Krista was shaking with Rage as her father returned to view.
"you...." she began, her voice quivering as though she was either going to cry or scream. she couldn't seem to find the right words. "you sacrificed me to that....thing you spent a half our telling me how evil he is?!" her eyes were cold as steel now, all joy and adventurous sparks gone. pure cold wrath emanated.
"I wanted you to survive." Snape replied, avoiding the steel eyes.
"I'm going out." Krista suddenly hissed, then performed a smart about-face and headed out the door.
once outside, she pulled her half fingered gloves back on and pulled the pen-light from it's place in her gun belt.
Realizing the moonlight would be enough once her eyes adjusted, she bolted off into the woods.
~pure serinity~ Krista though as she moved branches aside to pass between two trees. something about hiking...about focusing completely on adventuring always put her at ease.
She pressed on through the dark forest, wondering where each new turn would lead her.
Suddenly the ground beneath her vanished and she was dropped into a deep hole, landing in a sloppy mess of dead leaves and mud; feeling both splatter all over her.
she growled in anger. "GREAT!" she yelled. "I could handle the wizard mess! I could almost handle the whole satanic CRAP. but now I'm in a PIT and covered in SLOP!!!!"
yelling had a good effect on her, it felt good to finally give some release to everything that had been bubbling up inside of her.
but, that didn't get her out of the pit.
She looked around, but the pit was far too dark to see anything.
She pulled out her pen-light, but the slop had prohibited it's usage as well.
"verdammt" she cursed; standing to her feet. or at least she tried to. the slimy mud squished under her and knocked her back onto her butt.
Groaning in disgust, she slid herself through the mud over to where there was less slop, gritting her teeth at the feel of mud sliding up her pant legs and over her arms.
Finally she could stand; and wary of the mud pile, began to feel her way around the pit, although her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see basically...nothing.
it was the pitch black. the kind where you don't even know if you're standing on ground. the kind that makes your head spin because you don't know what's going on. each step is terrifying because you could fall into the deepest of pits...or you could be hanging by your toenails over a vat of boiling marmalade, and wouldn't know it because it was too dark.
Krista began to curse not having a lighter in her pack, although what good a lighter would do when everything was either mud or soaked with mud didn't cross her mind.
she found a doorway of sorts, a narrow tunnel.
beginning down the dark tunnel, she crouched low to the ground and stretched her legs out wide with each step. she was instantly reminded of the way a spider moves.
"Eurgh" she groaned, suddenly picturing the tunnel lined with billions of spiders.
although there wasn't any evidence of such, her lack of sight made up for it easily and soon Krista was moving far too quickly to be safe...and was reminded of this as she took a simple step and suddenly there wasn't a ground to support her weight.
she fell. and fell.
the room she was falling into, although terrifying at the fact of that sudden stop at the end, was breathtaking. it was made of sheer walls of ice. with what looked to be a ...
FWOMP.
suddenly she was two lengths of herself in snow...soft powdery snow.
covered in slick mud, and now surrounded by freezing snow. this day just kept getting better and better!
she attempted to climb through the snow, but made very little progress. it took at least twenty minutes to reach the top.
Finally at the top, she shivered suddenly and violently before climbing out, a labored task that took an easy ten minutes.
"well" she whispered as she rolled sideways down the bit of hill of snow she was on, to keep from sinking down too far. "at least I can see in this room"
the question wasn't what she could see, but rather, what couldn't she see. she lay shivering on a sheet of ice, as she struggled to catch her breath from the climb.
"ice." she breathed, trying to grasp the situation. "why in the WORLD am I in a cave of ice?"
groaning she pulled herself to her feet and looked at what she'd glimpsed during the fall.
a castle. of ice?
sweet.
the adventuress in her took over again, and even though she was half- frozen, still covered in mud, although now the mud was covered in snow that was dyed a dingy brown from the mud, she was sure she looked like one of those snow-men when the ground wasn't frozen and there wasn't very much snow.
she attempted to brush some of it off, but found that basically stupid. there was just too much of it to bother.
pulling out her pistols just in case, she headed towards the castle.
without warning, a large snow-tiger shot out from the entrance, headed straight for her, obviously pissed.
she wanted to stand there and say something like "scheiße" or "crap" or ANYTHING. but instead she attempted to jump, on solid ice. her feet immediately slid out from under her and she hit the ice hard, pain shooting from her tailbone.
taking careful aim at the tiger that was bearing down on her, she pulled the triggers on both guns.
nothing.
it was then that she realized the mud had jammed her pistols
~you idiot~ she cussed at herself. ~why didn't you think of that?~
she rolled just as the tiger was about to pounce, but it was needlessly.
