Because Some People Just Attract Trouble
The path from the Elvin Village to the Tadema Pass gradually wove itself up the mountain side. As their altitude increased and the temperature dropped, the travelers were induced to periodically don on more and more of the winter clothing that Lilla had packed for them. When the clothing was removed from the bags, small packets of food were found neatly packed between them. Being as (when asked) none of them admitted to supplying the morsels, Myra was pleased to accept the fact that the people of Lilla's village were not as rude as they seemed (or at least one of them wasn't).
Meanwhile, they had been passing by small patches of snow and before they knew it, the snow was so deep that Sam suggested they all change their silver dowels into snow shoes. Myra and Meris exchanged sheepish looks and reluctantly admitted to Silversin that they had somehow lost their dowels the day before.
Silversin laughed a little. "You could have just used the retrieving spell I had on them," She said with a mocking smile.
Meris mirrored her smile. "Yes, that would have been the most logical thing to do. Unfortunately, you did not inform us of any such spell."
Her smile dropped a bit. "What are you talking about? Of course I told you about the spell."
"Not a word," Sam stated from his current position, which happened to be sitting casually on top of a struggling Dru who was face down in the snow. The fox demon was shouting muffled threats to Silversin for prolonging his separation from Myra the day before. Sam sighed and continued his statement in a monotonous manner "And I suggest you quickly tell us how to retrieve them before Dru gets carried away with his little tantrum and decides to actually follow through with his threats."
A slight, yet extremely evil smirk flashed across Silversin's face, and her hair turned a shade toward pink. "I'd like to see him try," she said in a challenging voice. Everyone immediately went silent. Dru stopped struggling and Meris and Lilla even took a step away from the volatile witch, pulling the clueless Myra with them. "But if he doesn't mind, I think we'll save that for a more appropriate time," she concluded as her hair turned back to its normal color.
"Anyway, here..." Saying Myra and Meris's names along with some other words that Myra didn't recognize, Silversin flicked her wrist and two silver dowels appeared in her hand.
Once she had her dowel back Myra found herself almost giddy with the idea that this was her first opportunity to actually try to make something out of it. She was surprised at how easy it turned out to be. Silversin first helped her split the dowel into two equal pieces. Then she gave Myra the pair of snowshoes that she had just made and told the girl to examine them thoroughly. After she finished doing so, the silver haired witch told her to close her eyes and study them again, but with her hands (while remembering what they looked like) and project that image to her own two dowel halves.
Myra did as she was told and was very pleased when she opened her eyes and found that her dowel halves had transformed into exact replicas of Silversin's snowshoes. Of course, that might have had to do with the fact that Silversin had also made Myra's pair.
No one, not even Sam (and especially not Silversin) had estimated the extent of Myra's ability to let her mind wander while she was supposed to be studying something. This error was fully realized however, during the time that Myra's eyes were closed. At first it looked like Myra was doing a fairly decent job. The two poles began to form into snow shoe shapes with sharp cleats at the toes. But then things started to go a bit off. The shoes grew what looked like fins and tails. In curiosity, Silversin approached the two figures that now looked very little like snow shoes and very much like small silver sharks, especially after the cleats formed into spiky teeth.
"Um, Myra sweetie..." she said, trying to politely inform the girl of her mistake. In response, Myra kept her eyes closed tightly but held up her hand which was still holding a shoe. "Shhh, not now. I think I'm getting the hang of this."
Silversin's expression took on a worried guise. It was good that Myra wanted to try things out on her own, but this just didn't seem right. Cautiously she tapped one of the fish with her foot. It was a slightly squishy, just as if it were real. Then, things got worse "Myra-ack!" She jumped away and ran behind Sam who was sitting in a circle with the others, playing a card game while they waited for Myra to make her snow shoes. Huddling behind his back, she squealed, "Sam, help."
"What is it now" he asked in an annoyed tone, although he could probably guess what she wanted. The silver haired woman always did this. She was obviously more powerful than him in many ways, but whenever anything remotely dangerous happened she would run to him. Although, more often than not, she wanted him to do some ridiculous task like squishing a bug of some sort.
