Okay now! Away from the dour doom and gloom and on to the rain of sparkling waterfalls! Angela, Riesz, and Hawkeye (Hawk) are all characters the property of Squaresoft, and I lay no claim to any of them. This story, however, is mine, so give me credit if you post it! Reflections starts just after Rabites, so enjoy the next installment of my little epic (little epic? Isn't that an oxymoron? Oh well...).
~Truewind
Reflections in Waterfalls
"First rabites and now bats?! We're being attacked by rodents!"
Angela tried to ignore the soft squelching of bat droppings underfoot as she made her delicate way through the cavern. Oddly enough, the large series of caves they were making their way through were well-lit, almost as well as in full daylight.
"And don't forget the mushbooms, they're killers." Hawkeye chuckled to himself at Angela's heated display of anger.
"And fungi! Rodents and fungi! If I knew we'd be fighting mushrooms and rats with wings, I'd have taken my chances with the beastmen!" She made a disgusted noise, and leapt over a particularly disgusting mound of guano.
:This is only the beginning. Evil has only just begun to set foot in Fa'Diel. It corrupts the hearts of the animals and plants, changing them into horrible monsters. It will infect the lowliest creatures first, but eventually it will influence the more lucid races. In fact, it already has.:
"What do you mean?" Angela's expression was troubled. "I don't feel any more evil than usual."
:It is very subtle.: They all felt a mental sensation, like someone shaking her head in displeasure. The faerie just floated there, obviously waiting for them to figure out what she meant by themselves.
"I think she means that it works in ways that we can't track?" Riesz ventured.
:More or less. The incursion of evil could explain the current aggression on the part of the beastmen, and the attack on Laurant. This evil is, well, diabolical, and its victims don't know that it is destroying them until it is too late.:
"Then, we don't have much of a chance, do we?" Angela looked down, and they all fell silent. The only sound was the constant crash of the hundreds of waterfalls that adorned the sides of the caves.
This quest thing is looking more and more chancy every step we take. I want to save Jessica, but...is this the way? Hawkeye did what he normally did when his thoughts took a dark turn, pulled himself inside, and presented a friendly exterior.
"It doesn't matter right now," he said, smiling winningly, "we should concentrate on our immediate goal, getting to the Priest. Then maybe we'll have some of our questions answered."
The two girls nodded in silent accordance, and they continued on into the strangely lit caverns beyond.
"Do you hear that?" Riesz's keen ears had picked up an echo from a cave far ahead.
"Hear what?" Hawkeye and Angela strained their own ears, trying to catch the elusive murmur. When they rounded a corner, the murmur suddenly became a scream.
"HEEEEEEEELP!!!"
"That!" Riesz charged off into the next cave, spear in the air. Her two companions followed at a more sedate pace, but Hawkeye had his daggers out and ready, and Angela's knuckles were white from the grip she was maintaining on her staff. After turning around another corner, they saw the source of the raucous cry for help. A tiny girl wearing a pink hat and blue jumper was dangling over the side of a natural bridge, and she was about to fall!
"Help Carlie!" she shrieked, and Riesz dashed over.
"I can't reach her!" The expression she turned to the others was pained, the little girl's grip was obviously slipping.
"Use your head woman! You've got a big stick, use it!" cried Hawkeye.
Riesz appraised her spear for a moment, and then seemed to understand what he had meant. Using her spear, she hooked the edge of the girl's clothing, and levered her up onto the narrow bridge. The child lay there for a few moments before suddenly springing up and clinging to the amazon's leg.
"You save Carlie!"
"But what are you doing in such a dangerous place little girl?"
"Aw, Carlie not little! Carlie already fifteen years old!"
You've got to be kidding me, thought Hawkeye, this kid can't be a day over ten!
"All right Carlie," Riesz said, praying to the Goddess for patience, "why are you here? Did you get lost?"
"Carlie tell you!"
The tiny girl freed Riesz's leg and proceeded to bounce around, never once losing her footing on the slippery rocks. As she babbled something about a priest named Heath and a masked man, Hawkeye wondered about the girl's fall.
She's not nearly clumsy enough to have had that fall without help. She was pushed. But by who?
"...and that's why Carlie in this scary place!" The child bounced away to the other side of the bridge nimbly, a cherubic grin on her chubby face. The three travelers huddled together to decide what to do.
"What do you guys think?" Riesz replaced one of her distinctive winged barrettes that had fallen out in her haste.
"We obviously can't leave her, she'll just fall again." Angela's voice was contemptuous, but Hawkeye could see the concern in her violet eyes.
"So, we take her to the Priest. He's her grandfather, right?" said Hawkeye.
"From what she told us, yes. So let's get on with it! Carlie!" Riesz motioned for the little girl to come over. "Carlie, we're going to visit your Grandpa, and we think it's best that you come with us."
"Come with...wait a minute. Grampa sent you, didn't he! Carlie will do just fine by herself!" With no further warning, she dashed off into the next cave, leaving the three companions behind.
"We have to go after her! She'll be killed if she has no one to protect her!" Riesz started to charge off again, but Hawk caught her arm.
"I think she'll be fine by herself, Amazon. Did you look closely at her?"
