Dom stood with Stephen, Rosie and Jessica outside the coach, the hot sun making Dom's brows sweat. He looked around and saw that the rest of his group were reacting similarly. They had been waiting for much longer than Dom had expected and the expressions on many of the others faces shared the same feeling.
"I thought the Isles of Britainy were supposed to be cold and wet?" Rosie complained, pulling the collar of her black shirt up, trying to get some air to flow down, her back resting against the hot side of the coach. Jessica was sat on the floor beside her, taking a sip of water.
"I can't believe they make us wear black!" Stephen agreed, similarly sweating and stood next to Rosie. The temperature had been cool when they had arrived, but the drive north had seemed to get hotter and hotter.
Dom looked for Captain Kelly, who was talking with a small group of similarly dressed people, all with the same Military Cap. Annabel Howard was also in this group, and the majority of them seemed to be listening to what she was saying. She was waving her arms as she spoke and her face showed a clear look of not being impressed at the situation.
"I hope we can leave soon." Rosie complained again, taking a sip of some water from her bottle, a small bit spilling on her, causing Stephen to look away with a red cheek.
"Captain Kelly said they are waiting for another coach from the Welsh Isle, before we head north to Buxton." Jessica explained, "I do agree though, I hope we can move on soon. I'm thinking I should have stayed onboard with Roger."
The other coaches that were parked around were in a similar situation to them with people resting outside them. Roger had decided to stay indoors, where there was a cool breeze blowing around the cabin of the coach from the air conditioning. Some coaches had moved in to a convoy, preparing for the journey ahead, whilst the others waited for their captains to finish talking and reboard them.
Soon the captains had finished speaking, with Captain Kelly heading back towards the group with Annabel, the two of them seeming to have a frustrated look on their faces. Annabel smiled at them, before heading straight to her limousine, where as Captain Kelly ordered his men to get back on board and to make sure the students were with them.
"We are leaving, we can't wait around for them any longer." Captain Kelly complained as he directed Dom and the group to also get onboard.
"Are we not waiting for the last coach?" Jessica asked as she grabbed hold of the handle of the door, to pull herself up the small stairs to the back of the coach. She almost slipped on the wet floor where someone had spilt some water. Dom was behind her and put his hands up to help catch her accidently grabbing her rear to stabilise her. She gave him a look of an embarrassed thanks before climbing up again.
"No we aren't waiting any longer, they should have been here much earlier than a lot of us." Captain Kelly explained through gritted teeth, as he followed them on to the coach. "Most of the arrivals have come from across the Western Kingdoms, they are across a small sea. It doesn't surprise me with them though, this happens a lot. They'll just have to meet us in Buxton."
....
They continued their journey north, the now large contingent of coaches travelling up a wide four laned road, where coaches could travel side by side. The drive would take them about three hours, having to first drive towards the western coast, before heading north again towards Buxton. The coach travelled smoothly and all they could see in front and behind was more coaches. Dom had sat at the window on the back row, with Stephen beside him.
During the journey they had passed through large waves of farmland and small towns as they travelled up the coast. They had also had to cross two large bridges, that were much more impressive than the Bridge of Bedford. The Driver had explained to them that most of the isles were large island that were connected by Bridges, apart from in the extreme north where boats were needed to travel. The sun had continued to bathe them as they travelled and Dom felt that they wouldn't look the most impressive as a group when they arrived for the welcoming event.
At some point during the journey they had to stop the convoy as a farmer had temporarily blocked the road as his sheep were crossing from one side of the road to another. There was lots of excitement from those travelling, as it was the most exciting thing that had happened in the last few hours. Dom hoped his journey back would be more entertaining. After the sheep had passed, they soon started to move again.
"We will arrive in Buxton in around forty five minutes!" The Driver shouted to them all, interrupting a conversation between Jessica and Roger that Dom had been listening in to. They had been discussing the end of the Western Roman Empire, with different opinions on if it really ended or if it just changed the ownership from the Roman's to the German's.
.....
After driving up and over several hills, they eventually arrived in Buxton. It was based on the top of a large hill and was surrounded by a large stone wall that had been constructed in the last hundred years or so. Surrounding the town were hills full of wild flowers and Dom was quite excited to see the inside.
