Yes, the last chapter DOES have to do with GS. Don't worry. ^_^
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CHAPTER 2: THE ROAD TO IMIL
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Isaac, Ivan, and Garet trudged through the snow. Garet set the pace for their march by chanting, "Cold. Cold. Cold, cold, cold!" over and over again. Ivan, after 20 minutes of listening to Garet, couldn't take it anymore.
"Garet, if you're so cold, why don't you make a nice big fireball to warm us up?!" He shouted.
Garet paused for a moment, considering. But Isaac shook his head. "If we do that, how are we going to carry it all the way to Imil? To get any heat out of it, we'd have to stop and gather around it, but by the time we were nice and warm, we could be in Imil." He paused and took a deep breath. "No fireball." With that being said, he fell back into silence and marched through the snow.
"Sorry, Ivan. It was worth a try." Garet sighed.
A half-hour later, they were still marching through the snow, but without Garet's fun little chant to help them keep time. Ivan looked up from the snow and beamed. "Hey! Isaac! Garet! I think I see something!"
Isaac and Garet looked up. In the distance, they thought they could see lights. Thinking that they had found Imil, the three charged to the horizon.
After ten minutes, Garet slowed to a stop. Isaac and Ivan caught up to him and stopped too. Isaac looked around at the snowy wasteland. "Why'd we stop, Garet?"
Garet looked over at the lights in the distance and frowned. "I am just be imagining it, or is that after ten minutes of running, Imil isn't any closer?" He looked at the others.
Ivan frowned. "So, what are you saying it is? A mirage?" He added sarcastically.
Garet nodded. Ivan was taken aback. He was only kidding about the lights being a mirage. But now that he thought about it, he realized that it could actually be true. "Okay, but what do we do now?" He looked over at Isaac searchingly.
Isaac was staring at the lights. Suddenly, a look of despair crossed his face. "Guys, you see how the sun's setting behind those lights?"
Garet looked at the lights again and shaded his eyes from the sun. "Yeah? So wha---oh. We've been going west, when we should be going---"
"North." Ivan finished. He felt extremely foolish. It was his fault that they had been going in the wrong direction. Perhaps Isaac had been reading Ivan's mind, because he smiled. "Don't worry, Ivan. It's not your fault."
Having said that, he looked around the tundra. "It's getting late." Isaac decided. "We should find some shelter. I saw a cave a while back. Who votes we go for it?" He looked at the others. Garets was all for the idea, but Ivan looked like he was having his doubts. "Excellent." Isaac turned around and began to walk. He knew the others would follow him. Sure enough, Garet and Ivan walked beside Isaac to find the cave.
After three minutes, they came to the cave. It was kind of small; it would only hold about three or four people at the most. "Perfect!" Garet stated and ran to the cave. Setting his pack down, he sat next to it and looked at how much dirt he collected. Garet cringed. "Well, it's not the most comfortable or clean place in the world, but it'll do."
Isaac and Ivan set down their packs too. Ivan sat down across from Garet, but Isaac remained standing. "Who wants first watch?"
Garet and Ivan instantly shouted "Me!" and then glared at each other. Isaac smiled. "How about this: Ivan, you go first. Wake me up and I'll take the second watch. Then I'll wake you up, Garet, and you'll take the last watch." He finished. Looking over at Garet, Isaac could see that he was frowning.
"Why do I get last watch?!" He complained loudly. Isaac sighed. "Because you're special, Garet. Now go to sleep." With that, he lay down and faced the wall, refusing to speak anymore.
Garet complained for 15 minutes and then fell asleep mid-sentence. Ivan was very grateful. Right now, he wanted to drop asleep from fatigue, but his conscience wouldn't let him.
So, for hours, Ivan was forced to replay in his mind all the failures he had done. Today's mistake seemed like one leaf on the forest floor in autumn. When he saw the sky begin to lighten, he got angry that he had stayed up the whole night.
After dawn, Ivan was still sitting outside the cave. He had figured it would be a waste of time to wake Isaac up to finish this shift. Even though his eyelids felt immensely heavy, he still watched for signs of trouble.
