A/N Not as good as the first one, if you ask me, but what the hell. Enjoy.
Swish-Swish-Aree~!
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Well maybe if you'd stop and ask for directions-"
"Yeah, because a crazy horse is so going to tell me where the next town is!"
Thief and White Mage continued to bicker as the four light warriors trudged along, the castle of Cornelia a distant memory on the southern horizon.
Warrior and Black Mage led the way, doing their best to ignore the quarrelsome duo whilst sticking close to them in case of monster attack.
It was around mid-morning of the second day after crossing "their" bridge (as Thief liked to put it), and there had been no signs of civilization since. The town of Provoka was proving to be illusive indeed.
Several times Black Mage asked Warrior, who was in the lead, where they were going. And every time, Warrior would calmly ask why Black Mage thought he knew.
They were starting to ration food, as the did not want to waist the small surplus they'd acquired, seeing as they were, like it or not, hopelessly lost. Stomachs were fairly empty, which meant that patience was in sort supply (for the most part). Several times White Mage had asked if they could dip into the supply of alcohol, given to them by the citizens of Cornelia during the party celebrating their rescue of the Princess Sarah. Thief agreed, and even began threatening to pull the same stunt he did the first night in Cornelia's inn, which earned him a hard, cold, if-you-do-I-will-fucking-MURDER-you glare from Warrior.
The skies were gray and gloomy, and the smell of rain hung in the air and drifted on the winds. Soon it began to rain in earnest; buckets upon buckets (and then some) came down upon the four, who quickly took up a hunt for shelter.
They came upon an old, dusty cave, and began to poke around to make sure it wasn't the lair of something nasty. The four felt they were prepared (enough) to face whatever monster lurked deep in the rocky depths.
They were not, however, prepared for what they found.
A single broom floated around a passageway leading to a single wooden door. The broom itself was unremarkable—you could find one just like it in any household closet. The fact that it was floating, however….
As the four approached, caution abandoned in favor of dumbfounded curiosity, the broom whisked itself around behind them and began to sweep up the dirt that had been their footprints.
The light warriors gapped, jaws-on-the-floor, until the broom began to chant something in a high-pitched, singsong voice-"Frontwards, backwards, any way you please! There's no better way to swish-swish-aree!"
The four glanced at each other, and silently agreed to make a break for the door, wherever it may lead, before the broom finished its little song…chant…thing.
They regretted that decision.
The room inside was huge, covered in plush rugs, strange hangings on the walls, various pots of bubbling contents of debatable safety, vases of strange plants that looked ready to eat the nearest passer-by, and shelves so coated in dust that if rendered the titles of the books entirely unreadable. Gaudy beads and fake golden trinkets hung from various places, and some strange purple light (or was it some sort of gas?) hung in the stuffy, sweet-scented air. In the center of the room was a withered old crone, who was constantly running into things and tripping—screeching every time she did. More floating brooms hung around, sweeping up dust that would only resettle in a different place.
If they thought their jaws had been on the floor earlier, they were through the floor now.
"Hey…" Warrior whispered slowly, nudging Thief, "did you spike our morning rations again?"
"No…" Thief murmered, a shaky smile on his face, "I don't think so, anyways…."
After standing in their shock-induced stupor for a moment or five, they gradually began to drift towards what interested them most—Thief to the various boxes, White Mage to see what was wrong with the woman, and Black Mage to the dust bunnies' library.
Warrior surveyed his surroundings again and sighed—he was not exactly comfortable being inside a walk-in acid trip. Or some cheep fortune-teller's hovel. Or whatever one would consider a place such as this.
One of the various brooms swept its was towards him, its voice and song/chant/thing identical to that of the one outside.
"Frontwards, backwards, any way you please! There's no better way to swish-swish-aree! Tceles B hsup. Swish-swish-aroo!"
Warrior's brows furrowed as the broom repeated the verse. "Frontwards…backwards? Is it a riddle?"
The rain had ended and the mystery of the cave had been solved—mostly—the old woman, Matoya, was a blind witch.
Warrior was silent as the others talked of their discoveries, still pondering over the broom's incantation. The others paid no notice, as Warrior was often silent, and, as such, did not notice when he stopped, eyes alight with a sudden epiphany. They did turn, however, when he snapped his fingers and murmered "Push B select."
Though he had absolutely no idea what it meant, he was happy to have at least figured it out.
And then a light burst into existence in front of him. It formed itself into a rectangular shape, shimmered, and then presented itself to Warrior as a set of holographic continents, complete with oceans, rivers, mountains, caves—even castles and towns. A twinkle of light marked his current position, south of a cave—Warrior found himself smiling more; this made things so much easier.
The other three came to gawp at this new discovery, too stunned to speak.
Warrior tapped on the entrance to the cave they'd just left; a strip of golden light streaked across the top of the map, leaving the words "Matoya's Cave" in its wake.
Warrior's smile turned into a smirk. His finger calmly traced a path from Matoya's Cave to the nearest town (excluding Cornelia); they had to travel southeast, mostly through forest—two days, three at most, of walking.
Black Mage, who had been growing steadily more irritable at the thought of Warrior having outdone him in something magical, inquired in some sort of growl, "Where did you learn that?"
Warrior waved the map away and tossed Black Mage a smirk as he began to walk towards Provoka. "A broom told me."
The others stared incredulously at Warrior's retreating back. White Mage tapped Thief's shoulder, earning a small, confused noise of acknowledgement.
"Are you sure you didn't spike the morning rations?"