quaila

The guards of Quaila's main chambers had began their journey to Helilia on foot.

The trained multi possessors marched together to Helilia with a sick little girl and her mom.

"Madia's going to die now and it's all your fault Hogan!", The woman cried to one of the guards whose depression could not be concealed.

"Always after being noble! A man of integrity!", She cried mockingly.

Some of the guards looked at them and laughed, some were non-chalant, while others were sympathetic looking at the little girl who had now become very slim.

Minor sicknesses were not common in Quaila, there was always a multi possessor or an healer nearby and in seconds minor illnesses are taken care of, sometimes so casual, it's like helping someone pick a coin that fell from his pocket. A simple "thank you" would do.

"Hogan, you really screwed up!", Another guard said walking close to Hogan as he touched Madia.

"How was I supposed to know that Lord Luca would decide we moved on foot?!", Hogan said.

"I thought I'll just have to come back say what I saw and then we march back on horses!", He added.

"Now, not only did he ask us to move back on foot, he made me the head of the team!", Hogan spoke some more.

……

After spending almost all their money purchasing pills for their sick daughter, they decided to go to Helilia with the last bag of coins they had been saving. From it, they rented a horse and bought some food items for the road and embarked on the Journey to Helilia.

While on their way to Helilia to get Madia treated, Hogan discovered Miguel and Kayla amongst the number of persons heading to Helilia and quickly decided to make a turn back to Quaila's main chambers to report.

Hogan's wife didn't agree with this, but Hogan was stubborn and insisted that it was the noble thing to do. Thinking his action would save the lives of many Quailians... unlike his daughter whom he feels he can sustain for a while longer with his own healing abilities for the mean time.

A very popular stable rentals known as Stay Bull, owned by a really smart and rich man was set up in almost all the cities of Quaila. It operates in a very standard way; one rents a horse at the price to buy it and the horse is returned to their stations in any city. Then a portion of the money paid is returned to the renter depending on the horse's state.

The horses also had something like paint on their leg, this was made only by Stay Bull, the wearing off of the paint indicated how long the horse had stayed away from the stable. If the paint completely goes off, it's best you kept the horse for yourself, because only a tenth or less of what was paid for the horse would be given back.

This was the path Hogan chose, they decided that when they returned the horse the'll use the money to get a bronze card and have their daughter treated, but when Hogan found Miguel, he decided to play hero and so decided to go back without returning the horse.

He initially thought that Luca would release some horses for them, with the help of the well trained and fed horses, they would be back in no time.

So Hogan rode back to Quaila's main chamber and decided to return the horse, so he and his family could get something to eat after the long fruitless journey. Unfortunately for him the horse's value had greatly diminished and all they could afford was the meal for them all.

After eating, he went over to tell Luca what he had seen.

Unfortunately for him, Luca made him head of those going to capture Miguel and asked them to go on foot.

Hogan at first didn't know how to tell his wife that all their life savings and their daugter's well being had been given up for being loyal. He told her after recuting the guards to move on foot.

……

The other guard nodded sadly. This young guard is Hogan's friend Kim.

Kim knew how loyal Hogan was as a guard in Quaila. He once reported a friend even; back then when he did this, they thought he and his friend had a misunderstanding, because he wasn't the only one who knew what the friend had done, but he was the one that reported. Kim had long been trying to find out what fued he had his friend had that could have led to that, but after seeing this new act of his, Kim understood that his loyalty was indeed genuine.

But this instigated a slight sense of fear in Kim's heart, because before now, he had been thinking that Hogan had issues with his friend that was the reason for the report and so felt that as long as they had no problems he was okay, but now he understands that his blood daughter was nothing in front of his loyalty, who then is he?

To be continued…