10 The Second Day
Mark awoke, his head hurting from the night before, his alarm bell ringing loudly in his ears. He looked around his room with the sun glaring through his window.
The room was adorned with lots of top of the range furniture, mostly purchased from IKEA. The walls were painted a light grey, which matched the grey crushed velvet curtains he had. His slay bed was extremely comfy and had been something he spent a long time shopping for.
His room was clean, with the mirror on the wardrobe reflecting the sun in to his eyes. He rolled over and closed his eyes again.
Several minutes later his alarm went off again and he rolled out of bed. He quickly had a shower and brushed his teeth.
He grabbed himself a banana as a quick breakfast. He followed breakfast by getting ready for work, he put on one of his newest suits, Navy Blue Tartan from a well known brand. Today was a big day, he was going to get his promotion.
Mark headed out of his apartment building, down the bustling streets to the end of the road. He looked both ways before crossing and entering the park. The autumn leaves were slowly falling from the trees, leaving large leafy piles underneath.
He walked through and headed to Michelle's Doughnut and Pastry stand to grab himself his morning usual. He had plenty of time for his daily train and was excited for the day ahead.
The stand was quiet today, with the usual que of customers less chatty than usual. The que slowly went down until Mark got to the front.
"Good morning Michelle!" Mark said.
Michelle ignored him and served the lady behind him.
"Good morning Dolores, the usual?" she asked.
"Yes please Michelle," she replied. "How you holding up?"
"Hey Michelle!" Mark interrupted.
"Ok." Michelle replied to Dolores. "It's been a hard couple of weeks."
"I understand, he was a good man and I know you had a big crush." Dolores continued.
Mark was shocked, who did Michelle have a crush on?
"Hey, what's this about a crush?" he asked. Still being ignored.
Michelle blushed at Dolores's comment. "It's too late now." She replied, to which a tear trickled down her cheek.
"Such a shame." Dolores added.
Mark looked around, confused as to why he was still being ignored. Michelle gave Dolores her usual, a cappuccino and a jam doughnut.
"Take care Michelle," Said Dolores before leaving. "It gets easier."
Michelle nodded before serving the next customer. Mark felt frustrated that he was being ignored, but he had to catch the train for his meeting.
He turned to head through the park to the station. Children were nearby playing in the park, running around and giggling. A small group of young children were playing catch and the ball, one young girl with long blonde hair through the ball to young boy, he didn't catch it and it bounced on to the path near Mark.
Mark reached down to grab the ball and pass it back, but it rolled straight through his fingers. He tried again to pick it up, but the ball was phantom like and regardless of how many times he tried his hand kept passing through the ball. This is really weird, Mark thought.
He stood up to look back at the children to ask what was going on, but they were on their way to him. The young boy ran straight through Mark to grab the ball, which he collected and through back to the young girl.
Mark panicked, what's going on he thought. Sweat dripping down his back.
"Wake up!" a voice shouted, to which Mark quickly sat up and banged his head on the beam above.
"Fuck!" exclaimed Mark, rubbing his head.
"Boss, you really are clumsy." exclaimed Gan Ning. "We really need to sort that out."
"Where am I?" Mark asked, trying to make sense of what was happening.
"Rupert's Rage? Stop messing around Boss, we need to head up to Ravens Peak and meet Edward." Gan Ning replied. "Boudica is downstairs waiting for us"
Mark's recollection came back as he rubbed his head. This is life now he reminded himself.
He got himself ready in his black tunic and black pants, he tied the red ribbon around his arm and grabbed his dragon headed spear that was in a case. He strapped the case across his back and headed downstairs.
Boudica was stood at the bar talking in hushed tones with Alicia, who always seemed to be stood behind the bar.
"Alicia, don't you have anyone else that can work behind the bar?" Mark asked as he came down the stairs.
"why don't you mind your business?" replied Boudica in her place.
Mark laughed at her reply, before missing a step and slipping down the stairs, bumping his backside on the way.
Alicia laughed, "I'd offer you a job Mark, but I expect you'd smash all of my cups."
Gan Ning followed him down the stairs shaking his head. "Seriously boss, so clumsy."
They chatted for a short while and grabbed something to eat that Alicia had prepared. The taste was better than what Mark was expecting.
"Xingba, do you know the way to Ravens Peak?" Mark asked.
"I do, we'll need to grab horses first." Gan Ning replied.
"Ok, I will trust you to take us to a good stables and we'll grab 3 horses." Mark replied.
"If we are purchasing them, shouldn't we get one for Little Tai?" Boudica added. "And I remember that scary lady yesterday saying that rough looking Eduardo would be joining us."
"Fine, 5 horses then." Mark replied, worried about the cost, he had spent a lot!
"Plus we may need some for more men when they join." Gan Ning replied.
"They can walk." replied Mark seriously.
They quickly finished their breakfast and left the bar towards the edge of town where the stables were. Gan Ning lead the way with Boudica and Mark closely behind.
Mark was thinking deeply about what he was going to achieve with this fort, he hadn't really thought deeply about what he was buying and had let the objective get in his head. Maybe he should have spent more time planning and less time buying.
He was happy with the team he had formed though, two famous chinese generals, an English warrior princess and soon a spanish conquistador. He could only see this as luck so far.
They soon reached the stables. It had a huge building with a big field aside it, in the field were atleast 40 horses happily grazing.
Gan Ning found the owner and introduced him to Mark. Mark read his profile and found he was once a horse trainer in the early 1900's, his horses didn't have any notable wins but he had made a long career from training and breeding.
"I would like to purchase 5 strong and fast horses." Mark asked politely.
"5?" The Owner replied, "I can do that, 50 gold."
More money mark exclaimed, he needed the horses and didn't understand the value. He looked across to Gan Ning who held a thumbs up, signifying it was a worthwhile investment.
"Very well, I'll take them." He replied.
"I expect that price to include saddles at the likes." Boudica quickly added.
"Of course madam." the Owner replied nervously. When Boudica spoke, she had an air of murderous importance that gave her a power over most men.
The Owner shouted over to a stable hand to grab some named horses and turned back to them.
"I have given you 5 of my best, at the agreed rate. The Boy will get them for you now!" The Owner instructed.
Shortly afterwards 5 large horses appeared, 3 where black, 1 white and 1 red. The lead horse was black with deep eyes that caused Mark to fear it. He suddenly realised he had no idea how to ride a horse!
"Wilson!" Mark called internally. "How do I ride a horse?"
"Can you do anything yourself?" Wilson replied.
System Notification:
Congratulations on your new skill, basic horse riding.
"Thanks Wilson!" Mark exclaimed.
"You know, I can't always help you." Wilson replied.
The Boy handed the reins to Mark, who slowly approached the tall beast.
"This is Stormbreaker" The Boy instructed, "He's a powerful war horse, he's pleasant enough if you treat him right."
"Thanks!" said Mark, before finally looking at the Boy.
Character Information
Name - Tsubotai
Position - Horse Trainer
Age - 17
Relationship - Positive
Level - 1
Additional Information - In a past life, Tsubotai was the most successful general in Mongol history, conquering parts of China, Russia and Central Europe. He served Genghis Khan and his sons until his death at the age of 72.
Skills - Horse Archer, Horse Trainer, Cavalry General, Logistics Master
More information upon level up.
Oh My God! Mark exclaimed internally. How good was his luck, another historic hero.
