As Luck Would Have It
A/N: Here we go with another chapter! Many apologies for a chapter that ended up being a lot of dialogue. Next one has more battle, I promise.Thanks all of you for my 203 reviews!!!
Isaac says Booga: Yes, it was a cliffie. On purpose. But this one isn't, not really.
General Failure: No matter what the voices are, it will never be the Wise One! I hate him!
Midnight: No pizza. I'm so sick of pizza. And thanks for your review!!!!
Pianobuggy: I know that you're not at this chapter yet, but many congratulations for being the 200th review!
Now to reading! I don't do this for my health, you know ;)
Chapter Twenty-Six: Voices on the Wind
"Isaac?"
"Yeah?"
"This isn't good, is it."
"No, Ivan, it's not," Garet answered for him. "There's a large hole in the ground that a big boulder just took Zoe through and apparently there's a room down there."
"And dungeon logic says that the biggest, meanest thing in here will be in that room," Ivan added, shuddering at the thought. "I just hope it'll go down without trying to take one or more of us with it."
"Do they ever?" Mia asked dryly.
"Well no. But one can dream."
"No one's falling asleep yet," said Isaac from near the giant hole. The others stared at him in shock—how had he gotten down there without any of them noticing? "Come on, the tracks lead down into the hole." Isaac grabbed one of the nearly-split tracks and began to descend as though on a ladder.
"Isaac!" Mia cried as one of the wooden crosspieces snapped, and Isaac fell backwards into the blackness with a solid thud. There was a soft groan from the hole, but a flash of greenish yellow assured them that nothing too awful had happened.
"Down the ladder that isn't really but pretends to be we go, then," Garet said, though he didn't volunteer to go first, assuming that the ladder wouldn't have a chance at holding his weight if it hadn't held Isaac's, and it would be easier to land on all three of them than just solid stone.
Ivan and Mia made it down without slipping, and aside from one rung, the track-made-ladder didn't break under Garet's weight either. However, they were now standing next to an immensely large boulder with no sign anywhere of their missing Adept.
"Do you think…" Ivan began, but something made him stop. As though not saying it made it an impossibility.
"No, look," said Mia, pointing. Zoe, or most of her, covered in dirt and dust, lay half-buried in a pile of rocks, unconscious. "She's alive," Mia said in relieved tones. "But this…this big rock, it's on top of her. We can't get her out."
"Can we push the rock?" Garet asked, quite confident in the idea that if that was their option, he'd push the dang rock until the sun set and rose again twice, if he had to.
"That might make this whole situation worse," Mia said, shaking her head slowly. "The only thing I can think of would be to lift the boulder straight up. But that's impossible, even for all four of us together. It's far too heavy."
"So then…what?" Isaac asked, for the first time in a long time at a complete loss. It was beginning to look like their only choice would be to leave Zoe here…Isaac refused to finish that thought. He wouldn't have gotten to finish it anyway, as at that moment an inhuman roar sliced through the cavern.
"I was right," Ivan said with no satisfaction whatsoever in his voice. "The biggest, meanest thing is in here. Why did I have to open my big mouth?"
"I refuse to answer on the grounds that I may be crispy-fried," Garet said, looking at Isaac for a moment, then beginning to walk along the dimly-lit hall. "Well, come on, fearless leader," he said, when Isaac was the only one not to follow. "Easier to solve the problems we can first and worry about those improbable ones later."
"What's with him?" Mia asked, looking at Isaac curiously.
"He made this 'promise' to take over as leader whenever it became apparent that I couldn't. Obviously he thinks that's right now. So he's dug up some big words from the recesses of his mind and adopted that way of walking which looks ridiculous. Do I look like that when I switch into leader mode?"
"Not as comical…" Mia began, letting her sentence hang. Isaac laughed to himself quietly. Ivan watched this with growing interest. He, on the other hand, was quite angry with all of them.
"Look, there it is," Isaac said quietly as they rounded a corner and came face-to-face with the largest of all the giant spitting statues they'd seen so far. It seemed to him to be the cause of this whole problem, and to Isaac, his mind still on the fact that not all of them might make it out of here alive, it was the ultimate enemy.
Something snapped within him then, something that until now he'd not known he possessed. Up until now, it had seemed so simple. They'd fight whatever they had to, as long as he got to go back home when it was over. As long as they all did. Somehow, it hadn't seemed real until he had to make the choice to leave…to leave someone behind.
