Turn The Page Chapter 5 - Hunting

Chapter 5 - Hunting

     Because the kitchen was destroyed in the fire, the feast was delayed for several days. The woodcutters had to work in overtime to supply the kitchen with materials. It was market day once again, and Walter was given more money than usual, and told to keep an eye out for things the kitchen could use, like utensils and furniture stuff, because everything related to cooking had been burned down in the fire.

     Prices had soared in the days following the fire because the merchants knew there was a shortage, and people had to pay extra for goods. First, the stores were replaced. The wheat gained from the harvest refilled the silos, but people needed equipment. Walter was able to find an assemble-it-yourself/AIY table, and spent all his money. Walter was so excited to find a table that he could help the kitchen with. Only after assembly did he realize that the table was a miniature table for dolls.

     The next day, the Lord declared that a large group of men would go hunting for extra meat. Walter was presented his own falcon, and when he asked why his was female, Lord Leo said that all falcons used for hunting were female because they were bigger.
     "That's odd," Walter said. "Surely males are always bigger than females."
     "Well now you know that they aren't always bigger," Lord Leo said. "And don't call me Shirley."

     Around 100 men and some noblewomen went to a clearing in Lord Leo's extra-green private forest, where the people interested in hunting were supposed to meet, including Merek and Lord Leo. The clearing, was, well, clear, and there was some super-green green grass and some yellow and blue flowers (and yellow + blue=green). The sky was quite cloudy. The forest in front of them was literally chirping with life, and someone had already shot a deer before the hunt had even started. There was also a very large brown wooden crate on the floor, with an open lid that everyone was supposed to put the hunted animals in.
     Lord Leo gave a short speech, giving everybody details that they already knew. That's the way things went back then.
     "You all know why we're here," Lord Leo began. "Because we do not have enough meat for the storage," he continued, even though he already knew everyone knew the reason they were there.
     "We've brought a small box for you to put the dead animals in," said Lord Leo in a loud voice, gesturing to the big brown wooden crate. "Everyone knows the rules: No killing animals in their homes. No chopping down trees. No chopping down baby animals, no chopping down other humans, and NO SETTING FIRE TO THE FOREST! If I find anybody setting fire to this grand forest, I will be very mad. Any questions?"
     Walter raised his hand, because he had a question, and everyone stared at him.
     "What?" said Lord Leo.
     "How do you hunt?" Walter asked.
     Some people chuckled at this question.
     "Good question," replied the Lord. "You kill the animal you wish to hunt by any means necessary except if you will be disobeying the rules I have just stated. Starters should try catching one with their bare hands, as that is certainly going to be very easy. Let's go!"
     And with that everybody sent out their falcons, the hunting dogs were released, and the hunt began. Everybody cleared out of the clearing, sending tall brown dust clouds in the air, and walked into the forest, following the dogs.



