Mirror, rirroM
Chapter 1
Lina yawned. She was damnably tired, but it was her watch, and if she fell asleep, she'd never hear the end of it. The story of my life, she thought disgustedly. I always run out of money and then I have to take stupid jobs like this!
Sadly, this time, it was all her own fault that she had no money. She scowled, folding her arms and leaning harder against the wall as she thought about it. She'd been dumb, flipping the coin purse like she always did, not paying attention… and she'd fumbled it straight into the river.
Two hours of splashing frantically around hadn't found it, either.
At least she was on her own, and no one had been around to laugh or make comments.
And the pay wasn't bad… she was just bored. Like anyone ever came to a tiny little town to rob- her attention was caught by a footfall. What was that?
She straightened up, drawing her blade silently. No sense in popping off a magic spell and warning the intruder that she was here… she could just wait and let him come to her.
The intruder was almost silent, the footsteps careful. But not careful enough… she thought. I can hear you. She crouched low, weapon hilt almost to the ground. It would be time, soon enough.
He approached unerringly, and she knew that he'd caught her outline in the half-light. The half-whisper of metal against leather, and she knew his blade had been drawn.
There was a glint of steel, and she blocked the incoming sword-thrust, returning it and dodging out of the way with a grunt. Well, she'd wanted something to do, and getting out of this guy's way was high on her list right at the moment. His attacks were strong, swift, and she was beginning to falter. Damn! This guy is good! I'm gonna have to do something else really fast. I knew I should have gone to bed earlier!
She leapt backwards to avoid another blow, immediately having to twist out of the way of his follow-through. All right… let's shed some light on this, shall we?
The ball of light burst into her hand without the calling of the spell, the brilliance aimed to hopefully blind her opponent long enough for her to press her own advantage. A glint reflected back at her from an impossible angle. His… hair…?
She froze.
"ZEL?!!?!??"
He blinked.
She grinned. "What the hell are you doing here?" Sheathing her sword, she stood with a grin, running fingers through unruly red curls.
He blinked again. Her? Here? The witch that he was sent to kill was Lina Inverse?
"Hello-o? Zelgadis? Is anyone in there?"
She was knocking on his arm, peering up into his face. "Hey, Ze-el. Zelly… are you okay?"
He blinked at her again. "I was sent to kill you…"
She wrinkled her nose, waving her hand at him as if to dismiss that fact. "Yeah, yeah. It's not the first time, and probably won't be the last. What else is new? How are you? It's been years!"
He was still working through the fact that she was the one he'd been hired to kill. She'll be guarding the statue, they'd said. He'd asked what she looked like. They'd said he'd know her when he saw her.
They'd set him up. The thrice-damned Council of Elders had set him up!
Lina stood on tiptoe, peering into his eyes. "You know, you really do have nice eyes, but they sure don't tell much of what you're thinking…"
He shifted his gaze to her eyes. "Do you really think so?"
Instantly she jumped back and blushed violently. "Erm… well… I… that is…" She scowled suddenly, changing the subject. "So what is this about you being hired to kill me?"
He sank to the floor with a sigh. "The Council of Elders hired me to kill a witch that was keeping them from getting to their ceremonial statue."
Lina drew up short, looking into the shadows that concealed the statue. "But… the Council of Elders hired me to guard the statue…" Her eyes narrowed. "Why those simpering pigs. They sent a letter to hire me specifically, probably just so they could have me killed! Oh… great! What in the blazes did I do to them?"
Ignoring Lina's dramatic tugging of her hair, Zelgadis started counting off on his fingers as he started listing off things. "You used your fishing spell in the river above town and brought the fish to town, selling them at four times the street price… you demolished the building of a merchant who had seen you at the river doing the fishing… You 'borrowed' the key to the repository of the town's museum and subsequently 'borrowed' some priceless magical artifacts…"
She interrupted him indignantly. "I just read the spellbooks and put them back! I didn't do anything to them!"
He'd learned long ago that a noncommittal answer was good in cases like this, and she sighed and looked at her hands. He glanced up at the blushing sorceress. "Do I need to continue?"
Lina sighed and collapsed on the floor beside him. "No, not really," she replied glumly. "So what are you going to do, Zelgadis?"
He shrugged. "I'm going to have to kill you."