The others watched as Isaac drew his Arctic Blade with grim determination, face set in anger, which was rare for Isaac—nothing seemed to bother him this bad often—and charge the giant monster at a flat-out run.
"That is it," Mia said, her voice just under a screech. "I am not letting him make a fool of himself out of anger. Garet, Ivan, let's go." Mia stormed after Isaac, Witch's Wand held at the ready.
"She scare you too?" Ivan asked numbly. Garet nodded. "Good. Least I'm not alone."
Isaac barely knew what he was doing. He was face with an enemy, the ultimate enemy, and it stood in his way. He was dimly aware of voices—were they in his mind?—that were telling him he was being stupid. He refused to listen to those voices. He would take this thing down, because it was the only thing keeping him from finding a solution.
"He's lost it," Garet said in shock, watching Isaac attack relentlessly. The rest of them could hardly do anything but stand there—any Psynergy was sure to hit Isaac just as hard as it did the statue, and any move to attack would probably get the attacker slashed to pieces without Isaac ever knowing he'd done it. "Ivan, you go first."
"I'm short, Garet, not stupid," Ivan retorted sourly.
"It's like he doesn't even have rational thought," Mia mumbled more to herself than to anyone else. "Like he's acting purely on emotion, or instinct…or something. If…hm…" At the sound of Mia's pensive humming, Garet and Ivan ceased their argument and looked her way.
"Ivan, that Ankh might just about do it, and with Zephyr, you'll be fast enough," Mia said, obviously planning out loud. Ivan looked down at the weapon in his hand, then up at Mia, not understanding. "Call on Zephyr and use it to whack Isaac on the back of the head."
"Uh?" Ivan asked, both at a loss for words and having too many of them to make a coherent sentence.
"I'm serious. We can take the statue thing down and worry about Isaac afterwards. Just trust me and do it!" Mia cried, exasperated. "I can't, or I would, but I run the risk of electrocuting him."
"Alright, alright!" Ivan said, a quick shudder running through him. "Zephyr!" Bright purple light flashed around Ivan, and he took a step forward faster than Garet's or Mia's eyes could follow. Within seconds, he was following Isaac's every move, and with a nearly-visible wince he brought the Ankh around in a short swing, smashing the flat side into Isaac's temple. Isaac dropped like a stone.
"NowsomeonetellmewhyIjustdidthat," Ivan said, coming to a stop about three feet away from the statue. Mia and Garet stepped forward, and Ivan grinned mischievously, reaching out both hands and putting one on each of their shoulders. Zephyr's power transferred almost instantly, leaving the three Adepts viewing the world at ultraspeed.
Psynergy attack calls blended together, and fire, ice and lightning practically rained down onto the giant statue, by name a Hydros Statue. It tried to retaliate, tried rather valiantly, but the Adepts were far too fast and too powerful for it to do more than drench them.
There was complete silence when the Hydros Statue disintegrated,
"We did it!" Garet said excitedly the minute he'd slowed down enough to be understandable. "We beat the last water beast!"
"I wonder where they all came from," Ivan said quietly. "I mean…living statues? Isn't that a bit strange? And I'm still out to find someone who knows how they got a tiled room down here. And Mia, why did I knock Isaac out?"
"So the monster didn't do it a bit more forcefully. And these statues were probably made a long time ago. It makes me wonder what they were for." As she spoke, a light shot through the cavern, striking the wall and turning into a small treasure chest. Garet walked up to it, crouched down, prayed it wasn't a Mimic and popped the lid.
Reaching inside, he pulled out a squarish object about the size of the Orb of Force. He could feel it's Mercury alignment just by touching it, and he tossed it to Mia quickly, yelping as though he'd been burned.
"That's a Lifting Gem," said Fizz's voice out of the air. "It will enable your Psynergy to lift large rocks straight into the air."
"That's it!" Mia said excitedly, turning and running back down the long hall. "That's what we need!" her voice called back. Ivan and Garet hurried after her.
"Give it here," Ivan said, reaching out and hand, and Mia tossed it back to him. He wrapped his fingers around it, knowing it was Mercury Psynergy but also knowing that, with Mia about to be otherwise indisposed and Garet having something along the lines of Mercury-phobia, he was probably the best one to be using it.
Holding it in his left hand and extending his right, he let the new Psynergy flow through him. "Lift!" he cried, watching the phantoms of hands appear on either side of the giant boulder pinning Zoe and lift it into the air. The hands disappeared, and Mia and Garet cried out, but the boulder continued to float.
