In the next month, Summer alas had finally gone, and the first month of Autumn came around. The date was March fifteenth, Argus’ birthday. Today, he was seventeen, and Aunty Melody and Uncle Stefanos couldn’t be prouder of what their young nephew had become. Tonight, was something to celebrate, and as such, Argus would be partying with his best friend Leander, and other friends, Roman and August. Up in his room, he was getting dressed. Argus didn’t put anything too special, as he was just going out with pals. Argus put on his signature white shirt, with carmine-coloured pants, black olive boots, and a castleton green coloured cloak.
Once that was out of the way, Argus went quickly to the bathroom, where he grabbed a hair brush, trying to tidy up his messy, curled hair. Unfortunately for Argus, his hair came out looking worse than it was before. “Useless hair brush.” He complained, staring down at the brush, which had torn out some of his hair. After a few minutes of struggling, Argus was finally able to get his hair to the way it was, and pull every last one of his fallen-out hairs. “Finally.” He signed in relief.
Argus walked downstairs to find his Aunty in the kitchen, preparing a lovely roast duck. “Ahem.” His Aunt turned to Argus. “Don’t you look handsome?” She told Argus.
“Thank you, Aunty.” He replied. Aunt Melody then squinted, almost as if she saw something. Aunt Melody then walked over to him, licking her thumb, and whipping some dirt off of his cheek. Argus cringed, scrunching up his nose. “Sometimes you must suffer to be beautiful.” Aunt Melody told Argus. In fact, he told him this almost all the time.
Argus, after drying his wet cheek, went out to the barn, to find Uncle Stefanos feeding the sheep. “You going already lad?” Asked Stefanos.
“I think so Uncle. I’m all dressed, and I’ve spruced myself up.” Argus explained, taking one of the horses from the stable. “Did you make sure to grab the money?” Uncle Stefanos asked. “Oh, thank you.” Argus hurried to the house, before Uncle Stefanos exclaimed to him, “It’s on the family room table!”
Argus ran back through the house, and into the family room, finding the pouch of money on the table, but underneath the pouch, were some brown wrappings, with a black lace tying it together. Argus, wondering why it was there, took in hand, and put the money pouch in his pocket. “Aunt Melody, what’s this?” Argus asked, now in the kitchen. “Aunt Melody turned to him, looking at the wrappings, smiling. “Why don’t you ask your Uncle?” She suggested, obviously hinting at something. “Argus went outside, to find his Uncle with a bucket of water, walking back to the house.
“Uncle, I found this on the table underneath the pouch. Is it something you needed per chance?” Argus asked.
“Well, why don’t you open it up and see for yourself what it is?” Stefanos suggested. Argus, with both confusion, and assurance to what it might have been, opened them up, to reveal a nicely folded, fern green coloured scarf. “Happy birthday my boy.” Uncle Stefanos said. Argus began to smile. “Thank you so much Uncle! It’s beautiful.” Argus said.
“Don’t give me all the credit, Aunt Melody saw it while in town on Saturday. She used a bit of the money we won to get it.” Uncle Stefanos explained.
“She really is the best. I should go back and say thank you.” Argus began to turn back, but Uncle Stefanos stopped him. “Don’t worry about going back again, you go on to Firandir, and I’ll tell her you said thank you.” Argus hugged his dear Uncle, before putting on his scarf. Then, taking a saddle, he placing it on Celia and hopped on her. “Oh, Argus my boy, I gave you some extra money so you can afford a room with Leander at the inn. I don’t want you and him riding back in the dark.”
Uncle Stefanos explained. “Oh, thank you. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Argus then waved goodbye to his Uncle, before galloping off down the road to Leander’s. “GIVE THE TERESI FAMILY MY BEST!” Uncle Stefanos shouted, watching Argus leave his sight. Argus, now riding down the road, sighted the clouds getting darker, not just because the evening was coming near, but also because it was most likely to rain. “Just our luck girl.” He said to Celia, who was moving with haste. As the next minutes went by, Argus felt small taps of rain on him head, some getting into his eyes.