     Walter tried not to make any sound at all. He had been traveling with Lord Leo, and after an hour of watching a dog sniff and drool and walk around with its nose to the ground and following it, the dog had led them right back to the clear clearing with the extra-green grass.
     Walter was now behind the crate of animals with Lord Leo and some other guy, which was a quarter full of geese, pigeons, deer, and pinecones. There was a wild boar on the edge of the clearing. Walter had no idea what it was doing. When you looked at the boar, you would never have guessed it was related to the pig at all, except for the flat nose. That was it. This boar had tusks, and was very dark brown. The boar was even more not like a pig, because its tail didn't curve at all like a pigs does (a pig's tail doesn't really curve as much as they say, either, but it still curves).
     "This is my only arrow, which I have never missed with, and I intend to hit the boar and then recover it, so don't make me miss," Lord Leo whispered.
     "Who cares?" asked the other guy. "I have another one."
     "Well give it here so I don't need to use the grand arrow."
     The random guy took out an arrow. It was basically a stick with a sharp piece of stone at one end, and three feathery feathers at the other.
     Lord Leo nocked his arrow, aimed and fired. Then he ran behind the crate again. Thunk! Walter peered around the edge of the crate and saw the arrow had accidentally hit the boar's rump.
     Walter reported the news while the boar snorted and screeched with rage, and Leo facepalmed.
     The boar snorted again, and growled. It sniffed with its huge flat nose. Then it took one step toward the crate. Then another. Walter tightened his grip on his spear. The boar went around the crate and appeared at Lord Leo's side, and the lord went crazy. He quickly shot an arrow that amazingly missed from such a close range, and started randomly thrusting his spear and missing. The other guy and Walter couldn't do anything because they were paralyzed with surprise.
     Soon Lord Leo gave up fighting, and everyone ran, with the boar on their heels, its arrow on its behind waving in the air. They were just out of stamina when a man in a cloak revealed himself from the forest, and shot the boar on the side with a well-made steel-tipped arrow. The boar turned around in fury and chased after the new cloaked guy, and the man shot two more arrows. After the last arrow hit the boar, it snorted, slowed down, and fell to the ground one inch from the man.
     The man took off his hood to reveal a very grim-looking face.
     "Why, it's our ranger! I never knew you were hunting with us today!" Lord Leo said.
     "I wasn't. I just saw something like smoke from near the town wall. Then I realized it was smoke, and now I'm here to tell you that there is a fire in the forest," said a grim voice.
     Everyone except the ranger went to get a closer look. Indeed, there was smoke coming from the woods.
     "But that's against the rules!" Lord Leo said, outraged. "It's my personal forest!
     "It would appear that something like this has happened before," The ranger said, ignoring Lord Leo. "so the culprit of the fire in the kitchen, assuming that this fire was planned, is one of the people that came here to hunt. I know it's not me, and I don't think it's you."
     "Neither do I," said Lord Leo.
    At that moment, it started raining, and the fire was put out. Everybody came, one by one, back to the clearing.
     When everybody was gathered, Lord Leo, who was not in the best of moods, said, "One of us made the fire, which just happened and was put out. If you admit that you did it, you'll simply be banished from the castle. If I catch you, the consequences will be much more severe. Will the person who did this please raise his hand?"
     Nobody raised their hand.
     "Well, I guess the guy that set the forest on fire will be punished more severely. Any questions?"
     Walter raised his hand, because he had a question, and everybody stared at him.
     "What?" said Lord Leo.
     "How will we get this crate back home?" asked Walter.
     "We'll push it."
     "Won't that be hard?"
     "No. I've attached wheels to the bottom. How could you not notice? They've been around for years. Haha, get it? Around? Let's go!"


     Over the next week, preparations for the kitchen were made, and in the meantime, everyone went to the town square to eat every day.
     Some dwarves came around, and traded them some knives and spoons, and even offered chopsticks. Lord Leo took them all, and consulted the schoolmaster on the use of these tools. It took them a long time, but eventually they figured out how to use them. New spits were brought in, and Lord Leo imported some new wine.
     At last, the kitchen was finished. Everyone took a look at the builders' work. The new kitchen had more stone and less wood. The oven was now made of stone, and the tables were fireproof. Well, at least they were supposed to be.
     Finally, it was the day of the feast. Walter got up, and went to the great hall. All the tables were set up with grand tablecloths, hiding the black fire stains.
     Once everybody that had been invited (and some that were not) had come, the feast began.
     While the feast was going on a few entertainers went to an open area in the great hall. They were musicians and jesters, pranksters and storytellers. Some people did some acrobatic movements, and some people sang and danced. Others told stories, cracked jokes, and still others played instruments. One person did everything that was mentioned, and some that weren't.
     There were many cries of "Yay!" (and "Boo!"), and the villagers rated each performance from 0-10. Some people got up and performed, and people liked it, and they threw flowers. Some people were not so good, and people threw banana peels.
     There were many courses, each as good as the last one or better. The main course consisted of salted beef, fresh fish, and a variety of tough, chewy pork, which turned out to be a wild boar. Walter wanted to try a piece, and got the boar's bottom. He couldn't say he enjoyed it. Not because there was the thought droppings would come out of there, because it had been cleaned very well, but it was because the cooks failed to clean out something else.
     Walter spit out a well-cooked arrowhead, and reminded himself not to eat any more meat for a month.

Turn The Page Chapter 4 - Total Panic

Chapter 4 - total panic

     Life at Hasty Castle was not bad at all. In a few months, Walter made some friends. Most people at Hasty castle were very nice. That was all very good, but he also made enemies. Usually Lord Leo would be sitting on a chair in the great hall to settle disputes and answer problems. Whenever someone came, Merek, the advisor, would often give Lord Leo bad advice, and believe it or not, Lord Leo actually sometimes took it. Well, at least the advice sounded bad. One time, A local farmer came over and told Lord Leo about how a pickpocket had picked his pocket and stole his lucky carrot. Merek's advice was: "Too bad!" Luckily, though, Lord Leo didn't follow that piece of advice.

