Taking a step forward

The sound of singing filled the air. It was beautiful and peaceful sound and rather surprised Leo. He did not expect Zoe to have such a nice sounding voice to sing with. Though, the other did not seem shocked at all so it made him feel awkward a bit to see that he was the only one who didn't expect the outcome as they rode along the cart they had bought from the capital.

Buying a cart for the six of them was much easier to travel around then to continually get rides from merchants since he was now in a group rather then being alone with the wolf the entire time. The one who got stuck driving the cart was naturally Daryl since he was the only one besides Zoe who had any idea how to handle the horses. The dragon, Bredret, clearly had no experience in driving a cart considering his background. Celeste was a ghost and had no way to even hold the reins. Then lastly Vorbuk was a wolf while Leo was a prince who never drove a cart in his life cause he always had servants for that sort of thing. If it was riding a horse naturally that was something Leo could do cause he was raised in art of horse back riding for battle as a kid, but a cart was a different situation to him.

"Are you sure you're alright with this?" Leo whispered to the wolf.

"Of course, but we still have a deal that if I grow tired of you I'll leave. I will still hold you to that, but the time is not now so do not worry for now." Vorbuk yawned and pinned his ears down.

Leo nodded at the wolf and looked around. He was not sure where they were going to end up going, but Daryl seemed to be sure that he had an idea for where to start so he kept quiet. From what he gathered Daryl and the dragon suggested heading to allied kingdoms in search of information and allies that could aid in the war. The one everyone believed to be the root of the problem was the Ice Queen Lyra. Everyone had agreed that if she was to be taken out than things could gain a chance to flow more calmly and towards a better future. Leo could not help but to think it over more deeply and in his guess there was probably more secrets hidden behind the scenes besides just the Ice Queen, but he did not want to spoil the things for them right now.

If my guess is right then there is probably someone above Lyra who is in charge and using her simply as their puppet themselves. The wars have gone on for many generations, after all. Ethiadan was not like the kingdom of Cadirade and their kings and queens were not a single bloodline that continued on. They were all selected personally and placed on the throne. With that thought in mind it made Leo wonder even more deeply at the thought. Who controls who gets on the throne in Ethiadan? That was something that nobody knew, not even the populace of Ethiadan knew! It was something that was kept hidden to the depths of the palace there itself.

"Are you alright?" Vorbuk asked as he nudged his nose against Leo's leg to get his attention. He was worried by the deep look in the prince's eye that seemed to have him spacing off very far from everything around them.

"Yes, I was just thinking things might not be as simple as everyone wants to presume." Leo scratched the back of his head as he tried to act relaxed.

"I could see that, but I do not think everyone else has realized it yet. I think there is a lot more then even you have yet to realize." The wolf said as he thought back to their trip to the palace. He had felt something was off with prince Curtis back at that time, but he did not want to cause further pain to the crown prince, Leo, so he never told him want he saw in the look Curtis had gave him from behind his back.

Vorbuk had always been good at reading people. It was a skill he had in his past life on earth and it was something he had long kept when his soul landed here in the realm of Validore. His very soul had even strengthened since his arrival causing his various attributes he had before to heighten his senses further. The only thing that bothered him more then anything now was that some things felt foreign to him and he did not enjoy that strange unknown feeling. The instincts he had and feelings he had in various situations were strange. He was a wolf, but he held both canine and human feelings due to his body and soul being a mix of the two.

"What do you mean I haven't realized yet? Do you know something?" Leo was tempted for a moment to reach out and pat the wolf on the head from him being so close, but held himself back because he still was not sure the wolf would accept such a reaction.

"Do not worry about it right now. I may be mistaken on some things so I would rather not discuss them right now with you." Vorbuk shook his head for a moment then jumped out out of the cart to walk. He wanted to remove himself from Leo's presence a bit so that he would not say anything he felt that he shouldn't at the moment. If he accused Curtis of something at the moment only to find himself being wrong later on he would regret ever saying a thing to Leo and causing the misunderstanding. It was something he would not risk. He felt that if something happened in the future he would just protect Leo and the others when the time came for it, but for now he would remain quiet.

As Leo watched the wolf walking beside the cart he wondered what it was that was bothering Vorbuk. Sometimes the actions the wolf made would leave him confused. He was a wolf though and Leo knew that so some things about the wolf were bound to be different and hard to understand. At times he felt like he was talking to a normal human though, but he would throw that thought away as it made no sense to him. It was as though the wolf was hiding something from him. If that was true the young prince figured there would come a day when the wolf would possibly trust him enough to let it out. The wolf felt like family in a way to him and so he'd let him be when he felt the need to.