Anyway, here's the chapter!
Chapter 2: Leah’s Journey, Part 1
Leah walks through the bustling market place, trying to blow off some steam. Her ashen shaa walks close beside her, the dark grey dog making barely a sound. His short, curved horn gleams in the afternoon sun. He whisks his tail back and for, the gold ring end clicking Leah on the back of her calf affectionately.
Leah turns her fiery red eyes down to her shaa. The shaa stops and looks into Leah’s eyes. Something bothering you, Leah? the shaa asks.
Leah shrugs. “Nothing too much, Alscar.”
Alscar shakes his head. I know you too well, Leah. Come, let us find an Inn that takes magi and we can talk there.
“Good idea, Al.”
Alscar wags his tale at the small praise. The magi and her companion head to a new inn called Twin-Hounds. Leah stops at the dark woods doors at the front. She marvels at the two magnificent hellhounds painted on the sign of the inn. Without hesitation, she walks into the inn, followed closely by Alscar.
Leah un-straps her dark brown traveling cloak and hangs it over her arm as she takes a seat in the back with Alscar. A woman in her late twenties takes Leah’s order for raw meat, two waters, one in a bowl, and the roasted pork of the day. The woman brings the order and walks back to the bar to attend to her new guests.
Leah looks at Alscar, waiting for the shaa to spark up some conversation. Instead, he takes a totally new approach. You are jealous of Sally sometimes, aren’t you?
Shocked as she is, Leah answers bitterly, “Not all the time.”
Vent, I’m here.
“Well, for one, she always gets the guys, good or bad. They look at her and think princess…even though she acts like a spoiled brat most of the time…” Leah murmurs the last part bitterly.
So? You are equally as pretty.
“Equally isn’t good enough. I want someone to like me fore me, and not because I dress and act like a spoiled princess. I like to go on adventures. I like to get down and dirty and reap good rewards. I don’t like it when I have to follow Palace Rules for when I have to go to some stupid ball with another prince charming of Sally’s. That last one was like having another Sally in guy form.”
He was a bad one.
“Anyway, I just get tired of having to clean up after her constantly and then watch as she gets all the guys with minimum work. I’ve never had a relationship before and here Sally is, going on and on about which guy dumped her, and which guy she loves better-”
So this is why you are upset? Because you haven’t had a guy like you for you and Sally has had many that like her for…a lot of things?
Leah has no argument for that. She just nods her light blonde hair.
Alscar sits up and stares Leah in the eyes. You know what makes you, you?
Leah shakes her head, eyes set hard as she thought of all the guys that have looked past her and to her sister. Alscar gives a doggish smile. You will one day, when the right guy comes ‘round for you. Now come, are you going to go look at the creatures here or what?
Leah pays for their meal and walks out of Twin-Hounds’. Leah was looking at a venue with gryphon eggs from a great lineage when something rams into her legs, knocking her over and flat on her face. Alscar assumes his fighting stance, standing protectively over Leah. He growls at the creature that knocked Leah over. Leah’s fire red eyes turn to the creature. She laughs out lout. A white wolf with sorry brown eyes cowers close to the ground, embarrassment rippling over his body.
The young pup, for it was still a hatchling, gives off a pathetic whimper. Leah sits up as a voice calls out for the albino direwolf hatchling. Alscar steps away from Leah and over to the direwolf to have a stern word with the pup. “I hope he didn’t hurt you too much. He was chasing a squirrel and ran into the market place on accident,” a voice of a young man says.
A strong hand is held out to Leah. She looks up into strong, kind ice blue eyes of a guy. Great…maybe I should stop talking to you about guys, Alscar, ‘cause they show up right after the conversations, Leah says to Alscar.
Alscar gives off a cough, his way of laughing. Leah takes the hand and is hoisted to her feet. “Thanks. Your direwolf may be a pup, but he is very strong,” Leah says as she looks over the new guy.
He’s tall, with a thick mess of dark brown hair. He is muscular, no doubt. He has to be to handle the direwolf pup that he has. His skin is tan from long days working with his creatures as well. Black bandaging is wrapped around his hands and wrists like gauntlets. His black trousers are tucked into black traveling boots. Over his black shirt is a dark maroon tunic with the sleeves slit on the front side, and tied with a small, thin gold cord above his elbows. Leah suppresses a blush wanting to rush to her cheeks. “Um…Leah Snow,” she says with a small stutter. Mentally, she slaps herself.
The guy smiles. “Jon Amir. Nice to meet you, Leah,” he says as they shake hands.
“Is that short for Jonathan?”