     It was the day of the harvest. The harvest was a good day for most people because the storages were filled with food (and more ants than usual). Lord Leo had told Walter in advance that he would host a great feast in honor of the harvest, as he had always done for as long as anybody that was anyone could remember.
     Walter watched the farmers swarm to the super-mega-extra-green greenish green green fields and start using iron sickles to chop down the crops. One boy about Walter's age tried to chop down a plant with a nickle, like, the coin. Apparently, he'd heard his father wrong. Walter watched a pig that was running as fast as it could, pursued madly by a mob of farmers.
     Walter heard the bell chime a deep gonging sound, which meant breakfast. Walter headed back to the keep. Soon he reached the great hall. After a short wait, servants once again came into the great hall and uncovered the food.
     Walter was halfway through breakfast when Merek ran through the hall shrieking.
     Lord Leo asked, "What is it?"
     "Fire in the kitchen! Evacuate immediately!" Merek screamed, then ran as fast as his legs could carry him out of the great hall, tripping once or twice.
     After hearing the news, everybody went all panicky. They were all headed for the nearest exit, except Lord Leo when he shouted, "My hall is made of stone! The fire will not reach here! Do not panic!" Dang, I need to put more jokes in. I haven't cracked one in at least three paragraphs!
     Suddenly there was a loud BOOM, and Walter heard Alice saying "There goes the wine."
     And then there was an unmistakable crackle and an orange flame near the passageway to the great hall.
     "Impossible!" Boomed Lord Leo, almost as loud as the explosion of the wine. The fire was still spreading. Then Walter put 2 and 2 together to get 5, and saw a line of wooden block on the ground.
     "WOODEN BLOCKS!" Yelled Walter. "Someone must've lit the kitchen up on purpose! We need to take away the wooden blocks quickly before the fire spreads to the table!"
     Everyone rushed to the entrance instead of the exit to start taking the blocks away, and Walter and Alice, who had water instead of wine, took their cups too, refilling as much of it as possible.
     Walter rushed down the hall reaching the end in seconds, but spilling half of his water. Alice took her time and had an almost full cup when she reached the passage. Everyone started throwing blocks across the room.
     They removed one last block and slightly burned their hands. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But then, more sizzling! The fire had jumped the stone and landed on the table. Everyone tried to blow the flame, out, but that just made it worse. Walter threw water from his cup, but there was so little left that nothing happened to the fire. It was Alice's cup that splashed on the fire directly, and after a bit of sizzling, the fire went out, leaving a big black mark on the table. Everyone breathed a bigger sigh of relief.
     Lord Leo looked at the half-burned passage sadly. His best cook hadn't made it out, and neither, of course, did his spits, which were extra-long wooden skewers used to hold animals in place. Almost as soon as everyone had evacuated, everyone poured back in, inspecting the remains of the fire and the blackened table.
     Everyone stepped carefully around the remaining fire and went into the kitchen. Everything was black, and the cooks felt around, seeing if they could salvage anything left over. The knives had made it, more or less. The handles had been burned up, leaving random pieces of metal.
     "Well, everyone," Lord Leo announced, "These kitchens will hardly clean themselves. We must repair what is left of the kitchen. Moveit! Meanwhile I will try to find out who did this."
     "It was the top cook," said a cook. "She wasn't looking and accidentally burned the kitchen."
     "No, it was no accident. There were wooden blocks," Lord Leo. "Someone must have bribed her or blackmailed her. She wouldn't burn down her own kitchen. It was someone else that planned it, and believe me, I'm going to find out who did it and why, or my name's not Leo, and it is, so there!"

