Step, drag, step, drag, step, stop. Lyn sighed and looked back the way she'd come. "Did you really think I would go back?" she asked the absent Janus. She had been lucky in her escape, lucky that the Mystic-trained youth hadn't woken as she hobbled away from their camp. "I'm still human. It doesn't matter what Lady Flea did to me." Step, drag, step. Lyn winced as her weight jarred her twisted ankle. She knew there was a human town in this direction; they had passed it that noon. "They'll shelter me. They have to. I'm human, just like them." The words were a litany to shut out Janus' imagined reply. She was no more human then he was, he would say. They'll chase you away. Your only hope for safety is back in the Mystic castle. Lyn stubbornly ignored these thoughts as she continued limping toward San Dorino.
Lyn spent most of the night traveling. The camp was only a few miles from the town, but her ankle hurt, and Lyn refused to use magic to help it, preferring to cast aside all Mystic learning. She grinned as she passed the first housed and the ground changed from dirt to paving stone. Finally, she was in a place she could consider home. Lyn made her way to the town square. It was early yet, but if anyone were about, they would likely be setting up a market stall.
As Lyn drew near to the market square, she saw maybe half a dozen people moving in the pre-dawn light. Happily, she raised a hand and called to them. She was confused when nobody answered.
"Hello," she called again, moving closer. A couple villagers backed away. "I need help. I just escaped from the Mystics."
"Why'd you be doin' that?" an old man asked accusingly.
"What…? What do you mean? Why wouldn't I try to escape?" Lyn was tired, in pain, and her happy mood was slowly fading. "I was a slave." She was so intent on making her point, she didn't notice the man who ran towards the largest house in town.
"That might be a good story, but it's not good enough to fool us!" the oldster proclaimed. "Git out of here now, and mebbie we'll let you go."
Understanding began to dawn on Lyn. "Let…me go…? But… I'm human! I escaped!"
With a few flicks of his wrist, the man directed the others to start circling Lyn. "You're too stupid to change your failing story, is what you are." A younger man came from the big house, and the oldster turned to watch his progress. "Mayor's comin'. Looks like you can't run anymore. He's not to fond of your kind, if you get my meaning."
"But…I'm not a Mystic!" Lyn wailed, looking around. There was no belief or compassion on the surrounding faces, only hate and fear, and a grim promise on the face of the Mayor. "Please, listen to me!"
"Shut up!" the Mayor hissed, drawing a knife and striding over to her.
"Oh, no, please do listen," Janus drawled, walking out from behind a building. "She's quite right, you know. A Mystic would never plead for its life from a bunch of humans."
The Mayor stopped and looked at the young man whose hand wrapped tightly around a farming scythe. "Two for the trouble of one," the human growled, a feral grin on his lips.
"Janus! Can't you leave me alone!?" Lyn screamed.
The Mystic boy growled. "Don't call me that! You're a pathetic wimp who I thought was strong! I should leave you alone, alone to die and save me having to deal with you!"
"Enough talk!" the Mayor roared, charging at Janus. The Mystic twisted his unfamiliar weapon, blocking the man's dagger with a ringing clash. Lyn thought to use the fight to cover her own escape, but the old man overcame his fear enough to grab Lyn's hair and pull.
Human and Mystic battled, but the Mayor had the advantage of strength and cold hate. Janus was forced to fight on the defensive while he learned how to best use his new weapon. There was a whistle of steel at his ear, and wisps of blue hair floated on the air. Janus countered by pulling the blunt end of his scythe up, and the Mayor bent double as the blow forced the air out of his lungs. The human swung wildly, and Janus twilled away, spinning in a circle. The Mayor's was still recovering from his swing and couldn't bring the knife around in time. There was a wet smack as the scythe cut into the human's neck and lodged at the vertebrae. Janus tugged until it came loose, then turned to face the watching villagers.
The old man looked at Janus with hate-filled eyes, his hands tangled in Lyn's hair, pulling and holding her close. "What'cha gonna do now, Mystic? Gonna kill the rest of us, too? You do, you'll loose her, too!"
Janus smiled coldly. "You forget. I don't care about her." Very deliberately, he began chanting a spell. The humans tensed, but didn't run. They didn't believe he'd cast his spell and kill Lyn with them. Lyn knew better. Janus never bluffed. In the few seconds she had before the Mystic loosed his spell, she began chanting one herself, as fast as she could. She ended in the same breath that Janus did. A green glow surrounded her for a moment, then buckled under the force of Janus' shadow spell.
Janus looked away for a moment, finding the light-sucking explosion his spell caused as painful to look at as a lightning flare. When he looked back, Lyn was the only one still standing, and she wasn't succeeding by much. He gave a pained smile. "So I have to deal with you after all…" he muttered, running a hand through his hair.
Lyn stared at the pained expression frozen on the old man's face. "If you don't care, why are you here?"
"I did care." Janus started to walk away. "Then I saw how much of a coward you truly are."
Lyn stumbled after him, hurt by his actions. "Janus, wait! I-"
He spun around and glared at her. "Don't call me that! I thought you were strong, but you're not! You have no right to use that name, after they lies you've lived!"
"And what should I have done, killed them all?" Lyn screamed. "Magician take it, they're my people!"
Janus waited until she was closer to him, then slapped her so hard she fell to the ground. Lyn looked up in shock, blood running from a split lip. "No, they're not. Your people are waiting in the castle, and you know it as well as I! Now shut up and come with me, or by Lizard, I WILL leave you here, to the mercy of 'your people'." He glared at Lyn as she forced herself to stand, then he turned and walked out of town. He never once looked back to see how Lyn fared as she drug herself after him.
Anybody still with me? There's no reviews... or can anybody even FIND me? I can't... Well, if you can, reveiw!! I've got most of the next chapter, too...