Mirror (part 11 of 28)
Back to Part 10"Where did this storm come from?" Amelia cried, snow
blowing over her short black hair, the wetness
clinging to both cloak and clothes. Leaving behind the
Fall warmth of the lowlands they had ventured up into
the mountains, a formidable barrier on their long
journey to Saillune.
Lina led the way, a blazing sphere of light held above
her head to cut through the twilight storm. "We had to
cut through the mountains," she said with a scowl,
"but it's early for this kind of weather, though." The
little redhead shivered slightly, the enchantments on
her clothes not that useful against conditions like
this.
"We need to get under cover," Naga said, moving her
body to partially shelter Lina from the worst of the
wind, "it's probably going to get even worse before it
gets better." Her long black mane was edged in ice,
her leather armor and the clothes underneath
uncomfortably damp.
"You're probably right," Lina conceded, "but where?"
"I don't see anything," Amelia offered.
"Give me a moment," Naga closed her eyes, frowning in
concentration. A faint glow rose up around her, the
feeling of elemental magic shimmered in the air then
Naga's eyes suddenly popped open. "There's a cave not
far ahead," she said crisply, "it should be enough."
"Thanks Naga," Lina looked up at her with a warm
smile, "let's go!"
Amelia hung back a bit to watch them walking together,
Naga hovering protectively while Lina forged on ahead
boldly. They seemed to fit together, despite the
differences in appearance and attitude, in fact those
very differences seemed to compliment each others'
strengths.
"Don't fall behind," Naga looked back to Amelia with a
gentle smile, "we wouldn't want to be separated in
this snow."
"Right," Amelia hurried to catch up.
Considering how long Amelia had known Lina she thought
that she knew the sorceress pretty well. A chaotic but
true hero, Lina did the right thing even if she might
claim that it was only for the profit. She might be a
bit self centered but she was a good person, despite
what she might want everyone else to think. Oddly this
mirror Naga seemed to bring that good side out of Lina
more and more often, the three of them diverting to
help people several times and even with all of Lina's
complaining she eagerly helped out.
There was a sound, a low rumble just off in the
distance and the three paused. "Please tell me that
was just thunder," Lina sighed, looking around warily.
"If I did," Naga said as she smoothly reached over her
shoulder to carefully loosen her longsword, "I'd
probably be lying."
Lina brought her hands together, sparks of light
beginning to dance between her fingers even as Amelia
moved to stand at the other two women's side, the
sound gradually growing louder. The cold wind whistled
by them, trees creaking slightly under ice, then there
was the groan of ice and compressed snow nearby.
The pack burst out from the snow shrouded forest to
race at them, the great wolves bounding across the
ground with almost impossible speed. They were massive
beasts, with muscles bulging beneath snowy fur they
shimmered with a feral power and nearly unearthly
fury, white foam trailing from those fang filled
mouths.
"Fireball!" Lina cast her spell, throwing the sphere
of power right into the leaders of the pack, watching
it explode to consume three of the beasts in a burst
of light and fire.
Naga stepped forward as the beasts' charge faltered,
the great animals clearly surprised at what they found
themselves facing. Her sword came free with a steely
hiss then she swung outward, a single sweep dropping
two more of the wolves in a splash of blood.
"Rune Flare," Amelia exploded the ground with a wave,
sending rock and snow to pelt at the wolves. The final
unearthly attack proved too much for the pack and they
turned to flee, the wounded trailing behind as they
retreated to the forest.
"Think they'll be back?" Lina asked crisply, cloak
swirling around her as her breath left a cloud in the
chilly air.
"I rather doubt it," Naga bent to clean her sword on
the rough fur of one corpse, sliding her sword away
easily.
"Poor beasts," Amelia sighed.
"I'm surprised," Lina looked over at Amelia, "they did
attack us, you know."
Amelia shrugged, "We invaded their territory, Lina."
"They intended to do us harm, we stopped it," Naga
said simply. She knelt and picked the beast up with a
grunt, heaving it up onto her shoulder as she
continued, "We'd better get to that cave."
"You don't intend to...?" Amelia looked at the wolf
carcass warily.
"We don't have that much in supplies," Naga answered
her dryly, "and there's no reason to let this meat go
to waste."
They forged on through the snow, eventually reaching
the side of a great cliff. The cave was large,
thankfully, and with a fire started in the shelter of
the cave mouth they soon began to feel warmer. With
ruthless efficiency Naga cut sections of the wolf and
spitted then on branches, setting them over the fire
to cook.
"I had best get rid of the remains away from camp,"
Naga said as she moved out to grab the already snow
dusted bones and flesh, "can you keep an eye on this
while I'm gone?"
"Yes," Amelia quickly volunteered before quietly
adding, "and thank you."
"You're welcome," Naga answered her simply, hefting
the wolf once again before heading out into the snow
again.
"Be careful," Lina said as Naga moved off, watching
her walk off with an unreadable expression on her
face.
Once Naga was gone Amelia asked Lina a question she
had wanted to ask for many days, "Is this Naga so
different than the original?"
"Like night and day," Lina chuckled to herself softly.
She looked into the fire thoughtfully as she
remembered, "The original was impulsive, often
foolish, and she was probably as mercenary as I was."
A slightly sad little smile, "She drank like a fish,
was immodest and had the loudest, most annoying laugh
that you ever heard."
"Did she love you like this Naga does?" Amelia asked,
keeping her tone casual.
"Yes," Lina answered Amelia honestly, only fully
registering what she had just done a moment later,
"hey!"
"Didn't mean to trick you," Amelia said, "but I needed
a honest answer out of you." Reaching out to carefully
turn the slices of meat she added, "When you parted...
it wasn't really over a reward that you won, was it?"
"Hmm," Lina nodded slightly. She sat there, knees
pulled up to her chest as she gazed into the fire
before finally saying, "Part of why we fought was over
a reward, but how she felt about me came out in the
fight."
"And you parted because of it?" Amelia asked sadly.
"Yes," Lina nodded, "and there have been times I've
regretted it. Naga was probably the closest friend I
had, despite how she annoyed me at times, and I missed
her."
"It must have been strange, meeting this Naga," Amelia
noted.
"The past come back to haunt me," Lina agreed, "and it
was even odder seeing that the other Amelia and her
had stayed together for so long. It made me wonder
what might have happened if The original Naga and I
had remained together."
"What ifs are never easy," Amelia commented.
The crunch of snow outside signaled Naga's return, the
taller woman ducking a bit to make it inside. "I
dropped the carcass far enough away we should be
fine," she said as she pulled her snow covered cloak
off and shoot it outside before sitting down beside
them at the fire.
Lina reached over to feel Naga's red cheek, "You're
cold as ice." Picking up her own dry and warm cloak
Lina slipped it around the shivering Naga, "Here."
A bit more red came to Naga's cheeks as she blushed,
"Thank you, Lina."
"It's nothing," Lina turned away from the warmth of
Naga's gaze only to see Amelia looking at her with a
mildly amused expression.
"Looks like it's cooked," Amelia decided it was safer
to concentrate on their food, "let's eat." Both Lina
and Naga nearly lunged for their share and Amelia
fought back a laugh.
Onwards to Part 12
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