Turn The Page chapter 3 - A Day In The Life Of Walter

Chapter 3- a day in the life of Walter

     Walter got up from the dusty ground. He'd been in the castle for a week, and so far nothing bad had happened. Walter's least favorite thing to do was learning to read and write from the schoolmaster, who was not a bad person, but was just plain boring. At least Walter got about half an hour of extra sleep. Lord Leo's wife tried to teach Walter how to sing and dance but it was no good because Walter was horrible at that sort of thing. Whenever he tried to go high, he went lower, and when he tried to dance, he tripped over his own feet.
     The Lord Leo also started teaching Walter the basics of combat in his spare time. His most frequent piece of advice was "stay alive". He explained to Walter that the stories of heroes charging into battle straight into all the enemies and coming out untouched was not very likely to happen. Leo also taught Walter how to ride a horse, and how to practice combat by himself. The key was to use a quintain, which was a wooden dummy. When something hit the shield, the dummy would flail around. Walter's job was not to get hit by the dummy, which was what just happened to Walter when he was practicing jousting one fine day.
     Walter walked back to his horse, remounted, then charged once again at the dummy. This time he aimed his lance at the body instead of the shield to see what would happen. There were 3 seconds to impact. 2. 1. CLUNK THUD! The clunk was the lance hitting the dummy, who seemed to be getting smarter, and the thud was Walter on the ground.
     Walter picked himself up, and stumbled back to his pony. His horse was very white with a white mane and a white everything. Even the saddle was white! He'd named him Stormbringer because it sounded really cool. Walter was very satisfied with Stormbringer, because Lord Leo had told him he was very fast for a horse this young, and it appeared that Stormbringer was quite strong too.
     Walter climbed onto his horse, and charged again. Walter decided to try hitting the shield again. Walter thrust with all his strength, which is to say, without much strength, as he was not that strong. The quintain immediately swung around and hit Walter hard on the chest. Walter sailed off the saddle once again, but this time Walter was prepared for his landing. With a backwards flip and triple axle, he landed perfectly on the ground, on his feet. He immediately strolled back to Stormbringer.
     This is the last time, Walter thought, and got onto his pony. He dug his heels into his pony's side. He didn't want to use spurs, because he imagined it would be painful for the horse. He charged and prepared his shield, holding it right in front of him. His heels went farther in, and then farther. The next moment seemed in slow motion. Walter's lance struck the wooden shield very hard, and snap went the long stick. Walter was caught off guard, and the sword hit his shield with full force. This time Walter didn't fall off. He flew off! Walter landed in the most uncomfortable gymnastic position possible, trying really really really hard to breathe. He gasped. He wheezed. He stumbled back to his pony and led him to the stable, half holding the lead to keep himself standing, then he coughed all the way to his room.


     The next morning, he ate a very good breakfast, though he was still regaining his breath. He went to the classroom, where he was supposed to learn reading and writing, but slept instead. The schoolmaster, who had unfortunately had 20 straight years of perfect attendance, was obviously there already, waiting to start his droning sound.
     "How are you?" asked the schoolmaster, but Walter only heard "hooreeyoo?".
     "Yes, I did my homework," Walter replied.
     "IMenthooreeyoo?"
     "I'm fine."
     "Gu, lestartuday leven," said the schoolmaster, and he went on to talk about reading and writing and math and what you should eat if you wanted to fart less, but Walter was already fast asleep.
     After the nap, Walter went to lunch, reporting to Lord Leo that he'd learned how to write the letter A, and tried to write the letter "A" on his napkin, but ended up with an upside-down O. Alice, who'd already learned "A", laughed and wrote the real "A" for Walter, who recognized the letter immediately. As "O" (upside down).


     Walter had barely regained his breath, but he knew he had to keep practicing. Today, he used the low dummy, who was not as smart, to practice his sword skills. The best thing about quintains was that there were very few visible attack patterns, so it was perfect for training.  The dummy-fighting rules were simple: hit the other guy 3 times and you win!Walter gripped his wooden sword tight, and swung at the shield, as it was supposed to be done. The dummy's shield withstood the sword, of course, and counterattacked with it's sword, quivering this way and that.
     Walter caught the blow on the edge of his shield, and the dummy lunged for another attack. This time, he took the blow right in the middle of his shield, and lunged to attack again. By a lucky chance, the smart dummy parried with its sword and swiped a sidearm, hitting Walter on the side.
     Walter stepped out of reach of the dummy, caught his breath, then attacked again. This time the sword hit the smarty on the chest, but the smart dummy, or the smarty, quickly recoiled, and knocked Walter down. The score was now 2-1 with the smarty winning and the human losing. Walter attacked again, but his hit was blocked by the shield, and the dummy's sword merely brushed Walter's shoulder, which didn't count as a point. Walter hit hard on the shield and parried the wooden object's sword. Walter quickly swiped as hard as he could with his wooden sword. The sword hit the smarty's neck, and as it was screwed on loosely, it flew into the air, and sap flew everywhere. The head landed with a thunk, and the smarty, no longer having a head, and so no longer having a brain, became a dummy again. The dummy seemed to not be dead yet, because it was still standing, so Walter kicked it in the chest, and it fell on its back. By Walter's own rules, decapitations counted as immediate wins, probably so that Walter could actually occasionally win.


