'Under the royal summons of the king, you are nearby summoned to the Palace for a chance for fame and fortune. You along with three others are to go on a quest and find the ancient cave of Akharawti and find the wise man living there to ask for the cure. Do you accept?'
Hadley sat, sketching a face with a stick of charcoal. His eyes wandered toward his abandoned paints and he let out a soft melancholy sigh. After the incident with the cliff he shoved all his supplies into the corner and hadn't touched it since. He never wanted to get back into the mental place he was back then, he went back to his sketch when he heard a strange tapping at his window, he opened to have a bird fly in through it and land on his desk. He read the paper attached to the bird and thought what it said over for a good hour of thinking before finally pulling out a quill and a peice of paper. What do I honestly have to lose he thought, writing I accept the quest -Hadley Obrien he then tied it to the bird and sent it off, hoping the bird would find its way to the palace.
(Side note, some of these will have choices present for you so you would have to choose them. I welcome actually having full answers but simply typing yes or no or choosing the preset answers will also work)
Upon receiving the fourth letter of acceptance, the king was ecstatic and sent the same letter to the artist. He called his guards and instructed them to wear commoners clothing and bring the four back. His eldest son, the Prince Mansel, heir to the throne and horse tamer, came inside the throne room with a message. The queen was getting worse.
'Thank you for you acceptance. I will have a group if guards meet you in the market place by the bakery. They will be dressed as commoners but will recognise you so long as you have a ravens feather on display in your hair. Please bring minimal supplies as you will recieve the rest at the palace.'
Rowan quickly scans the letter, and looks around for a feather. He used to have a collection, but they seem to have gone missing. "Right, sorry about this, bird," he says genuinely, plucking a feather off of the raven.
Rowan has had a lot of practise with putting feathers in his hair, and has the feather secured in no time at all. He glances around out his window before exiting his house and heading for the marketplace, catching jewelry off of people's wrists as he goes. "One can never be too prompt," he mutters to himself as he leans against a market stall and snags coins from passersby.
Hadley read through the letter and grabbed a feather that had fallen off the raven when it flew through his window, he half hazardly placed the feather behind his ear to hold it in place. He decided against bringing many items, just a knife, a pouch of coins, and his sketchbook with a piece of charcoal. Just because he had stopped painting didn't mean he could keep himself completely away from art, with that he left and made way towards the market.
Lady Elspeth entered the marketplace and scanned the area, her cool gray eyes taking in every hint of movement. Even clad in heavy leather boots, her steps were near-silent as she made her way towards the bakery.
A few guards, two of them grumbling, casually got off their horses and walked to the bakers. When the cook realized they were heading to the market. They had given them a list of things to purchase and so a group of three had gone to grab meats and vegetables while the other three went to the bakery to get some bread and wait for the four.
Jack walked into the bakery, looking around. He tried not to look like an idiot, but he still ended up looking a bit nervous as he tried to figure out where the guards were. It wasn’t as if he had much practice.
A bell above the door jingled as Elspeth pushed the door open, and she flinched. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and entered the bakery. She noticed a dark-haired young man with a feather in his hair, looking around the bakery with a slight bit of confusion.
The one guard smiled and walked to Lady Elspeth and the other towards Jack. "Wonderful day. May I ask what kind of feather is in your hair fair Lady?" The guards smiled, hair falling into his face. The other guard however tugged the feather out of Jack's hair and felt it before smelling it. "Ravens feather I presume?"
Rowan quickly tired of picking pockets, and strolled into the nearby bakery, inhaling the smell of freshly baked bread. He genuinely did love this particular bakery; the family who owned it was nice, and he could always get bread from them for cheaper than the original price. Lost in thought, Rowan stared at the ceiling and fixed the raven's feather behind his ear.
Jack watched him with uncertainty, despite being nearly sure that the man was a guard. “You presume correctly,” he replied, running a hand through his hair.
Lady Elspeth allowed a small smile on her lips. “Raven,” she said softly. “Wonderful day indeed, sir..?” She fiddled with a lock of her hair and glanced back at the other man.
"My name is not importent Lady but I think you have more importent matters. There is a horse outside that leads straight to the palace." He smiled and walked outside without another word. The other guard jerked a thumb outside. "Theres a horse waiting outside, come quick or I'll leave without you." He said, and walked outside. Yet another guard came up to Rowan and tapped his shoulder. "Um excuse me but is that a Ravens feather? If so theres a horse outside for you." She said, going slightly red
Rowan all but twirled around. Once his brain had processed what the girl had said, he smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "This is, in fact, a raven's feather, I'm so glad you noticed," he nodded to the guard and brightly stepped outside, looking for the horse, which he quickly found, as there weren't a great many horses on the crowded street.
“I understand, sir,” she said with a curtesy. Lady Elspeth followed the guard outside the bakery door. Once outside, she saw a beautiful black mare impatiently tossing its head. Elspeth couldn’t resist a little gasp. “She’s gorgeous..”
Jack nodded and hurried outside. As he did, he scanned the rest of the store. He guessed that the blonde young woman and the boy about his age were both there for the same thing he was. Interesting. Jack wasn’t typically an observant person, but he was curious about the others. Jack glanced around, finding the horses, and instantly grinned when he saw a chestnut stallion. Thankfully, he’d been apprenticed to a stable master at one point, so he could ride a horse passably.
As Hadley got to the bakery he noticed very beautiful, well groomed horses outside.
(I'm sorry, I find jack kinda hilarious. It's like. 'Oh no, how will we ever start a fire with only grass' and jack will be like 'not to worry citizen, I was once apprenticed with a man who only used grass to start fires' XD)
Another female guard, this one arguing with the store keeper about the price if meat filled bread, frowned and turned around after paying for a far too expensive bread. She spotted hadley and grabbed his shoulder. "Ravens feather?"
(aha that was definitely the goal with him XD)
(I feel like he will be a character that readers will simultaneously love and hate lmao)
Hadley turned towards the woman "It is" he answered, taking the feather from behind his ear.
"Perfect, follow me outside. There is a horse waiting for you." She said and stepped out, going to the horse. All the guards got on except the first, he helped Lady Elspeth on the horse before getting in after her. Once the other three men got on, they went off towards the castle.
Hadley followed on the horse, looking around at the other 3 that he would be working with.
Jack followed the group, smiling as he caught someone's eye. He didn't want to look annoyed, because he had been told that his resting face made him look irritated. The guy seemed nice.