He decided to stop for a moment, to put his hood on, before continuing to the Teresi farm. After another twenty or so minutes, he was in sight of the farm, less than a mile away. “At last, this rain is annoying me.” Argus said to himself. Finally, after the long ride, Argus reached the farm. He brought Celia to the Teresi’s stables where she could rest for a bit. Once Argus had knocked on the door to Leander’s house, it only took a few seconds for someone to answer the door. “Hello Argus dear.” Mrs. Teresi said in a quietened voice, hugging Argus. “It’s nice to be back so soon.” Argus said.
“Leander is just in the lounge room, reading.” Mrs. Teresi explained. “Oh, thank you Mrs. Teresi.” Argus wiped his shoes of dirt and headed inside to find Leander reading; his face lit by the orange of the fire place. “Argus!” Leander said with excitement, standing up, placing the book on his seat. “Hush! Your poor Father is in bed!” Mrs. Teresi whispered. “Sorry Mum – OH! Argus, I have something for you.” With that, Leander hurried to a different room. Mrs. Teresi too went to a different room, leaving Argus to look around. He walked over to Leander’s chair, looking down at the book he was reading.
Argus picked it up to read the title. The book’s title read, ‘A Brief History of the world’. Argus didn’t get a chance to see the author’s name, as Leander came back into the room, with a wooden box, and handed it to Argus. Argus looked at it for a second, not sure what he was to do with it. “Go on then, open it.” Argus looked at Leander, before staring at the box, and opened it. Inside, was a book by E. R. Aetos called, ‘The Ballad of the Roses: The Poem of One Thousand Hearts’. Argus’ eyes widened. “This is E. R. Aetos’ new book! This costs more than a pretty penny – how did you get it?!” Argus asked with a building excitement. “I’ve been saving for a few months now. I wanted to get you something special, and after all, you got me that lovely mug, so I thought you deserved it.” Argus looked at Leander, giving him the biggest hug, he’d ever given. “How did I ever deserve a friend like you?”
Leander looked at Argus. “What a silly question. You deserve it plenty my friend.”
Leander responded. Argus closed the box before putting it down on the table,
and they both went to sit down and chat, of course, they would need to be
rather quiet about it, as Leander’s Father was still asleep. They chatted for a
bit, talking about how they were, what they had been up to, everything like
that, and Leander told Argus about his interests in the history of their world,
and even becoming interested in geography and the shaping of empires.
“So, when did you start getting interested in all this?” Argus asked. “November last year, when my Dad showed me this book about the history of Shoafar,” Leander started, “Then, he got me interested on the geography of the country. The landscaping especially posed an interest for me. From there, I learned more about bloodlines and dynasties, and you’ll never guess what I found in one of the books.” Argus wondered for a minute.
“What did you find?” He asked.
“I found a family tree, belonging to the dynasty of Nephus.” Leander then got up to retrieve a book from one of the shelves in the room.
He grabbed a bright gold book called, ‘Bloodlines of the Past: A Most Interesting History’. Leander brought it to the table and began to scroll through the pages. “Let me see now. Where could it be?” Leander scrolled and scrolled before finally coming to page 46. “Here we are, the family tree of Nephus.” Leander showed Argus the diagram, and the names of each family member, starting with Mathias, and ending with Eleutherius Nephus; and at the very top of the page read, ‘the dynasty of Nephus, rulers of Ermandria, Taregon’. “Incredible! I had no idea I had some royalty in me.” Argus said with amazement.
“I know. And, I also found my family’s name,” Leander then turned to page 198. “Apparently,
I’m descended from great noblemen of Cidan, Shoafar.” Leander explained. “Amazing
to think what a little research will do.” Argus said.
“Actually, the author went to every kingdom in Rethomar, just to document every line of both royalty and noblemen,” Leander began, “He was so dedicated to his work, and it makes me think about how he was able to do it.” He finished.
“All it takes is a goal and determination.” Argus said. Suddenly, they heard a cough from beside them to the left and looked toward the sound. “Afternoon Argus.” Said Mr. Teresi. “Have a good sleep Dad?” Leander asked.
“Thank you, yes… I did.” He sat down, looking a bit tired still, obviously trying to wake up.
After a few more minutes, Argus and Leander decided that it was late enough to make their way to the village. Leander said goodbye to his Mother and Father, and the two made their way to Firandir, galloping the whole way. After much time on the road, they had finally reached the town. Both a little tired, they continued to the local stable, where their horses could be taken care of while in town. After this, Argus and Leander walked to the inn where they rented a room for the night. Argus and Leander decided to go up to their room, and sit down for a bit, just to regain their strength for the fun night ahead.
