Chapter 15

"Welcome home Prince Rex."

The moment Rex stepped through the portal he saw the most wonderful thing he had ever seen in his life. In front of him was long sweeping plains full of green grass, in the far distance was a snow capped mountain range, birds flying overhead singing, everything seemed a little too perfect, picking up a flower he saw on the edge of the path, he looked at it, looked real, smelt it, it smelt real, how could magic have made something like this? This place was something special! No wonder so much effort was taken into protecting it. Then his mind drifted off to imagining how other parts of Dracoterrum looked, hmm, stomach growled, hey I don't feel sick after that portal jump...

Not feeling nauseous at all seemed a little odd for Rex, "how come that portal was instant, but yours before felt like a crazy roller coaster ride that made me feel like throwing up 2 years worth of stomach contents?" 

Markus just chuckled before saying, "it is the same for all magic, the more powerful a being, the better and faster the spell, and this portal was created by 2 of the most powerful beings of that time, that is why the transition was instant and seamless, I definitely cannot be compared to being anywhere on or near to that type of power, plus the skill I possess in portal making is quite mediocre to be honest, we can talk and travel Rex, we still have a ways to go yet."

"I forgot to ask before, what is the place we are going to?" Rex queried.

"We are headed to Calrend Manor, you have an appointment with a person we know as the Fate Seer. She will read your fate and help guide you on the path to fulfill your fate, I also believe there are also other young ones that will be there as well, get yourself some friends." Markus winked, before turning his gaze to the twins, "Raz, Kal if you two were to be so kind."

Rex turned to look shortly after Markus and gasped out of shock. It seemed their bodies were shifting into something else. He could hear what sounded like bones cracking, their limbs started to elongate, their faces started to shift downwards from their chins, what was happening?? Rex closed his eyes from the gruesome sight in front of him.

Not 20 seconds after it started, Rex could no longer hear anything, so taking a chance, he opened one eye. Well the twins were gone, but in front of them were 2 horses! Quite magnificent horses he might add, one had black and grey hair while the other had brown and grey hair, it can't be...the twins!!

Seeing the look of amazement appear on Rex's face, Markus added, "the twins are animorphs, they can change their appearance to that of a horse, they come from a nomad tribe that travel around the Antilla region, it is said that only 1 in 100 can become like their tribal symbol, which is a horse." He then lent in closer to Rex and said, "it certainly has its perks." Giving him a sly wink.

"Out of curiosity, who do you think is the finer stallion?" Raz asked puffing his chest out.

"Definitely me, can't be that old mule!" Kal said trotting his front legs on the spot.

"You're the ass!" Raz retorted.

"You know you both look quite amazing to be honest, I can't decide at all." Rex said shrugging his shoulders.

"Well played, you've already got some diplomacy skills I see." Markus laughed, walking over to a tree. Pulling out a knife he had in a sheath, he seemed to be scanning the tree looking for something in particular. Once he saw it, he grabbed a hold of a rope that was very well concealed on the branch, cutting it. Down dropped a net containing 2 saddles and saddlebags and 4 sleeping rolls. "Always come prepared." Markus added.

Picking one saddle up, Markus threw it over Raz's back, tighened the belly buckles, the shoulder straps, attached the saddlebags and tied on the sleeping rolls and then brushed his hands together, nodding at a job well done. Looking over to see how Rex was going, he noticed Rex was standing there looking at the saddle, no doubt trying to guess what was what. Smiling, Markus came over, picked it up and threw it over Kal's back, and then started explaining the process of getting everything tightened and how it all worked. Rex nodded at each step and with Markus's guidance was able to have it ready to travel.

"Not bad kid, you're a fast learner" he added at the end.

Walking over to Raz, Markus put one foot in the stirrup and in one fluid movement, swung his leg over Raz's back while pulling himself up into the saddle.

Easy enough Rex thought psyching himself up, one foot in, pull up and leg over. But forgetting to stop his momentum, Rex ended up following through and ended up back in dirt on the other side of Kal. This brought on a thunder of laughter from both the twins. "Do it again!!" They both yelled.

"Haha you just need a little practice is all, push up a little less and pull up a little more and you'll stop that happening." Markus said giving the twins a glare which made them stop instantly.

Standing up and brushing himself off, Rex put one foot back into the stirrup, grabbed the front of the saddle and this time pushed up and pulled on the saddle. He surprised himself but staying in top of saddle, not quite sitting straight, but not falling off! That was a win for Rex he thought.

"Umm Markus! I don't have reins??" Rex called out.

"No need" Markus said waving a hand, "they know where we are going, that is what the handle up the front is for, to hold on, let's go you two."

The twins began trotting along the path, it really seems to go on forever, Rex thought to himself seeing the road go into the distance without stopping, "where this this path end?" He asked.

"Your home, we will also be going there, just need 1 stop on the way, orders from your father." Markus replying, clapping Rex in the shoulder.

"So, I have a question for you Rex, how did Iris's demise happen? I know she was more than capable in a fight." Markus asked looking at Rex.

