The Coffee House

"We'd probably be there by now if we weren't carrying a heavy crate," Aliana answered, much to Lysander's despair. "As it is, we're less than halfway. I expect we'll need at least another two rests, so we'll probably take another three hours."

As it was, Lysander ran out of energy very rapidly - and, five hours later, they were taking their fourth rest break. Everyone was utterly out of breath and could move no further - except for Rupert, whose muscular build and intense combat training were serving him well. As the only one who wasn't totally drained, he opted to take the lead. 

"We're only about half a mile away from Lennart Castle," he observed, pointing at the turrets with Lennart Kingdom's flag proudly unfurled at the top. "If we go into the town, we could replace the food that we've eaten, and try to find an inn to stay in. It'd be risky - we'd be in deep trouble if they found out it was us - but otherwise, we're probably going to have to sleep out in the rough tonight. What do you guys say?"

Lysander nodded eagerly. "Yes! I don't want to sleep on the ground!" he whined looking poutly.

Ben as usual looked a tad nervous. "It sounds dangerous...what if we get caught?"

"Uhhh, well, that's a risk we'll just have to take, I guess ," Aliana responded hesitantly. "But, we should probably figure out some convincing disguises. Then, we should get Ben and Rupert to go and buy them for us: we can't possibly go into town undisguised, because everyone will know us and we'll be captured."

"I'd be happy to do that ," Rupert smiled. "Unfortunately, I don't really know my way around Lennart Kingdom: I've never been there before, so you'll need to suggest some places."

"Well, there's Alice's Apparel," Aliana responded immediately. "I thought everyone knew that place: it's been around for years. I even have a funny story about it to share, about something my dad did in there once ..."

Lysander rolled his eyes. “No one cares about that dumb story Aliana! Just tell them where it is!”

Aliana rolled her eyes at Lysander, and pretended to hit him with her tail fin. 

"Well, it's at the bottom of a hill, just outside the town market," Aliana explained. "It's on a gravel path, between two tall elm trees. The building is dark green, and made out of wood. It's very big, so you can't miss it. Also, one of the mannequins might look like my dad....wait, Andy told me not to tell that story, didn't he ?"

Ben giggled at that. “I wanna hear!” He squealed.

”No! Just go already!” Lysander cried flapping his tail angerily.

"Fine, I'll just give you a short version," Aliana decided. "You see, he thought the mannequins were kind of boring just standing there not doing anything, and he thought he could do a much better job than them. So, he stood in the window wearing some clothes he'd just bought, and stood there waving and smiling at potential customers. He thought it was cute, but everyone else just found him weird and told him to leave."

She then glanced at her nautical brass watch, and realised it was later than she thought: they were two hours behind schedule!

"Crikey, I suggest you and Rupert should go now!" Aliana gasped. "I'll be waiting here with Andy. Or, he might be shrunk in my hand if he annoys me. Or maybe in the sea. I dunno."

Ruppert snorted shaking his head. “Cmon Ben...” He said as he led the way into town and Ben scampered after him.

Aliana gazed towards the town, watching Ben trying in vain to catch up with Rupert, as they both receded away from the cave, and eventually disappeared over the crest of a distant hill. 

"I need to rest," Aliana announced wearily, turning to Lysander and slithering her way into the cave. "You're welcome to join me if you want, I guess."

Rupert led the way into town and immediately searched for the clothes shop which he soon found. He headed inside with Ben looking at the clothes. "So...what should we get them?"


Lysander rolled his eyes, but followed along. "Why are you even here?"