"HALT" the word rang throughout the cave. the Tiger obediently stopped moving, although the ice had other ideas, so it slid across the ice, turning a 180 as it did so.
just then Krista saw where the voice had originated from. a tall male, accompanied by two tall females were emerging from the castle. by the look of them, you'd think they were in Miami. the girls both wore belly shirts and very short-shorts. the male wore shorts that came a little past his knees, and a tank-top under a billowing Hawaiian style shirt.
"why have you come here?" the male demanded as they got closer to Krista; who suddenly realized how nasty she must look compared to their perfect looks.
"I fell into a pit" she motioned where she'd fallen from. "then I fell in here."
~oh that's great Krista~ the nasty little voice in the back of her head laughed. ~make them think not only are you disgusting, but you're a Klutz!~
"you are from above ground?" the man asked.
"Yes, of course." she replied, picking a leaf from her boots. "where am I?"
"the Kingdom of Ice."
~gee, what a revelation. what are you going to tell me next? that this kingdoms underground? way to state the obvious~ the nasty voice laughed.
"you should return to your place." one of the girls suddenly stated, obviously not liking the way the guy was spending too much time goggling at Krista.
of course, she couldn't blame him....if she'd seen herself right now, she'd probably stare too. she had wild mental images of a leaf sticking straight up out of her head, her hair stringy with mud and covered in white snow, and she KNEW she had a patch of mud on her nose. she couldn't blame anyone for staring at her.
"Yes." she suddenly stated. "I should."
"Perhaps you should Get cleaned up first." the man said Gently, as though not sure if Krista wanted to be hideously nasty.
"That's the best news I heard all day." she smiled.
she decided later that she regretted those words, as the water she bathed in was barely above freezing. it made her scalp tingle as she scrubbed the mud out. it was the dirtiest she'd been in a long time, but it was also the quickest shower she'd taken in a long time as well. she hurriedly scrubbed all the mud from her body, and overjoyed to finally be out of that shower, she jumped out and dried off, dressing in the clothing that was laid out for her. big surprise, it was shorts and a belly shirt. they'd sense enough to give her socks, however, and she quickly scrubbed her boots clean before placing the boots on.
~god~ she realized, looking in the mirror. ~i still look like lara.~
she shrugged the thought off and brushed through her hair, a process that didn't seem to want to happen. finally it was halfway decent and she emerged from the bathing room.
"I trust the water was warm enough for your liking?" a servant suddenly approached her. "I heard you weren't used to this cold so I raised the temperature."
"yes." she lied. he'd RAISED the temperature? if the water had been any colder, she'd have been knocked unconscious by blocks of ice! "it was fine."
the man smiled happily and motioned down the stairs. "care to eat before you go?"
"I shall be insulted if you refuse" the man that'd greeted her before suddenly came into view. this time he was void of the two females. Krista was glad. those two girls were like automatons, they looked almost exactly alike.
"then I shall accept, so as not to insult you." Krista winked curtsying a bit. she may be an adventuress, but she was still a Princess and knew how to be civilized.
"My name is Stephen" he greeted finally bowing with a nod of his head. but there was also a twinkling in his eye that worried Krista a bit.
"I am Krista." she returned, giving another curtsy.
"quite the Manners." Stephen observed, noting how civil Krista was acting.
"I was raised properly." was the only answer she gave, calm as it was.
they walked down to the dining hall, where it seemed everyone had been cleared out for the dinner. they spoke during the dinner, about Kingdoms and the world above and below ground. after a few hours Krista looked at her watch and realized how late it was.
"I'm sorry." she began as she realized it was nearly daybreak. "but I really should return to the surface."
"Of course." Stephen returned, standing up. "I shall show you a exit to the surface, you may also use it to return, which I expect you will at some time in the near future?"
"Yes." she promised, although not sure how much meaning she gave the promise. "I shall."
She emerged from the surface about an hour later, just in time to see the sun coming over the Manor. the exit to the surface was right at the edge of the clearing in the front!
She entered the Manor, carrying a bag that contained her guns/belt, gloves and backpack. Her father was pacing a spot near where he'd been when she'd walked out.
"Krista!" he shouted, rushing up to her and wrapping his arms around her in a hug that was so tight Krista could barely breathe. "where were you?"