Rex was wondering when this talk was going to happen, so breathing in deeply, he said, "at the school I was attending, I became close to a girl, who ended up betraying me, she said it was because of my family her and her mother wanted me dead, so they came to our house and tried, Iris lost her life, but also brought her mother Reeva with her."

"Did you say Reeva? As in Reeva Umbra? Her family has had issues with yours for quite a long time now. Originally their family used to be information gatherers, their families gift is being able to meld in perfectly with shadows, making it damn near impossible to be seen, which made them perfect to blend in, travel the kingdom, gather information on a host of things like, what towns are doing well, which are doing bad, movements of rogue factions and also to keep an eye on Ean. Eventually he found out about his brother spying on him and made Reeva's father, Dunrik, an offer he couldn't refuse, if they killed your father and your family members, Ean would take over rulership and give the land of Valen to Dunrik. Of course your father being who he is, saw the attempt coming, and killed Dunrik in the fight. He then banished the family Umbra from his royal court and banned them from entering the land of Hale, which is your home, so because of that Reeva was instead tasked with starting with the family members first to weaken him, which meant coming after you."

"So how powerful is my father?" Rex asked curious.

"You'll come to see it first hand soon enough young prince." Markus replied.

The subject of Iris's death seemed to play on Rex's mind, and he felt he was to blame bringing Nessa into their home.

Seeing Rex's gloomy expression, Markus knew what would cheer him up.

"Raz care to bring out that wonderful singing voice of yours? Make it a cheery one" Markus said patting his mane.

"I know a pearler, you'll love it" he said, clearing his throat.

"I once met a girl from Hars, she used to strut around shaking her ass..."

"I've heard enough!!" Markus said slapping his forehead. Not a good idea at all it seemed.

"What! It's a classic, learnt it from a man in a tavern near Sae." Raz said defensively.

Well it worked because after that song, Rex burst out laughing. It was the best thing he had heard in a long time, even if it was crude.

"I see you know the classics young prince!" Raz said, Rex's comment gave him a skip in his step.

After travelling for another half a day, Rex took delight in hearing Raz and Kal's countless tavern stories, occasionally throwing in a few stories of mischief from when they were younger, eventually Markus even added in a few of his! Rex was having a blast.

If this is how the whole 2 days is going to be, I could get used to to this he thought to himself. 

After seeing a small hill to their left and the sun just creeping down over the horizon, Markus said to their group, "let's set up camp here for tonight. We have made excellent progress!" 

Once they had reached the top of the hill, Markus and Rex unloaded all of their gear off their friends backs and then Raz and Kal proceeded to start changing back into their original forms, Rex still had to look away, it wasn't a sight he liked to see, so he started setting up the bed rolls while Markus set up some stones into a circle, throwing a white brick into the centre.

Clicking his fingers is all it took to make the brick burst into a flame, giving off instant warmth. Raz reached into his rucksack and pulled out a pot and 3 short poles, which when set up provided a tripod to hang the pot over the flames. Kal was already adding water to the pot, throwing in odd ingredients Rex had never seen before, "these are a vegetable that grows near home and dehydrated meat, makes for an amazing soup" Kal said seeing Rex's face.

And an amazing meal it was, Markus adding in bread he had stored in his bag, it was wrapped up in a strange coloured leaf. 

"So how big is Dracoterrum?" Rex asked, he had heard of many place names, but wasn't able to put the names to an actual location, so Markus pulled out a rolled up page from his saddlebag, unrolling it and beckoned for Rex to come closer. 

Pointing at the lower middle section of the map Markus said, this is the gateway, if we travel up and to the north west we will travel past the Ragnar Mountains, after passing those we change direction to a little more north which will lead us into the land of Hale and your home which is here." He pointed to a place on the map called Dracones. "That is also the capital city. First we will be making a stop here, that is where Calrend Manor is." Pointing to a place on the map just south west of the Ragnar Mountains.

Looking at the map, Dracoterrum was larger than he expected and was separated into 5 regions. The southern region he had come in was called Farsis, the eastern region was called Valen, where Nessa was from, the northern region was Hale, where he was from, and the western region was called Bhutan and in the middle was a region called the Kadota Desert. I will set foot in every region within the next year Rex promised himself, he wanted to see it all.

"We have an early start to the morning, it has become quite late already, we should turn in for the night." Markus said, taking the map from Rex and rolling it up, stowing it back into his saddlebag.

"Goodnight brother, goodnight ass" came from the twins as they pulled up their bedrolls to their shoulders getting comfortable.

What a great day, Rex thought as he slid into his bed roll, bringing the blanket up his shoulders. Laying on his back he took an extra minute to look up into the night sky and stare at the stars, he was happy, because here he felt like he belonged.

Rex was finally on his way home.

With that thought in his mind, Rex closed his eyes and nodded off to sleep.

'You need to wake up youngling, they have found you!!' Boomed voice in his head making him sit up from fright, now fully awake. Looking around he could see that Markus and the twins were still sound asleep, what was the problem he thought scratching his head.

It wasn't long before a terrifying noise echoed out across their camp.

*SCREECH!!*