Mirror (part 22 of 28)
Back to Part 21The country of Cimeria, Lina Inverse had quickly
concluded, was cold, snowy and had very bad inns.
"Achoo," Lina sneezed loudly, the slim redhead
sniffling as she sat huddled by the fire in the smokey
common room of the dingy little inn that they had
taken shelter in for the night. It was crowded, smelly
and the food was bad, just like every other inn they
had visited in this part of the world.
"Here," Naga said, the tall, busty black haired
warrior gently offering a cup of what passed for soup
in this part of the world.
"Thank you," Lina sighed, reluctantly drinking down
some more of the foul brew. Still, no matter how bad
it tasted it was warming, and it helped to chase away
some of the chill that had nearly settled into her
bones.
Zelgadiss cut through the crowd confidently, the
greenish skinned warrior able to stifle a barbarian's
objections with a glance. "We've arranged for a room,
Lina," he said with a certain amount of amusement.
"Zel," Amelia scolded, the smaller black haired girl
giving him a scolding look as Lina loudly sneezed once
again.
"Sorry," Zelgadiss said, even though he still found it
pretty amusing to see the mighty Lina Inverse slowed
down by a cold.
"Keep laughing," Lina looked up at him, her nose
almost cherry red from blowing it so often, "there
will be pay backs. Probably when you least expect it,
too."
"Now, now Lina," Amelia said in her best soothing
voice, "why don't we head up to the room and I'll try
the minor healing spell again?"
"We both know it's a spell resistant strain," Lina
grumbled. She got up, shivering a bit as she clutched
Naga's arm, "Whoa, a bit woozy there."
Naga slipped a arm around the smaller woman, "I have
you."
"Thanks," Lina sighed as she leaned into Naga's
comforting warmth, "but you'd best be careful. Don't
want to catch this..."
Naga chuckled softly, "Considering what we do at night
Lina, anything you have I've probably already got."
Lina laughed softly even as Amelia blushed and
Zelgadiss looked uncomfortable in the background.
"You're probably right," she conceded.
"We'd better go grab the room before the innkeeper
tries to sell it away on us," Zelgadiss said a bit
gruffly.
"And I'll bring more of this lovely soup," Amelia
added cheerfully.
"Oh joy," Lina shuddered, the taste still lingering in
her mouth. "Couldn't I just have a roast or
something?" she asked plaintively.
"It might be a little much for you," Naga said wryly
as they moved towards the stairs at the back of the
main room.
"Somehow, I doubt that," Zelgadiss murmured with a
soft chuckle.
"Do you want to chance her getting sick on you?"
Amelia murmured to him warningly as they kept an eye
on Lina and Naga going up the stairs, her filling up
another bowl of soup from the pot simmering by the
fire.
"Good point," Zelgadiss winced.
Naga gently guided Lina along the hallway up to their
room, softly murmuring to her, "Not much further."
"I'm not an invalid," Lina growled out irritably, even
though she didn't let go of her death grip on Naga's
arm.
"No, you're not," Naga willingly agreed as she
unlocked the door, "but you are sick, and need to take
it easy."
The room within was better than expected, the floor
not too filthy and the straw bed having been recently
been replaced. "Wait a moment," Amelia ordered,
striding to the center of the small room. With a few
chanted words she sent forth a purifying spell,
dispelling any unclean influences from the place, then
set the bowl of soup to cool a bit on a bedside table.
"Thank you," Naga said as she guided Lina over to the
bed.
"Lemme go," Lina grumbled as she tried to climb in
fully clothed.
"No, you have to..." Naga grabbed her arm even as she
tried to unclip her long cape.
"I'd better help," Amelia sighed. She gave Zelgadiss a
wry smile, "You might want to grab a beer, this could
take a while."
"Right," Zelgadiss said with some relief as he fled
and both Amelia and Naga descended on Lina to take
care of her.
"Aaah! Watch the hands! Noo, I can do that myself..."
echoed from the room as Zelgadiss hurried down the
hall.
The grizzled old bartender, the sort of one you found
at any of these inns, looked bored as he poured
Zelgadiss a drink. "Is yer little friend going to be
all right?" he asked, peering out of his one good eye,
the other covered by a patch.
"She'll be fine," Zelgadiss said, "she's tough." He
took a drink, shuddering a bit at the taste of
whatever had been floating in the beer then asked,
"Have you ever seen a black haired sorceress in a
leather bikini?"
"Is tha' a joke?" the bartender blinked.
"Seriously," Zelgadiss bravely made himself drink a
bit more of the horrid beer, "we're trying to find
her."
"Huh," the bartender looked thoughtful, "there is that
rumor..."
"Hmm?" Zelgadiss started, then realized why the man
had trailed off. Fishing in his money pouch he dropped
a few silver coins on the bar in front of them.
"Well," the bartender scooped up the coins, "it seems
a certain sorceress has had a certain lady dressed in
a leather bikini as a guest the last year or so."
"Which sorceress?" Zelgadiss asked, then when he was
silent reluctantly handed a gold coin over. "You'd
best not be lying," he coldly warned.
"Never," the bartender answered as he took the coin.
"The lady's name is Hectate, an' she's based in the
castle at Kiramen pass." He paused, "I should warn
you, she's got powerful allies and is said to consort
with demons."
"That's all right," Zelgadiss said as he finished his
drink, "we've killed demons before." With that he
strode away, eager to relay this news to Amelia and
the others.
Amelia was just closing the door to the room as he
arrived. "We just got Lina to lay down," she told him
in a whisper.
"Let's go to our room then," Zelgadiss murmured back.
They went up the hall to the room they had reserved
and unlocked the door, Amelia purifying the room much
like she had done with Lina and Naga's.
"You look happy," Amelia noted, "was the beer any
good?"
"It was horrid," Zelgadiss admitted, "but I have
news!" With that he quickly relayed what he had
learned from the barkeep. "If this is true, it could
be the break we were looking for," he said to her
eagerly.
Amelia nodded thoughtfully, "Or it could be a trap."
"Hmm, true," Zelgadiss conceded, feeling a bit
disappointed.
Amelia flashed him a smile, "But either way, for the
sake of justice we must investigate." Seriously she
added, "But we'd better not tell Lina or Naga until
tomorrow."
"Why's that?" Zelgadiss asked curiously.
"Because if we tell them now they'll insist on heading
out immediately," Amelia shrugged, "no matter how sick
or tired they are."
Onwards to Part 23
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