"Buxton is currently one of the highest towns based in the Isles of Britainy, however up until the last couple hundred years it was the highest Market Town in the whole of the Isles. It's an interesting Town with it's own thermal spa's and several deep caves and caverns that brought large amounts of colourful materials to the local region." The Driver announced as they passed through a large open gate in the wall. "It's natural springs have brought safe drinking water to the local area and it has become one of the key central defensive nodes of both the Isles of Britainy and the Hundred Peaks."
The Driver, who was now acting as a tour guide, drove them through a street full of houses that were several hundred years old, from before the great disasters that struck. They travelled down the road, passing a few more junctions that had similar houses, shops and other buildings from the same Era.
"Buxton, unlike many towns has been able to retain a large amount of it's history. In some parts we have remains of buildings from during the stone age nearly seven thousand years ago. Down this road here there is some repurposed Roman Baths, that have been extended over the last hundred years, and have become a key central place for the residents of Buxton." The Driver continued, Dom looked at Stephen, who shrugged his shoulders, also being unaware as to why the Driver was giving them a history lesson. "Down this road is the...."
"Excuse me sir." Roger interrupted politely, "Are you from Buxton?"
"Of course, as is my dad, my dad's dad, and his dad before him." The Driver replied enthusiastically, before continuing the guided tour of Buxton.
At the end of the road was a large castle that didn't look relatively new, with guards walking around it with swords strapped to their waist. It was on the top of a hill in the middle of the Town, and the Driver was less enthused when talking about it. Outside of it was a large carpark where all of the coaches began to pull in to, being made to unload one by one, before the coaches left and moved to another location that Dom was unaware off.
Dom's coach soon pulled in, and they were asked to disembark by Captain Kelly. They all bid the Driver farewell and quickly joined up with the rest of the new students that were queuing outside the castle gates. Dom didn't see Annabel Howards Limousine and assumed she had separated from the group and gone elsewhere.
"Those with Red Stripes please queue to the left." A guard announced politely, "Those with a Blue Stripe to the right."
Captain Kelly directed the group to split, and then bid farewell to them before leading his own men in side the castle to meet up with his superiors. The Guard that had announced them to split saluting Captain Kelly as he passed.
"See you later then Stephen and Rosie." Dom said kindly to them, before joining the extremely small queue on the right with Jessica and Roger. He could only see another twenty or so people in his queue, where as the queue that Stephen and Rosie had joined had well over three hundred and fifty.
The Guard at the front of the queue had a red stripe on their shoulder, with a clipboard in their hand. Beside them was a black haired, middle aged woman, wearing a day suit and a pair of black glasses.
"Next please." She said welcoming as the queue began to move, much faster than the one Stephen and Rosie were in. A tall man with dark brown skin and short black hair walked forwards to her, a slight nervous look on his face. She smiled at him and ticked a small box on her clipboard. "Mr Mandal I assume, welcome to the Ninetieth Peak, please enter through the gate behind me and follow the blue arrows to the meeting room."
Mr Mandal did as instructed, his head down as he walked through the door.
"The other way Mr Mandal." She politely reminded him as he began to head in the wrong direction. "Next please."
Soon Dom's turn arrived, she had known the name of each person in front of him and Dom assumed she had memorised each face from pictures she must have had of them. She had made the entry seem quiet welcoming so far and Dom was excited to see what was through the gate.
"Mr Lazarus." She said as Dom appeared in front of her, pausing for a few seconds as she studied his face, a smile appeared at first, before turning in to a slight frown. "I hope you behave yourself and aren't like your father. Please follow the blue arrows. Next please."
.....
Dom followed went through the gate, wondering how the woman had knew his father. Her tone wasn't the usual hatred he was used to, but more of a familiar frustration she had with a friend or colleague. He walked straight in to a brightly lit corridor, with exposed white brick walls. There were blue and red arrows on sheets of paper stuck to the wall. Dom followed the blue ones down the corridor to a large meeting room, with space for at least fifty people. The interior of the Castle felt rather modern in comparison to the outside and Dom felt a bit disappointed.
He entered and sat with Jessica and Roger near the back, who had followed in in to the room. The seats were arranged in a theatre style with a small raised platform at the front of the room. Dom could see that the room was almost at full capacity and was interested to see what would happen next.
"Is this the welcoming ceremony?" Roger asked the two of them as they waited patiently.
"I think this is an introduction before we go to the ceremony. Our area is different to the rest of the peaks, and they will probably take much longer to be checked in." Jessica replied. Suddenly the door they had entered through was shut and the light in the room dimmed, so that only the stage could be seen.