Mirror (part 12 of 28)
Back to Part 11The sound of the falling rain was a welcome one, the
splat of water hitting the trees and running down the
hillside. It meant they had finally dropped below the
snowline, leaving behind the snow for now as the band
of three traveled onwards with determination.
"How close are we to the town?" Lina Inverse asked,
her red hair protected by the cloak that she was
wearing. That, along with the enchantments on her
clothes, kept her dry and reasonably comfortable even
in weather such as this.
"Not far," Amelia answered, the short black haired
girl dressed all in white smiling as she continued,
"it's nice being close to home, I'm back in familiar
territory again."
Naga nodded, the tall swordswoman striding along
confidently beside them. Her black hair fell into her
eyes as she noted, "Good, I'd hate to get lost again."
"It wasn't my fault," Lina protested sheepishly.
Naga smiled impishly as she teased Lina, "I still
think you're natural talent for finding treasure
kicked in again."
Lina had to smile at that, "We did do pretty well,
fighting that sorcerer Halcyon."
Amelia had to shake her head, watching the two
talking. Halcyon himself had been fairly powerful,
with trolls and human servants, but thankfully the
three of them had been able to handle him pretty
easily. Of course, why he had a scrying orb that was
keyed to the three of them still bothered her, as well
as the sense that he had been serving someone or
something else.
"And neither of you recognized him?" Amelia asked.
"No," Naga said crisply in reply, "and I think that
I'd recognize one who was badly scarred as that old
magician."
"He may not have been scarred when you met him," Lina
pointed out wryly. The young sorceress frowned, "But I
have to admit he didn't seem familiar at all."
"So like the bandits we have an enemy sent against us
by an unknown master," Amelia sighed, "whom we have no
clue about."
Naga smiled slightly as she said, "We will find out
though, eventually."
The woods were thinning as they walked on, following
what was probably once a old hunter's trail.
Clambering over rough stone and fallen logs they
descended towards the plains, only the occasional
rumble of thunder off in the distance disturbing them.
Suddenly another kind of rumbling brought their
attention back to Lina. "What," she frowned, "it's
been hours since we caught those birds for lunch."
Naga fought back a smile, even though she was feeling
a bit hungry, too. "Are we near that town you
mentioned?" she turned to ask Amelia.
"An hour away at best," Amelia said confidently.
Lina groaned, putting her hand to her belly. "I'll die
before then," she groaned, trudging along beside the
other two.
Naga rummaged around in her pack for a moment and
eventually produced a piece of dried meat. "It's not
much, but..." she passed it over to Lina.
Lina nearly lunged for it, she was that hungry, but
then stopped herself. "I can't take your last piece,"
she said to Naga softly.
Naga took Lina's hand in her own, graceful fingers
pressing the food into her hand. "Eat it," she ordered
her, "I'll be fine."
Lina was blushing faintly as she smiled, "Thanks."
'I don't think I've ever seem Lina hesitate over
food,' a smiling Amelia mused as she watched Lina
hungrily gnaw on the tough piece of dried meat.
It was actually closer to a half an hour before they
reached the little town, really just a collection of
buildings and an inn that were sitting on the side of
the main trading road. Still, it was quite a sight to
see for the three women who had been surviving on
whatever they could hunt or gather for the last while.
"I'm surprised there isn't at least a wall around the
place," Naga frowned as they followed the trade road
down to the town.
"The nearby kingdoms don't tolerate much brigandry on
the road," Amelia explained a bit smugly, "I'm afraid
we're in civilized territory, now."
Lina chuckled softly even as she eagerly headed for
the inn, "Trust me, I've seen plenty of bandits in
cities, too, they're just called merchants."
Naga chuckled, "Nicely done, Lina."
They felt curious glances on them, hurrying through
the collection of stands and shops to the inn. Only
two floors tall it was a newer building, the shuttered
windows peering out at the people who walked by. Lina
led the way through the front door, all three of them
carefully sweeping the room with their eyes as they
headed for an open table.
The inn was barely half full, mostly travelers like
themselves sitting at various tables or up at the bar.
The inn keeper himself was an older man, an eyepatch
covering one eye and a scar running up one side of his
face. His hair was a weather-beaten brown, cropped
short, and he wore the traditionally stained apron
over simple garb.
"What can I get you?" he said with a deep rumbling
voice after he reached their table, scratching at his
facial scar unconsciously.
"What's your special today?" Amelia asked brightly.
"Stew," he rumbled.
"What kind of stew?" Naga inquired.
"Just stew," he clearly had nothing else to say on the
subject.
Making a fast decision Lina ordered them two bowls
each to start off with, and for him to be ready to
bring some more when they signaled. "Oh, and get a
pitcher of beer, too," she called out once he was
walking off.
"Civilization, hmm?" Naga gave Amelia a impish look.
Amelia watched the innkeeper go over to a large pot
bubbling over the fire and ladle out several bows of
an thick, unidentified brown fluid and sighed, "I just
hope that this stew isn't as bad as I think it's going
to be."
"Hey, it's hot food that hasn't been made by one of
us," Lina frowned at her as she gently scolded, "don't
complain."
With loud thumps the bowls of stew were dropped off,
along with beer and three large mugs for everyone at
the table. "Bread," he dropped three loaves on the
table then headed back to watch over the bosomy wench
who was working up at the bar.
"Huh," Naga took a spoon and scooped up some of her
stew, examining a few of the unidentified lumps a
moment before putting it in her mouth.
"How is it?" Amelia asked as Naga chewed thoughtfully.
Naga surprised them by smiling suddenly, "It's good."
Lina was already digging in as Amelia ate hers more
cautiously, the three of them clearly enjoying the
food. Mopping up the thick juices in her third bowl
with some of the crusty bread Lina smiled happily, "I
don't think I really want to know what animal that
meat was from, but it certainly tasted good."
"Fair enough," a smiling Amelia agreed, slurping some
juice and not really caring about her princessly
manners very much.
Naga was keeping up with Lina quite handily as she
mopped up more of the juice in her bowl. "Do we want
to stay here overnight?" she asked her companions,
chewing on the bread crust.
"I want to see if he's serving stew for breakfast,"
Lina chuckled.
They paid for their dinners and found out only two
singles were left to rent for the night. Giving one
room to Amelia left Lina and Naga sharing the narrow
bed, but the two women soon disrobed and slid beneath
the covers together.
Onwards to Part 13
Back to Mirror Index -
Back to Slayers Shoujo-Ai Fanfiction