Locked Legacies

Chapter XII: A place, a color

 It was definitely a bustle-filled day; it was five in the morning and Faylinn was already woken up by the noise in the kitchen. Even though it was earlier than her rising hour, she decided to find out what was so massive that would be causing such commotion. It was, indeed, something huge so, luckily, she had ignored her exhaustion and had slipped into her clothes, hurrying to the place.

She searched for a familiar face among the raging waves of people, spotting Roger. Even though he was twenty-two years old, he was the remotely closest thing to a friend she had; all the other servants were even further away in age or carried out tasks in a completely different zone in the castle.

Given that he was the one she knew the most, she searched for data in him, interrupting as he hurried outside with a bucket of paint and a brush. "Roger, why such chaos?"

"You haven't heard?"

A new family was about to arrive at the palace, an extremely rare occurrence; the head of the royal service was remarkably strict and judgmental when deciding if someone should work there.

Without hesitation, almost as a reflex, she started helping the crowd get everything ready for the new employees.

No sooner had one hour passed than they finally arrived. With the least insistence, she was able to book the task of giving the youngest new member a tour of the property and show her the marks that would help her keep track of the map during the first few days; in just a couple of minutes, she got started.

The redhead's teeth gleamed as she shook Faylinn's hand. "I am Ruby," she beamed.

"I'm Faylinn," she mirrored her, "I'm going to be your guide today." The new girl nodded shortly before being handed a sheet of paper, "This is your starter pack."

"What is it for?" she cocked an eyebrow, biting the inside of her lip as she inspected it thoroughly.

"It replaces a map. You will find a spot in the property and, next to it, a color. The system is simple; around the area, you will find some marks on the trees, and you must follow the ones of that specific color, depending on where you want to go. So, if you wish to go to the water well..." She explained, eyeing the page and pointing at one of the drawings "... You just have to follow the purple indicators."

A place.

A color.

That's easy.

"Geez, do you do this every time somebody arrives?" She questioned, flabbergasted by the depth of the preparation required to welcome a new family of workers.

Faylinn chuckled as she stepped into the forest. "We are talking about the royal family here, Ruby, this rarely happens."

That being said, they strolled through the pine trees for around an hour, conversing about some nonsense while the ginger took in the unknown area. If they hadn't been chattering the whole time, they would have been able to perceive the rustling noise of a bush's leaves as a boy curiously peeked from behind it. And, perhaps, they would have also noticed the distant sounds of swords clanking against each other and knights grunting as they fell headlong onto the floor; just a couple of meters away, there was a knight-training session in progress.

Lawrence winced in pain as Augustus's hand appeared in view and helped him stumble onto his feet again; he could already feel blood rush to his side where, even though it was not visible, he was sure a bruise would appear. "Good job, mate," the royal boy nodded shortly, patting his back, a gesture that showed he had felt challenged by the other's ability.

"Thank you, Your Highness, you too," he replied before the 18-year-old walked away with a feeling of great satisfaction; nothing could be compared to the fresh air of victory after a daring fight.