Amara sighed miserably, stirring the rabbit stew that was currently cooking over the dying fire. Her no-meat vow had been given up long ago.
Aliane had woken up a few days ago, but her wound was still not healed enough for traveling. And frankly, Amara was starting to get sick of sitting around camp all day. It wasn’t that she didn’t mind resting; it was just that a certain man was starting to get on her nerves.
Thalion.
It seemed that whatever Amara did to help out, Thalion had to do it 100% better. She knew she shouldn’t be complaining, since it was nice to have extra help, but his perfection was driving her insane.
Amara gathered firewood; Thalion would bring back a TREE and then use his magical powers to cut it into perfect pieces. Amara found nice herbs to use on everyone’s wounds; Thalion found rare ones that healed them almost instantly.
She looked up from the cooking dinner to see Caelia returning with a stack of wood, Thalion following behind. Thalion walked over to where Aliane was sitting, and gave her a kiss on her cheek.
Caelia made a barely audible gagging noise as she dropped the wood onto a stack.
“Here, let me help you.” Thalion made his way over to the fire.
“Oh, no,” Amara protested. “I’ve got it under control!”
“Really, I insist.” Thalion spread his hands above the fire and it flared to life.
Amara sniffed, and her nostrils were suddenly filled with the smell of smoke and burning hair. She became aware of heat on her knees. Looking down, she saw that the ends of her hair had caught fire. The flames quickly burned through the strands of hair, along with the material of Amara’s dress.
Looking back up, she saw Thalion standing there with a panicked expression. Aliane remained seated on the ground, knowing there was nothing she could do. Caelia, meanwhile, was screaming “Stop, drop, and roll!” over and over again.
Screaming, Amara grabbed a nearby water bucket and doused herself with it.
As the smoke and steam began to ebb away, Amara saw the open-mouthed expressions on the others’ faces. She reached up to feel her hair, but instead was reaching at air until she reached her chin. Snatching another water bucket, Amara stared into her reflection and was horrified with what she saw. Thankfully, since her hair was so thick, she only acquired a few minor burns. Her hair, however, had become completely lopsided. The side of hair that had been next to the fire was short and choppy, while the side that had been facing away from the fire was a few inches longer, but still incredibly choppy.
My hair. My beautiful hair… Amara felt like she could cry, right then and there. It had taken her almost her entire life to get her hair to that length!
“Oh gods, I’m so sorry!” Thalion apologized.
Amara tried to pull herself together. “Oh, it’s fine… I’ve been meaning to get a haircut, anyway.” she joked. She pulled her knife from its sheathe and attempted to cut off the damaged ends, but it was no use; her hands were too shaky.
“Here,” Aliane offered sympathetically. Amara handed her the knife, and she went to work to cutting Amara’s hair into a reasonable style.
“There.” she said simply after about ten minutes had passed.
Amara looked at her reflection once more, and this time was actually pleased with what she saw. Aliane had cut her hair into a bob, and while it wasn’t usually her favorite style, it actually looked pretty cute.
Amara gave Aliane a small hug. “Thank you,” she said graciously. Aliane smiled and nodded.
Thalion rummaged through his saddlebag and pulled out a small vial of green liquid. “Catch.” He tossed the bottle to Amara, who caught it.
“What is it?” she asked, puzzled
“It’s a hair re-growth potion,” Thalion answered. “It should help your hair grow back about fifty times as fast.”
Amara removed the cork from the vial and smelled the contents. It didn’t smell poisonous. “It’s almost like you knew something like this was going to happen,” she said suspiciously, pocketing the potion.
“Nah,” Thalion replied. “It’s what I use for my beard.”
Because that’s supposed to make me feel so much better… Amara thought. She took a bowl of stew from Caelia and ate her dinner quietly with the others. Mentally sighing, she wondered how long it would be before they went after Ryle and Avarice.
As the party settled down for the night, Amara removed the potion from a pocket on her charred--she was going to have to fix that later--dress, and downed it like a shot. Almost immediately, she felt her eyes grow heavy and realized how exhausted she was--almost being burned to death could really wear a girl out. Staring up at the stars, she wondered what her little sister was doing back in Lorvale, and that was her last thought before sleep overtook her.
--
Amara woke the next morning to bright sunshine and singing birds. She sat up to stretch, and noticed that she felt oddly… furry.
Whut.
