Lilia awoke slowly. Sunlight streamed across her face, entering from the grimy inn room window. She yawned, running a hand over her face to further wake herself up.
She suddenly became aware of a warmth against her back. She heard Connor sigh and felt her hair ruffle...from his breath. Lilia froze, realizing what was happening.
Connor was pressed against her, his face nestled in her hair. She felt him shift and realized their legs were twined together. She felt a deep blush rise to her cheeks and her heart speeding up. Oh, my mother would murder both of us, she thought, unsure of the protocol for this situation. Did she move? Wake him up? Try to free herself?
But, truth be told, she didn't want to be freed. She wanted to lie here and pretend that everything was going to be all right. That Connor was sleeping like this because he liked her, not because he had shifted in his sleep. For all she knew, she had positioned herself against him, not the other way around.
Deciding that she wasn't going to be the one to make a decision, Lilia closed her eyes and rested, enjoying the closeness while it lasted.
Soon, she felt Connor starting to shift and knew he was waking up. She lay perfectly still, trying to keep her breathing pattern calm and steady.
Slowly, incredibly carefully, Connor untangled himself from her. She felt the sudden cold air on her back as he rose and continued to feign sleep.
"Crap," Connor muttered, and her heart dropped. Oh, so that's how it is. She fought the urge to curl into herself and try to disappear.
He obviously doesn't feel the same way. The sooner we reach the Wizard of Improbability, the better.
"Lilia?" Connor asked softly.
Lilia started slightly, as if he had dragged her from slumber. She turned lazily over to face him, making a small noise in the back of her throat and rubbing her eyes.
"Morning," Connor said. "Ready to get going?"
"Let me just get dressed," Lilia said, amazed at how calm she was being when, moments before, she and Connor had been pressed together like an actual couple. She bent her head and busied herself with fixing her hair so that Connor wouldn't see how red her cheeks were.
"I'll wait right outside," Connor replied. As soon as she heard the door close, Lilia stood up, stretched, and tried to forget the feeling of Connor's body against hers as she changed.
Who would have thought that I'd only have to travel to an alternate planet in order to get a boy into bed? she thought, snorting at the innuendo.
"Okay," she called once she was fully clothed in a new outfit and had her dagger strapped to her waist.. "You can come back in."
Connor did so, and she faced the window as he changed. She was too afraid to go anywhere out of Connor's sight with all of these miners around, men who surely hadn't forgotten about her overnight.
Sure enough, as she and Connor returned their room key and left the inn, work halted as they passed through the camp. Men stopped to watch their approach, and Lilia remembered just in time to lower her head as one of the miners swaggered up to them.
"Leaving so soon?" he asked. He had a slight accent. Lilia wondered what was so bad about his former home to bring him to a place like this.
"Yes," Connor said tightly.
"Let me escort you out," the man said, a hint of a threat in his voice. He left his true meaning unsaid: Let me escort you out or else things won't go well for you.
Connor's hand found hers once more. She squeezed it once, as if to say, It's okay. I'll be fine. Half hoping the man would notice her action, she rested her hand lightly atop her sheathed dagger's hilt.
"Fine," Connor said, his voice taking on a steely quality. He and Lilia followed the man through the rest of the camp.
At the edge of the mining civilization, the man paused. "You be safe now," he drawled. "There are dangerous things in the woods."
Lilia's hand fluttered from the hilt of her dagger to the healed wound in her side.
"Trust me, we know," said Connor. She saw him cast a glance down at her hand out of the corner of her eye.
"You got hurt?" the man asked, and Lilia knew with sudden certainty that he was stalling. And she was positive that neither she nor Connor would like what was at the end of this pause. She squeezed Connor's hand, mimicking a quickly beating heart, and hoped he would understand her message: We need to leave. Now.
"She's fine," Connor said tightly, returning the hand squeezes. "Thank you for the escort. Goodbye." He started for the woods, and the pause came to an end.
Lilia felt a hand grab her upper arm and she was torn away from Connor. It was too sudden to even elicit a scream from her. Following some instinct she didn't know she had, she unsheathed her dagger and twisted to whip it across the face of her attacker. The man cried out and fell back, holding one hand to a deep cut on his cheek. Blood seeped out between his fingers.
Lilia, her heart racing, ducked away from the other three men. She counted at least five headed for her, some armed with pickaxes, and had no idea how many people were attacking Connor, who was behind her. She could see men watching and running to help in the background.
Another miner made a grab for her and she struck out at him. Missing, she was thrown off balance. The man struck her back with his fist and sent her to the ground.
