30 April 2012
I opened my eyes in shock, but it was a few seconds before the image swam into focus. It was the boy! Hands on hips, head cocked to one side and the most arrogant and mocking expression on his face that you could EVER see. I was immediately on my feet (any nausea was instantly banished).
"What were you doing?! Trying to get me killed?" (Rule number 1 when saving face: always accuse the person who saved you of doing something detrimental to the situation)
"Actually I was trying to save you, if you didn't notice."
"What? I had it all under control!" (Rule number 2: deny, deny, deny you needed their help) "What you did made it worse!"
"Oh really? So you being on the point of an extremely painful end was "under control"?
"Yes. Ish..." My defence crumbled. "Ok... You got me." I struggled to get the word out. "Th... Thanks for that... you know... blasting that wyrm from on top of me..."
His expression softened, but the hands remained firmly on the hips.
"It's good to know that ice maidens aren't above saying thanks once in a while, but about saying sorry...?" He was right - I hadn't apologised for almost shooting him with my bow and arrow.
"Ok, I'm sorry about that arrow... and insulting you."
"Excellent! Right, now the apologies are over, let's introduce ourselves, shall we? I'm Samuel, and you are?" The boy was extremely self confident and incredibly annoying, but I had to introduce myself, as was customary for my people.
"Liliana," I said, "but you can call me Lily." A note of sarcasm crept its way into my voice. "And I'm guessing I can call you Sam?" He looked taken aback. Good. He obviously expected the recovery period (i.e me in shock) to be much longer, but, admirably (and annoyingly) he recovered himself.
"No, actually. I prefer Samuel. It makes me sound grander." I snorted.
"Yeah, like you needed more of that already, Sammy Boy, with the magic and everything inflating that already oversized head of yours." I was sending verbal arrows into his flank, and loving it, but I wasn't prepared for what happened next.
"You WILL show respect!" the boy roared, as his eyes lit up with the same blue light that had saved me from the wyrm... and this time the anger was aimed at me.
Another Conversation • Opuss № I