For what felt like the fiftieth time in less than twenty-four hours, Amara checked her reflection in the water bucket…
And let out possibly the shrillest scream ever known to man.
Caelia, Thalion, and Aliane all shot up immediately and grabbed their weapons, as if to prepare for battle.
“W-What’s going on?” Caelia slurred sleepily.
“THIS IS WHAT’S GOING ON!” Amara screamed and gestured at herself.
It seemed that Thalion’s hair potion had made all of Amara’s hair--except the hair on her head--grow to incredible lengths overnight. Her eyebrows were large and bushy, and she had somehow grown a mini-beard. She shuddered to think of what the rest of her body hair was like and was thankful that her clothing covered it all.
Caelia looked horrified. Aliane looked intrigued. But Thalion?
He was laughing.
Amara grabbed him roughly by the collar. “Damn it, Thalion! This is your fault! What the hell did you do to me?!”
Thalion’s laughter died down and his face turned serious. “How much of the potion did you drink?”
Amara hesitated. “The whole thing…”
Thalion burst into laughter again. “Well, there’s your problem! You were only supposed to take a mouthful.”
“Well then why didn’t you tell me that?!” Amara was furious.
“I thought it was obvious?”
Amara groaned.
“Just hack it off and you’ll be okay,” Thalion said snidely.
Okay. That was it. Amara couldn’t take it anymore. She already didn’t like Thalion, but now he had crossed the line. If only there was a way to…
She had an idea.
She released Thalion’s collar and sighed. “You’re right,” she said innocently. Taking her knife, Amara walked off into the woods and began to shave off all of the newly grown hair. Now I know how boys feel, she thought disgustedly. She somehow managed to only cut herself a few times, and when she was finished, she walked back to the camp and put on a happy face.
“So! Who wants breakfast?” she asked enthusiastically.
Caelia’s hand immediately shot up.
Amara smiled and turned to Thalion. “Thalion, would you mind helping me find some food?” she asked politely.
Thalion thought it over for a moment and then shrugged. “Sure.”
“Excellent. Come on, then.” Amara grabbed her bow and began to trudge towards a patch of woods, Thalion following behind.
Once surrounded by trees, Amara looked around carefully. “Well, I suppose we’ll have a better chance of finding things if we split up.”
Thalion nodded. “There’s a lake over that way. I’ll go see what I can nab there.”
Amara smiled. “Good idea.”
As Thalion began to walk in the opposite direction, Amara waited for a few minutes and then started following his path. She eventually made her way to the lake clearing and saw Thalion kneeling down at the water’s edge, presumably trying to catch a fish.
Snickering, Amara clutched the emerald pendant around her neck. “Now… Let’s see what happens when the pretty boy ain’t so pretty anymore.” She murmured an incantation, brought the pendant to her lips, and the clearing suddenly became engulfed in a flash of light.
----
Meanwhile, Ryle finally gains some character depth and Avarice mysteriously vanishes. DUNDUNDUNDUNNNNN.
Just kidding. I think.
… I got lazy at the end. D:
Now! Time to go do something productive. Like homework. Or play BBS.
Amara quickly came back to her senses. She pulled up the bow that Aliane had given her. “Who are you stranger, and how do you know Aliane?” The red headed man turned his piercing blue eyes to the two girls.
“I’m Thalion. Aliane’s fiancé and I would like to know how she became injured.” He said, angrily. Caelia looked slightly disappointed.
‘Ugh, taken. Why are all the hot ones taken?’ She asked herself. Caelia looked at Thalion. “We are traveling with her. We had two guys in the group with us, who became lost and we can’t find them.” She said, slurring. Amara looked at the girl, slightly shocked. She focused on the guy in front of her.
“What do you mean injured? I’m pretty sure one of us would have noticed by now, or at least me since Caelia here, has been passed out.” Thalion quickly moved the blue/grey cloak from around Aliane. Black feathers, were sticking out of her chest.
“ACK!!!! She was shot with an arrow!!!” Caelia shouted. Amara smacked the back of her head.
“Thanks for pointing it out, captain obvious.” She said sarcastically. She noticed Thalion gathering herbs from a pouch on his horse. She finally got a good look at him. His bright red hair was somewhat spikey and he had a full beard and his eyes where the epitome of the sky. He had on a dark red velvet cloak and a dark brown long sleeved tunic underneath it. He wore dark colored pants and black leather boots. A velvet belt, matching his cloak sat around his hips holding a long sword. The gloves he had worn were in a pocket in his pants.