Garet and Mia together freed Zoe from the pile of rocks, but she didn't even offer a groan or a sigh. Ivan, face noticeably pale, silently begged that he could stop holding this rock high, but he kept it there until they were out of the way, and it touched down softly, raising a small cloud of dust. With a sigh of relief, Ivan sank against the wall and wiped the back of his sleeve across his forehead.
"How do we always wind up in these situations?" Garet asked no one. "Ivan's too weak to stand, I think Mia's having one of those long-thought-process moments, Zoe's half-dead and Isaac…Mars! Isaac!" Turning on his heel, Garet sprinted back down the hall and around the corner.
"Forgot 'bout Isaac," Ivan mumbled. "Lef' him behind with th' treasure ches'."
"We have to get out of here," Mia hissed, though the back corner of her mind knew her words fell on semi-coherent ears. "All five of us. Now."
"I don't think we can do that, Mia," Garet said, coming back around the corner with Isaac, the latter supporting himself on the former's shoulder. "Ivan's Ankh sealed Isaac's Psynergy."
"It's a wonder he didn't get stepped on!" Mia cried, turning to face Garet. "Isaac, I'm sorry we had to do that. But it was either we took you out the friendly way or the Hydros Statue took you out for good."
"No, no…it's alright…I've just…got a headache," Isaac said haltingly. "And…and my…Djinni…you can use Quartz…"
"Isaac," Ivan said plainly. However, the Jupiter Adept's head fell to his knees and he couldn't find the strength to finish his thought.
"Isaac, do it," Mia said, her voice gaining the quality of a shining steel blade with the flat pointed towards you. "Call on Quartz."
"Okay…yeah…Quartz…" Isaac muttered. Quartz flashed in, making 'tsk' noises, then dissolved into greenish light that descended over Zoe and flashed twice, then disappeared altogether.
"We're still not getting out of here until four out of five of us can get out themselves," Garet warned, setting the barely-awake Isaac down next to Ivan. "You and I can't get all three of them out of here."
"Isaac's Retreat Psynergy would be ideal," Mia agreed, sitting down herself. "We might as well stay the night here. There won't be any monsters in this lower cavern—they won't come near the hole, not even for easy prey."
"Mia will…be up all night…anyway…" Isaac whispered, and Garet laughed. Isaac began another sentence, but didn't get as far as the first word before he was out, asleep on the ground.
"You might as well sleep too, Garet," said Mia. "Isaac's essentially right."
"Yes. And I want to risk the three of them when you get so tired you collapse against some random rock? Not happening. You sleep first," Garet added, in case Mia didn't quite get the idea he was headed for. Mia seemed about to argue, but a yawn caught her before she could continue. Garet was, to her mild shock, right—they'd been fighting all day with little if any rest, and she was no good to anyone if she yawned every fifteen seconds.
Pulling off her cloak, she rolled it into a ball and used it for a pillow. Garet laughed to himself—Mia was asleep faster than Isaac had been. Garet smiled with some well-deserved smug satisfaction, then sat down and leaned against the wall, determined not to fall asleep.
***************
"Garet!" a voice said in the Mars Adept's ear. He mumbled and rolled over. "Garet!" The voice was more insistent this time.
"Five minutes. Or else I'll scorch your head," Garet added half-threateningly.
"Good, you do that. And while you do, the four of us will be headed for the surface, in Altin. Have a nice five minutes," Ivan finished, smiling as Garet sprang to his feet, suddenly fully alert. "See, I knew that'd get him up."
"All of us? As in everyone standing and ready to go?" Garet asked incredulously. He didn't have to ask, though; the evidence was in front of him.
"Only waiting on you," Isaac said pleasantly. "So, if you actually are ready…oh good." Isaac grabbed hold of Garet's sleeve and cast Retreat. The five Adepts were instantly transported to the muddy dirt just inside the entrance to the mining tunnel. They walked outside into a bright, sunny day on semi-dry ground.
"Well, we got rid of the flood," Zoe said quietly. The others looked back at her. "The houses and shops, they're still all wet inside, I imagine. Everything is ruined."
"They'll find ways to fix it. But maybe the weapon shop is open," Garet added, excitement in his voice. "We can find new weapons. I mean…the rest of you get weapons with Psynergy sort of built in. I get this axe."