     The next day was Sunday, which was church day and market day too. The minister, Mr. Fow Z., was so religious, he was wearing stained glasses. Walter didn't pay much attention in church either, but at least he learned much more from it than from the schoolmaster.

     Market day was Walter's favorite day, because he didn't have to learn reading or writing. Also, people from all over would open little stands selling all sorts of bits and bobs, like really fake magic wands for really dumb kids (and dummys). Walter was given 10 dollars to spend, and he could use them to do all sorts of things. There were musicians, jugglers, and performers doing all sorts of tricks and stunts. If Walter liked the performance, he would would throw money into the performer's box. That day, Walter gave a dancing bear all 10 dollars, but immediately regretted it, because there was really delicious food a little ways off. Walter spent a lot of his time trying to get extra free samples by flipping his shirt inside out to pretend to be someone else. There were a lot of pickpockets and thieves at market day, so everyone except people with no money had to keep a close lookout on their belongings, as Walter had found out last week. Walter had caught a pickpocket trying to pick his pocket after he'd used all his money, and after the pickpocket started mumbling something, another pickpocket came and picked the first pickpocket's pocket. The money seemed to go from one pickpocket to another without an end.

Turn The Page chapter 2 - The First Day

Chapter 2-the first day

     Walter pushed. He tried to hold his head up and walk at an easy pace.

     Walter tried to say "Good speed" but nothing came out of his mouth. The lord's room was the best part of the castle. The lord, who was a tall man with brown hair, was sitting in a soft, fluffy, comfy-looking dark but extra-green chair. Walter tried to stand still, but he was trembling like an earthquake and his knees were knocking together like crazy.
     Next to Lord Leo was a little girl with blonde hair around the age of 5, who was talking to him. Lord Leo looked up and said, "Hello!" The girl also looked his way, smiled, and left the room.

     She seems nice, thought Walter. I wonder who she is.