She noticed that he moved to Aliane and brushed her hair out of her face. “Aliane, awake my love.” He said gently. Aliane, who was unconscious slowly opened her eyes to see Thalion leaning over her.
She reached up to touch his face. Thalion grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “We are going to need your help on getting this arrow out of you.” Aliane took her hands and felt the feathers of the arrow.
“Thalion, help me sit up.” She said breathlessly. He held her up and she looked over at the other girls. “Thalion’s going to need your help. This is a task for three people.” She said. The girls scrambled over to the couple. “Amara, do you see the point of the arrow?” Aliane asked. Amara nodded, looking at the tip of the arrow. “Push the point towards my body. We are going to need to break the tail off of it.” Amara did as she said, causing Aliane to gasp in pain. Crimson soaked her blouse. Thalion broke off the tail of the arrow. “Okay, now listen very closely.” She said in between gasps.
“Thalion is going to need to push the arrow all the way through. Caelia and Amara, you are going to have to hold me while he does it. Caelia took Thalions place and Amara took to the other side. “On the count of three, Thalion is going to push the arrow all the way and Amara, you’re going to have to pull it out. On my count. One. Two. Three!” Thalion pushed the arrow through with all of his might as he heard Aliane scream out of pain. Amara grabbed the part of the arrow that wasn’t out and pulled.
The arrow was finally out of her chest. Aliane collapsed. Thalion noticed that her blouse was covered in blood. He began to try to remove it to get a better look at the injury, when a screech stopped him. “GAH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!! I KNOW YOU ARE HER FIANCE, BUT SHE’S PASSED OUT YOU PERV!!” Amara screamed at him.
Thalion glared at the girl. “She is bleeding heavily and unless you know how to heal I suggest you get quiet and let me take care of her.” He pulled off her blouse to see her chest bindings cover in blood. The wound was luckily right above her heart. “I need someone one to get some water and boil it.” Caelia was quick to react. She gathered the metal cupped that Aliane had previously used and gathered water in it. She brought it over to the fire and placed it into the heat. Amara was skinning the deer that she had left when Thalion had showed up. She was grumbling incoherently.
It took a few minutes, but the water was finally ready for him to use. Caelia gave him the cup of water and he poured salt and lemon into the hot and clear liquid. “In my pouch is some cloth strips and a healing mixture, can you give them to me please?” He asked be careful to stir the mixture evenly. Caelia ran over to the white horse, which snorted and backed away. “Alyan, she’s trying to help me. Let her come to you.”Thalion called to his white stallion. Caelia was able to get the things Thalion needed from Alyan and ran back to him so that Aliane could get healed.
Thalion cleaned the wound with the acidic water, causing Aliane to hiss in pain. “I’m sorry.” He whispered gently. He used the potion on her wound and wrapped the wound with the clothe strips. He turned to look at Amara. "Someone is going to need to change her chest bindings. They are soaked in blood and have bacteria on them." Amara nodded, knowing what he asked of. Caelia decided to hold up the blanket from prying eyes while Amara helped her companion to the best she could. Once the job was done she burned the old bindings and Thalion tossed her a green velvet dress. The end of the sleeves drooped low to the ground.
“It will keep her warm until we get to a city.” He said, with a hint of blush on his cheeks. Amara changed the woman into the comfy velvet dress. She removed her shoes, to let the girl get more comfortable while she rested.
Once her tasks were done she went back over to the deer to see it finished skinned and cleaned. She looked over at Thalion.
“Exactly how did you find us?” She asked. He was staring into the fire.
“I’m the best tracker of our village. When Aliane’s father didn’t get word from her, he sent me to find her and check up on her.” Caelia’s eyes grew larger.
“Then you can find Ryle and Avarice!” She said happily. Thalion nodded, but turned his gaze to Aliane.
“She’ll be out for a few days, but once she is fully healed then and only then will we travel, unless an attack.” Caelia nodded in understanding.
Amara was finished creating a spit to put the deer on and moved to add more wood to the fire. She noticed that Thalion waved his hand in front of the fire and saw it grow, to roast the deer evenly. She huffed.
‘Show off!’ She thought to herself as she placed the spit in place.
