We were falling, and believe me, it was worse than any rollercoaster imaginable. This feeling was frightening, but I had to think fast. Activating random glyphs, I found a basic light spell and tried to locate the anti-falling combo. I saw Amity trying to stop her fall with her staff but instead of decelerating her, it shattered into pieces, hopefully at least the palisman survived.
Finally, I pulled out two of the combos I was looking for, though we were not falling for long, it felt like an eternity. Without wasting a second I use the glyph on myself, at least I won't crash into the ground, whenever the ground appears, but I still have to give the second combo to Amity.
"Amity! Grab this, it will help." I yell to Amity but I'm not sure if she can hear me considering the speed we are falling. I try to get closer to her, at first, she tries to resist but I manage to snap the combo on her just before we hit what would be the ground. As expected, my fall is fully amortized, but the same can't be said about Amity. The combo partially worked; she slowed down quite a lot but still hit the ground pretty hard.
We landed in some sort of a cave, I couldn't see anything, so I tried to scramble a light glyph on the ground. It didn't come out perfect but at least I was able to get a proper one from my bag. I looked around but saw no sign of Amity, however, I noticed the remains of her staff lying next to me. Fortunately, the palisman itself seems to be undamaged so I take it with me and start looking for the green-haired witch.
"Amity! Amity! Are you there, say something."
Initially, I'm faced with no response but after some looking around, I pick up a weak "here" coming from a different part of the cave. I make my way there as fast as possible and find Amity lying on the ground. Surely, she didn't have a soft landing, she lies there, scratched up, even bleeding a little bit.
"Oh my gosh, Amity, are you okay?"
"Do I look like I'm okay? And why do you suddenly care human, I can handle myself, thank you very much."
"You don't have to be so mean about it, I saved your life, so yes, thank me." I say, as much as I want to help her, I won't let her go all over me.
"If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here, so I suppose that cancels out. Now, out of my way." She tries to stand up but fails miserably, I look at her leg and it's twisted at an unnatural angle.
"I suppose, you need some help after all."
"I do not. Let me just..." She tries to draw a spell circle, but the effect is similar to her standing up, it just flickers and disappears. I look at her triumphantly and observe how her expression changes from annoyance to disbelief and sorrow.
"Don't worry Amity, I won't leave you here. Come on, let me help you."
"I don't need your help; I can handle it."
"Stop it, you won't 'handle' anything. Your ankle is either severely twisted or broken so you are stuck here, without any magic. Don't be stupid Amity, you know you need me."
"I would rather wait here for help than go with you."
"Are you serious Amity? Please tell me you are not. There is no 'help' coming, either we do something, try to get out of here or we can stay and wait till we die from dehydration or any other reason. Swallow your pride and accept my help."
"Fine." She responds and I immediately help her stand up, I bet it's not the most pleasant experience for her but there is no way I'm leaving her here, no matter if she is my enemy or not.
Limping through the cave with Amity leaning on me I was trying to come up with any sort of a plan regarding getting out of here. It didn't look promising considering I had no idea where we were or if there even was an exit. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to give up hope, though I couldn't say the same thing about my companion, she looked like she'd already given up.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked.
"Outright great. Stop pretending that you care."
"I know it's surprising for you, it is surprising even for me, but I do indeed care."
"Ugh, whatever, I'm tolerating your presence only because I have no other option, but to just, stop speaking, I don't want to talk."
"Oh come on, there are at least a few hours of..."
"Shut up human. Can't you understand a simple sentence?!"
That hurt me, more than I would have expected. As she wished, I stopped talking but deep down I craved a conversation. I mean, we really have at least a few hours together in front of us, I can't stay silent for that long. Anyway, I have to do my best not to piss Amity off. She has it hard enough already. I feel a tear forming in my eye and going down my cheek. I swipe it off, ensuring Amity won't see it. We are stuck in this painful silence for an hour and a half, or maybe two hours? Who knows, time passes weirdly when you are alone in a cave.
