Ooooh, it's been almost a month since my last update! I've been busy with other things, and I ended up writing this chapter two times in two different ways, but it's finally here! Yayness!
Anyway, you should know right away that the idea of Stefan, Zihark and Mia being friends isn't mine, but my Beta-Reader's, Bizz-Chan.
Chapter 10: Swordmaster Trio
"I can't believe he's really gone..." Mist said thoughtfully, "Nothing will ever be the same with out him..." The young girl looked up at her older brother, searching for some sort of acknowledgement. "Brother, are you even listening to me?"
Ike nodded slowly and yawned before running his fingers through his dark blue hair. "Yes, of course."
"It doesn't look like it!" Mist said, jumping a step ahead of her brother and stopping.
"I've had a lot on my mind lately, and we all had a late night last night..."
Mist stomped her foot angrily. "Well, you should be listening! I'm worried about something too!"
"Mmm. Really, and what would that be?" Ike asked, walking past his sister.
"Are you sure that we're doing the right thing, bringing Link back to his kingdom?" Mist said softly, jogging to catch up with Ike. "I mean, ever since he came here, all we've had are problems. First, Rhys is nearly killed, then Rolf is kidnapped, and now...Boyd..."
Ike sighed and stopped walking again. "Mist, I understand how your thinking, but trust me; I know what I'm doing."
"How can you be so sure? For all we know, Link could be leading us into a trap!"
Ike chuckled softly and knelt down, resting his rough hands on his sister's shoulders. "Since when did you start worrying about walking into traps?"
"Ever since the last war. Even Soren almost fell for some of the things Zelgius said, and you know how he is about things like that."
"But we made it out alive, didn't we?"
"Well, yeah. But next time, we might not be so lucky..."
Ike sighed again. "I told you Mist, you don't have anything to worry about. Something tells me that bringing Link back to his kingdom holds all of our interests."
Mist said nothing, ran ahead to Rolf, leaving Ike by himself.
"I couldn't help but overhear." a calm voice called from behind the blue-haired mercenary.
Soren strode up next to Ike and continued. "I too feel that we should be exercising caution when dealing with Link. I believe that we have shown him more hospitality than we truly needed to."
"That may be, but it's too late to turn back now." Ike said slowly.
"Perhaps." Soren said, his red eyes moving from the path ahead up to the darkening sky above. "It is getting late, we should consider setting camp up now."
Ike yawned again and nodded. "Good idea. Would it be safe to just sleep here for the night?"
"No, not here, but further north there is a small cliff near a waterfall that would provide better cover than out in the open.
"Even when you're half-asleep, you think clearer than I do on a normal day!" Ike laughed,
"How much further would we have to go?"
"Not even a mile. We are in close proximity to the waterfall already, and merely need to divert from the main path for several minutes to reach it."
"Well, then. Why don't you go tell the caravan the plan, while I inform everyone else?" Ike said, stretching.
Soren said nothing, but fell back to fill out Ike's order. The group quickly made its way to the waterfall Soren had described, and everyone began the tasks of setting up camp for the night, hoping to finish before the waning sunlight disappeared completely.
The clearing was split into two distinct halves by the runoff of the falls, the small river flowing as far as the eye could see. The cliff the water was plummeting from gradually sank back down to the earth and spread out for almost a mile on each side of the cataract. Each side of the green clearing was lined with lush, green trees, nourished by the cooling mist settling at the base of the falls. The liquid collected at the bottom of the waters rushing off the face of the cliff were as clear as glass, and fish could be seen swimming beneath the surface.
Mia wandered around the completed sea of tents, looking for a two of her friends. The three had been together on and off for several years. Frowning slightly, Mia spun in a quick circle, scanning the area for the two men. Resting her hand the hilt of her sword and sighing loudly, Mia absently twirled a strand of hair around her finger, thinking about where her friends could be. Frustrated, Mia sighed again and spun once more to search the maze. Much to her surprise, before the violet-haired swordmaster completed her turn, she came face-to-face with a brightly colored man, smiling warmly.