     "Have a seat," said Leo.
     "Thank you", said Walter bowing as low as he could go, and he took a seat at another fluffy chair, only this one was blood red. He sank into the chair a foot deep.
     "How do you like my castle? Might be a bit bigger than your father's manor, eh?" said Lord Leo. "Also, there's no need to bow that low. Just make sure you do it in front of anyone else 'cause you've gotta make a good impression."
     "Your castle is quite a bit bigger. And quite a bit greener too," Said Walter. "My father's coat of arms doesn't contain green."
     "Well, welcome," said Lord Leo. "You'll be living with me for the next few years. When you become 15, guess what?"
     "What?" said Walter, who had little left to say.
     "You'll be serving as my squire after that. Isn't that great?" Leo said, sounding less strict by the second.
     "An honor, sir."
     "So I understand that your name is Walter, you are 8 years old, you're not specifically tall, and not too fat either. I also understand that you're most likely a boy, and you don't like to read because you can't yet, and your favorite animal is a dog. So, uh, why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself?"
     "Unfortunately, there's not much left to tell, my lord," said Walter, racking his brain for any other useful information. Walter was quite surprised Lord Leo knew so much about him. He looked out the window and saw that the sun was going down and turning orange. In the distance, a trumpet sounded.
     "What a dull page. Well, we'll just have to sharpen you and your skills up," said Lord Leo. And with that he got up. "It's time for dinner.That's what that random trumpet sound means. Gosh, time does fly when you're having fun. Follow me." Lord Leo got up.
     Walter wasn't sure he was having a fun time, but at least he wasn't getting lectured about all the rules. Walter followed the lord of the castle through halls brightly lit with fiery torches, casting spooky shadows on the floor.
     The great hall was huge. Tapestries hung off great stone walls illuminated with torches. There was a super-green rug with a red border leading to the dais, which was this raised platform where everyone important and the page, who was currently Walter, and the Lord's squire ate, but Leo didn't have a squire. The table was covered with a purplish linen cloth, and was all set up with pewter dishes, knives and spoons. No forks, of course, because they weren't invented yet (Now you're a little less dumb!).
     Lord Leo took a seat at the high table. Also sitting there were Lady Loreena, the blonde girl, and whattaya-know! Sitting at the edges, very fine guests, Galandias Silverleaf and the dwarf guy!
     Walter sat in the only space available, which was between the elf and the blonde girl. Everyone except the dwarf said a prayer. Every human was religious back then, but I won't even try to describe the Samravian religion because, well just 'cause I'm not. Servants came in from the kitchen with plates of food. They filled up the goblets with wine (just water for Walter and the girl) and took metal covers off the trays, revealing all sorts of food that would be delicious back then: soup, roast meat, stuffed birds of which no one knew what it really was, baked fish, and pies were all there. Walter inhaled it all as fast as possible without seeming impolite and tried hard not to make the sipping noise when drinking from his fancy goblet. The dwarf, who revealed his name to be Fain Stonehammer, burped loudly, but apologized immediately. Galandias Silverleaf the elf never dropped anything onto the table, and the servants didn't have to even wash his plate because it was somehow cleaner than when it arrived.
     They were moving on to the main course when Fain the dwarf, who's beard was now encrusted with dropped food, started chatting to Lord Leo about something really important. Walter knew he shouldn't be listening, but he couldn't help it.
     "Ahem," the dwarf said. "I've got really important news. The dragons have offered alliance with our people, but demand a bit of our gold. Having dragons on our side would help us in our war against the orcs, but it would mean that the dragons would be getting too much gold in their hordes, and everyone knows that once a dragon gets his hands on a gold coin, he never gives it up until death. On the other hand, if we refuse, the dragons may declare war on us. You know how unpredictable they are. What do you suggest?"
     "Well, you wouldn't want a war with dragons, of course," Lord Leo said. "Just don't give them too much gold."
Then as the dwarf decided that it would be best to make peace with the dragons, Galandias, who had no beard, started talking about something else. Meanwhile, Walter started randomly talking to the girl next to him, who was Alice, Lord Leo's daughter.
     After dinner, Lady Loreena showed Walter to his new bedroom.
     After Walter said all his prayers to the Samravian gods, he went to sleep, thinking that being a page might not be so bad after all.

Turn The Page Chapter 1 - Arriving

Chapter 1-arriving

     Huh? Oh, hello. Didn't see you there. Say what? You want to hear a story about a random guy? Umm, okay. I guess I'll just make one up on the spot. Where to start? Oh yeah, I'll use a classic starting.

