Mirror, rorriM

Chapter 9

            The dark-haired woman looked around with quiet blue eyes. She'd run away from home again, grabbing only what she needed, throwing it into a spelled bag, and slipping out before first light. She'd done the responsible thing and left a note to her father, but other than that, well, if she didn't know where she was going, how could she tell anyone else?

            She'd taken her trusty map and headed out, following the main road from town to town, but lately, things hadn't looked right. This morning, she'd been sure that a town should have been off to her right. There wasn't anything but rubble, so she'd turned down a side road, thinking she'd been reading the map wrong. Now, she was standing among some trees, trying vainly to decide where she was.

            Ultimately, she decided that she was lost. But she could handle that. In all of her previous travels, she'd wandered with companions in search of anything and everything. They'd managed well enough, and as sure as her name was Amelia wil Tesla Saillune, well… she'd manage just fine on her own.

            The woods grew thicker as she tromped on, and she began to get the feeling that she was being watched. Determined not to let it bother her, she continued on, making her way deeper into the forest, humming inane little ditties as she went.

            "What should we do?" One voice whispered.

            "She's just a girl. We can't let her wander around in here at night. It's not safe." Another replied.

            Amelia spun around, pointer finger outstretched. "Stop right there! In the name of Justice, I demand you identify yourselves!"

            Two figures rose from behind some bushes and looked at her. The taller of the two men tilted his blonde head. "In the name of Justice?"
            Amelia colored and dropped her hand, fidgeting with her bracelet. "Well… unlike other people, I think it's just not very polite to threaten with a fireball. I mean, what if you don't mean me any harm?"

            The redhead blinked. He considered it for a moment. "Well… you seem very sure that we don't mean you harm."

            Amelia smiled her sunniest smile. "I've learned that people who mean you harm don't get concerned about your fate in the woods at night."

            The blonde nodded slowly. "Do you know where you are? No, it's obvious that you don't. Follow us; we'll take you to a safe place where you can rest the evening. We don't have a lot, but we will share what we can."

            And so the princess followed the two hunters, unaware that she had been the reason that there wouldn't be an abundance of meat that evening.

            Zelgadis was tired. Correct that. He was beyond tired. But there were injured to heal, and he was still conscious. He moved on to the next injured child and tried not to let it get to him that he was healing children. His heart was made of stone, just like the rest of him, right?

            He was vaguely aware that the children weren't shrinking from him, but he supposed that it was largely because he still had his hood up, and he was obviously healing them. Truth be told, as the evening wore on, he was getting uncomfortably warm under the cloak, and that wasn't helping his tiredness. But he was still conscious.

            The princess entered the camp, and looked around in confusion. No, this was definitely not on her map. She paused for a moment, and then decided to do what any intrepid and wayward princess would do. She put the map away.

            Those who worked within the camp looked at her warily, and she followed the two men who had led her here closely. It wasn't exactly friendly, but it wasn't hostile, either. She was almost glad that Lina wasn't around. Goodness only knows what would happen if the redheaded nightmare magic user-

            "Amelia!!! What are you doing here??"

            The Princess stopped dead in her tracks. What was the old saying? Think of the devil…? She turned around with dread in her stomach. "Lina…"

            The redheaded sorceress stood there, arms folded. "Actually, that doesn't matter right now." Lina moved forwards, reaching out to grab Amelia and pull her along. "There are a lot of injured people, and Zelgadis can't cure them all."

            Immediately bewildered, Amelia allowed Lina to drag her along. "But… Lina… I don't understand…"

            Lina sighed as the approached the shelters where the injured lay. "Neither do I, Amelia. They seem to think that I'm the one who caused this, but there's no way that I could. I can't even cast a light spell right now."

            Amelia's eyes grew round, both from the statement from Lina and the sight of Zelgadis nearly collapsed beside an injured child. Silently, she ran to his side, but he insisted on forcing himself to lead her to that first child, the one with the crushed legs.

            Amelia's heart nearly broke at the sight of the child, and she began healing the girl immediately, not noticing Lina struggling to catch the staggering chimera. Luckily for Lina, Brynn had followed them, and soon they were guiding the exhausted shaman to a cot where he could sleep.