"Why?"
"If you'd looked, you would have seen that she's no pampered temple brat. There was a flail hidden in her robe, and from the way she was bouncing around, she's no stranger to treks in the wilderness." He frowned. Should he tell them what he thought about the fall?
"Yeah, I noticed that too. She seemed awfully sure-footed on the rocks. She'll be all right."
Hawk glanced at Angela in surprise, she had been thinking much the same thing he had!
"But if she's so good at climbing around on these rocks, then why did she fall in the first place?"
:Because, as Hawk has already been thinking, she was pushed.:
Two pairs of eyes, one green and the other purple, snapped around to glare at him.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Angela demanded, one hand on her shapely hip, the other on the base of her staff. She was cute when she was angry, he decided. But it was Riesz's pained gaze that cut the thief deeply, and motivated him to answer.
"I didn't know who could have done it, so I didn't mention it."
"But if you'd just told us, we could have put our heads together and thought up the answer as a team!" Angela yelled angrily. "We are a team, aren't we?"
When neither of her two companions answered, she let the training she had gotten from the soldiers in the Altenan Army.
"If we're going to beat this new evil, or whatever it is, then we're going to have to work together. If we don't, then we'll get creamed as soon as something comes along that we can't handle individually."
"But..." Hawk started.
"But what? All three of us accepted this challenge, not one of us. In war, to surmount a challenge that you can't overcome by yourself, you get help. This thing, this evil that we're supposed to fight, it's bigger than any one of us, probably bigger than the three of us together. This is war, and if we don't stick together and tell each other everything, even things that seem insignificant, one or all of us is going to get killed. Do you hear me?"
Riesz and Hawk nodded meekly beneath the princess' fiery gaze, and she let herself fall out of command-mode. "I don't just need the two of you as battle companions, I like you both, a luxury most soldiers don't have, and I want to be your friend. But I am not going to let that get in the way of what's ahead of me, and neither should either of you! We can't hide things from each other to avoid offending someone's sensibilities. We have to be blunt and speak our minds, and maybe, just maybe, we can get out of this alive."
With that, she marched down the path Carlie had taken before her, and left them in her wake. She glanced at one of the pounding waterfalls, seeing her own face in its steadily flowing surface. Something about her had changed. She was not sure what it was, but she liked it.
That's it! Hope you liked it. If you want to send comments, compliments, or flames (I hope there are fewer of these), send them to reyes@fuse.net. I enjoy all types of criticism, as long as it is constructive, or even if it's just "I liked it". So mail me if you liked it, and if didn't, you can mail me too, just try to be gentle!
Also, if you were wondering what the words inside colons are, that's the faerie's mindsendings. They look like this :mindsending:. Hope that didn't confuse anyone.
Ja ne!
Truewind
~Truewind
Reflections in Waterfalls
"First rabites and now bats?! We're being attacked by rodents!"
Angela tried to ignore the soft squelching of bat droppings underfoot as she made her delicate way through the cavern. Oddly enough, the large series of caves they were making their way through were well-lit, almost as well as in full daylight.
"And don't forget the mushbooms, they're killers." Hawkeye chuckled to himself at Angela's heated display of anger.
"And fungi! Rodents and fungi! If I knew we'd be fighting mushrooms and rats with wings, I'd have taken my chances with the beastmen!" She made a disgusted noise, and leapt over a particularly disgusting mound of guano.
:This is only the beginning. Evil has only just begun to set foot in Fa'Diel. It corrupts the hearts of the animals and plants, changing them into horrible monsters. It will infect the lowliest creatures first, but eventually it will influence the more lucid races. In fact, it already has.:
"What do you mean?" Angela's expression was troubled. "I don't feel any more evil than usual."
:It is very subtle.: They all felt a mental sensation, like someone shaking her head in displeasure. The faerie just floated there, obviously waiting for them to figure out what she meant by themselves.
"I think she means that it works in ways that we can't track?" Riesz ventured.
:More or less. The incursion of evil could explain the current aggression on the part of the beastmen, and the attack on Laurant. This evil is, well, diabolical, and its victims don't know that it is destroying them until it is too late.:
"Then, we don't have much of a chance, do we?" Angela looked down, and they all fell silent. The only sound was the constant crash of the hundreds of waterfalls that adorned the sides of the caves.
This quest thing is looking more and more chancy every step we take. I want to save Jessica, but...is this the way? Hawkeye did what he normally did when his thoughts took a dark turn, pulled himself inside, and presented a friendly exterior.
"It doesn't matter right now," he said, smiling winningly, "we should concentrate on our immediate goal, getting to the Priest. Then maybe we'll have some of our questions answered."
The two girls nodded in silent accordance, and they continued on into the strangely lit caverns beyond.
"Do you hear that?" Riesz's keen ears had picked up an echo from a cave far ahead.
"Hear what?" Hawkeye and Angela strained their own ears, trying to catch the elusive murmur. When they rounded a corner, the murmur suddenly became a scream.
"HEEEEEEEELP!!!"