"Well, not like it doesn't suit you," Isaac offered, half a consolation, half a mocking insult. Garet scowled.
Minutes later, Garet still held a regular Broad Axe and was complaining rather loudly, but the weapons had rearranged a bit—Ivan had the Elven Rapier, Zoe the Blessed Ankh, and Mia ran her hand along the shining newness of her Psynergy Rod.
"The path along Silk Road is blocked," said the smith as they were leaving. "You'll have to find the passage in the mine that leads west."
"Passage in the mine?" Ivan groaned. Isaac, however, grinned. He knew the exact spot. Rushing off, the others scrambling to keep up, he raced through the deep mine, around sharp turns and once nearly through a wall, until he came upon a large rock about twice his height.
"This is it," he said confidently. Ivan stepped up and used Lift, rushing under as soon as the others had made it and wincing when the boulder came crashing back down. They went though an opening and into a smaller, longer cavern, with another rock farther down the passage. This they also Lifted, and with a sharp left turn and a few long moments as they passed giant spiders that appeared to be sleeping, they were out of both Altin and Altin Mine.
"Look there!" said Ivan, pointing westward. "It looks like a small town or something. And there," he added, turning eastward, "is the other side of Silk Road. Looks like Isaac picked the right way to go, after all."
"You doubted me?" Isaac asked, feigning sadness.
"Always," Ivan replied slyly.
"The map," Zoe added, pulling it from her bag and opening it, "says that the 'town' Ivan's talking about is Lama Temple, and southwest from there should be the Lamakan Desert."
"Desert?" Mia asked warily. "I'm not sure I'm up for deserts. All that…dry. And hot."
"We may not have to go that way," Isaac offered, though he knew it was a lie right after he'd said it. Of course they'd have to cross the desert. Did it ever happen any other way?
"Let's go to Lama Temple, then," Mia said. "I don't think any of us are up to a desert crossing today." There were unanimous nods, and, with Isaac in the lead, the five of them began the walk to Lama Temple.
Upon their arrival, sometime around noon, they found that the place was inhabited mostly by what could only be called monks. A group of them were meditating in a circle in a clearing set back from the main path, and a few more were simply doing chore-like things—tending a garden, sweeping a front stoop, that sort of thing.
Ivan was the last to walk onto the temple grounds, but when he did, he noticed a profound change. Everything about him seemed calmer, more settled, and the light breezes that blew about him—here he began to question his sanity—felt almost like they were speaking to him.
"Anyone else get a serene feeling from this place?" he asked, but there was no affirmative reply. Ivan shrugged. He liked it, and too bad if he was going crazy and hearing the wind talk—it was bound to happen eventually.
They walked into the main temple building. At the far end, a woman with purple hair stood facing the wall, apparently deep in meditation, a fact which a monk nearby quietly confirmed. At the sound of his voice, though, the woman turned.
"So, Isaac," she said in a melodic voice, "you and your Adept companions have finally come."
"Finally come?" Garet asked. "You were expecting us?" the woman nodded. "How did you know…we'd be here now?"
"I had…anticipated…your arrival," she said, obviously lost for the words to use to describe her knowledge. "I did indeed know you were coming. I have been waiting a long while for you, for you come seeking the Elemental Stars."
"You know about the elemental stars too?" Ivan asked in a near whisper. "Who…who are you?"
"I am Master Hama," she said, nodding to Isaac deferentially. "I am a Jupiter Adept, just like Ivan."
"A…a Jupiter…Adept? Like me? What are you talking about?"
"You may not know it, Ivan, but you and I are very much alike," Master Hama said with a wink. Ivan only grew more perplexed.
"Why do you say that?" Mia asked, in an effort to shed some light on this subject for all of them.
"Does he not have the power to read minds?" Hama asked, looking back at Ivan, who nodded. "That ability is unique to Jupiter Adepts."
"I knew that. I knew what kind of Adept I was. They told me," Ivan added when Hama grew confused. "But you predicted our coming. Is this Psynergy also?"
"Yes, the ability to foresee events also belongs to the Jupiter Adepts."
"Then can Ivan learn the power of prediction too?" Isaac wondered aloud. He wondered to himself whether Ivan hadn't already done that, many times. But those occasions, he recalled, were majorly guesses, right out of thin air.
"He already has," Hama said cryptically.
"I don't think I have—" Ivan began, but thoughts of the Altin Mine statues stopped him. Maybe he had, after all.
