The Island (girlxgirl)

Chapter 16

Cold water soaked me, effectively waking me up.

I sat up, gasping, and wiped my eyes dry. Todd was holding a dripping bucket on her shoulder whilst Lorne stood behind her.

"I told you to wake up." Todd stated simply.

I sputtered, "I couldn't hear you; I was asleep!"

"Rise and shine anyways, sleeping doofus, the jousting tournament is today." Todd handed the bucket off to a Root and pulled me out of bed.

I rolled my eyes and demanded, "Give me a towel and a change of clothes, since you got me wet."

"I don't take orders from a little..." Todd started to threaten.

Lorne cut her off. "Go do it."

"Lorne?" Todd was confused.

I could only barely hear Lorne's response. "You do, however, have to do what I say. The plan is almost complete and I won't have your surly attitude ruining everything I've carefully positioned. Go, Todd."

Todd bowed her head and ducked out of the room.

I looked at Lorne with a hint of suspicion. "Todd is your long-time partner, right? For how long? How did Hachi come to bring you both here?"

"Well yes, of course, and almost from the moment we got here. I arrived shortly before Todd. I came from a wealthy family. We weren't as rich as the royal family, but we were...considerably well-off. I had my wand already, crafted by the still-traveling wand artisan, Cane, and was practicing spells in the front lawn of the estate when Hachi strolled by with the king and his royal entourage. Hachi made eye contact with me when we first met, so she knew of my spell to hide the white hair and red eyes. She was impressed by my displays and offered to first duel me with up to yellow-charged LireFight and then have a contest to see who could produce the most impressive magic charms on plants.

We lined up to duel and I produced some orange-yellow LireFight, my highest charge yet. I was at first proud of my accomplishment, but then I was concerned Hachi would produce pure yellow LireFight, which would put her at an advantage in a LireFight duel, but Hachi cracked around some dark red magic. I laughed at the time and went on the offense. Hachi produced about a thousand thin streaks of LireFight, essentially using it as a shield, and blocked the strands I tried to hit her with. I could only make about two large LireFight strings of energy, but here Hachi was, making a thousand small ones and defending against me on a lower charge.

Hachi used her LireFight to swarm me and I surrendered. I asked her how she could be so good if she could only produce a small charge. Stubbornly, Hachi charged a massive bolt of LireFight from dark red to red, to orange, to yellow, to white, to blue-white, and then to the most purple-blue I had ever thought possible. I was afraid at the time that Hachi would strike me with the lethal strand, as reproof of my ignorance, but Hachi merely threw it away into the sky. It turned into a thunderbolt cloud, rained itself out, and disappeared.

Hachi and I set up for the charm contest. She started, since she won the duel. The small white clover flower in front of her was charmed into becoming a large red rose in front of me. I smiled at this, then hexed a large pine tree into dying, then forming itself into a large wooden bench. Hachi, instead of launching into a second round, conceded to me, and asked me to become her maid. I was tempted to say no, because I had a good life already, but my parents, who had happened upon the scene, decided it would be a good idea if one of our bloodline served the princess. As for Todd..." Lorne was interrupted.

Todd announced, "I'm back with the towel and new clothes!"

Todd lifted me out of the bed, revealing to me she was stronger than her appearance belied. She stripped me down, much to my embarrassment, and clothed me in a fresh dress. This one was light yellow and complemented my blond hair.