“Yep. I was named after my father. He died when I was two fighting alongside some of mages that fought against the Dark Ones.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, I’m proud of him. Do you see anything interesting here?” he asks, changing the subject as soon as Leah felt awkward.
Leah shakes her head. “Nothing really.”
Jon smiles at her. “I know a place you can get a creature. It can be quite a journey, but it’s worth it.”
Leah looks at Jon skeptically. “I guess…”
“Great! When do you want to go?”
Leah looks back the way she came, back to where Trinacott Keep lies. “Now’s fine,” she says.
Jon’s eyes furrow in confusion. “We don’t have any supplies. Don’t you think we should get some?”
“True…”
“I mean, I have a few things, but you need some.”
Leah rolls her eyes. “We can go to my Keep and get the provisions I need. That is, if you want to come.”
Jon nods. “I’d love to see your Keep. Did you ride or walk here?”
“I rode. My ash gryphon is waiting outside Synara.”
“So is mine. Are you done here?”
“Yes I am.”
It doesn’t take long for the two to reach the outermost part of Synara. As Jon had said, his gryphon was waiting outside as well. Tinsel’s high pitched screech came from the sky, announcing his arrival to Leah. As the ash gryphon lands, he looks Jon over, making sure he approves of the guy before he continues to travel with him. Jon gives the gryphon a smile, his own walking up behind him.
Tinsel seems to approve as the new gryphon comes into his view. The new gryphon is a soot gryphon with a black lion-hide and dark grey feathers, a dark version of Tinsel. Tinsel shakes his head and clicks his beak at the female. In turn, she ignores him.
Shocked, Tinsel looks to Leah for help. Leah laughs at his newfound interest in the female. “Come on, boy, we have to get something from the Keep,” Leah says as she mounts the shocked gryphon.
Leah looks to Jon, making sure he is ready before taking off. Alscar jumps into Leah’s lap just in time as the gryphon takes off. They arrive at the top of Trinacott Keep before three hours is up. It really isn’t a far ride. Jon lands beside Leah, looking at the Keep in shock. “You live here all by yourself?” he asks in shock. “Where are your creatures?”
“I wish I did. The creatures are inside right now. Come on.”
Jon follows her up the steps and into the house. Leah walks in, expecting Sally to jump at Jon the first moment they walk in, but she doesn’t. Instead, Leah hears laughing. As quietly as possible, Leah rushes upstairs to grab her questing bag, a brown leather bag that holds everything she needs for a quest. She bought it from a dealer in Synara who had enchanted it with a bottomless spell so she can fit just about anything she needs in it. The leather seems new even though it has been through many, many journeys. The bag itself can be reduced to the size of anything and can be worn as anything.
Leah turns the leather bag into a light brown leather belt, laying it on her bed. She rummages through her closet and pulls out a new set of clothes. She pulls on a fresh white tank top and pulls on skinny brown traveling pants. Over the top of her tank-top she pulls on a maroon leather vest, tying the ties in the front. She puts her tan and black traveling boots back on before leaving her room. As she walks down stairs, Leah puts on the light brown belt, making sure it is securely on her waist before walking out to door. “Oh, crap!” Leah says to Jon just as she is about to shut the door. “Sally has my gloves. Be right back.”
Leah runs back up the stairs and to Sally’s room. “Gods I hope she hasn’t spelled the door again,” Leah murmurs.
Quickly, Leah opens the door, rushes in and grabs her fingerless dark brown leather gloves, and runs back out unharmed. She arrives at Tinsel’s side unharmed. “Let’s go,” Leah says to Jon.
Jon nods and takes to the air with Leah close behind him. They turn to the south, heading straight for the Etain desert.
Well into the twelfth night, they reach the Etain desert. Leah and Jon both dismount their. Alscar races out into the desert, rolling in the sand. The love of the heat isn’t at all contagious. Jon scrunches his nose in disgust at the thought of the morning heat. “Let’s get going while the moon is still high. I never really liked the desert in the morning,” Jon says to Leah, shaking his dark brown hair.
Leah smiles. She doesn’t mind the heat. But then again, she is a fire magi. “What kind of magi are you, Jon?” she asks.
Jon smiles. “You can’t guess?”
“Water?”
“Nope.”
“Earth?”
“Not even close.”
“Then what are you?”
Jon’s smile never wavers. “I’m a fire magi.”
Leah looks at him in fake shock. “I would have never guessed!”
“You just gave up.”
Leah looks over and gives Jon a fake punch.
By the time the sun begins to peek over the rocky landscape, they have arrived at what appears to be a cave outcropping. Jon looks at Leah. “After you,” Leah says.