"Myra's fish tried to bite me!" She whispered into his back.
"Fish?" Everyone looked over to Myra. She was standing perfectly still with fists clenched around Silversin's pair of snowshoes, and eyes closed tightly. It was obvious that she was concentrating pretty hard. Though on what she was focusing her intense mental efforts was unclear because at her feet were two small sharks, flipping around and biting at each other.
Silversin peeked around Sam's shoulder. "See? They're creepy."
"I think they're kind of cute." Meris and Lilla said at the same time.
"I'm assuming you want me to kill them somehow," Sam stated calmly. After Silversin made a noise of affirmation he stood up and walked over to Myra, who was still not paying attention to anything around her. Standing next to her, he turned to his companions and announced. "Before anyone gets upset, I just want you to know that Myra is exerting her life force into the sharks and that is why this is the only way to slay them." Saying thus, he hit Myra in the back of the head.
Dru caught her before she hit the ground. And Silversin quickly changed the sharks into snow shoes. Waking up a few moments later, Myra found herself in Dru's arms, sitting on the ground. "I fainted?" she asked. "Wow, I must have exerted a lot of mental energy."
"You sure did!" Dru agreed with a huge grin. "And look how good your shoes turned out."
⌘⌘⌘
After hiking a few more tiresome hours they ended up in a narrow gully with a small hut at the bottom. A large sign, almost as big as the hut itself stood beside it. The sign read: "Welcome to the Tadema Pass, Where death is likely and danger assured. Why not have some ice cream before you risk your life? Only $3 a scoop, sold here." A bright arrow pointed toward the hut.
Ice cream! Myra thought with a wide grin. I haven't had ice cream in ages. But the price is a bit steep. Wait, I've got Sam with me, the guy who can make money appear out of thin air. I'm sure I can get him to pay.
"Absolutely not," Sam said turning around.
"What?" Myra gave him an innocent look with a tilt of her head. But she knew he had read her mind.
"There is absolutely no way I paying for your frozen confection," he said, as he started to pass the sign and hut. Myra however, was determined.
"If you don't pay, then I'm not moving," she said, planting her feet firmly to the ground. "And neither are Meris and Dru," she added, grabbing their arms.
Sam turned around once more. His two best friends looked a bit guilty, but also extremely happy with their current situation. "You will pay me back for this some day, one way or another," he growled while changing course and heading into the hut.
About an hour later the group was once again outside and heading up the trail through the Tadema Pass. Myra was pleasantly full of ice cream (even though it was by not the best she had ever had). Dru came up beside her and gently held her hand (which for some reason made her blush slightly). Silversin and Lilla were having a discussion about getting an ice cream maker for their home (with Meris putting in his excited approval). And Sam was still grumbling. Except this time it was about how the hut owner must be working for the bandits because his prices were practically robbery.
Soon, a wind came up at their backs and pushed them along, which would have been rather nice if it wasn't a bone chilling temperature. This slowed them down slightly as they continued their trek during the uneventful mid-afternoon. It seemed that they might be able to avoid running into the rumored bandit gang or any other kind of trouble. But that was before Myra suddenly stopped in her tracks.
The rest of the line stopped behind her. "What is it, darling? Are you tired?" Dru asked, laying a hand on her shoulder. The beginning of the line now turned around to see what was going on.
Sam maneuvered around Meris and Lilla and looked Myra up and down. "You can go on," he concluded. "But if you insist on complaining we'll rest at the next bend."
"No, I'm fine," she agreed with him. "It's just...that that noise—like the tinkling of bells—it sounds almost familiar. What is it?"
"Sound?" Meris asked. "I haven't heard anything." Everyone's swift agreement to this caused five pairs of eyes to flash at Sam. Four of them were very worried and one (Myra) was simply curious. The purple eyed demon paused for a moment and quirked his head to the side slightly, as if listening. Then he gave a slow nod of confirmation as he said, "Kidegos."
That was just before the Kidegos attacked.