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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