54. Connecting Blood
The entrance to the town was a heavily fortified stone wall, nearly twenty feet high and thick as ten men. The draw bridge was a solid and thick wood that spanned the ten-foot gap into a deep trench near the wall. It was incredibly reminiscent of medieval castle technology and Castus couldn't help but continue to draw the comparison when they saw the guards at the entrance. They were inspecting every cart and bag as people entered the city. In glimmering metal suits, they stood with drawn weapons in groups of four. They followed the slow line forward until a group of four guards came up to them.
"Just you two?" The guard spoke in a flat bored voice. Clearly he did this all day and since grown numb to his job.
"Yes, just us two." The guard looked the two of them up and down. It was odd that two young children would be on their own, but not exactly unheard of. Sometimes families that lived near the entrance would let their children play outside of the city where it was still safe, but open. The guard held his hand out and Castus and Shi gave him their packs. The guard riffled through the packs quickly then handed them back. "You both are clear to enter. He then moved back to the group of four guards and moved on to the next people in line.
They both truly expected some kind of fuss about an entrance fee or something else, but it was clean and easy to enter. Entering the city Castus and Shi sucked in a breath at the view. Wooden and stone houses were smashed so close together around every corner that they might as well have been merging into one solidified mass. The streets were narrow and crowded. People pushed forward and past each other constantly. Navigation here would be extremely difficult. They also both realized they had no money at all or proof of identity. 'This is gonna be fucking difficult.' Castus thought to himself, and they pushed into the crowd to try to head somewhere.
Contrary to the entrance of the city, once they managed to push past the first city blocks the roads opened up a bit and people started the thin out. Once they made it to a less busy area, they started asking a few people for directions. Most people were nice enough to two kids, but a few took them for beggars and ignored them outright. Castus looked down at the tan clothes that Mary had given them and noticed how their travels had dirtied and frayed a lot of the fabric. Clearly, they needed another change of clothes and maybe something a bit sturdier this time. He pushed this to lowest priority though and focused on trying to find the academy his sisters were in.
After asking for directions a number of times and taking one to many wrong turns they ended up in front of the academy for proper young nobles. A generic, but well-respected school for young noble's children. This one specifically catered to younger nobles from some of the lower houses in the kingdom. Coming up to the entrance they were about to enter when two halberds smashed the ground Infront of them. Looking up two guards stood by the gate to enter the academy.
"Hey, can we go in. I need to meet with my siblings." Castus plainly spoke, already suspecting what was about to happen. He was impatient though and chose to ignore the obvious. The two guards looked at each other and a chuckle was heard.
"Your sibling is in there? Nice one, that's the first time I've heard of that. Now move along or I'll make you." The guard on the left stated while stifling a bit of laughter. From the moment those halberd came down Castus was fairly certain this would happen, but now it was confirmed. He spoke no more and grabbed Shi's hand and began walking away. He was furious. They were so close and he just needed that final step. Once they were out of veiw he stopped.
"Looks like we need to either sneak in or go meet with my mothers family. What do you think we should do?" Castus spoke with Shi. His foot tapped impatiently on the ground. Clearly in a rush.
Shi looked down at their clothes and then to the sacks they had brought with them. "Honestly Castus, we need support to get anything done. As kids like this we are treated completely differently, and we need to get adults on our side to get anything done. Let's go find your mother's family." Shi spoke plainly. It was pretty obvious that Castus had just rushed over here without thinking and Shi had thought this through well before they got there. Castus sighed and nodded, realizing that he had been rushing to get things done. They needed to do things through proper channels.
They two of them walked away from the academy and began asking for directions to Fulsin house. Castus hoped he remembered his mothers maiden name right, but after asking for directions it became clear he was on the right track. They slowly made their way towards the house. This time when they came into view though, Shi grabbed his arm and stopped him from simply marching up to the entrance like last time.
"Castus, we need to be careful about how we do this. This world isn't like Earth, we can't just waltz up and knock on the door. We need to approach this with decorum and purpose to make them believe you are Castus." Shi spoke. Castus nodded his head. He understood.
They sat down on the side of the street and began strategizing about the best way to convey their message. They discussed multiple approaches and options to make sure they were heard, but they kept running into a problem. It wasn't likely for the guards to report what they said to the nobles inside, so they needed to find a way to directly communicate with the master of the house. Castus had considered making something back couldn't figure out what exactly would be best.
Carriages would occasionally roll by them as they discussed things. They also noticed that the sun was beginning to sink in the sky. Without money they would most likely be sleeping in the street. As the sun dipped behind the tall houses surrounding them they realized they didn't have a good option. They best they had come up with was to infiltrate the house during the night and wake up the master and try to describe what happened before they got killed by the guards. It was the riskiest, but it was the only one that gave them direct access to the master of the house.
They looked to each other and resolved to get some sleep on the street before infiltrating the house that night. As they moved against a stone building behind them and started to lay their packs down to go to sleep a carriage rolled up in front of them and stopped. These had been going by often, but one of them had never stopped before them. Castus ignored it and was about to go to sleep when he heard a whisper. "Castus?" It was feminine and slightly familiar, but at the same time Castus was sure he had never heard it. Regardless someone saying his name made him pop his head up to look at the source.
Staring out of the slightly ajar door of the carriage was Aria staring straight at him with a puzzled expression. She was older now and had matured somewhat, but not enough time had passed for him to forget his sister.
"Aria?" Castus asked back. If it was truly his sister, then a godsend had descended to solve their problems. Aria, looked out of the carriage door. Looking up and down the street before looking back to Castus and Shi.
"Get in, quickly. You can't be seen entering my carriage." Aria spoke back in a hushed tone. Castus nodded and both he and Shi climbed into the carriage quickly. Aria looked back out in the street once more. Seeing no one she shut the door quickly and had the driver continue on to Fulsin house. Fortunately, it was not far. They approached the gate, the driver tipped his hate to the gentleman that opened the gate for them.
Once they were inside the complex, Aria poked her head up to the window that allowed her to speak to the driver. "Conner, take us to the back stables with the private entrance today." Conner wordlessly nodded and changed directions to the back of the complex.
Castus tried to speak up, but Aria hushed him immediately. "We will talk once we make it inside." She whispered to him and looked at Shi as well. Both girls looked each other up and down. Aria was wondering who this girl was and Shi was examining Castus' sister.
The carriage pulled into an enclosed barn and the doors were shut by Conner. He then walked around to the carriage and opened the door. Aria stepped out. The dark of the carriage had made it difficult to see her clearly, but when she stepped out Castus saw his sister in a whole new light. Only a year had passed, but she had grown up significantly. She now wore a traditional noble dress. It was a dark red and had yellow lacings running up the entire dress. She also had her hair in a tidey style up off her shoulders. Castus also couldn't help but notice that she had 'filled out' as well.
Castus and Shi follow her steps, leaving the carriage. They walked in silence. Aria took hurried footsteps into the complex. Castus and Shi with shorter legs had to nearly jog to keep up. They turned down a number of hallways, but they didn't see anyone. Finally Aria stopped suddenly and pushed open a door to her right. "Twilight protocol now." She spoke with a seriousness in her voice and then closed the door and continued toward.
The march ended in front of an ornate door with swords and shields that had been melted into the very door. She stood before it and took a breath before knocking on the door.