Fate's Deception: section XIII

XIII1

Early in the morning, sitting on the wells edge, in the center of Payon Keelin watched, waiting for when the gatekeeper would open her doors to the outside world. Time drifted by slowly while she waited and Keelin could already feel the warmness of the day bearing down on her. Why hadn’t she waited in the woods until closer to the time when the doors unlocked? That way she could have avoided the curious glances thrown her way from early morning passers-by who were going about their daily duties and she would have also stayed out of the heat. 2

You’re too impatient Keelin, that’s why. She’d been training all her life, since she was thirteen; and the last year and a half had consisted of solitude training in the woods. Its time, none of her hard work could go to waste. She had taught herself everything she could and now she needed the guild to help further her training. Keelin needed to go to the big city, she need to go to Prontera.   3

The great doors opened in front of her and Keelin grabbed her satchel in a hurry to leave the god-forsaken town behind. Keelin entered into the familiar territory of the archers range; so many memories filled this place. If only she could have showed her father the talent she had for archery. He would of laughed at the irony of the situation finding out the answer to her problems had been so easy. Keelin slowly shook her head trying to clear her mind of the depressing memories, but desperately wanting to go back to that time. Lost deep in her thoughts Keelin forgot to pay attention and almost stumbled upon someone.  4

“Which way to Prontera, do you know?” Keelin asked the young woman, who was propped up against the outer wall of Payon caves; the first person she’d seen all morning. 5

Coming out of her trancelike state the young women raised her hand shading her eyes from the summer’s heat, “Are you lost?”6

“Would I ask if I wasn’t?” 7

“Good answer, is that a bow you have there?” Nodding toward the bow and quiver slung over Keelin’s shoulder. 8

“Yep, none finer,” Keelin said matter-of-factly, “Made it myself.”  9

For the first time Keelin felt pride in work she’d done as the stranger whistled over the fine piece of workmanship displayed. The stranger closely examined it, turning it this way and that memorizing every minute detail as if she was a master of archery herself.  10

“You have a mighty fine bow here, I bet it has a hand to match.” 11

Keelin had no idea what to say to this kind of compliment, the first one she’d received in a long time. She kept her face averted and only grunted in reply. Then on second thought knowing how rude that was Keelin added a disgruntled, “Thanks.”  12

With an understanding smile, knowing how hard it could be to take a compliment, the young women answered the original question, “From here you need to head west, through the forest for x amount of days, then into Sograt for another X amount of days, and then you’ll reach the plains of Prontera and travel that for about a day. I warn you though; the Sograt desert is a place of deathly quietness and not many people pass through there. Ghost stories seem to be the only thing to come out of that place of late. If you make it through there then you’ll be able to make it the rest of the way.” Keelin turned her back and got ready to leave, but the stranger continued, “You goin’ there to become an archer?” 13

“Yeah…something like that,” Keelin threw out over her shoulder as she continued down the path. Without even realizing it Keelin had strode out of her known boundaries and left the safety of the only world she’d ever known.14

That woman had been a strange one. She was dressed in the clothes of a simple dancer, yet she seemed to have all the knowledge of an archer. Oh well, Keelin thought, people must just be a little odder in the rest of the world. Now what were the directions the woman had given to Prontera? 15

Not wanting to forget the directions, Keelin decided to take a break to jot down the information the young women had told her before continuing. Keelin sat down on a rock in the mid-afternoon heat and took out her sketchpad and started to make a map of the surrounding area. This being her first time outside the gates of Payon Keelin was unsure where she was going. The only thing Keelin had to go on was the little snippets of conversation over the last few weeks about where the town was and the vague directions from the mysterious archer. 16

Finishing the map Keelin took out a slice of bread to calm the rumbling that had begun in her stomach. As she took the last bite, savoring it unaware of when the next meal would be, Keelin brushed the crumbs off her lap and packed up so she could continue on her journey. 17

