[Chapter Size: 2400 Words.]
Third Person POV
Toussaint.
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When the sun was rising, a shadow appeared across the sky above Toussaint, descending directly toward the ground as it landed in one of the farthest corners of the duchy's main city, where Duchess Anna Henrietta ruled in a huge white castle with tall towers above the town.
What landed in that corner was nothing more than a green mass, while Madara, and a Ciri carrying Eira, descended from the dragon.
"With that, you can go back." Madara said calmly.
The dragon, Ignavros, naturally grimaced; he had been sleeping in Val Drahzûn when he was pulled toward southern Cintra with Madara using the summoning jutsu with an order to carry them over the southern mountains to the place they were now.
After finally thinking everything was fine because he was no longer near those humans, Ignavros had been living his life peacefully in Val Drahzûn. Although he had not heard any more news about his companion Vornaxis, who should still be trapped in that dwarven kingdom. He didn't even have the courage to go back there after Madara punished him by making him guard the dwarves' gold for a while.
At the same time, in their last meeting, the human had made him see the vision of that blue giant who massacred dragons as if they were nothing, and that still disturbed Ignavros, making him dream about it for many nights like a nightmare — with the terror of Val Drahzûn being completely destroyed by that power.
Even if he thought it might have been just an illusion, a way to scare him, it was still terrifying all the same. He felt it as if it were real, and it was something he would never forget, and he would not provoke that human into acting that way, bluff or not.
When he was summoned this morning, he had no choice but to give up any complaint he was about to make about being summoned.
Since Madara only wanted a ride, he simply obeyed, flying across the sky as dawn broke. Since Ignavros believed that the human would no longer need him after this, right? Ignavros thought, relieved when Madara asked him to return at that exact moment.
He now knew he would go back to the place he came from — a relief, since he needed to make the trip back to the Valley of Dragons, which was quite annoying. Having to return every time he was summoned would be a terrible torture even for a dragon.
"Bye, Ignavros! It's great to see you!" The human girl named Ciri said with a smile, while the dragon nodded with some indifference, exploding into smoke the next moment and disappearing from their sight.
Ciri opened a smile, and her eyes went to the huge landscape: the city in the distance with the mountain behind it, the enormous lake, what seemed to be farms and vineyards, the roads, the small villages with taverns. The place was green with a calm and welcoming atmosphere. She had already seen it from above and could not help exclaiming how beautiful that place truly was. Maybe she had never seen a place like that before.
"It's beautiful," Ciri said sincerely. Madara had not lied about such a place, and not even the rumors she had heard since childhood about the duchy — she could see that not even the rumors did justice to what she was seeing before her.
"Then we can see why you wanted to buy a vineyard here," she said, nodding excitedly, now understanding that living in a place like that would be nothing less than exceptional.
"Yes, we'll spend the day here and then we'll go back north. And then, to the ship that should be near Verden at this moment. I'm sure Yennefer and the others already know about our absence," Madara said, after all he had only left clones to train senjutsu, acquiring and adapting to the natural energy.
Madara made a few hand signs, and several wood clones began to emerge — a dozen of them — while Ciri let out a sigh, patting Eira's back as the colt stretched his legs after the uncomfortable trip on top of a dragon.
And seeing half a dozen Madara clones appear, she couldn't help pouting at the Madara who was her husband. "Wait, you're not just going to explore this place without me. I want us to do it together!" Ciri said that wanting to get to know the duchy by her husband's side, not for him to simply gather all the information coming from his clones while they scouted the area.
Madara shook his head when he heard her. "That's not what I intended. This seems like an isolated corner and there's a bandit camp over there. I can deal with it and set the clones to train. After all, I'm trying to develop new jutsus with my elements." Madara said, and Ciri, accepting that it was nothing serious, grabbed his arm.
"Then let's go. I want to see the place and the city." She said, certainly more relaxed after resting in her husband's arms in a warm bed. All the anger she had felt yesterday toward her father — the damned emperor of Nilfgaard, who had mercilessly massacred Cintra's people alongside his men — seemed to have eased a little, and she allowed herself to feel more excited about the place her husband was taking her to.
Madara summoned a few horses, and the two mounted as they began to enter a road after leaving the forest.
The place was quite relaxing — the sound of the animals, the light breeze, the well-made road. They even sang a little, while Ciri held the colt in her arms, with the horse certainly doing its best not to bother him.
"Ciri, I think Eira is going to feel uncomfortable like this, let him gallop along with us," Madara said, noticing the little colt's discomfort.
Eira let out a squeal, certainly because his belly was being pressed by the horse, with his front and hind legs hitting each side. It was a bit irritating, although he hadn't complained at first.
Ciri had no problem releasing the horse and taking Eira into her arms, giving him a few pats to let him go as he stretched his legs — it was good for him to move them, after all he was still a horse species. Thus, they continued their journey through Toussaint. At the same time they entered one of the main roads, they came across several farms and vineyards, strolling and enjoying the morning light.
It didn't take long before they spotted a gathered crowd, with a long line of commoners and a man taking notes. There were some guards with him as well. He didn't seem to be a noble, but rather a steward or someone important taking requests or auctioning something.
They came closer while some people stared at them upon noticing their presence. Ciri and Madara made no effort to hide their appearance as they rode two excellent steeds — clearly expensive horses, a gift from a Kaedwen noble whom Madara believed had been ordered by the king, since he no longer wanted to be on bad terms with the couple after the chaos Madara caused in the palace.