When he leaned over, she kicked him squarely in the stomach and scrambled backwards, rising with a stumble. She adjusted her grip on the knife and surveyed the scene, which she could now see in its entirety. Her duffel bag lay on the ground a few feet away, where she had lost it when she was knocked over. Connor's rested on its side near him as he fended off four men with his bare hands alone. They were striking too fast for him to draw his dagger. He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Lilia!" he yelled desperately.
"I'm fine!" she yelled back, waving her knife in a wild arc at the approaching miners. They leaned back.
"Listen to me," she said, low and with fury. "I am very jumpy and sporadic and I have a knife. I don't really know what I'm doing with it so I will stab anywhere. Trust me."
The men chuckled at her and her anger flared even more. One shouted, "Give it up, princess!"
"Why the hell would I do that?" she snarled, and jerked forward to slice a deep wound on his forearm. Had his arm been flipped the other way, she would have slit his wrist. As it was, he howled and fell back, clutching his wounded limb to his chest.
Lilia felt slightly sick as she stared at the blood dripping from her blade. She glanced wildly at the other miners. There were so many of them, not only between her and Connor, but between them and their bags. How could they escape this?
No. They had to win. The alternative was too horrifying to think about. She shuddered.
Connor suddenly broke away from his attackers and weaved through the growing crowd of miners, having to take down several on his way, to eventually stand beside her, taking a defensive pose. "We're going to have to leave the bags," he yelled as he punched a man in his throat and sent him, choking, to the ground.
"No!" Lilia shouted, thinking not only of the food and other essentials but also of her Dwirinelian book, nestled deep in her bag.
As there was a lull in the attack, Connor grabbed her arm and pulled her into the woods. "Come on!"
Lilia knew it was stupid to fight this. They had to survive, had to get out of this goddamned mining camp. With an angry shout, she turned and followed him as they dashed into the forest. Behind them, the angry, disappointed roars of the miners rang in her ears.
They ran through the woods for quite some time before Lilia came down from her adrenaline high and registered the stabbing pain in her side from the physical activity. She started to slow, finally stopping. Legs wobbling, she crashed to the ground and put her head in between her knees, gasping for air and trying not to throw up.
"Lilia, we're safe. None of them even tried to follow us," Connor assured her.
"They have our things," Lilia choked out, and squeezed her eyes as a rush of nausea overtook her.
"It's just food and clothes. We'll be fine."
"They have my book!" Lilia yelled, knowing it was a childish thing to be upset about, but furious about it all the same. She had loved that book, and it had been a thoughtful gift from Connor.
"I'll buy you another one."
"It won't be the same," Lilia muttered, putting her anger on hold to try to steady her heart. Connor remained silent, obviously understanding at least some of what she was going through.
Finally, she stood, groaning and shaking out her arms. She sheathed her dagger and ran her hands through her hair. Tears started tumbling down her cheeks, fast and hot. Unlike last night, she didn't give into this sobbing session, instead trying to stop the tears by turning her face to the sky and taking several deep breaths,
"You're going to be okay," Connor said gently.
"That was terrifying," Lilia said as lightly as she could.
"I know. It was your first real battle. Well, your first real fight," Connor amended. "You did so well, Lilia. You have to recognize that much."
"Not to brag, but I was pretty amazing," Lilia said shakily, trying to put a comical spin on everything. She and Connor chuckled. She finally felt like she was regaining control of her emotions and wiped at her eyes to clear the last of the tears.
"I'm fine," she told Connor. "Sorry for losing it."
"I understand. After my first battle, I cried, too."
"Really?" Wide-eyed, Lilia watched him. "That's hard to believe."
"Really. Winfrith laughed at me."
Lilia chuckled. "Yep, that's Winfrith." She felt a glow of happiness at being able to talk about these people as if she had known them for years.
"Well, ready?" Connor asked after a moment.
"Ready," Lilia said.
*
"Somehow, I think we're here," Connor muttered as Lilia stared, shocked, at the sight before her.
The forest was in the height of its bloom, so the leaves were green and the flowers were full and colorful. However, in front of them, she saw a very clear divide in the lush forest. On the other side of this divide, it looked like it was...winter?
The ground had a layer of frost on it and the trees barely held any leaves. Flowers were nowhere to be seen and the bushes were skeletal branches.
Connor took a deep breath. "This is...mildly terrifying."