"you...." she began, her voice quivering as though she was either going to cry or scream. she couldn't seem to find the right words. "you sacrificed me to that....thing you spent a half our telling me how evil he is?!" her eyes were cold as steel now, all joy and adventurous sparks gone. pure cold wrath emanated.
"I wanted you to survive." Snape replied, avoiding the steel eyes.
"I'm going out." Krista suddenly hissed, then performed a smart about-face and headed out the door.
once outside, she pulled her half fingered gloves back on and pulled the pen-light from it's place in her gun belt.
Realizing the moonlight would be enough once her eyes adjusted, she bolted off into the woods.
~pure serinity~ Krista though as she moved branches aside to pass between two trees. something about hiking...about focusing completely on adventuring always put her at ease.
She pressed on through the dark forest, wondering where each new turn would lead her.
Suddenly the ground beneath her vanished and she was dropped into a deep hole, landing in a sloppy mess of dead leaves and mud; feeling both splatter all over her.
she growled in anger. "GREAT!" she yelled. "I could handle the wizard mess! I could almost handle the whole satanic CRAP. but now I'm in a PIT and covered in SLOP!!!!"
yelling had a good effect on her, it felt good to finally give some release to everything that had been bubbling up inside of her.
but, that didn't get her out of the pit.
She looked around, but the pit was far too dark to see anything.
She pulled out her pen-light, but the slop had prohibited it's usage as well.
"verdammt" she cursed; standing to her feet. or at least she tried to. the slimy mud squished under her and knocked her back onto her butt.
Groaning in disgust, she slid herself through the mud over to where there was less slop, gritting her teeth at the feel of mud sliding up her pant legs and over her arms.
Finally she could stand; and wary of the mud pile, began to feel her way around the pit, although her eyes adjusted to the dark, she could see basically...nothing.
it was the pitch black. the kind where you don't even know if you're standing on ground. the kind that makes your head spin because you don't know what's going on. each step is terrifying because you could fall into the deepest of pits...or you could be hanging by your toenails over a vat of boiling marmalade, and wouldn't know it because it was too dark.
Krista began to curse not having a lighter in her pack, although what good a lighter would do when everything was either mud or soaked with mud didn't cross her mind.
she found a doorway of sorts, a narrow tunnel.
beginning down the dark tunnel, she crouched low to the ground and stretched her legs out wide with each step. she was instantly reminded of the way a spider moves.
"Eurgh" she groaned, suddenly picturing the tunnel lined with billions of spiders.
although there wasn't any evidence of such, her lack of sight made up for it easily and soon Krista was moving far too quickly to be safe...and was reminded of this as she took a simple step and suddenly there wasn't a ground to support her weight.
she fell. and fell.
the room she was falling into, although terrifying at the fact of that sudden stop at the end, was breathtaking. it was made of sheer walls of ice. with what looked to be a ...
FWOMP.
suddenly she was two lengths of herself in snow...soft powdery snow.
covered in slick mud, and now surrounded by freezing snow. this day just kept getting better and better!
she attempted to climb through the snow, but made very little progress. it took at least twenty minutes to reach the top.
Finally at the top, she shivered suddenly and violently before climbing out, a labored task that took an easy ten minutes.
"well" she whispered as she rolled sideways down the bit of hill of snow she was on, to keep from sinking down too far. "at least I can see in this room"
the question wasn't what she could see, but rather, what couldn't she see. she lay shivering on a sheet of ice, as she struggled to catch her breath from the climb.
"ice." she breathed, trying to grasp the situation. "why in the WORLD am I in a cave of ice?"
groaning she pulled herself to her feet and looked at what she'd glimpsed during the fall.
a castle. of ice?
sweet.
the adventuress in her took over again, and even though she was half- frozen, still covered in mud, although now the mud was covered in snow that was dyed a dingy brown from the mud, she was sure she looked like one of those snow-men when the ground wasn't frozen and there wasn't very much snow.
she attempted to brush some of it off, but found that basically stupid. there was just too much of it to bother.
pulling out her pistols just in case, she headed towards the castle.
without warning, a large snow-tiger shot out from the entrance, headed straight for her, obviously pissed.
she wanted to stand there and say something like "scheiße" or "crap" or ANYTHING. but instead she attempted to jump, on solid ice. her feet immediately slid out from under her and she hit the ice hard, pain shooting from her tailbone.
taking careful aim at the tiger that was bearing down on her, she pulled the triggers on both guns.
nothing.
it was then that she realized the mud had jammed her pistols
~you idiot~ she cussed at herself. ~why didn't you think of that?~
she rolled just as the tiger was about to pounce, but it was needlessly.
