Chapter Twelve: Bloodstained Snow
Following the helicopter was a harder task then Vanille had expected. Every time they became within three mountains of the flying machine, Lightning would push her back into a crevice and follow. Often they would wait for only a few minutes, but sometimes longer. They would emerge to see the helicopter lifting itself higher into the air and resuming its flight.
Snow had begun to fall lightly again, gathering in any gaps it could reach and coating the ground in a white sheet. It was a magical place in the winter, but the dread of the soldiers prowling through the valleys, climbing to the peaks, hunting with no pause… That destroyed the scene.
Finally, Vanille lost her temper when Lightning grasped her by the arm painfully hard and forced her to the ground behind a stone that jutted out from one of the towering mountains at its side.
"Can you be gentler?"
Lightning did not even look at her. She was staring from over the top of the stone, searching everything ahead as though she had laser vision in those irises. "Sorry," she muttered. "But would you rather walk straight into a trap?"
Vanille 'huffed' and started picking at the cracks that were in the stone, ravaged by age. "Well how long are we going to be doing this?" she asked.
"As long as it takes. The helicopter keeps s dropping off soldiers at certain points, and I don't want us seen." Lightning paused for a moment. "You do know what this means, right?"
There was a sigh from the young companion and she tapped a finger to the bow slung across her back. "Fighting?"
"That's right." Lightning was gone a moment later, running ahead as usual, but she only took a few racing leaps through the snow until she slowed and turned to beckon for Vanille to follow. It took only minutes and the friends were running together, heading into new dangers.
"Lightning!"
Gunshots ripped through the air, piercing through ice as it collided with an icicle sprouting form the earth amongst its fellow clear spires. That was where Lighting had landed after diving inches over the bullets. She had felt them ripple her shirt as they passed below, heard them sailing through the air, then all she was aware of was snow as it sprayed up in her face. She rolled across until she caught a glimpse of the nearest icy point, and she hid behind it. One near her shattered from the bullets, and she knew that her protection was feeble.
The soldiers were relentless. They fired away, releasing a torrent of arrows that immediately brought Lightning's icy protection to pitiful shards on the ground, but she was already on the move, rolling across the snow, then springing up to slam her foot into the face of the closest soldier.
Another projectile entered the area and embedded into the back of the second soldier. A cloud of blood exploded from the wound and he fell to his knees, letting out a pained grunt and scrambling for the gun that had flown out of his hands.
"Uh, uh , uh." A looming shadows crept over him, and he stared into the eyes of his killer, the woman he had been forced to target and destroy. She was relentless, and before his life was ended with a well aimed stab to the neck, was that she was graceful in her skill. Many would fall before her, he knew this. She was unstoppable.
There was silence. A gentle breeze collected snow let it sail on its wings before leaving it brushed up against the mountainsides that shielded the area. Lightning stood, blood dripping from her sword. She stared up into the towering rock before her, smiling at the red-haired girl as she jumped down into the snow.
"Good work," Lightning congratulated her. "But next time aim for the head, or maybe-" She cut herself off as she realised how pale her companion was.
"I attacked someone. I tried to kill someone…"
Lightning pat her on the shoulder and tightened the girl's grip on her bow. "You saved my life, and tried to stop someone from doing something terrible. I am not the enemy, but these men are. They have no hearts, they care for no one. They only enjoy killing."
This information seemed to suffice, for Vanille lifted her head and nodded softly. There were no tears this time, and she was smiling, even if it did look forced.
Men and woman alike fell at Lightning's feet, blood pooling around them and staining the snow crimson. It was an attractive scene to Lightning, even if it did provoke her old memories. She never stopped swinging, stabbing, screaming, flipping, and nor would she force herself to leave any of these soldiers alive.
She did not often take pity.
Always from above Vanille would fire arrows, beginning to grow used to the jerking fear of the blood exploding as the wooden projectiles struck flesh. Even the 'thwack' became a numb realisation to her and she started to load faster, making a new arrow airborne only seconds after the first. She was still not perfect though. Her aim was still off most of the time, merely because she was still scared of ending a life without Lightning's help.
She was not quiet ready to bare that yet.
They had encountered dozens of the hated enemy that scoured the mountains for Lightning, and she was unharmed apart from cuts and bruises that she had expected.
Unfortunately for the pair, Vanille had suffered a grave injury. She had yelled out as Lightning fought on below the ridge the girl hid on. Hearing the distressed call she turned swiftly to see Vanille falling down from the short height and landing in the snow with a gentle thump. Above, standing where she had once been, stood one of the soldiers, a bright smile on her face as she held up a bloody dagger that shone in the sunlight.
"Damn you!" Lightning cried out, running towards the fallen form of Vanille. She ignored the bullets around her that were swallowed up by the snow, ignored the angry shouts and taunts. She scooped up Vanille's bow and an arrow that lay at her side, aimed at the woman who had her dagger poised to throw, and released the arrow. It flew straight and true and struck the soldier in the chest, and she fell backwards, leaving a resounding crack echoing down.
Unsurprising, the soldiers behind her had not even stopped for a moment. They came at her with swords and guns, firing and slashing away. Lightning deflected every bullet and blocked every attack, her focus outstanding even when her friend was lying injured in the snow. She found openings in the defence of the soldiers and truck, embedding her sword in flesh, then ripping the blade through their bodies to behead the gunners so quickly that she didn't even see any of the heads fall.