"You just don't realize you have that power, Ivan," Hama said kindly. "Jupiter's powers are great indeed, granting us sight of what is to come. But, Ivan…you can learn, and use, an even greater power." Ivan gave her an inquisitive look. "You can learn to see what is already there."
"I think I manage that well enough," Ivan mumbled. "I haven't walked into anything in a while."
Hama laughed, a clear, ringing tone, almost like a chime. "No, I mean to see what is there, but hidden from those without the power of Reveal."
"Reveal would be the name of this Psynergy?" Isaac asked. Hama nodded.
"I have waited long to pass the power of true sight on to you, Ivan," Hama continued, almost distantly.
"You waited here in Lama Temple just to teach Reveal to Ivan?" Zoe asked. "Why didn't you seek us out? You might have found us much faster that way."
"Things are as they were meant to be. Future sight does not mean we can change it," Hama said, avoiding Mia's first question, a tactic which Ivan noted with some interest. "You all will need Reveal if you are to achieve your goals. Jupiter Adepts can learn it on their own, over time, but that power and the time it would take will only hinder you in your quest. It was Saturos and his companions who blocked Silk Road," Hama added darkly.
"Felix and the rest of them!" Garet said in outrage. "The cowards!"
"Your friend Felix bears a terrible fate. It is a burden I would not wish on any man," Hama said gravely.
"Terrible fate?" Isaac asked with come concern. "What do you mean?"
"Of that, I cannot say," Hama said, shaking her head. Isaac took an angry step forward, but Zoe put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. "For now, we must focus on the power of Reveal. Without it you cannot cross the Lamakan Desert."
"I knew it," Mia muttered. "I knew we'd have to cross that…dry."
"Is an evil desert even possible?" Garet questioned. Isaac shrugged. So much of his world had turned upside-down recently, he was about ready to believe anything. Except that trees could fly, of course.
"Why will we need Reveal to cross?" Zoe asked.
"The heat of the desert has become unbearable, and monsters walk the sands. Entering the Lamakan now is nothing short of inviting death to take you," Hama said. "Saturos and Menardi, Mars Adepts, can perhaps suppress the heat unconsciously with their power as they cross. Reveal will help the four…the five of you find oases as relief from the heat."
"Won't we be able to see the oases?" Mia questioned. Hama shook her head.
"They are hidden. The desert is filled with mirages that prevent you from seeing clearly. Without Reveal, you will not find the oases. And I suppose I should give Ivan that power now…" Hama trailed off, averting her gaze.
"What's wrong, Master Hama?" Ivan asked. "You can pass Reveal on to me…can't you?"
"I am unsure that it will work," Hama said softly. "In preparation for this day, I tried to pass a power on to a young girl. That power was not Reveal, and she was not an Adept, but it was my belief that anyone could hone a skill he or she already possessed. But there was no change."
"No!" said a voice from the doorway. "There was change!" Feizhi ran in, pushing past the Adepts. "I sensed it! Hsu is in great danger! I know he left here long ago, but he did not return to Xian! I fear the boulders in the mountains have trapped him! I am here to ask for help."
"What brought the power to you now, Feizhi, after so long?" Hama asked out of pure curiosity.
"Gems fell from the sky," said Feizhi. "One hit me right on the head."
"Then this may work after all," Hama said excitedly, turning back to Ivan. "But first we must help Hsu!" Hama and Feizhi hurried out the door.
"Wait, please, Master Hama!" Ivan called out. "Teach me Reveal! It worked for Feizhi, it can work for me too!" Hama returned, nodded agreeably, raised her hands and sent a purple light through the air. Ivan was immersed in its glow for several moments, and when it receded, he was smiling.
"Use it to cross the desert," Hama said, turning to leave. "Ivan, I'm glad to see you've grown into a strong young man." With that, she left.
"Ivan," Zoe asked, and the Jupiter Adept spun around. "Do you and Master Hama…know each other?"
"No, we don't," Ivan said plainly. "But…she doesn't feel like a stranger."
"Let's get moving," said Garet. "Felix and the others have to be so far ahead it'll take weeks to catch them."
"It will if we let you lead," Isaac agreed. Garet frowned. "Besides, we can't just leave like this. We're going to help Feizhi and Master Hama get Hsu unstuck. Yes, we are Garet, stop giving me that look. Let's go."
