Breathing a deep sigh of utter defeat, Lina glanced up and
upon the figure standing before her. She had already had some clues
to the figure's identity from the ever present goose bumps prickling
her skin and the odd static in the air over ten days.
But it was the laugh--a damned laugh that could shatter
mirrors and windows within a ten mile radius--that now pointed out,
beyond the shadow of a doubt, what manner of creature had been
'stalking' her.
She cringed as the lips of her stalker curled into smile as
their eyes met, and she felt her stomach toss and turn the contents
of breakfast as the creature laughed once more.
"Why couldn't it be the living dead, a black dragon, a
kraken, ANYTHING BUT," she screamed over the laughter. "Oh please
god please," she continued, "tell me that I'm hallucinating and it's
just Shaburanagidu's evil twin!"
But it was Naga's black leather, it was Naga's irritating
laugh, and it was Naga and her jiggling friends all over again.
Lina's hands unconsciously reached for her rapier.
Flashing a winning smile, Naga parried the blade away with a
quick flick of her wrist. "Lina, my poor little pathetic lackey! Is
that the way you greet your greatest rival and mentor? After I come
all this way to visit you, through swamp and snow and that, urm, Dragu
Slave, was it, at that last village?"
Lina stared hard at Naga. Normally, a stare from the Bandit
Killer, from the One-That- Even-Dragons-Stepped-Over-To-Avoid, was
enough to provoke fear and delirium in the stoutest of hearts. But
the black-clad sorceress merely arched a fine dark eyebrow.
"What?" Naga asked, genuinely oblivious to Lina's contempt.
Lina threw up her hands in disgust. "Nothing," she grumbled.
She sighed once more, straightened her shoulders, and looked at
Naga. "Well, what do you want? You've only been following me for
the last ten days, so you must want something."
Naga cocked her head to the side. "Why, I don't want
anything. I just wanted to check on my star pupil, that's all." A
ferret like grin touched Naga's lips.
The shorter of the two rolled her brandy red eyes. "In other
words, you ran out of booze money again, right?"
Naga sputtered something incomprehensible, but quickly
composed herself. "Hmmpm. Just like you to make a joke out of
everything," she snarled, hands perched on her hips. "But I
suppose...it's only natural that you use humor to mask your fear of
me, Naga the Serpent, your mightiest, your most threatening of all
rivals!"
Lina clapped her ears shut as the high-pitched laughter
resonated through the valley, no doubt leading dozens of small
animals and children to a gruesome and early death. "Stop it
already! I'll let you come along, just promise me you'll STOP!!"
The laughter abated, but Lina was sure the emotional scars
would never fade away. She glared at the taller sorceress before
turning curtly on her heel. "Well, come along then," Lina called as
she broke into a brisk walk. "We've got to get to the next
town by tomorrow morning if we're going to attend their Annual Food
Fest."
Naga ran--bounced--after her. "So partners, then?" the dark
maiden asked eagerly.
A shudder ran down Lina's back. But she quickly weighed the
options in her head. To laugh, or not to laugh? It wasn't really a
question, not even an option. "Partners," she reluctantly agreed.
"For now..."
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