"Would you happen to be looking for me?" he inquired as Mia jumped lightly in surprise.
"Oh my gosh Stefan, you scared me!" Mia breathed, "How long have you been there?"
"Mmm." Stefan murmured, "For a few minutes, perhaps. Then again, who is to say how long I waited for you to mark my presence, even as I followed close behind as you searched with such perlustration?"
Tilting her head slightly to the side, Mia's frown curved into a grin as she shoved her friend away playfully, giggling. Stefan stumbled back laughing, and quickly recovered his balance.
"Well then, Mr. Perlustrious, do you know the location of our missing party?" Mia asked, her voice still shaking with lingering laughter.
Stefan shook his head, his long, green hair waving gently. "No, I do not. I too have been searching for Zihark, bearing results no better than yours."
"Huh?" Mia wondered aloud, "I wonder where he got off to?"
Stefan shrugged and looked around the tents absently.
"It seems as if I'm the man of the hour." another voice called from the crowd milling through the walkway between tents.
It took the two friends a moment to spot the source of the voice—a thin, lightly armored swordmaster carrying three carved branches peeled of bark and leaves over his right shoulder.
"There you are, silly!" Mia squealed, running over to Zihark with Stefan walking casually up behind her.
"Well, it took me a little longer to find the practice swords than I thought. I'm sorry if I kept you waiting." Zihark explained, handing one of the wooden swords to each of his friends. Mia was jumping up and down excitedly as she took hers and nearly hit a passing Soren who mumbled something under his breath but kept walking.
"Well, now that we're all ready, let's go!" Mia said, tugging impatiently on Stefan's robe, "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon!"
A once more laughing Stefan, Zihark followed Mia as she bounced through the crowd, somehow managing to avoid a collision.
"While I was looking for you two, I found the most perfectest place to spar!" she shouted back at her two lagging friends. "Ooh, hurry! The sun's going down!"
"They say patience is a virtue." Stefan remarked, weighing his practice sword as he walked.
Mia stopped suddenly and twirled to face her green friend. "Tch! Tell that to the sun! It's the one that just has to go down at a certain time every day, no matter what!" she said, turning to skip past the last of the canvas and out to the lush grass of the meadow surrounding the waterfall.
"No need to make a spectacle." Stefan laughed with a leisurely wave of his hand.
Mia twirled across the meadow towards the river; insects rose up all around her as her dance disturbed them from their place. The tall grass left a long wake behind the girl, the whole field like a shimmering, undulating sea of green. Stefan and Zihark followed a small distance away, the natural playground brushing against their legs softly as they came closer to the calm river.
Mia walked in a strait line along the river, carefully placing one foot in front of the other and holding her arms out at her side to keep balance. The three swordmasters' boots left small divots in the soft sand lining the water, each footprint filling with the clear liquid soon after their creation.
Just down river, an archipelago of smooth rocks spread across the width of the water, creating a bridge of stepping-stones to the other side of the meadow. Mia wandered over to the path across and leapt lightly across, her two friends close behind.
Once across the river, Mia bounded to a single tree along the banks of the stream and tumbled gracefully into the cool shade of the grass beneath. Her back to the splashing water, Mia could see the second half of the grassway spread before her. In the waning glow of the sun, faint glimmers of light sparkled as the fireflies rose into the air to illuminate the night sky.
Zihark wandered around the field aimlessly and Stefan stood against the thick tree next to Mia.
"See? Didn't I tell you it was great?" Mia sighed, sinking further down into the grass and closing her eyes.
"That you did." Stefan said, his teal eyes scanning the area silently, "It is unfortunate that we cannot stay in this place longer, it is rather peaceful."
"Mmm..." Mia murmured, twitching her nose as a single blade of grass tickled her face gently.
Stefan smiled and pushed himself off the tree as Zihark strode over.
"Shall we then?" Stefan mused, lifting his wooden sword easily.
Zihark laughed. "Yes, we shall."
