22 October 2012
The laughter eventually subsided. We held on, just savouring that moment. And then we had to break apart. "I'll see you around, alright?" he asked. "Yeah..." "Good. And whatever you do, do not even contemplate the thought of dying on me. I still need someone to hunt with, and you are the only elf who I can have a good competition with." "Alright." I looked at his face. A smile was there, hopeful. He trusted me to pull this off. And I would. "I'll see you in a month. Now go, do huntery stuff!" "Of course, oh wise mistress." And he went.
So that was that. All emotional stuff had been dealt with, so all that remained to do was collect the mage a head off. I grabbed my pack, stepped out of my tent and looked around, instantly spotting Samuel. (Well, it would be quite easy wouldn't it? The ears, remember?) I strolled over to him to sort out some basics. "Ok, Samuel." "Yes?" "I'm going to tell Hollar that we're leaving now, so just... make sure you've got all your stuff." "Why wouldn't I? I didn't come with anything, asides from my "hitchhiker" as a permanent guest, so hurry up and get a move on!" I was incensed. "Don't you tell me to get a move on. I'm the one in charge here, alright? I could just as easily shoot you as soon as we get out of sight of the camp, then wait a few days, before coming back saying we were attacked by bandits, and you were killed." "And I, even more easily, could incinerate you, walk away, and complete my task, while you blew away on the wind." That stopped me. He was right. The way he dealt with that minor wyrm when we first met was proof enough. I turned away in silence to tell Hollar.
There was a small sense of finality when I stepped into the First's tent. He was sitting there, pensive, almost melancholy. "Alright, we're off now..." The sentence trailed off. He just sat there. I turned my back to leave, then the First's voice called out. "Lily?" "Yes, sir?" "Come back alive." "Certainly." I left. There wasn't anything more to say.
"Come on, we're leaving." "Of course." And tht was that. We strolled out of the camp, and tarted to head westward. It would take a good week to reach our destination, give or take at least a day accounting for any... incidents that might occur en route. We would follow the course of the Great Waxari Valley, keeping close to the river, until it reached the coast, where a small town by the name of Barlog lay. Then we'd see if we could bargain for a boat to take us along the coast to Samarra. If not, we'd hike. And if you think I had memorised the whole geography of the area, you'd be wrong. I was reading from a map the Kieran had helpfully packed. I relayed this information to Samuel. "What?" He obviously had other ideas. "It's the only viable route." "Why can't we head through the mountains? It wouldn't take half the time of the route you said. We'd be there in three days at the most. Look, it even says on the map that there is a pass out of the valley not a day's hike from here." "But what the map doesn't mention is that it is the most obvious place for bandits to hide, jump out, then rob and, erm, kill us." I was aiming for sarcasm but the boy looked unperturbed. Unfortunately. "So what? I've got my magic, and you've got your bow and arrows. We could easily take down a whole cohort of them if we wanted to." "But I don't. Getting into trouble carries a huge risk of us getting hurt, and I don't want to chance my arm. Or my leg. Or my head, for that matter." "Fine. You go ahead and take your "safe" route while I get there days before you, and complete this!" And with that he set off at a furious pace. I kept walking, allowing him to get about a hundred metres ahead before matching his pace. He was obviously muttering and grumbling to himself about stupid elves et cetera, and wishing he could just incinerate me...
I stopped my train of thought. I hadn't actually seen him use his powers yet. Yes, he had saved my life when I was pinned down by the wyrm, but I was blinded by his magic at the time. I started to wonder what it would be like to fight him. I found my hands creeping towards my bow and arrows, and before I knew it I had an arrow notched and ready to fire.
The arrow flew through the air and embedded itself into a trunk a few metres from Samuel's head. Immediately I jumped out of the way of a fireball that the mage sent hurtling towards me.
Now it was on.
A Beginning • Opuss № I