The streets were crowded with merchants and people. As I neared the gate, I was shoved aside by someone and fell. Ouch! Think I sprained my ankle!

"Oh my! Are you alright?!" A worried woman rushed over to me. When she saw my face, she froze. "What's such a young child like you doing here at the border?!" Isn't it obvious? To go into Efluya, duh.

Really wih I could speak. I tried to tell her I was mute by using my hand to mimic someone speaking and then crossed my arms into an x.

"Hm? You can't speak?" I nodded, "oh, so you're mute?" Another nod. The woman looked at me with sad eyes. "...Do you want to leave Aplana?" Yes, woman! Why else would I be here?! "How about you come with me? You can pretend to be my son."

Jackpot! I nodded vigorously, not caring if this was a trap or not. Long as I leave Aplana, I'm fine. The woman smiled and put me on the seat at the front of the carriage.

"Halt!" A guard stopped us from crossing. Aw man! Please don't let me be found out! "Who is this boy?"

"He's my son."

"I've never seen him with you before. You didn't enter with him."

"This is his first time coming with me. He rode in the back on our way here." Woah, this woman is smooth! Don't know if I like that or not considering I'm going to be with her for a bit.

"What's his name?"

"Landon. Landon Garrick. Can we please go now?" The guard nodded, still a little suspicious. The carriage moved through the border. The moment we were completely through, it was like a huge weight had lifted off of me.

"What's your name?" The woman asked, keeping her eyes on the road. I got out a notebook and quill.

"How can I know I can trust you?"

"I guess so. My name's Sadie Garrick, I'm a merchant from Fascus. Speaking of Fascus, you look like Queen Edith."

My heart stopped, please don't let her find out I'm Alcott just yet.

"Queen Edith is the best queen we've had yet. She's even better than her mother, Queen Irene! She's kind to even the lowest of commoners and she even lets a lowly merchant like me come to her and show her what I have!"

"King Blake? His full name is Blake Hugh Langston! He used to be one of the imperial knights for Queen Edith when she was the princess! They were engaged when poor Queen Edith was kidnapped and deflowered by that HORRID King Walton! Usually that's enough to get a princess killed, but King Blake stood by her side and told the previous king he still loved her and it wasn't her fault.

The previous king loved Queen Edith, so it wasn't hard to get him to let her be queen. Sadly, the previous king died about two years ago, but Irene is still alive. Anyway, King Blake is equally as kind and he really loves children! He's known to visit orphanages and play with the orphans."

Do King Blake and Queen Edith have any kids? Does Queen Edith ever go outside

"No. Ever since the King Walton incident, Queen Edith never went outside and never had another child because she wants to wait until she has her son back. She never goes outside because she's afraid of the same thing happening again. When she was kidnapped, that was when she snuck out of the castle for the first time. Now she's afraid to leave the castlle."

If you met Alcott, what would you do?

"I'd take him out of Aplana and take him straight to Queen Edith. We all want her to be happy. That's why I'm taking you to her. You're Alcott, am I right? Alcott is rumored to be mute and you look too much like Queen Edith for it to be a coincidence."

Is it really that obvious?

"Very to the Fascus folk. Not so much to others. Queen Edith will be overjoyed to see you! I must ask, were you born mute?"

No. I'm mute because of a curse. I'm not sure which curse it is though.

"Hm, I bet the Archmage of Fascus will be able to figure it out. We won't be able to go to Queen Edith straight away since it takes about a month for someone to get an audience with her. She's a very busy woman. I bet it'll be shorter if I send a letter saying I have you." Sadie started mumbling incoherent words to herself. I know I probably shouldn't be so trusting, but I don't see much harm in tagging along with Sadie to Fascus.

How long will it take to get to Fascus?

"Hmm, about a week or so. I shouldn't push my hor- WOAH!" Something darted across the road, startling all of us and the carriage stopped. "The hell was that?!" Sadie jumped off the front of the carriage.

Um, I think we should keep going until we reach a more populated area. I have a bad feeling about this.

"You're right. We need to move along." Sadie got back up and on we went for a few hours.

~

The sun had completely set and the horses had slowed down to a slow walk.

"We'll stay here for the night." Sadie stopped at an inn that had a place for your horses and carriage. A merchant inn! A boy lead the horses to the back of the inn as Sadie and I entered the front.

"Welcome! How can I help you?" The woman at the front smiled at us.

"We'd like a room for one night," Sadie replied. Sadie plopped down three copper coins.

"Alright! Here's your room key!" The woman tossed a key. Sadie caught it and I followed her into our room. The room was pretty nice with two beds. I jumped onto the bed near the far side of the room.

"Goodnight, Alcott," Sadie chuckled. I yawned and sank into a deep sleep.