At Your Service

5. Wizards

Going in deeper and deeper Shadow began to follow me, a little doubtful at first but soon she was walking up ahead as she too longed for the light breeze in her manes and sun warming her fur.
After a couple of metres the water had been too deep for me to walk so I had to swim. Shadow noticing this waited up for me and allowed me to hold onto her as she made her way to the other side. I kept looking around the lake to make sure nothing was coming at us even though it was too dark to see properly as I left the torch on the other side.
"We're almost there Shadow, we made it!" I cheered her on as she was already walking back up the other side of the lake.
She softly snorted and whinnied happily. A smile broke through on my lips realising I was not dying yet, but that happiness was short lived as suddenly Shadow was pulled down into the lake.
"Shadow!" I shouted immediately diving in after her.
That's when I saw a set of big bright yellow eyes and a double row of razor sharp teeth holding Shadow under. At first I was so startled by the creature I swam back up to catch my breath.
Yet I wasn't going to give up on the pony that followed me all this way here so I grabbed my pocket knife and dove back in.
The adrenaline was pumping through me making me swim faster. In that moment I no longer cared about dying in this shit hole. The basilisk was so preoccupied in keeping Shadow under as she was kicking and fighting for her life it didn't see me coming until I was right above it's head. In a quick movement I used my pocket knife to poke the beasts eye making it let go of Shadow and squeal in pain.
I grabbed Shadow's mane and pulled her up with me both of us swimming to the shore as fast as possible. Yet the basilisk wasn't done and was only angered by me poking one of her eyes.
The beast now came for me. Luckily I held Shadow's mane tightly as the beast grabbed my boot and tried to pull me back under. Shadow noticed me struggling and kicked her hoof against the basilisk's head making it let go of me.
"Go Shadow, get to the shore, I'll be there!" I shouted before diving back under seeing the basilisk coming at me again. I couldn't outrun the beast so I allowed it to grab my leg. I shrieked in pain allowing the water to fill up my lungs before quickly closing my mouth again.
I had little time so I acted fast as I grabbed the pocket knife that was still in the basilisk left eye and I pulled. At first it didn't come out, I gritted my teeth trying harder. When it came loose I attempted to poke the other eye, yet the beast outsmarted me and moved aside.
It hissed backing off a little before opening its mouth again and swimming toward me at top speed.
I was running out of air and needed to make a quick decision. So I held my dagger in front of me protectively, closing my eyes. I saw my life flash before me, this was the moment I'd die.
Yet slowly as seconds passed by I realised nothing happened. I opened my eyes seeing how I was inside the creatures mouth and pierced it's palate.
I could barely believe I managed killing it without even trying to, but I didn't have time to celebrate as I pulled loose the pocket knife and pushed myself out of its mouth swimming back to the surface where Shadow was already waiting for me.

I coughed up the water I had swallowed before weakly swimming to the shore and letting my exhausted body rest for a while.
Shadow stayed with me snorting and hovering over me as if she was checking if I was wounded.
"I'm okay girl, we're free. We're out." I tried reassuring her before sitting up and petting her neck.
When I stood up I limped down the path into the sunshine. The basilisk bit my right calve leaving a good mark there. Yet when I saw Shadow follow me limping too as the beast bit her hind leg I quickly apologized.
"Is this what you wanted? Feed us to this serpent?" I shouted looking around yet the shadow was nowhere to be seen now.
"It's not your lucky day, I killed that beast and we got out, so fuck you!" I continued.
Suddenly the voice's laugh returned to my head.
"You think I wanted you to die? I told you, I'm not death! I'm hope. This was a test which you passed gracefully. Now go to the woods. You'll find help there."
I looked around angrily as I felt like I was being played by this phantom looking thing. Sadly I still had no clue where he hid.
"A test?" I shouted.
"A fucking test, for what?"
"What do you want with me?" I shrieked exhausted and angry. Yet no answers came. I took a deep breath collecting myself before taking Shadow's reins.
"Let's go girl, let's get you better."