"HALT" the word rang throughout the cave. the Tiger obediently stopped moving, although the ice had other ideas, so it slid across the ice, turning a 180 as it did so.
just then Krista saw where the voice had originated from. a tall male, accompanied by two tall females were emerging from the castle. by the look of them, you'd think they were in Miami. the girls both wore belly shirts and very short-shorts. the male wore shorts that came a little past his knees, and a tank-top under a billowing Hawaiian style shirt.
"why have you come here?" the male demanded as they got closer to Krista; who suddenly realized how nasty she must look compared to their perfect looks.
"I fell into a pit" she motioned where she'd fallen from. "then I fell in here."
~oh that's great Krista~ the nasty little voice in the back of her head laughed. ~make them think not only are you disgusting, but you're a Klutz!~
"you are from above ground?" the man asked.
"Yes, of course." she replied, picking a leaf from her boots. "where am I?"
"the Kingdom of Ice."
~gee, what a revelation. what are you going to tell me next? that this kingdoms underground? way to state the obvious~ the nasty voice laughed.
"you should return to your place." one of the girls suddenly stated, obviously not liking the way the guy was spending too much time goggling at Krista.
of course, she couldn't blame him....if she'd seen herself right now, she'd probably stare too. she had wild mental images of a leaf sticking straight up out of her head, her hair stringy with mud and covered in white snow, and she KNEW she had a patch of mud on her nose. she couldn't blame anyone for staring at her.
"Yes." she suddenly stated. "I should."
"Perhaps you should Get cleaned up first." the man said Gently, as though not sure if Krista wanted to be hideously nasty.
"That's the best news I heard all day." she smiled.
she decided later that she regretted those words, as the water she bathed in was barely above freezing. it made her scalp tingle as she scrubbed the mud out. it was the dirtiest she'd been in a long time, but it was also the quickest shower she'd taken in a long time as well. she hurriedly scrubbed all the mud from her body, and overjoyed to finally be out of that shower, she jumped out and dried off, dressing in the clothing that was laid out for her. big surprise, it was shorts and a belly shirt. they'd sense enough to give her socks, however, and she quickly scrubbed her boots clean before placing the boots on.
~god~ she realized, looking in the mirror. ~i still look like lara.~
she shrugged the thought off and brushed through her hair, a process that didn't seem to want to happen. finally it was halfway decent and she emerged from the bathing room.
"I trust the water was warm enough for your liking?" a servant suddenly approached her. "I heard you weren't used to this cold so I raised the temperature."
"yes." she lied. he'd RAISED the temperature? if the water had been any colder, she'd have been knocked unconscious by blocks of ice! "it was fine."
the man smiled happily and motioned down the stairs. "care to eat before you go?"
"I shall be insulted if you refuse" the man that'd greeted her before suddenly came into view. this time he was void of the two females. Krista was glad. those two girls were like automatons, they looked almost exactly alike.
"then I shall accept, so as not to insult you." Krista winked curtsying a bit. she may be an adventuress, but she was still a Princess and knew how to be civilized.
"My name is Stephen" he greeted finally bowing with a nod of his head. but there was also a twinkling in his eye that worried Krista a bit.
"I am Krista." she returned, giving another curtsy.
"quite the Manners." Stephen observed, noting how civil Krista was acting.
"I was raised properly." was the only answer she gave, calm as it was.
they walked down to the dining hall, where it seemed everyone had been cleared out for the dinner. they spoke during the dinner, about Kingdoms and the world above and below ground. after a few hours Krista looked at her watch and realized how late it was.
"I'm sorry." she began as she realized it was nearly daybreak. "but I really should return to the surface."
"Of course." Stephen returned, standing up. "I shall show you a exit to the surface, you may also use it to return, which I expect you will at some time in the near future?"
"Yes." she promised, although not sure how much meaning she gave the promise. "I shall."
She emerged from the surface about an hour later, just in time to see the sun coming over the Manor. the exit to the surface was right at the edge of the clearing in the front!
She entered the Manor, carrying a bag that contained her guns/belt, gloves and backpack. Her father was pacing a spot near where he'd been when she'd walked out.
"Krista!" he shouted, rushing up to her and wrapping his arms around her in a hug that was so tight Krista could barely breathe. "where were you?"