"That!" Riesz charged off into the next cave, spear in the air. Her two companions followed at a more sedate pace, but Hawkeye had his daggers out and ready, and Angela's knuckles were white from the grip she was maintaining on her staff. After turning around another corner, they saw the source of the raucous cry for help. A tiny girl wearing a pink hat and blue jumper was dangling over the side of a natural bridge, and she was about to fall!
"Help Carlie!" she shrieked, and Riesz dashed over.
"I can't reach her!" The expression she turned to the others was pained, the little girl's grip was obviously slipping.
"Use your head woman! You've got a big stick, use it!" cried Hawkeye.
Riesz appraised her spear for a moment, and then seemed to understand what he had meant. Using her spear, she hooked the edge of the girl's clothing, and levered her up onto the narrow bridge. The child lay there for a few moments before suddenly springing up and clinging to the amazon's leg.
"You save Carlie!"
"But what are you doing in such a dangerous place little girl?"
"Aw, Carlie not little! Carlie already fifteen years old!"
You've got to be kidding me, thought Hawkeye, this kid can't be a day over ten!
"All right Carlie," Riesz said, praying to the Goddess for patience, "why are you here? Did you get lost?"
"Carlie tell you!"
The tiny girl freed Riesz's leg and proceeded to bounce around, never once losing her footing on the slippery rocks. As she babbled something about a priest named Heath and a masked man, Hawkeye wondered about the girl's fall.
She's not nearly clumsy enough to have had that fall without help. She was pushed. But by who?
"...and that's why Carlie in this scary place!" The child bounced away to the other side of the bridge nimbly, a cherubic grin on her chubby face. The three travelers huddled together to decide what to do.
"What do you guys think?" Riesz replaced one of her distinctive winged barrettes that had fallen out in her haste.
"We obviously can't leave her, she'll just fall again." Angela's voice was contemptuous, but Hawkeye could see the concern in her violet eyes.
"So, we take her to the Priest. He's her grandfather, right?" said Hawkeye.
"From what she told us, yes. So let's get on with it! Carlie!" Riesz motioned for the little girl to come over. "Carlie, we're going to visit your Grandpa, and we think it's best that you come with us."
"Come with...wait a minute. Grampa sent you, didn't he! Carlie will do just fine by herself!" With no further warning, she dashed off into the next cave, leaving the three companions behind.
"We have to go after her! She'll be killed if she has no one to protect her!" Riesz started to charge off again, but Hawk caught her arm.
"I think she'll be fine by herself, Amazon. Did you look closely at her?"
"Why?"
"If you'd looked, you would have seen that she's no pampered temple brat. There was a flail hidden in her robe, and from the way she was bouncing around, she's no stranger to treks in the wilderness." He frowned. Should he tell them what he thought about the fall?
"Yeah, I noticed that too. She seemed awfully sure-footed on the rocks. She'll be all right."
Hawk glanced at Angela in surprise, she had been thinking much the same thing he had!
"But if she's so good at climbing around on these rocks, then why did she fall in the first place?"
:Because, as Hawk has already been thinking, she was pushed.:
Two pairs of eyes, one green and the other purple, snapped around to glare at him.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Angela demanded, one hand on her shapely hip, the other on the base of her staff. She was cute when she was angry, he decided. But it was Riesz's pained gaze that cut the thief deeply, and motivated him to answer.
"I didn't know who could have done it, so I didn't mention it."
"But if you'd just told us, we could have put our heads together and thought up the answer as a team!" Angela yelled angrily. "We are a team, aren't we?"
When neither of her two companions answered, she let the training she had gotten from the soldiers in the Altenan Army.
"If we're going to beat this new evil, or whatever it is, then we're going to have to work together. If we don't, then we'll get creamed as soon as something comes along that we can't handle individually."
"But..." Hawk started.
"But what? All three of us accepted this challenge, not one of us. In war, to surmount a challenge that you can't overcome by yourself, you get help. This thing, this evil that we're supposed to fight, it's bigger than any one of us, probably bigger than the three of us together. This is war, and if we don't stick together and tell each other everything, even things that seem insignificant, one or all of us is going to get killed. Do you hear me?"
Riesz and Hawk nodded meekly beneath the princess' fiery gaze, and she let herself fall out of command-mode. "I don't just need the two of you as battle companions, I like you both, a luxury most soldiers don't have, and I want to be your friend. But I am not going to let that get in the way of what's ahead of me, and neither should either of you! We can't hide things from each other to avoid offending someone's sensibilities. We have to be blunt and speak our minds, and maybe, just maybe, we can get out of this alive."
With that, she marched down the path Carlie had taken before her, and left them in her wake. She glanced at one of the pounding waterfalls, seeing her own face in its steadily flowing surface. Something about her had changed. She was not sure what it was, but she liked it.
That's it! Hope you liked it. If you want to send comments, compliments, or flames (I hope there are fewer of these), send them to reyes@fuse.net. I enjoy all types of criticism, as long as it is constructive, or even if it's just "I liked it". So mail me if you liked it, and if didn't, you can mail me too, just try to be gentle!
Also, if you were wondering what the words inside colons are, that's the faerie's mindsendings. They look like this :mindsending:. Hope that didn't confuse anyone.
Ja ne!
Truewind