Jon nods and enters, the albino direwolf pup following him excitedly. Alscar comes up beside Leah and they enter together.
The Crystalline Caves were said to be a remarkable sight, clustered with crystals of various colors from blues to greens to reds, and sporadically placed all over the walls and floors of the deep passages so that one could venture into them without a light of their own. This is where you find yourself, carefully stepping over rocks and squeezing through tunnels.
It’s not long before Leah and Jon hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, Jon find’s who they are looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. Jon nods Leah to go ahead. Leah clears her throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at Leah and Jon from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.
Leah’s heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what Leah expected.
“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” Leah nods. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” Leah hesitates, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.
She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”
Leah looks back at Jon. He smiles and nods. “I’ll do it.”
Anita smiles. “The frosty mountains await you, as does great danger. Not only will the White Elk lead you through the snow, but they have the power to bring peace to your soul.”
Leah’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. Anita gives a high pitched whistle. An elk with fur as white as snow appears out of one of the leading caves. The chains fall all around his massive brown rack of antlers. His brown eyes look at Leah. Somehow, peace doesn’t reach Leah’s soul instead, she feels disappointment. She was looking forward to a tough creature, not exactly a softy that “brings peace to your soul”. “What am I going to look for in the mountains?”
Anita smiles. “You are to find a gold crystal wing. It has distress in itself and has been injured badly.”
“How do you know this?”
“My own collections tell me many things. One of them is when creatures are harmed by magic, dark magic. There will be many dangers seeing as these Dark Ones wish to capture a magi of Noble blood.”
Leah smiles. “I don’t have any Noble blood, Anita. But I will find this crystal wing. Is it yours?”
“It is not. But to be an owner of a crystal wing is up to the creature itself.”
“What about the elk? Does it have a name?”
“Your elk, your name. Be safe, magi. And you, Jon. Is your noctis enox behaving himself?”
Jon smiles at Anita. “As good as a noctis will ever behave. Come on, Leah, time to go.”
Anita points to the tunnel that the elk had come from. “Take that one out.”
Leah follows Jon and the direwolf pup into the other tunnel.
******
Author Notes
~I will be updating this more often now that I am out of my dreadful writer's block.
~If you would like to receive a PM notifying you that there is a new chapter, please tell me in a comment/post
~Thanks to all my readers who read this
Everything under this spoiler is NOT mine, but NellaFantasia and Enchantaddil's work. It can be found in their contest, here
Spoiler
The Crystalline Caves were said to be a remarkable sight, clustered with crystals of various colors from blues to greens to reds, and sporadically placed all over the walls and floors of the deep passages so that one could venture into them without a light of their own. This is where you find yourself, carefully stepping over rocks and squeezing through tunnels.
It’s not long before you hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, you find who you are looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. You clear your throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at you from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.
You’ve heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what you expected.
“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” You nod. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” You hesitate, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.
She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”
Path F
“The frosty mountains await you, as does great danger. Not only will the White Elk lead you through the snow, but they have the power to bring peace to your soul.”
It’s not long before you hear the echoes of gentle tapping. Upon rounding a bend, you find who you are looking for. A woman is beating at the surrounding crystals with a pick. She’s dressed in brown trousers, heavy boots, a loose tunic and leather jerkin with a multitude of a tiny bags and pockets wrapped around her waist and legs. Atop her head is a mass of curly brown hair. You clear your throat to gain her attention, and she stops in mid-swing to peer at you from behind large, circular goggles. She lifts them from her face and smiles.
You’ve heard of this woman from time to time in the Keep. Anita the Accumulator. Or, for those less inclined, Anita the Pack Rat. She often sends magi out into the world to collect samples of her discoveries, and in return she’ll award them with creatures. However, she is not what you expected.
“Hello, mage,” she says quite cheerfully. “Here for the journey, I wager?” You nod. “As I tell many of your folk, it’s not a pleasant journey if you’re not careful, but I give you creatures to help you with the trials. You keep them, too…long as you survive it in one piece.” You hesitate, staring at her warily with thoughts of whether or not this is a good idea after all.
She smiles wider and says, “Having a bit of fun, is all. You magi are so serious.” She wipes a handkerchief across her face, succeeding only smearing dirt. “It shouldn’t be so bad, and you get my little lovelies in the process. So,” she leans on the handle of the pick, smirking, “are you willing to go on the journey?”
Path F
“The frosty mountains await you, as does great danger. Not only will the White Elk lead you through the snow, but they have the power to bring peace to your soul.”
