Mischief Mage: I had no idea when I was writing it but who is the wagon driver? Anyway, here is the next chapter. Enjoy.
Whilst the sky was getting darker by the minute, the world seemed to be getting hotter by the second. Vanessa, having been awoken by the bumpity bump bumpiting of the wagon as it trundled over what seemed to be every pot hole on the dry road, had hobbled and fallen, and hobbled and fallen, until she had reached the front of the wagon where she now sat, next to the unshaven, perspiring wagon driver. Now, she regretted not changing out of her armour as it became hot against her skin. She tugged at the thick bandages encasing her wounded leg, trying to let air in.
She could see that she wasn't the only one affected by the heat. Artur, Lute Saleh, Natasha, Moulder and L'Arachel had all hitched up their tent-like robes. Joshua, Eirika and Syrene had tied up their hair to keep it off their necks. Even Gerik and Marisa, familiar with heat after living in Jehanna could be seen with sweat dripping from their noses and chins.
Desperate for a distraction from the heat, Vanessa turned to the driver.
"Where are we going?"
"Neralas Peak" the driver said shortly in a monotone.
"Will it be as hot as this?"
"Yes"
"How soon until we arrive?"
"We're here."
"Ah?"
Vanessa glanced around in dismay. Neralas Peak was a coal black wasteland. The ground was cracked and arid, lava oozed like a fiery slime every few feet.
Vanessa stepped down gingerly from the wagon, clutching the large wheels for support, her right leg working hard to hold up the rest of her body.
The rest of the group had gathered a little way ahead. Vanessa could see Forde and Syrene laughing behind their hands at something. Feeling particularly left behind, Vanessa hopped uncertainly between rocks large enough for her to lean on. She was just past the halfway point when she stopped and leaned panting against a tall, oval shaped boulder, her wounded leg throbbing.
Just then, the boulder grew hot beneath her fingers and wriggled, then exploded, throwing flecks of rock in all directions and Vanessa to the ground.
Vanessa yelped in surprise and pain, the hard ground not cushioning her fall at all. She had cried out once as she fell and did so again when she caught sight of what had been inside her resting stage.
A red, yellow and purple, scaly, slimy cross between a woman and a dragon sat before her. It seemed momentarily disoriented before noticing the woman laying on the ground, deciding that the first thing it would do with its life was destroy another's. It raised its reptilian claws, a pulsating, violent red orb floating just above its palm. However, Vanessa did not find out what the red orb did as it disappeared as suddenly as the two arrows in the creature's chest appeared. The creature let out a screeching wail as it crashed backwards onto the ground, dead.
The next thing Vanessa knew was that she was being hoisted up by two pairs of arms, those of her loving sister Syrene and of the ever courteous Kyle.
"Well at least we know what a gorgon looks like now" Ephraim said matter-of-factly as he drew closer, "but where did it come from?" he continued, peering closely at the fallen beast.
"See the thin slime on it? It had only just hatched." Saleh put forth knowledgeably,"That boulder that you were leaning on, Vanessa, it must have been a gorgon egg"
"What?" squeaked Artur in a high voice," but that means that all those are…"
He gestured out over the whole of Neralas peak. The others followed his gaze. Scattered across the ground were more gorgon eggs, guarded by, gorgons, mogalls and deathgoyles.
"We need to destroy those eggs before they hatch!" Ephraim said to no one in particular, "that means we need warriors on mounts"
He then said in louder voice so all of them could hear,
"I want Innes, Tana, Eirika, Seth, Forde, Kyle, Syrene, Artur, and Lute ready to go in five minutes. Franz, Amelia and Cormag, stay alert, we might call for you. The rest of you, stay put."
As always after orders are given out, the bustle began. Syrene and Kyle were forced to hand Vanessa over to Franz so that they could prepare themselves for the coming battle.
With one arm draped across the young paladin's shoulders, Vanessa limped over to a large boulder (which she was sure was not an egg) and sat down, panting from pain and heat.
"I'll be back in a minute" Franz told her before wandering off to watch the others head into battle.
Vanessa tilted her head back against the rock, breathing the hot air in. She ached both physically and emotionally. It seemed as though the Gods were determined to hinder her in every way possible. Why, she couldn't imagine.
"Hey" a gentle voice said. Franz was back. He held out a canteen to her which she took and drank from gratefully, water trailing down her chin in her haste.
She finished and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand before looking at the young man that had just sat down beside her. He was clearly Forde's brother, but there was an innocent, boyish quality in him that made Vanessa feel at ease in his presence.
"Syrene's your older sister right?" Franz said slowly, building a fortress out of the stones that littered the ground.
"Yes she is"
"Do you get on well with her?"
"Yes, in general. What about you and Forde?"
"Of course, without our parents, he's all the family I have left. But even so…"
Franz glanced nervously at Vanessa, accidentally knocking his mini city down before continuing
"I sometimes feel that he's leaving me behind."
Surprised, Vanessa gazed at Franz's face, his boyish face looking strangely melancholy. This had been the last place that Vanessa had expected her feelings about her sister to be lain before her so clearly.
"So do I," she said thoughtfully, "my sister is everything that I have wanted to be, but whenever I draw closer, she moves on without me. I know she didn't do it deliberately but she always got more attention. Whenever we were protecting towns from invasions, all the people, particularly the men would clamour to her."
"It's a bit like that with me. Forde was the reason why I joined the army. I've always looked up to him but sometimes he just moves too fast for me. He seems to know me better than I know him. I know he has his eye on someone at the moment but I don't know who, but he knew who I liked from the very beginni-"
Franz blushed, realizing that he had revealed a bit too much. Vanessa wanted to know more about who Forde was "eyeing" and searched around for a way to rectify Franz's mistake.
"Tell you what" she began, coming up with it as she went along, "I like someone as well and I won't ask if you don't"
The blonde paladin grinned; cheeks still tinged a faint pink, "Deal"
"So how long have you known that Forde liked someone?" Vanessa asked in a casual way, hoping that she didn't sound too interested.
She needn't have worried as Franz was still too relieved to notice.
"What? Oh yeah, I only noticed last night when I went past his tent, he was ranting because he had run out of yellow pigment. Once he calmed down I had a chat to him and found out."
There was still no definite information for Vanessa to work with. Franz had only noticed Forde's behaviour the night before. The first night that Syrene had been there.
"What would a warrior like Forde be doing with pigment?"
"He paints"
"Paints?"
"You could say he has an eye for beauty…and the skill to recreate it for that matter"
An eye for beauty the words had a cold resonance. Vanessa looked down at her hands, trying to hold back the choked feeling in her throat.
"Hey, could I have some of that?" Franz reached over and plucked the canteen from her loose fingers and lifted it to drink just as Amelia walked past, waving and smiling at him. Franz returned the smile and wave but in doing so sloshed water down his front, going bright red again.
Vanessa grinned to herself despite her deepening sadness, deciding not to tell Franz when she saw Amelia stumble after stealing a backwards glance at the young rider. Two young people, lost in a world with just the two of them.
Vanessa sighed deeply and slowly closed her eyes, wishing for the first time that she had ignored Forde and not called to her sister on that day above the River of Regret.