Another tear goes down my cheek, not only I'm still kinda hurt after the brief talk with Amity but now I'm also starting to feel helpless, stuck god knows where. This time Amity takes notice of that. For a split second, it looks like she feels guilty, but she tries her best to mask it. If she already noticed why should I bother, I let a few more tears out, maybe to some extent I'm trying to guilt trip her, but mostly I'm just losing hope.
Another 10 minutes pass and now Amity looks like she is battling with her own emotions. What's sure is that she seems concerned, at least a little bit. Finally, she brakes and asks;
"Do you need a break, Luz?"
I look at her and nod. Making a bigger light glyph, I find a shelf we can sit on and help Amity rest.
"Luz... I'm sorry for snapping at you, it's just..."
"It's okay, I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" Amity asked, and woah... was that genuine care in her voice? Now I was conflicted, I still felt hurt, but maybe I pushed her too far back then, maybe I should give her a chance...
"You know what? Not really." I said. "But there is not much I can do about it right now."
"I- I don't know what to... no, I shouldn't befriend you, you are a fugitive." Here she was, back to her old self.
"It's not like I'm gonna rat on you to the emperor's coven, ya know?"
"I know, but I... You know I will still have to arrest you one day?"
"Whatever, I don't care, we are in a shitty situation, both of us. At least for now, we can be here for each other, will it hurt you that much Amity?
"I suppose not."
"See? Not that hard. Do me a favor, be here as Amity, not an emperor's coven colonel or whatever your rank is. Just human to human, or rather witch to human conversation."
She was hesitating, probably calculating all the options in her head.
"Fine. Let's give it a shot and see how it works."
For the first time, I saw Amity smile, and not in a mocking way, a true smile. I smiled back at her, trying to show her that she doesn't have to hide behind an emotional mask.
"At least for now... We shall see how it goes later. Thank you Amity, I appreciate it. Ready to go?"
"Whenever you are Luz, let's go."
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The break was over, I still can't believe that I'd let myself be so vulnerable around Luz. Theoretically, I shouldn't show my feelings, especially to my enemies, but this situation feels different. Another thing I cannot fathom is why Luz is helping me, I mean, it would be much more convenient for her to leave me here and enjoy an easier life.
"So, Amity, since I suppose you are up for a talk, do you want to make a small Q&A?" Luz asks.
"Q&A? What's that?"
"It's easy, you ask a question, I answer and then I ask a question and you answer. But in order for it to work we should be 100% honest with our answers. Wanna try it?"
"Fine, but how do you want to ensure that we will both be honest about everything?"
"I don't know, I think we have to base it on mutual trust."
Trust. Such a weird thing. I'm not sure if I can trust Luz that much... Or maybe there is an option for how to solve the problem.
"I might have an idea of how to solve the honest answers problem. We can do a magical oath, to tell the truth, it's only for a day so we don't have to commit a lot."
"Aren't you out of magic Amity?"
"Yes I am, but oaths technically don't require magic, don't ask me how they exactly work because I have no idea, it just works."
"Fine for me, if you are sure you want to do it then let's go for it. I'm not intending to make you uncomfortable so if you have anything against it, I won't mind."
I think about it for a second, but when I consider the possibility that we might not get out of here I conclude that I would rather have an honest talk with Luz rather than with no one. "Don't worry about it, let's just do it." I take Luz's hand and continue; "Repeat after me: I hereby declare that for the next 24 hours, I will speak only what's true and won't lie, being fully aware of the consequences of breaking the oath."
"Uh, but I don't know the consequences." Luz points out.
"Just don't break the oath and you will be fine."
Luz smiles and repeats my words. Seeing Luz smile makes me feel weird, positively weird. I don't know what it is but I'm kinda happy that she is happy.
"Ok Amity, you can start with a question, is there anything you want to know?"
"Well, for instance, is it true that you have no hidden intent of helping me?"
"Yes, it is true, I just want to help you out of the goodness of my heart, I suppose the only other reason why I'm helping is that I would rather have some company while getting through a cave. Time for my question; Tell me more about yourself, what are your hobbies, etc.?"
That wasn't a question I was expecting, I'm not sure what I thought her question would be but certainly not about my hobbies.
