The unsettling sensation didn’t last for long, fortunately. After reaching a certain altitude Gale stopped flapping its wings and proceeded to glide forward.

Now stable in the air, Dene was surprised by the circulation of mana all around her. The collar only stopped her from manipulating mana, not from feeling it.

She looked around, but no one else even seemed to feel it, or if they did, it didn’t bother them. Her guess was on the former as the guards were only Mages while the boy, not even that.

Dene figured that it must be coming from the magical beast carrying them. It made sense when she thought about it. Forgetting the litter, just carrying its own weight would be in the air wouldn’t be possible for a beast this size. It most likely uses the wind element to aid its flight.

Magical beasts like that, capable of manipulating mana were rare. This was the first one she had ever seen. Before today, she had only heard stories about these beasts. Her favorite ones were the stripped, wild horses from the far south. They would use both light and dark element to create optical illusions and escape from predators.

“Why is your skin like that?” a childish, slightly high-pitched voice asked.

“Don’t talk to it.” one of the guards ordered before she could even answer the page boy.

“Why?” the boy asked back, “she doesn’t look like a bad person.”

“Just let them talk, there’s no harm in it.” another guard butted in, “But first tell us: why the rush to get to the Olsen House?”

“Oh, right, you wouldn’t have heard!” the boy got up, excited to share what he knew, “Listen, you know how in Gwynland they have those war academies and tourneys right?”

The guard simply nodded and told him to continue.

“The finals were a few days ago, and Duke Olsen’s firstborn won the second year’s tournament. The Duke arranged a party to celebrate.”

That got the guards excited. Not the Duke’s son winning whatever tournament, but the party. They began to discuss among themselves if they would be able to get in while the boy got back to his seat and his attention back to Dene.

He smothered her with questions ranging from her skin to the hair, to the collar and then to where she came from and what was the desert like along with talking about towns, rivers and other landmarks they flew over. The boy kept at it no stop for a couple of hours before finally lowering its intensity, but never quite stopping.

The guards passed the time playing cards, trying to ignore the boy’s constant talking.

After some time even she began doing the same, letting her gaze wander outside through the windows.

Even from up high Dene couldn't see an end to the green fields, forests, and a river, all seeming to extend forever. Life as far as the eye could see. So how come a place so filled with life gives birth to people so dead inside and cruel…

They didn’t even see her and the other southerners as people, but things. “It”, instead of “he” or “she”.

No. The boy showed no hatred or contempt towards her, only curiosity, while the serving girls acted in fear because of her strength but showed no animosity and end even the common people she passed in the streets towards the castle only had curiosity.

They weren’t born feeling like this but learned it.

Once in a while, she would see flocks of birds flying in the distance. None got close, obviously, either too slow to catch up with Gale’s speed or too afraid of Gale’s size.

That’s why she felt surprised by what seemed to be a single brown bird approaching from the magical beast’s right side. More surprising was that said bird was carrying two people on its back.

She looked to the other side and found a similar sight coming from the left.

She interrupted the boy and finally made a question of her own, “Aren’t they coming toward us?” signaling to side.

“Oh right,” the page boy spoke not looking surprised, “They are Olsen’s sky patrols.” He grabbed the small flags, stood up and opened a window. Putting his arms and head outside, he waited for the patrols to get closer.

As they approached, Dene was able to better discern their features.

The birds looked like giant turtle doves that she would so often see while migrating from the north to the far south on winter.

The soldiers on their backs, different from the ones she had seen until now, had no metal armor, but tanned leather. They also donned leather helmets that covered the whole head, with two round lenses for vision and little holes around the mouth for breathing.

The ones in front seemed to be the ones controlling the doves and struggling to get them as close as possible to the giant falcon Gale.

More importantly though, the ones at the back both carried longbows which were trained not on them, but on Gale. She didn’t know how the magical beast would react when shot at, and would rather not find out, especially from this high up.

When they were finally close enough, the boy started waving the flags around towards the patrol on the right side. Dene already figured it to be some sort of communication, though she had no idea what any of it meant.

The soldier in front raised two small red and brown flags and also waved them for a few seconds, finishing with both flags pointing forward. When done, their dove pulled ahead while the other fell back, so that they remained with one in front and the other behind of Gale.

The sights below gradually changed from forests to open fields and farmlands and she felt her blood flowing to her head as they lowered in altitude and speed. As the sun was almost setting, Dene finally saw their destination.

A gigantic city came into view. “Lastan” according to the boy.

“That’s one of the largest cities in all the four kingdoms,” he continued his explanation after closing the window and sitting back down, “with close to half a million people.”

“It’s also one of the oldest, having existed even before Gwynland became an actual country. It survived revolts, sieges, and even invasions without ever falling though it has gotten close.”

They flew over the outer walls and he pointed towards a large castle right in the middle of the inner city, “That’s Dragonblood castle, where Duke Olsen and his family reside. It’s the largest building in the city followed by the fire temple to the north and Lastan’s war academy to the south, both also in the inner city.”

From up high she could see the castle. It was flooding with people celebrating both in the castle and its surroundings. The same for the academy, though on a lesser scale. That’s where they were heading.

They then flew over the inner walls steadily approaching the ground. As they got closer, Gale once again began flapping its wings, causing the litter to lightly shake, along with those who were inside of it.

When it reached the academy, the magical beast headed towards an open field in the campus to land. It slowly descended until the litter’s bottom finally touched the ground, and it could open its talons and let go.

The last rays of sunshine disappeared as they finally landed.