Mirror, rirroM
Chapter 3
Lina sat on the ground, looking up at Zelgadis. "Come on, Zel! You're kidding! After all we've been through?"
Zelgadis folded his arms and looked back at her. "Especially what we've been through. Lina, all I want to do is find my cure. I don't want to save the world; I don't want to fight a Dark Lord or meet an overworlder. You may be fine with running headlong into trouble and having to fight your way out of it… but not me. That's not my kind of life…" his voice trailed off as he looked at her.
Lina Inverse, sorceress extraordinaire was looking at him with eyes filled with tears. Oh, no. No, no, no, no! She is not going to trick me with that! I won't buy it! He frowned at her. "No, Lina."
Her eyes got bigger and she looked at him with her lower lip trembling. He took a deep breath, wrestled with himself for a moment, and then opened the bag of coin the man had given him, tossed her a single silver piece, and then turned and started walking along the road, drawing his hood up over his face.
He waited for the footfalls as he walked.
He waited for the inevitable announcement that she would follow him, no matter what.
He waited.
Eventually, he gave in and turned to look, half expecting her to be right behind him, ready to clonk him upside the head with a slipper.
The road was deserted.
Blinking thoughtfully, he turned around and continued to walk.
Lina sat on a branch in the tree that she'd climbed up into, looking at the silver piece that Zelgadis had thrown at her. After all that… when it's all said and done… he throws a single silver piece at me and walks away. I mean, I can't really blame him for only taking two hundred thousand for the job. How could he have known it was me? But to just leave me there on the side of the road? I thought… I thought his friends meant more than that. I guess… I guess I was wrong.
She slipped off of the branch, allowing gravity to work its own magic and landed on her feet wincing at the pain shooting through her ankle. Never mind that, it'll heal. Eventually. Well, Lina… no use crying over any of that now. You're clearly on your own, and that's that. She looked around thoughtfully. "Now if I go that way… I head back for the people who tried to have me killed. And while I can't say that I'm happy about them trying that, and I really want to hurt them for it… well…" she patted a pocket in her cloak. "I can't really go back while I still have what they hired me to guard, can I?" She grinned at herself. "Good thing I had decided to keep it safe in my pocket in case I had to leave the room."
She turned in the direction that Zelgadis had walked, looking thoughtful. "On the other hand, if I go this way, I might run into Zel again. Eh," she said, waving her hand at her silliness. "I'd much rather face an irritated Zel than angry townspeople. So! Off I go!"
She headed down the path, walking and flipping the coin thoughtfully, that old habit picked back up since being on her own again. She caught the silver piece and looked at it for a moment, then pocketed it. Flipping things had gotten her into this mess in the first place. No sense losing this coin too.
She got into the city just after nightfall, coming to a halt when she saw the first burned-out building. The smell of smoke hung low in the air, heavy and cloying. She started searching for survivors, trying to figure out what had happened, but found only dying embers and rubble after hours of searching.
With a sigh, she sat on a stone, looking around at the devastation. It looked as if there hadn't been anyone in the city when it burned. But why? What caused it to burn… and where are the people?
A movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she turned to see a figure moving through the rubble. She slipped off of the stone and walked over to the figure. "Hey… what happened here?"
It took less than a heartbeat for them to recognize each other, and Lina sighed. "I'm not following you, Zel. You want to find your cure. Fine, I respect that. I thought maybe you were a survivor of the fires or something." She turned around and lifted her chin slightly. Lifting her hand in a wave, she started to walk away. "See you around."