to break any bones.
Later, King and Anneliese went outside to practice her power of moving clouds and causing storms. King had to give her an entire lesson on how storms were caused naturally before Anneliese could ever force them. It took days for Anneliese to get it straight.
When Pete came out to check out their lesson, he started laughing when Anneliese couldn’t even move a bug off her hand using air. King started telling him off and even shot some water at him, which cost her. Anneliese finally got a lightning bolt to work and struck the water King shot at Pete which traveled to King herself, electrifying her. Pete was on the ground, eyes watering. Anneliese, thinking he was laughing at her, struck him as well and shooed him away. King laughed with her at that.
King entered the gym and agreed to help the boys learn to use a bow and arrow. Teaching along side Mars made the job much easier. Bows and arrows were the favorite weapons of elves, whether nature or not.
It was simple enough for them to learn and were able to shoot down flying birds from the sky in no time. This pleased King and Mars very much. The shooting arrows also caused Anneliese to practice her aims with lightning bolts.
They had no more time in the gym which disappointed all of them too much. They could have been practicing a lot more. They were such amateurs in plenty of areas of combat.
The five of them, Suri, and Shantina left the city for a long journey ahead of them. When they were far enough from the city, they stopped and sat in a circle. Mars was the last to join as she had to grab their map of Grandia. She rolled it and pointed to the near top left of the map, the city of Centurion. “This is where we are,” she said then moved her finger towards the bottom middle at the Forest of Secrets. “This is my guess for our destination.”
“We have a long journey ahead of us,” remarked King. “It looks like the nearest town is Sahlvenia but it’s so close we shouldn’t even bother visiting. Maybe we could go to Gratana. It looks like a few days’ travel. We should be able to make it.”
“That’s a good plan but do we have enough food to last us a few days? I get hungry a lot,” said Dork as his stomach growled.
“Well, you tell me,” said King. “If we don’t have enough, we’ll have to try and stretch it. Looks like you’ll be losing a few pounds, Dork.”
“Well, there are fruit trees,” said Mars. “And we’re not bad hunters. We should make it. Food is not the problem. It’s our fitness. How often will we be taking breaks?”
“We’ll find out as we travel,” said King. She rolled up the maps, stuffed it into the pouch, and said, “Let’s go southeast to Gratana along the Nameless Lake.”
“That’s such a bad name for a lake,” remarked Anneliese.
“Tell me about it,” said King. “I actually live there and they don’t bother calling it any name.”
“Well,” began Mars, “Before Water Elves and Wood Elves inhabited this area, ogres and other mean beasts lived here. Naming this lake the Nameless Lake would be mysterious enough for anyone or anything to check it out. To them, the lake was a trap for their prey.”
“What happened to them?” asked Anneliese.
“They were eaten,” replied Mars. Pete laughed at that.
“No, no, the ogres,” she corrected, ignoring Pete’s stifling laughs.
“There was one person who was able to escape and tell everyone about it. I haven’t quite yet figured out who escaped but I do know that they told so many people, they didn’t know they told the one person who should’ve known it first – Princess Princess Larissa Zenobio Senior.”
“The Princess’ mother?” repeated Anneliese. She was really getting into the story.
“Yes. As nymphs, they live for quite a while. I don’t know their life span exactly.”
“Well, by my guess, it will be hundreds of years!”
Pete let out a bark. He couldn’t help how hilarious they looked when talking. King walked stood up and walked over to him. He was rolling on the ground, laughing his head off. The others were watching him either in anger or humor. King grabbed his wrist and muttered something no one else could hear.
Instead of laughing, Pete yelled in pain. He tried to get out of King’s grasp but couldn’t do it. He just kept yelling. King finally let go and stared at him, still hunched over.
Pete stopped yelling, his breathing was short. He lied there, recovering from the pain.
“What did you do to him?!” asked Anneliese, shocked that King would do such a thing to a friend. Mars, however didn’t look shocked at all. In fact, she looked as if he deserved what he got. Dork was still laughing his head off at him – King didn’t do anything about it.
When Pete recovered, he rolled on his back and looked up at King. “What in the world did you do that for?!”
King continued to stare.
“You shocked me! Why’d you do that?!”
“It’s about time you showed some respect,” King finally said. “Some people are actually interested in topics you hate. You can go and find some patience before returning.”
“I’m not leaving!” said Pete. He sat up and stared at Anneliese. “But I will wait.”
King wasn’t satisfied with the answer but went back to her spot and sat.
“Why’d you shock me?” asked Pete immediately.
“It’s a form of punishment from an elf,” said Mars quickly. “Elves bear magic and will use it for punishment like humans use spankings. They can go as hard or light as wanted.”
Pete crossed his arms and sulked. Mars looked back at the ground then smiled. “I don’t remember what we were talking about.”
“Well, I suggest we start on our way to Gratana, then,” said King and in no time, they were all on their way to Gratana, the capital city of Arsenia.