Blood coated Vanille's left shoulder as she held her hand over it feebly. Tears streamed down the sides of her face and her feet dug into the snow as pain burned in her shoulder. The blade had gone through from the back, piercing through the shoulder blade and flesh as though she were no thicker than cardboard.
Lightning kneeled at her side and examined the wound, then seeing the frightening damage she sat the girl up gently and started binding it with the remaining bandage strips in her small pouch. During the entire treatment Vanille whimpered and trembled, but she fought back new tears and managed to stay conscious.
Once the wound was wrapped Lightning lifted the girl up carefully and shrugged her onto her shoulder. As she had remembered from the last time she had carried her, she was not heavy at all, and she carried her easily across the snow covered path.
"Vanille?" she repeated over and over again to make sure the girl was still answering. She would ask her questions like how she was enjoying her time travelling with her, or dig deeper into her past to try and get her to remember happy experiences.
She was quiet glad to hear that the girl was happy to travel with her and had a happy past life though her voice was weak as she spoke.
"You said that there was a merchant here in the mountains," Lightning reminded, searching relentlessly for someone, anyone, who would hold potions. Perhaps she could even find a travelling mage who would teach her how to heal. That would be handy during their trip, and welcomed greatly.
"Yeah," Vanille rasped, her hand clutching Lightning's jacket as she hung limply. "He is usually in the valley I've heard."
Lightning nodded and tried to ignore the worry. Her companion was losing a lot of blood and her consciousness was clearly wavering. She hoped that she would make it, and wished for the merchant to be there. She refused to let the girl die when she had become so important to her over the past days.
The valley was a beautiful place. Purple flowers rose from the grey icy ground and snow bordered the sides. The mountains grew away from the long semi-tunnel as though afraid, but spires of ice, long and thin, grew alongside the snow as though creating a wall to keep out the enemy.
Lightning was not concentrating on the gorgeous sight in front of her eyes. Her eyes scanned for the merchant, her hands itching for her sword at any sign of danger and were ready to catch Vanille if she slid off of her shoulder. She could feel the warm blood seeping into her clothes and running down her collarbone, but she could also feel her breathing, the gently pressure of her stomach and chest as she clung onto consciousness and life. The blood she would have lost was an amount Lightning did not wish to know.
"Are you tired?" The voice was weak and muffled as Vanille's face fell completely into Lightning's jacket. She glanced sideways to see her answer to the question.
Lightning shook her head. "Endurance training really pays off," she pointed out, but she froze as she realised that there was a man sitting beside one of the spires, staring up at the sky and fiddling with something in his hand.
A potion!
"There he is," Lightning said excitedly, moving towards him with more speed than she had possessed before. "Hey you!"
The man turned, his face suddenly stricken with fear. He leapt to his feet and started to back away.
Lightning bit back a nasty retort that would bring him to his knees in fear, but she decided that he would be ultimately saving the life of her little friend, so she kept calm and friendly. "Please, she needs help! We need potions, urgently!"
Seeing the condition of the bleeding girl hanging completely limp from Lightning's shoulder seemed to stop the man from moving back any further, and he instead approached.
"Do you have money?" he asked wearily.
Conveniently, Lightning had taken what coin she could from the soldiers she had killed, knowing that she would need it eventually.
"Yes, we have plenty," she said, finally finding herself close enough to note the mans tanned skin, his dark brown hair that clung to his head, his heavily belted jacket with pockets and little bags hanging off everywhere. "Will this suffice?"
One look at the money forced a smile onto the man's face. "Yes, yes! That is worth many. Sixty at least!"
"Magic as well. Do you have magic?"
A flicker of amusement passed the man's face. "Not many know of the mage orbs I carry with me, but I guess they only had to ask." He pulled out an array of brightly coloured round balls that he held out in his hands. "They are expensive, I must warb you."
Lightning added up the expenses and said, "Twenty potions and the curing magic, please!"
"Do you think you can learn it? Magic takes much energy, and I do not think you have that to spare. Not if you are travelling in these mountains."
A choked cough from Vanille stopped Lightning from getting into an argument with this rude man. She lowered the girl to the ground, snatched her potions from the man, and began pouring the first five, one at a time, down Vanille's throat. She ran her hand along her throat to help her swallow, and once she had finished the five Lightning held to her lips, her eyes blinked open and she smiled brightly at her companion.
A sigh of relief escaped Lightning as she saw that the bleeding had ceased and the wound was already almost completely closed. One more potion healed it completely, and she thanked the merchant for his sale.
Once she was well enough to talk, Vanille gripped Lightning tightly by the arm and pointed ahead towards the end of the valley.
"Lightning, this leads to Thor's Clearing!" she exclaimed.
This piqued the merchant's curiosity as he packed up his things. "You had best learn that magic before you step foot into there lady, because Thor's Clearing is said to hold a beast beneath its surface."
Staring down at the glowing white flames in the orb, Lightning concentrated with all of her might and lifted the orb to her forehead. The magic inside flowed into her mind and she saw it, clutched at it mentally. It was hard to grasp, hard to learn how to unleash its powers and she soon grew drained just by learning what to do with the magic… but then she had it completely, and sealed the knowledge of the small orb into her mind.
"Done," she said proudly as she threw the now flameless orb to the ground. It shattered and she pulled herself to her feet. "Now were safe to enter the clearing, and hopefully there will be no more mishaps," she added, glancing down at Vanille with a smile.
The gesture was returned from the now healthy girl, and they prepared their items for the area they would soon enter.