The two swordmasters stepped away from the tree and faced each other holding their practice blades at the ready. They circled around each other, tracing patterns in the deep grass as they paced, gradually coming closer together. Mia lay under the tree on her side, playing with the grass as she watched her two friends train.
Out of the corner of her eye, Mia noticed a movement in the green surrounding her. Rolling onto her stomach, Mia caught another glimpse of the greenness making its way towards her. Smiling, the young swordmaster pushed herself off the ground and bounced over to greet the newcomer.
Link nearly lost his balance when Mia jumped in front of him.
"Well, hi there!" Mia said, swinging her arms around her.
"Oh, hello." Link said, looking past the violet swordswoman at the dueling Stefan and Zihark.
Noticing Link's detachment, Mia followed his gaze to her friends and jumped again, this time nearly knocking Link over.
"Oops! Almost forgot! Come here!" Mia shouted as she ran off towards the two trueblades, leaving Link to wander after her.
Meanwhile, Zihark and Stefan had not noticed when Mia had run away and continued to practice. The two practice blades met each other with a dull thud, and both swordmasters smiled as they waited for one of them to fail. Mia jogged up next to the two, twirling her hair as she does oh so often.
"Hey guys," she started, looking back to make sure Link had followed her, "I got someone for you to meet!"
Though both heard Mia, only Stefan loosened his hold on his weapon, and Zihark's wooden sword continued its downward arc, smacking into the rainbow swordmaster heavily. Tracing his eyes from the sword resting on his chest to the wielder of the blade, Stefan's face broke into a grin.
"Ah, you choose to take advantage of a distraction?" Stefan laughed.
"Well, of course." Zihark answered, pulling his sword away from his friend, "What else would you have me do?"
"I would have you listen to what our dear friend is saying rather than take advantage of my courtesy." Stefan said, tossing his wooden sword a small distance away.
"Oh, you're just—" Zihark started, resting his hand on Stefan's shoulder.
"Come on, you guys." Mia interrupted.
"Oh, yes. "Stefan said, allowing his sword hand to rest easily on the hilt of his weapon.
Mia cast a quick glance at Zihark before turning to Link. "This," she said, "is Link. He's the one who washed up a few days ago. I've taken it upon myself to teach him anything he needs to know about this land of ours."
"Oh, so he's the one, eh?" Zihark said, taking his hand from his friend's shoulder and holding it out to Link. "I'm Zihark, I'm pretty sure we've met, but never really got a chance to get acquainted."
"Mmm." Stefan said, tapping the hilt of his sword absent-mindedly, "And I...am Stefan!" At his name, the rainbow swordsman reached his right hand to Link with a laugh.
Link smiled and shook Stefan's hand as Mia continued to explain.
"Yeah, the three of us have been together fooor..." she paused to think, "Mmm, a total of three years?" Mia turned to Stefan.
"We all took part in the Mad King's War for several months, and then we went our separate ways for three more years. After that, we came back together under more..." Stefan hesitated, "unfortunate circumstances."
Before Link could wonder the meaning of these 'unfortunate circumstances', a loud call on the other side of the river caught everyone's attention. It was Mist; she was standing on the banks of the river waving her arms about.
"Hey!" she shouted, "Dinner's being served, so if you're hungry, come and get it!"
Mia waved back to show that the group had heard Mist's message.
"Well then," Stefan said, stretching, "Shall we see if we can't find us some delectable cuisine across the river?"
Mia laughed and pushed Stefan to the side with a smile, "You is silly."
The four quickly went back to the camp, eager to eat Mist's mediocre cooking and take a long, well deserved rest.
I've come to notice that there is a larger need for me to explain the events that took place before this story. I may have to put this one off so I can get far enough into the prequel to explain certain things...
Also, I've found myself with more time that usual lately, and don't know which of my several unfinished stories to spend the most time on. So, if you would be so kind as to go to my profile and vote for the story you want me to focus on, I would be oh so appreciative!
Anyways, I hope my next update is sooner... Don't forget to review!