That certainly drew the attention of everyone in the line, who whispered among themselves and pointed at them as they passed by. Even the man taking notes with the guards looked at them, stopping his writing of the people's requests, raising an eyebrow with an intense look, as if trying to recognize them by their clearly noble appearances, though nothing came to mind. He didn't even notice the white colt with a horn walking among the horses.
They passed calmly and continued along the road, entering a cluster of houses — a small village with a tavern.
"Let's have our first meal here," Madara said, stopping with the horse at the stable, and ignoring the villagers who were also staring at them, they entered the place.
Ciri quickly observed the area, with men talking to each other while drinking and having their meal with their families. The village wasn't very big, and outsiders certainly drew attention.
The conversation stopped when Madara and Ciri entered the tavern, with all eyes turning toward them — seeing a man with long black hair, elegantly messy, wearing strange clothes, and a girl with white hair. Who the hell had white hair while looking so young and beautiful? And on top of that, a small snow-white colt with a horn walking right behind them.
The tavern keeper himself raised an eyebrow as he cleaned a cup. Certainly no foal was allowed to enter, but the appearance of the two made him hesitate, and he said nothing as they walked through the place and chose one of the empty tables.
They picked a table and sat down as people whispered.
"And once again we're being talked about the entire time…" Ciri murmured.
Madara shrugged. "We should already be used to this."
Ciri nodded and looked at him for a few seconds before speaking again. "So, are we going to hide our names or announce to everyone that we're Ciri and Madara?" she asked, placing a hand under her chin with an amused smile. The colt was at her feet, as always.
"Why not? It will be good to draw everyone's attention to the fact that we're farther south, while you stay in Ellander and I go hunt the creature farther north." Madara said, and Ciri couldn't help pouting as she remembered her fate for the coming months — pregnant and far from her husband.
"Ah, I see…" was all she managed to say before the tavern keeper — a chubby, round-bellied man — approached them.
He seemed a bit agitated. "How may I serve you?"
"Give us your most popular dish. And do you have coffee? We'd like to have our first meal of the day." Madara replied.
The man nodded. "Our most popular is wheat bread with roasted pork and boiled beef served at midday. We don't operate at night."
"Give us the first." Madara said, and the man nodded and walked away.
The meal came shortly after, and everything seemed calm despite the stares and people coming and going. Everything was fine for both of them. Ciri ate while murmuring a few words to her husband and laughing at some of his comments. Eira made a low sound, asking for more food from Ciri, who gave him some at her feet. The atmosphere felt quite peaceful at that moment.
That continued until a door opened, and everyone turned their eyes to the entrance. Even Madara lifted his gaze upon seeing a man wearing golden armor — a knight of Toussaint — accompanied by another just behind him.
The place seemed to tense up at that moment, and glances shifted between the strangers' table and the knights'.
"Hello, Arillu. How are you?" The knight approached the counter while the man nodded carefully, his eyes shifting between Madara's table and the knight, thinking they might be fugitives and someone had called the knights who patrolled the roads.
"Ser Milton de Peyrac-Peyran and Ser Palmerin de Launfal! Good to see you both, I'm fine. Life goes as usual. Will you be wanting something?" asked the tavern keeper, Arillu.
"No, not this time. We just heard some things while patrolling right after sunrise and came to check. We saw two well-kept steeds at the stable," the knight said, before turning his gaze to the table where the two strangers sat.
They clearly looked like a couple — and there was also that horned white animal, quite exotic. Usually, when people drew attention, it meant trouble for a knight like him.
"Anyway, I'll speak with our friends here." He left the tavern keeper and walked toward Madara's table, his companion placing a hand on the hilt of his sword in case he needed to act.
"I believe the horses belong to you, since I heard some people commenting on interesting outsiders traveling the roads of Toussaint," he said, stopping in front of the table and interrupting Madara and Ciri's conversation.
Madara already knew those knights were there because of him and his wife. "Yes, they are ours…" Madara said in a calm tone, with Ciri attentive, even noticing the knight behind them with his hand on the sword, ready to act if they tried anything, while the man offered him a polite smile.
The knights of Toussaint always seemed overly gallant, and that man's face wasn't unfamiliar to Madara.
"I am Ser Milton de Peyrac-Peyran, appointed directly by our duchess Anna Henrietta. I'm merely curious, since you are strangers around here. Is it all right if I ask who you are, where you come from, and what brings you to Toussaint?" he said, while the place fell into an almost deadly silence. Even the people held their breath, with gazes — as discreet as they attempted to be — all fixed on the strange couple, waiting to learn who they were.
It was obvious the message behind it was: If you're here to cause trouble, we'll have to intervene, young couple.
Meanwhile, in the knight's mind, many possibilities arose. They could very well be two nobles running away to live together — perhaps because their families didn't approve of their union. It wouldn't be the first time he had seen that. The exotic appearance of both, their clothes, the clearly expensive horses and the exotic animal were not things commoners could possess. And Toussaint often seemed to be the favored destination for romantic getaways among wealthy young lovers seeking a new life away from their families.
Madara couldn't help showing a smile. That man — and perhaps the entire duchy — had no idea what had just walked in there. Otherwise, everyone would be in a panic. But Madara kept the smile as he replied:
"My name is Madara Uchiha, and this is my wife, with whom I married in the last moons, Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon." He said in a tone that seemed amused, eager to see their reaction.
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