“I love these bedsheets.” Leander said.
“Yes, they’re nice comfortable” Argus agreed as they both lay on their beds. After a few more minutes of relaxing, the two agreed that it would be best to meet Roman and August at their houses. First, they went to August’s as it was the closest, knocking on the door, and embracing each other. “Hey fellas. Happy birthday Argus.” August said. They caught up with each other while walking to Roman’s speaking of what they would do while in town. One thing was a definite though, the three decided to head to Mr. Gelb’s tavern, where they could get a nice brew, and a good lump of meat on their plates.
Once they arrived at Roman’s house, they were welcomed in while Roman was continuing to get himself ready. “Happy birthday Argus, good to see you Leander.” Roman said to them. It was always a joy catching up, even if it had only been a month. Still, rejoicing was in order, and the four of them, when ready, walked to the Plenty ‘o’ Pint. On the way, they chatted some more. Roman told them about how he saved Mrs. Sot’s cat, and that he saved the little thing.
“Ever since then, she’s been bringing me fresh cookies and cakes every weekend.” He boasted. “I must say, I do like my cats.” Argus said.
“I don’t particularly think much of ‘em. I recon they’re selfish little fur balls.” Leander admitted.
“Been reading anything new Argus?” August asked.
“Well actually, Leander bought me a new novel by E. R. Aetos. I’ve heard it’s supposed to be brilliant. Thanks again for that Leander.” Argus said to Leander.
“No problem. Anything for a friend.” Leander replied, happy that his friend was happy.
“Wait until you see what we got for you Argus.” Said Roman. “You are going to faint when you see it.” Added August. “I can’t wait!” Argus exclaimed. While walking down the road, they ran into Mrs. Sot, who had in hand, a lovely sponge cake with vanilla icing. “Oh, hello Roman, I was on my way to see you. I brought you a little something.” She told Roman.
“Oh, thanks very much Mrs. Sot. Sorry I can’t take it from you, we’re out celebrating this one’s birthday.” Roman pointed at Argus. “Oh, that’s right! Happy birthday dear boy.” Argus blushed a bit.
“Thank you, Mrs. Sot, that means a lot to me. Oh, and by the way, we would be happy to take that cake back to Roman’s, wouldn’t we boys?” Roman silently groaned, but agreed, and the others did too. “Oh no Argus, I don’t expect the birthday boy to be running any errands. I’ll take this myself.” She told Argus. “Now you boys have a good night, and happy birthday Argus.” She said once again before walking off to Roman’s house. “She’s so nice, isn’t she?” Argus asked the others.
“She always has been.” Leander said. They continued their way to the tavern, and before long, they began to hear the sound of laughter and music. Once they finally came to the tavern, the four were greeted by bright lights from the lanterns.
There were also the smells of lovely steak and ales. “Smell that beef boys.” August said. Soon, all their stomachs were growling with hunger, and they all took a seat. They talked for a minute, before one of the servers went over to ask them for an order. “I’ll have a steak with veg and chips please.” August said.
“Fish and chips please.” Added.
“I think I might have the stew with mashed potato.” Roman said. “One steak with roast potato and veg thanks.” The server wrote down their order on a small pad of paper with a quill, continuously dipping the quill in some ink they had placed on the table.
“I assume you’ll all have a pint?” She asked. “All of them nodded to each other, and agreed. Once the waitress had walked off with their order, they began to talk some more. “She was quite pretty wasn’t she lads?” Roman said, Argus began to blush. “Ooh, looks like someone has a bit of a crush?” August teased
“No! I just think she’s pretty!” Roman and August began to chuckle a bit, even Leander had a bit of a laugh. “You too Leander?” Leander stopped.
“Oh, come on Argus, it was just a joke.”
“Yeah Argus, don’t get so defensive.” Roman teased.
“Oh, shut up.” All of them were now laughing, though the other people in the tavern couldn’t care less, as they were having their own conversations and enjoying their own meals. That is except for one man. He was by himself, almost staring at Argus. This caught his attention, but didn’t think too much of it. The man had a pint in his hand, and he was slowly sipping from it. Once the group’s drinks and meals came, they ate, and little talk was made. Clearly, they were too hungry to consider what they were to say to each other next.
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