"I wonder what Master Hama was talking about," Ivan said to himself as they left.
***************
Isaac and Garet arrived at the entrance to Silk Road first. Or the exit, if you were coming from the other direction. Large rocks blocked their way, but somehow Hama and Feizhi had made it to the other side, where Hsu lay trapped under a boulder.
"We seem to be doing lots of rock stuff today," Ivan remarked, catching up. "Well, what's the news?"
"Come again?" Garet asked, looking at Ivan incredulously.
"What are we going to do here?" Mia asked, she and Zoe joining the boys.
"We can't reach the three of them. Heck," Isaac continued, "I don't even know how Feizhi and Master Hama reached Hsu."
"Hey, Master Hama!" Zoe called. Hama's head snapped up, and she spotted the Adepts. "How do we get over there?"
"Why do I never think of these things?" Isaac grumbled.
"Perhaps because you're surrounded by piles of stone?" Ivan offered helpfully. Isaac glared at him.
"Ivan."
"Yes?"
"If we are going to continue to both be functioning members of this little team, comments like that are going to have to cease to exist."
"I have to stop making fun of Venus?"
"Basically."
"Use your power, Ivan!" called Hama. Ivan looked down at his hands, at a loss for some moments, until he remembered. "Reveal," he said quietly. The world became a mass of shades of grey, and occasionally gray. Except for himself, the rest of the Adepts…and a door now visible in the wall of the cliff. He dragged the others through it, and they emerged on the other side. Hama and Feizhi were trying unsuccessfully to free Hsu from the boulder, but they weren't strong enough.
"Here," Isaac said, taking the Lifting Gem from Ivan. Raising his hands, he used Lift, moving his arms upward as the Psynergy hands raised the boulder.
"Isaac, did you lift that boulder?" Hama asked. Isaac grunted.
"He did," Garet translated.
"Quickly Feizhi! We must pull Hsu free!" Hama said, and she and Feizhi grabbed Hsu's arms. "Ready yourself, Hsu, we're going to pull. One, two, three!" They pulled as Isaac strained to keep the boulder in the air. Hsu was half out when the boulder fell a few feet.
"Isaac!" Mia gasped. "Can you hold it?" she asked as the boulder rose again. Isaac gave a quick nod. Hsu was pulled the rest of the way free, and Hama sent he and Feizhi back to Feh, with a message to clean up the rocks on Silk Road. She then lead the Adepts back through the hidden door and to Lama Temple.
"Adepts, let me thank you again," she said to them as they shared lunch. "I am truly grateful. I did not expect you to come and aid us."
"What kind of heroes would we be if we didn't?" Isaac asked, looking much better after having eaten and sat down for a while.
Hama laughed. "You are right."
"Thank you for passing the power of Reveal on to me, Master Hama," Ivan said, smiling. "But…there was something you said…"
"What is it, Ivan?" Hama asked, not looking up from her plate. Ivan frowned but said nothing more.
"Well, really, I was the one who suggested we come and help you, right?" Garet asked, swallowing a mouthful as he spoke.
"No!" chorused Isaac, Zoe and Mia together. Hama laughed again.
"You are welcome to stay here in the temple for the rest of the day and start off in the Lamakan tomorrow. Thank you for your help, my friends. Travel well." With that, Hama rose and left the room.
Garet poked Ivan's shoulder until he turned to look at him. "Weren't you going to ask Master Hama about what she said earlier?" he asked. Ivan sighed.
"We do not know when we'll be able to see Master Hama again," Mia added.
"But whatever you want, Ivan," Isaac added quickly.
"Thanks, guys," Ivan said, "but it's better if we leave now."
"Instead of tomorrow?" Garet asked, shocked.
"Yes. Master Hama hasn't looked me in the eye since she said those words. "It makes me curious, but it also makes me wish to leave it alone. And I'm tired of hearing the wind talk to me. I doubt she would have told me anyway, even if I'd have asked," Ivan added, more to lighten the mood than anything else.
"Well then we're on our way," Isaac said, standing. "Into the Lamakan Desert."
Hama will tell me when the quest is over, Ivan thought to himself, trailing behind Zoe as they walked out of the temple. I'll just have to believe that.
***************
The end of another chapter. Starting to turn out, it is. And I have the end all plotted (many thanks to the muse) so…keep reading!
Hail: Arr! Or I'll throw ye ter the sharks!
*sighs and walks away*
||
||
||
||
||
\/