Aliane, Caelia, and Amara had been left in the woods by Ryle and Avarice. They all had battled to try to get away. Aliane quickly dodged the arrows heading her way and quickly cast a shield over them to repel the arrows. She quickly dragged the other girls with her to a safe spot. “Phew, that was close.” She whispered. She looked over to survey the girls and noticed that Caelia had passed out from loss of blood on her leg and Amara’s arm was nicked by an arrow. “Amara, snap out of it!” She whisper shouted. Amara quickly came to her senses.
“Where’s Ryle and Avarice?” She asked looking around them. Before she could move, Aliane grabbed her unwounded arm and kept her down. She placed her right pointer finger in front of her mouth to show her to be quiet.
All of the girls tried to keep as still as possible as they heard leaves shuffling. The shuffling stopped for a few minutes and then a long black muzzle reached down to Aliane’s hair. Aliane stiffened before turning around. “Vanya.” She whispered and shook as she stood up to greet the horse. “Stay down.” She whispered to the conscious Amara. She surveyed the area before smiling at her mare. “Okay, it is safe. Amara, I’m gonna need help to get Caelia onto Vanya. We need to get to a place so we can set up camp and so I can take care of everyone’s wounds.”
She helped Amara up and they both lifted Caelia up onto the black mare. Aliane grunted from lifting the lightweight onto the sturdy horse. She quickly fixed her cloak to camouflage her clothes.
Vanya snorted from the weight that was suddenly put on her back. “Amara, go ahead and get up there with her. You are gonna need to keep her on there. Amara quickly got onto the horse. Aliane tore a piece of her cloak and tied it around Caelia’s leg, so it would stop bleeding. Satisfied with her quick work she began to lead the girls away from their hiding spot.
“Aliane! What about Ryle and Avarice?” Amara, quickly asked, wondering just where the boys where. Aliane continued on.
“We’ll find them later. We can’t do much now. Caelia is passed out and wounded and you have your own wounds that need to be taken care of. I’m sure those boys are fine.” She pulled the black mare along to find a suitable place to camp. They walked for a few miles before Aliane had found a good place to rest and to camp. “This should be a good spot.” She whispered in relief. She quickly gathered some wood and started a nice fire. They had camped in grassy area with trees providing some shelter from enemies, but Aliane had decided to camp here due to the location of a river.
Amara had gotten off of Vanya and was still holding up Caelia. Aliane lifted Caelia up off of the horse and lay her down on the ground. She pulled out a small thing of honey and some garlic. She mixed it into a poultice and walked over to Amara. “I’m going to need to take care of your arm.” Amara looked at her arm to see dried blood on it. Aliane walked over to the river and got some of the water in a metal cup. She placed it over the fire, to make sure any bacteria in it would be killed. While the water was being brought to a boil, Aliane quickly checked on Caelia. She was still unconscious and Aliane was quickly getting worried.
She went back over to the fire and took the clean boiling water off of the fire. She pulled out some clean gauze like clothe that was in one of her pockets and quickly sprinkled some salt into the cup. She dipped the cloth into the water and began to clean Amara’s wound.
“OWWW!!! THAT FREAKING HURTS!!” Amara screamed. Aliane had to hold her down to keep on cleaning the wound. After getting rid of the dried blood, she applied the honey and garlic poultice to her arm. “Yeesh! That stings and stinks!” Amara complained. Aliane wrapped the wound with gauze, to keep out bacteria and germs.
“There you’re done. Now I need to take care of Caelia.” She walked over to the tanned girl and sat down beside her.
“I can go and hunt for some food.” Amara offered, knowing that whatever Aliane was about to do would leave her exhausted.
“You don’t have your bow.” Aliane stated. She looked over at Amara and sighed. She grabbed a sturdy looking stick cast a spell on it. A good, sturdy bow with a quiver full of arrows appeared in her hands and she tossed them at Amara. “Take that with you if you go. I was going to give it to you anyways. Don’t use your arm so much and shoot only when you need to.”
Amara nodded and went off in search of some food for the group. Aliane removed the cloth around from Caelia’s leg. She cleaned the wound with the salt water and placed her hands just above and over the wound. She chanted in the old tongue. “Please help my friend. Heal her leg and let her awake.” She chanted over and over again for a few minutes before the wound started to close and Caelia was slowly becoming conscious. Aliane in the midst had passed out from the use of her powers on her already weak body.
