Five

And the next morning, they were off. Beating the early crowd which always occupied the cobbled streets and merchants who arrive early to sell their wares to the travelers for an exorbitant fee. The capital was a big place but what made it bigger were the other villages that was set up around the capital, there by adding to the capital might and forming a hub of business activities which interlinked one part to the other. Most people often made the mistake of referring to it all as the capital but it wasn't, each of these villages were under districts which was under a noble and then the king. The reason why Vallas was running away from the capital was because the capital itself is a district and under the control of the Prime Minister unless the Emperor interferes and that was something which the man rarely did. He needed to leave the clutches of the man who had something out for him.

"Nervous." Vallas asked Penelope from beside her, he had been watching her just as she had been watching the passing scenery. 

"No. Just mystified by everything which I am seeing." Penelope didn't take her eyes off the window. What she had said was the truth but it was also true that when she started to stare out of the window, she had already calculated the distance it would take for her to fling herself out if she needed to make a quick escape. 

"Not even nervous about being in a carriage with a man who knows that you are a woman." Vallas jokes but Penelope didn't crack a smile at his words, he was trying to get a rise out of her but if there was something about Penelope which people didn't know was that she doesn't get caught off guard often if not at all. 

"You don't see me as a woman. The closest you relate me to being a female is as a pawn and you know I am more worthy to you as a man because then I can be your biggest weapon, You seem like the type who prefer business before pleasure no matter what persona you put on to deceive others." 

Vallas eyes widening was the only sign that betrayed his shock. "You seem to think you can read me very well." And he was really shock at the girl in front of him, she had correctly examined him, something which full grown men hasn't being able to do and yet this girl who was barely on the cusp of womanhood just did that. Vallas was feeling warmer to the idea of having Penelope by his side.

"No, I don't think I can read you, I just know the situation and it is the only reason why I feel safe with you." Penelope replied when she felt the smallest change in the man, he could be that he didn't like the fact that she could come to that conclusion easily so she was trying to make him feel better.

"You are full of surprises Penn. Do you want to change the name? Something more exotic which will fit your status and face perfectly, we can even make up a story about your origin, what do you think?"  Vallas asks Penelope who shook her head. 

"It will serve as a reminder, so I want to leave it besides we should stick to the truth as close as possible."

"Reminder of what?" Vallas asked intrigued, Penelope way of seeing things always seem to leave him reeling because she looks at things for an angle which nobody thought to look at it from. 

"That I am a woman, and also of the bastard who put me on this journey. His very original nickname for me was Penn. I call myself that so that I will never forget what he did to me or what I did to him in return." And just as Vallas had suspected, her words left him reeling. Who decides to call herself something that reminds her of her terrible crime and the reason why she could not return home? 

The girl in front of him, that who. Vallas was barely keeping still on his chair, he couldn't wait to see the way in which the girl in front of him influence the resistance. She will rise up the ranks in no time.

"What is your real name?" Vallas asked.

"Penelope." Penelope replied. 

Vallas nodded. "You are right, Penelope no longer fits you, Penn is better."

"And why do you think that?" Penelope asked with a half smirk on her lips, she was expecting something general, a speech on how she is now seen as a man and all. 

"Penelope represents a woman filled with dreams and hopes, a flower in the middle of a bloom and some random girl. Penn is unique, he is a warrior who knows life, has seen and tasted the sour taste of it. who has reveled in it and beaten down by it yet he is still not broken Penn has seen the darkness in life doing the worst it possibly can and is still not afraid of it. He is a warrior and a weapon, a mighty sword that will devour his enemies and can die for the cause he believes in." Vallas explains as Penelope smirk died on her face as her features turned gaunt with worry, it was still a speech on her being a man now but it was different, more intense and it sounded like there was no happiness in this for her. 

"I am neither of those." Penn tells Vallas who smiled, his eyes filled with promises of how she will turn into Penn when he was done with her and his words proved it.

"Not yet." Vallas added. "But you will be under my tutelage." 

The carriage rolled to a stop as Vallas frowned. "What is going on?" 

"Sire, the road is blocked. By the Prime minister men." One of Vallas men said closed to the window as Vallas frown became fiercer, he knew something like this might happen but he didn't actually think that Cain was dumb enough to do it, especially since he knows that Vallas will not give up Penn. 

"That man keeps exercising power he doesn't have." He said as he threw the door of the carriage open and came down, the picture of calm. Penelope watched the man who had become her father as he handled people who had the power to enforce laws but couldn't do anything but cower at the sight of him. 

"Problem gentlemen?"

"Pardon me My lord for stopping your carriage but we have information of a stowaway in your vehicle."

"Rest assured, anybody in my carriage is invited by me to be there and thus, isn't a stowaway." Vallas replied as the captain looked lost at words. 

"But sire… the person is not supposed to leave the city."

"Why? Was he in jail or committed any crime?" Vallas asked.

"No really but he shouldn't get to leave, it was not approved and…"

"Last time I checked, anybody can chose to leave the capital at any time he or she so desires so why am I being harassed in the middle of my journey home?" Vallas tone changes from easy going to hard as nails within seconds. "Don't make me an enemy, guard."

"Of course not." The man replied with a gulp which Penelope could hear from the carriage where she was trying hard to stifle her laughter. 

"Good, now be a good man and let me through without wasting any more of my time." Vallas ordered and smiled when the guard scrambled to obey his command. He turned to enter the carriage back, he stopped and spoke over his shoulders without turning to face those his message was going to. "Tell the person who put you up to this little stunt that his message has been received and that if he does try to harass me ever again, he will have a very determined enemy to deal with." With those words, he entered the carriage and saw Penelope struggling not to laugh. "Glad I could amuse you."

"The pleasure is all mine." Penelope tilted her head in a form of delicate feminine bow which made Vallas to cringe and Penelope to laugh out loud. 

"Please, let's not try to do that again."

"Accepted." Penelope agreed.

When the carriage stopped again, it was in front of a compound. "Say hello to your new home." Vallas said but Penelope looked back at the direction which the carriage came from instead. Once she goes into that building, Penelope no longer exists, just one person do and that person is Penn. 

"Hello." Penelope finally said when she turned her gaze to the compound in front of her as the huge doors began to creak open. 

She and Vallas entered the compound on foot, following the guards who were on horses and driving the carriage.

"My Lord, you are back." A big lady who wore a dirty apron over her shapeless gown which still didn't disguise her bountiful body rushed to hug Vallas whose eyes crinkled with mirth at the greeting. 

"Leda, I brought a new member for our household." Vallas pointed out Penelope who hung back when the woman had rushed forward. 

"Role?" Leda asked sizing up Penelope with her eyes just like Penelope was sizing her too. 

"My Heir." Vallas replied as Leda broad shoulders jerked in surprise. 

"Welcome boy, what do you go by?" Leda asked firmly when she got over her shock.

"My name… is Penn."