X

“Hi, pal!”

———

The sun shone brightly on Amy's windows and it filled her room with light. She rubbed her eyes and stretched.

"Do I have classes today?" Amy asked herself.

Her eyes widened when she remembered that it was their first day of advanced training as Portal Soldiers. She hurriedly ran out of her room. She rushed to the bathroom to take a bath and brush her teeth. She ran out the bathroom fastly and went to her royal closet to take her clothes. She picked her collared navy blue shirt on top and jeans for easy movement.

Amy picked her sets of arrows up and so as her bow. She noticed that she would run out of arrows if she'll not put more so she decided to run to the small house of weapons, just few steps outside the main door of the palace. There, she asked the carver of wooden weapons where are the arrows.

"Oh, your majesty, the wooden arrows are there in the in the wooden chest including the metal arrows," the carver answered and bowed exaggeratedly. The carver wanted to help Amy in getting the arrows but she refused.

"Thanks," Amy said as she walked happily towards the brown, wooden chest of arrows. She picked up some wooden arrows and put them into holder on her waist. She also picked some metal arrows and put it on the one on her back. She left the carving old man and the hut with a wave from her left hand. She walked near the gate where Lance was usually waiting.

He's probably in the meeting place by now, she thought because he's not there.

A white gorgeous palace horse was following her long before she could ever step out. Amy doesn't know that it's just a winsome horse. She felt something was following her, so she turned aggressively to check what it is. The horse ran towards the wider part of the palace garden when she glared at it. She tried to chase it but of course, she will not win a race with a horse.

The horse stopped and walked towards her.

"Hi, pal!" Amy said as she touched the horse's nose.

The horse led her to the stable of palace horses. She was happy to see the horse seems to be love her. The horse walked to a man with long, white beard and bald head.

"Your majesty, would you like any horses to own?" the strange man asked her.

"Well, um. How about this one? I like her so much," she said caressing the horse.

"Oh, yes," the man said. "That's a perfect horse."

"May I have saddle, stirrups, reign and shoes?" Amy asked.

"Yes, your Majesty," the man replied with a smile.

He walked into the little hut beside the stable. After a while of waiting, the old man finally came out of the hut bringing a reign and shoes.

"Your Majesty, let me put these on your horse for you," the man said and Amy thanked her for being humble.

"Thank you but how about the stirrup and saddle?" Amy asked.

The old man said, "What kind of stirrup and saddle, your Majesty?"

"The one with good adjustable tightness on the horse's back and can give good balance," Amy replied humbly.

The man walked to the hut again and took a stirrup to Amy. The saddle is red, looking bravely royal. He gave it to Amy and she fixed it on her horse.

"Thanks," Amy said waving her hand to the old man.

She hugged her new horse. Her sight began to darken. Wizard Sheloin once more gave her a lesson, how to ride a horse. She began to shake her head. Everything was normal again. She looked at her horse and led it to the walls of the palace again.

Amy swiftly took another set of arrows from her bedroom on the second floor of the Western Tower. It was for the horse's side. What a perfection! Amy ran back to where she has been. She met her horse again at the gates and had put the set of arrows on her.

She rode her horse carefully. It ran fastly and it made Amy scream. They reached the Generals' base at a little part in the East of the Portland Goldens. They stopped there.

"Good morning, is General Phillip here?" Amy asked to the guard.

"Oh, General Phillip? He's not yet here. You're too early, your Majesty," the guard responded to Amy.

Amy thought, Lance is not here. He might be stretching on his bed and realizing I am not in the palace anymore. She just sat under the shade of a tree where it's hard to be noticed. She is trying to wait as patiently with her horse.

"Hi, my horse! Wait, what name should I call you?" Amy said, thinking a nice name.

The horse walked around Amy and stopped.

"What if, I call you, Airie?" Amy suggested. Airie became cheerful. She walked around and stopped by at Amy to give her a very sweet look. Someone walked towards her although she was partly hidden. It's Sally.

"Hi, Amy! Is she yours?" Sally asked.

"Yes, she followed me suddenly after I took enough arrows, then the old man taking care of them gave me her. She's a palace horse. The man also gave me stirrup, saddle , shoes, and reign," Amy merrily explained.

"Wow," Sally uttered.

Someone came near to them again. This time, it was Elise.

"Hi!" Elise said. "Wow! Oh, my gosh! Is she yours? She was adorable!" Elise touched the long, wavy mane of Airie.

The boys came laughing the way patting at their own tummies because of loss of breath.

"Oh my! Wha— Is . . . she yours, Amy?" Tom asked stuttering.

"Yeah, she's a palace horse. She followed me earlier after I took enough arrows. She led me to the one caring them. The old man gave me a stirrup, saddle, a purple reign, and shoes. I named her, Airie," Amy never got tired of explaining.

They all sat on the green grass under the shade of if the tree. Couple of seconds passed by quickly as it should be, General Phillip came bringing his brown native horse. They all stood up to greet the General.

"Good day, I thought you're still not here," General Phillip smiled.

He looked at everyone. Well, all of them are already present. They followed the general into the meeting room but Amy stayed for a while to put Airie a good place of shade. She let Airie stay in the shade of that tree to keep a good temperature. She fastly followed her team and waved goodbye to Airie.

They settled on their seats and prepared minds.

"Before starting to go on a battle, first you need to go on an orientation knowing the things to remember in the battlefield," General Phillip started. "First, practicality. It means, when you don't have your mastered weapon, you can just get other weapons. You might die if you'll not take other weapons to protect yourself."

"The second one is speed. You should be fast in dodging, shooting, swinging, or whatever you do with you weapons or else, you'll be in hot water. Third, defense. It means, the most possible way you'll get killed is by the bullets and arrows. You should be remembering that all the time. Amy, Tom and William, you need to shoot really good."

"Fourth, attack. Elise, Lance, and Sally, you're the one called attackers or front liners. Fifth, bravery. You need to fight with guts. Sixth, friendship which means you need to keep your friendship close even though someone will be having a mistake."

"The last but not the least, power! Follow me," General Phillip said as the six of them followed him. They found themselves outside and Amy fetched Airie from the shade of the tree to the path shown by General Phillip.

---