Lilia couldn't help but agree. After all, they had no idea what to expect. Who could say what would happen on the other side of that divide? Not to mention that without extra clothes or food, they would be at a health risk if the frosty world of the Wizard got any colder.
"At least everything we say and do will be honest, right?" she asked, trying to find a silver lining.
Connor's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"In some stories I've read, people under the influence of powerful magic are twisted to say horrible, cruel things to each other. But this just brings out the improbable side of us. That means everything that we say will be what we actually feel - our honest feelings." She suddenly stopped talking at the phrase 'honest feelings.' Crap, crap, crap. Would crossing the divide make her confess her feelings to Connor?
There was a shocked look slowly spreading across her friend's face. There was obviously something he was worried about as well. "I...I think you're right," he said slowly.
"Only one way to find out," Lilia said, gathering her courage. Connor glanced at her. Their gazes locked. Lilia nodded.
They stepped forward, over the divide.
Lilia gasped, halting. It was like having a bucket of water poured over her - she physically felt something running off of her skin and into the soil. She felt about five pounds lighter, and her legs no longer hurt from all of the walking she and Connor had been doing. "That was amazing!" she exclaimed, turning to grin at Connor.
He, too, had a wide smile on his face. "Totally," he agreed.
"Let the improbability begin!" Lilia shouted, turning her face toward the sky and spreading her arms wide. Connor whooped and started dashing forward. Lilia followed suit.
She wasn't a runner - she wasn't athletic in any way. And yet somehow, she had the strength to run for quite a long stretch of time before finally starting to slow.
"You know," said Connor, matching her speed, "it's really unlikely that I'm honest about my feelings or what I'm thinking. So that's probably what I'm going to start doing."
Lilia was slightly taken aback at this. "Same here, I guess."
"Good. I'm glad." Connor grinned at her. Lilia wasn't sure what it was, but Connor just seemed so much happier, so much more positive. He radiated joy. Perhaps this improbability thing wasn't so bad after all.
Lilia heard a rustling in a nearby tree and glanced up to find the source of the noise. She froze at the sight of the familiar squirrel-like creature perched in the branches. Her hand instantly went to her knife.
The creature made a small purring sound, met her gaze, and continued jumping from tree to tree. Lilia caught sight of a small charm flashing at its throat. "Oh, thank god," she breathed. It was already a servant of the Wizard. For once, that had been helpful - life-saving, even. If only the same could have happened for Winfrith's wife.
"Honestly, we did not have time for that," Connor muttered. "Let's go."
They continued onward.
*
"I have to admit, I'm kinda digging this place," Lilia noted as they stared at the large, convenient cave in front of them.
"Seriously. Let's check it out," Connor agreed. "Wait." He held up a finger. "It is likely that this cave will be completely devoid of any human touch, that it'll be cold and wet and generally unpleasant. Also, looking at our luck so far, there's probably a family of bloodthirsty bears inhabiting it or something."
Lilia hid a grin behind her hand and hoped desperately that this was how the Wizard's magic worked.
They stepped into the cave and she gasped as several torches flared to life, untouched.
Before them was an honest-to-God room, with a carpet, and paintings hanging from the jagged cave walls. There was a bed against one wall and a couch facing the largest, most elaborate painting, which depicted a slightly unsettling scene of a family of sleeping hellhounds.
"Why are those things everywhere now?" Lilia muttered. "Well, I guess it's unlikely that one monster would continue bothering us for so long - "
"What the actual hell," Connor breathed as he entered the cave behind her. "It actually worked."
"You found this place's loophole," Lilia realized. "It's highly unlikely that anything you say will make a difference. So here we are!" She gestured to the contents of the cave and laughed.
"Wow," Connor sighed. "I feel the power!" His last words were a shout and, with a whoop, he flung himself onto the large couch.
Lilia joined him. "So, what?" she asked. "There are still hours left in the day - "
Eyes wide, Connor pointed behind her. She twisted around to find that outside of the cave, night had fallen in mere seconds. It was so dark that she couldn't see beyond the cave's entrance. Rather than painting a creepy picture, it gave the illusion that a wall of darkness protected them from the outside.
"Oh, that's just impossible," Lilia huffed.
"Obviously not," Connor retorted, smiling.
Shrugging, Lilia stood up and moved around the room, examining everything. "Seriously. I love this cave! Best cave ever!" she exclaimed, feeling incredibly slap happy.
She felt Connor behind her and turned around to find him incredibly close. Her breath caught in her throat. "Hello," she whispered.
"Hello," he replied with a crooked smile that made her heart beat faster.