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

     The hooves of horses clomped on the road, and the wheels didn't make much noise. Dang, I've got to name my main character... I mean Walter Crewe looked out of a plain white carriage. There were green leafy trees, mostly pines, everywhere in the land of, um, I need to name the place too Samravia. Walter was sadly eight years old, the age all noble boys are when they get sent over to a nearby lord to train to be a knight. The first step was to be a page, of course, and a knight could easily flip a page over, as they were a good deal stronger than pages. Now Walter was both eight and heading over to Hasty Castle (which has nothing to do with Hastings), where Lord Leo, Walter's uncle a bajillion times removed and whatever, lived.
     Walter knew that the Lady Loreena, Lord Leo's wife, would teach him good manners. He'd already learned that you should say "good speed" whenever you entered a lord's place, though he didn't know what it actually meant. Probably to make you run faster.
     Walter would also be taught how to fight with swords and stuff. He'd already practiced with it, but he wasn't very good yet.
     "There it is!" Exclaimed the driver of the carriage, who was a short man with a mustache so big you couldn't see his mouth. In the distance, Walter looked up and saw a huge castle. At least it looked huge to him, because his father owned a manor, which was of the same sort but smaller. The carriage started up a hill. The greenery, which consisted of a very green forest, some greener bushes, and even greener grass, kept getting greener, and it was green even for the green green land of Samravia. Occasionally, they would pass a dirty small town that wasn't green.
     Half an hour passed. They were almost there. Walter could see the wall clearly, just up the road. It was the wall surrounding the village, and it was ginormous (and it wasn't green). There was a super-green shield, probably Lord Leo's coat of arms, suspended in front of the gray rock wall. Or is it grey? The towers, also called bastions, were around 10 feet taller than the rest of the wall, and heavily lined with battlements, murder holes and other stuff Walter couldn't describe. The horses clomped the last few steps, and the carriage came to a stop. A few guards were posted outside the gates, even in times of peace.
     An extra-tough looking guard, wearing an extra-green greenish green uniform questioned someone from Walter's escort. Walter's father couldn't come. He was a busy man. After a moment or three, the carriage started moving again. Walter looked out of the not-so-fancy carriage at the fancy gate. He could see the raised portcullis' spikes. They look just like the ones at home, just fancier, thought Walter as the carriage moved on. Walter looked up and saw more holes in the ceiling that were more murder holes used to fire arrows and stuff in a battle. The carriage moved on before he could stare any longer.
     First, near the wall, there were fields full of crops (even greener than outside and the guard) and some brown toolsheds. They soon passed a rock well and some peasants filling their buckets, trying not to spill any water. Walter couldn't see why they were trying to be so careful. The water was a bit brown. Then the carriage passed a really small brown dirty shack, more like a dog house, with a hole in it's roof. Then more houses began to appear, squished and cramped together, each house looking worse than the next one, because even though the last one is amazingly ugly, the ugliness of the next one still surprises you. In the village, there was very little grass, but the grass that did grow was almost as green as the crops. Walter passed some more poor guys staring at the sky hoping it would rain, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky that day, and the sun was going down. Walter bet the guys in the house with the hole in the ceiling hoped it wouldn't rain.
     Finally they passed the poor section of town, and the houses started to look inhabitable. Soon they arrived at some sort of town square. The road was no longer super-green with moss, and there were shops around every corner. One sign, made of wood, was decorated with a knife and a cow. It was a butcher's shop, and there was a horrible smell wafting from the entrance. Ugh. The carriage moved on again.
     After a while they arrived at another rock wall, which was taller, and had more guards and another extra-green coat of arms. There was a tall elf with a bow and a quiver strapped to his back talking to the second-toughest looking guard there, who was tougher-looking than the toughest one outside the town gate, so the escort turned to the third-toughest one, because the toughest was talking with fourth-toughest looking guard. After much random talking and questioning, Walter was told to get off the carriage, and that was what he did. Then everyone else walked off to other parts of town, and Walter was left alone with the guards wearing the supergreen uniforms, bored out of his mind.
     Walter supposed he should go through the gate, so he took a deep breath and went in. There was a small courtyard. There was a little super-duper-green grass, and the elf guy that Walter had seen outside the gate. He had gotten through the gate when the random questioning was happening.
     Walter supposed he should knock on the door to go into the main keep and meet Lord Leo, and was just about to do so when the elf dude said, "Hello, you must be Lord Leo's new page, yes?"
     "Um, no, I'm not," Walter said, because he had no idea what the elf was up to. Never trust an elf, eh? In fact, it was his first time seeing an elf. The elf was unmistakably an elf, because he had pointed ears, golden hair, and he was very tall. (the Lord Of The Rings type) He also had no mustache. Some people said elves were immortal. In that case, all elves die young, thought Walter to himself.
     "Well, new page, my name is Galandias Silverleaf. Nice to meet you," said the elf, ignoring the fact that Walter had just told him he was not the new page.
     "New page?" Said a different, lower voice behind him. Walter turned around to see a dwarf, only slightly taller than he was, but he was really buff and muscular. He had a large head, larger eyebrows, a larger mustache, and an even larger brown bushy beard that went all the way down to his waist. "Why, I'm here to see Lord Leo on advice whether-"
     Just then the door opened, and out came an ugly man who was missing a few teeth.
     "Ah! There ya are! Lord Leo's bin looking all over fer yeh. Come on in." And with that Galandias Silverleaf and the dwarf waved, and the man pushed Walter in, slamming the door behind them.
     "By the way, call me Merek. I'm Lord Leo's advisor. It has nothing to do with the author's name just because it rhymes, ok?"
     Before Walter could ask who I was, Merek mumbled something else, and then started explaining about this, and then explained about that, and then explained about this and that as they went through the castle. Soon after the long tour, which included the great hall, the library, the kitchens, the toilet, of course, and many more random rooms, Merek led him outside the lord's room.
     "When ya go in, stand still as a stone til' the lord speaks, then bow before you answer, mmkay?," Merek said.
     Walter held the bronze handles of the oak door, took a very deep breath, and pushed the door open.