"Hobbies you say? Getting better at magic for sure. Theoretically, it's work-related but still. Additionally, maybe reading and drawing..."
"I love reading as well, what's your favorite book?" Luz blurted out, interrupting me mid-sentence.
"Isn't it a second question? Anyway, if you really want to know... just please, don't laugh at me. My favorite book or rather book series is The Good Witch Azura." I said it, trying to cover my face. How embarrassing, I'm reading books for kids and now I'm openly confessing it.
A spark appeared in Luz's eyes, it felt like she was literally lightening up. "Oh, my, god, Amity, it's my favorite book series as well!!!" She almost dropped me trying to jump around in joy. "I can't believe anyone is still reading those books, I have so many questions; What's... Wait, it's your question time, sorry.
Astounded by Luz's energetic response I tried to think of another question. I didn't want to use this opportunity for a simple interrogation, that wouldn't be right, but maybe I can at least learn her motivations.
"It's fine Luz, I'm also glad to find another fan of the series, don't worry we will have an Azura talk, but I would like to ask you about something else, it's kinda breaking the tone but why do you live with the Owl Lady, even though she is a wanted criminal?"
"There are many reasons why, but I can give you some of them. Well, first of all, she accepts me for who I am and supports me all the time. Secondly, she tries her best to be a good mentor and help me become a witch. As for the criminal part, she is a criminal only if you consider a biased law of an authoritarian regime so in my eyes, it's not an issue. So now it's time to counter your question; Why are you so pro-law and disregard the well-being of the citizens?"
This question hit me hard, I had no idea how to answer it. "Well... Partially because that's the kind of mindset I was raised in, it was always my dream to join the emperor's coven, the highest honor possible. Yet, I managed to surpass it, I'm a student of the coven head, and theoretically, I have a bright future in front of me. However, I painfully learned the coven life is not as easy as it seems and honestly I don't feel so pro-law as I used to." I can't believe what I've just admitted to, I could be charged with treason for questioning the righteousness of the coven ideas, but at the same time, I was speaking from my heart...
"If it makes you feel any better, I appreciate that you helped me with Kikimora during our duel." Luz said.
"It's not only about that, but that's not the most important thing right now."
Luz immediately caught on me being unsettled, we sat down once again.
"Amity, are you alright? I can see that something is bothering you, do you need to talk about it?"
At that moment I regrated that we did the oath because I would rather lie or try to avoid the topic, but instead, I've gotten myself into that mess.
"It's just... I always thought that being in the emperor's coven meant helping people and making the Boiling Isles a better place, safer place. Instead, I was faced with power abuse, being a pawn in someone else's war and facing terrible events, being the direct opposite of helping people." I felt a tear running down my cheek. No, no, no, I can't get so emotional... Yet here I was, feeling helpless. Without saying a word Luz hugged me; Wait, she hugged me?! I should have responded in some way, instead, I just kept ranting about how shitty my life was. About how my parents pressured me, and how alone I felt in my life. I couldn't believe I was dumping it all on Luz. Out of all the people in the world, I was emotionally breaking down in front of a person who was supposed to be my enemy...
"And what if you just left it all Amity? I bet we could find you a place at the Owl House, or just figure something out."
"I can't just leave, emperor's coven is not something you leave voluntarily, besides even if I could my parents would kill me." It sounded like a stretch but deep down I was afraid that they could go this far.
Luz took my hand, looked me in the eye, and said; "don't worry, we will figure something out." Mesmerized by her hazel brown eyes, I realized that I was staring at her for at least 10 seconds. Oh my Titan, what is happening to me? She has a weird influence on me, but in a weird way, I like it. I think Luz is reading in my mind, we sat there, looking at each other when she hugged me once again, that was exactly what I needed right now, someone to rely on. Surprisingly it was Luz, the human from another realm, unbelievable...
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Here we go, chapter 12 is concluded. I know it kinda stops mid-scene but if I went for completion in this chapter I think it would exceed 5000 words and be a little too long. I will try to write the next chapter as fast as possible so you don't have to wait too long for a resolution. I hope you enjoyed it, don't forget to leave some feedback in the comments, and see you soon.