Unbeknownst to the other girls, she had an arrow in her chest that was left untreated. Caelia was trying as hard as she could to wake the immortal up. Amara had gotten lucky and had shot a deer for dinner and was shocked at seeing Caelia up and shaking a pale Aliane, who was now lying where the tanned girl had been when she had left. Vanya knickered and brought the girls attention to her. Someone was coming and quickly. The sound of trotting brought the girls attentions to a tall man on a white horse with bright red hair and sky blue eyes.
“Aliane!” He shouted as he hopped off of his steed. He moved quickly to the unconscious woman and turned his eyes to Amara and Caelia, who were slightly disgruntled by the good looking man. "What happened?" He asked, the two shocked women.
The Wise Ones had sent her on The Journey, as they had done for all who reached the age of 16. On The Journey, you were supposed to find your calling, and the materials needed for your weapon. Many of the younger generation of the village had often blown off the task, simply choosing a length of pine or some faulty ore and presenting it to the Wise Ones. Though a few had passed the rigorous testing that became of the wood; many lengths of wood were broken. Many ores were melted down to find nothing but tin. If the length of wood broke, or the ore was too weak then the one who presented the offending material would be shamed. It was how life had been since the war began.
Emaria had been on her Journey for seven days. For seven days she followed the footsteps of those who went before her. The route cut South through the steep mountains, down into the lower valley. From there she would climb the Eastern Mountains and loop back up to the village. Such a path seemed easy, but she had no sense of direction, easily getting lost in the unfamiliar terrain. For days she walked, passing up all markers that the map had shown. Eventually she finally put away the map, trying to retrace her path.
“This isn’t good….not at all.” She said to herself as she walked
All was silent in the eerie, moss covered forest. Vines hung limply from trees, and snakes slithered soundlessly through the brush. The predators of the night were sleeping soundly while the prey skittishly slunk around, eyes wary as they nibbled the various plants. A lone figure slunk unnoticed through the woods.
In a small clearing a fire was crackling, arguably the only sound in the jungle. The silence penetrated the air, warning of a danger soon to come. Oblivious, Ryle inhaled the steam rising from his cup of tea and sidled closer to the fire, enjoying the feeling of being warm and happy.
A branch creaked sinisterly overhead. Two amber eyes surveyed the small camp below as the creature inched forward, the branch groaning under its weight. The predator stilled, its gaze locked on its prey. With an inhuman cry it leapt from the tree onto the ignorant, blond boy.
Ryle was hit with such force that he spewed all his tea, which was quite an achievement, as he had not taken so much as a sip yet. The force from the blow forced him forward, into the fire, but he quickly rolled away and slapped the fire from his clothes. He turned around to face his opponent, automatically dropping into the defensive stance.
Staring back at him were the menacing eyes of Avarice. Ryle barely had time to register the face before the ninja’s fist made contact with his face. Ryle winced and raised his arm to thwart another blow, but was too slow. Desperate, he thrashed out wildly as Avarice nimbly dodged his blows. Avarice swiped Ryle’s feet out from under him. The air whooshed out of the farm boy’s lungs as he landed heavily on the dirt. Avarice loomed over him, numerous torture devices glinting dangerously in his hands. Ryle kicked up with both feet. He was more surprised than anyone when his kick made solid contact with Avarice’s stomach.
Avarice leaned into the force and flipped mid-air, landing with cat-like agility and immediately broke into an all-out sprint towards Ryle. The poor boy widened his stance and readied himself for the onslaught. He nimbly ducked beneath the fist zooming towards his head, but forgot that Avarice had two hands until its imminent arrival upon his face. Ryle flinched away, but Avarice’s knuckle still grazed his cheekbone. Ryle hooked a fist up into Avarice’s chin as the ninja kicked his shin. Frantic, Ryle lashed out with his fist. A sickening crunching noise made him cringe. Avarice used this opening (not that he needed an opening to kick Ryle’s butt) to kick him in the balls.
Ryle’s mouth opened into a perfect ‘O’ as he fell to the ground, curled in the fetal position. He looked up, his vision blurring, to see Avarice wiping the blood from his nose as he walked away.
“You’re still weak,” Avarice stated. Never mind that Ryle had actually managed to make contact, even inflict pain upon the ninja, for the first time ever. The useless farm boy had still been defeated in under a minute and a half.
Ryle nodded agreeably before vomiting and passing out.