Behind him, Ivan heard the crunching of snow. Whirling around, he came face-to-face with Isaac. "Ivan," he began to lecture, "Why didn't you wake Garet or me?"
Ivan fidgeted and grinned. "Garet was snoring so loud that my ears were starting to hurt. I didn't want to become deaf." His grin faded. "You're mad at me, aren't you?" Ivan looked accusingly hurt at Isaac.
Isaac sighed. "No, I'm not mad." Ivan knew he was lying, but he let it go.
"So," he began. "Who should wake up Garet?" Isaac looked over at Garet, who was snoring. He volunteered and went back into the cave. Ivan stayed outside, watching the sun still rising. He could hear arguing and sounds of someone dragging something emanating from the cave.
Ivan turned around and saw Garet and Isaac emerging. Garet didn't look too good, he had a serious case of bed-head. Isaac looked much better and held out Ivan's pack. He took it and without a word, the three Adepts turned left and headed north to Imil.
An hour later, Garet had resumed his chant of "Cold. Cold. Cold, cold, cold!" Ivan was also pleading to Garet to please stop or risk getting electrocuted. "Hey guys!" Isaac shouted. "Come here!"
Ivan and Garet, who hadn't realized they'd fallen behind, climbed to the top of a hill of snow to see what Isaac had called them for. At the bottom of the hill was Imil.
Wasting no time, Garet, Isaac, and Ivan ran to the village. It was kind of charming, really. The buildings reminded Garet of gingerbread houses. And with his unfailable logic, he determined that anyone who has their house look like a gingerbread house must also like gingerbread cookies, and they will probably have a plentiful supply. With that figured out, he sprinted to the nearest house. Isaac and Ivan exchanged surprised looks, shrugged, and took off after him.
By the time the other two got to the door, Garet was pounding on it and shouting, "Hello! Hello?!" Isaac grabbed Garet's arm as he was about to know again. "What are you doing?!" he demanded.
Garet frowned and tore away his arm from Isaac and knocked again. Isaac gave up and looked helplessly at Ivan. "What is Garet doing?"
Ivan closed his eyes and touched Garet's shoulder. He closed his eyes and his thoughts became one with Garet's. When he got what he wanted, he hurriedly took his hand off Garet and groaned. Isaac asked him what he saw, but all he could do was shake his head and mumble, "Cookies. . . He wants COOKIES!"
As Garet was about to knock again, an old voice croaked, "Mia? Is that you? You can stop banging on the door and come in." Ignoring that the voice said that "Mia" could come in, Garet flung open the door and entered, Isaac and Ivan stood on both sides of him. As Garet was about to imperiously demand "Where are the gingerbread cookies?!", the voice interrupted him again with a sharp, "Who are you? You're not Mia!"
All three Adepts turned to the owner of the voice. She was a small, formidable, old woman. Isaac started to apologize and introduce himself, Garet, and Ivan, but a bony hand seized his shoulder. Not knowing what it was, he whirled around, ready to defend himself. But all he was a sickly, gnarled old man who didn't look like he should be up and moving.
He opened his mouth and managed to wheeze. "Please. . . Find help. . . Go get. . . Mia. . ." His eyes rolled back into his head. The old woman screamed and helped him as best as she could to a small bed by a lit fireplace.
Garet, Isaac, and Ivan all stood dumbfounded, unsure of what to do. The old woman looked up from her husband to scream at them. "What are you standing there for?! Quickly! Fetch Mia!"
Ivan, first to recover, grabbed Isaac and Garet's arms and pulled them out the door. "What now?" Garet asked Isaac, looking pointedly back at the house.
Isaac look too and shuddered. "I guess there's nothing to do," he decided, "but look for this 'Mia.'"
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END OF CHAPTER 2: THE ROAD TO IMIL
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First off, I had to make apologies for Ivan's little angsty-ish paragraph when he was guarding the others. It shouldn't happen again. I just wasn't in a happy mood when I wrote that.
Hehehe. I can't stay away from stupidity and humor for long, can I? I decided to put the gingerbread cookie thing because that's what they remind ME of, and I don't think that the Adepts would get much good food on the open road, don't you think? o.O;;;