We walked for hours without finding shelter, there was nothing but open fields surrounding us. Shadow's limp was getting worse so I eventually halted her and made a camp by the river bank so we could rest out.
I cleaned her wound as well as I could before cleaning my own leg and binding it. I didn't have any potions or needle and thread so I could only hope we would find a village or come across some travellers soon to get medicine.

We stayed by the riverbank for a couple of days before we had to move on. We moved slowly needing more breaks. After two weeks of following a path straight through the woods we stumbled upon a house.
My leg was glowing as the wound got infected. Shadow too needed medicine for her leg so I took no time investigating the person who lived her but simply knocked on the door.
It took a couple of minutes but eventually an older looking man with brown robes a funny looking hat and long greying brown hair appeared in the doorway.
"Hello? How can I help you?" He asked looking rather confused by the sudden appearance of a girl.
"Hey there, uhm maybe. You see my pony and I are wounded. I was wondering..." I began but the man already interrupted me stepping outside and wrapping one arm around me.
"Oh of course, no worries! You have come to the right place, come in. You're safe here. I will look for your pony in a jiffy, let's take care of you first though." He reassured me leading me I to his hut. There were bottles with potions, herbs and all kinds of goods in there making me believe this man was a sage.
He helped me sit down in a chair by the window where I could carefully take off my boot so he had a better view on my calve. "That's a deep bite, it's infected too. How did you come by this? Was it something in these woods attacking you?" He began questioning me.
I wasn't sure if I should tell him the truth or if he'd even believe me. Yet I was tired, hungry and hurt so I told him everything about how I travelled through Emyn Muil, how I was lost in the mountains. I spoke of the tunnel and the basilisk, leaving out the part of the phantom as I believed that to be my own mind playing tricks on me.
"You don't happen to have brought some basilisk teeth or its eyes with you, did you?" The man asked me. I looked at him in shock.
"I was happy to be alive, no I didn't think of bringing its teeth or eyes!" I spat.
"Of course, yes, yes. That was a stupid question. It's just that they're very useful for potions and stuff." He explained.
I sighed "I wasn't really thinking about that in the moment." I explained.
"Oh I understand why." The man spoke before he began cleaning my wound. A sharp stinging pain made me hiss as I tried my best to keep my leg still.
"This may hurt a bit, but you'll be better in no time!" The man promised smiling encouragingly at me.
I nodded quietly as I was biting my teeth and trying to divert my attention from the pain.
"So what are you? A sage of some kind?" I decided to ask him after a while.
"Oh yes, I'm so sorry. In my hurry I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Radagast. Radagast the brown. I'm a wizard, not a sage."
I chuckled "Well I can see why you call yourself that, Radagast the brown wizard." I spoke hinting at his brown robes and hat. I kept a close look on the potions he was using before looking around his place. I only heard rumours of wizards back at Grimslade. I never really believed they were real, let alone I would ever see one in the flesh. I had always imagined them to look old, not just old but ancient. Tall, grey hair, long grey beards, dark robes, and pointy heads with wands or powerful walking sticks. Radagast had a walking stick with a blue gemstone in. Yet he didn't really look that old, nor was he grey.
"What's your name?" The wizard suddenly broke the silence. I shook my head as I was just thinking about how this wizard could probably curse any creature with his stick, make it explode by speaking some magic words.
I softly coughed trying to get the disturbing image of an exploded rabbit out of my mind. This man didn't seem so evil, so why did I always imagine people being evil?
"Fia. I'm Fia and my pony is called Shadow." Now it was his time to laugh at me.
"Shadow? Because she's all black? That's very refreshing." I had to admit he had a point.
When my leg was all cleaned up and he was done rubbing it with some homemade cream, he bound it and went outside to do the same to my pony.
In the meantime I got something to eat and by the time he came back in I was already deeply asleep on his couch.