A few minutes later Keelin walked with an awed expression on her face amazed by the place around her. These buildings must be the castles belonging to the guilds of Payon. 18

Castle Black named for the black bards that took over the place. 19

Akatsuki was a fairly new castle, but small and built in a poor location. 20

Hybrid Castle was the longest standing castle anyone had heard of. They were peaceful people when left alone and hadn’t had much action so most people forgot they even existed. 21

The last castle Keelin passed by on her way out of Payon territory was where the Syndicate Warriors lived. Just passing by gave Keelin the shivers. The stories about them had been passed down from generation to generation. If the stories were true no one knew, because nobody much wanted to find out just in case they were. The Syndicate Warriors were supposedly from another world because there seemed to be no other explanation. Their weapons were double edged and made from the crudest iron. They, themselves, were huge ogre looking creatures and had the intelligence to match. When provoked, even the slightest bit, they would rip you to shreds without a second thought. Standing in the shadow of their castle Keelin was shaken to the bone torturing herself by remembering all the folklore that surrounded them. 22

Quickly Keelin hurried on, doubling her pace almost in an attempt to be rid of the view as well as her thoughts. Looking back Keelin made sure that no one was following her and- 23

“Aaaaaaaaaah!” Keelin screamed as she connected head on with another human being. Off balance by the unexpected sudden impact she flew backwards landing hard on her butt. The jarring forced the air to rush from her lungs and she finally stopped her scream.  24

Keelin threw her arm up over her face ready to protect herself against the Syndicate Warrior if need be. When the expected blow didn’t come she hesitantly lowered her arm, shocked by the sight before her. It was just a scrawny girl! She lay defenseless in the dirt in front of Keelin, her dark brown hair falling messily down her back. The girl had a tanned complexion and green eyes. She glanced downward as if she were frightened of her own shadow, not a threat to her at all. 25

You need to get a grip Keelin. How was she ever supposed to become an assassin if she always jumped at the slightest thing? 26

“I’m sorry,” the girl spoke softly as she knelt trying to pick up a few arrows that had fallen from her pack in their collision.  27

Keelin quickly stood, taking charge of the situation. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"  28

Without looking Keelin directly in the face, she picked herself up. “Nothing important.”  29

"Where are you headed? You don't look like the type to run off by yourself." The girl didn’t seem to be the kind with enough guts to run away and she especially didn’t look like she could handle any situation that came her way.  30

“What do you mean?” 31

Keelin laughed, amused by the girls naïvetivity. She had trained herself in battle, lived against the elements and she was still afraid that she wouldn’t make it, yet here comes this fresh girl thinking she can do anything. "Look at you, a small breeze could knock you over." 32

Finally the girl looked at her, almost in pain with the directness of the question. Keelin knew that she had breached the girl barrier and instilled some doubt into her head. “I spend quite a bit of time outside.  I have yet to...” she paused a moment in her speech, “Well, I fell out of a tree once. But that's it.” 33

Keelin burst out laughing. Did the girl always take things so serious, so straightforward? Wanting to see how much she could goad her she said, "A tree? You must be clumsiest person ever. I haven't even done anything that lame." After a slight pause to hear the girls protest, Keelin said, "My names Keelin by the way." The lie came quickly to her lips and it felt right somehow. She was leaving Payon and with it her past. 34

“I'm... Caoibri.” 35

Resituating her satchel Keelin to disperse the weight across her back, Keelin asked distracted, "So where's this ‘away’ you’re going to?" 36

Caoibri shrugged placing the last arrow back into her pack. “I don't know yet.  Away from my family, maybe I'll be able to find Kore or Tsael.” 37

"Well, I'm heading up to Prontera you're welcome to come if you want," said over her shoulder as she began to walk away. 38

“Sounds like a start, at least…but I can’t.” Caoibri whispered the last part to herself almost as if she herself was ashamed that she wasn’t able to be as courage’s and leave Payon behind.39