The Snake Warriors

Chapter Ten

"Here we are," Lotus stops walking. Finally. I look around. Yet another clearing. They've really moved into these woods, haven't they? Hey, that's the lake I saw Foxtail and Lotus at earlier. We're on the opposite side of it. I didn't notice the training area of it on this side. I was too focused on their conversation. There are some targets set up, training dummies, a dirt patch with some sort of cage around it, and some sort of weapons rack inside the caged area. An arena. Hey, one of the targets has an arrow in it. Probably Foxtail's. Wait, why are there giant crystals in the same line as the targets?

"What are the crystals for?" I ask, pointing at the one nearest to me. They are clear, and the sunset looks incredible when looking through them. I almost didn't realize it was this late.

"They absorb magical blasts. Otherwise, we wouldn't have any targets left." To further explain, Lotus holds out her hands and an orb of blue energy appears over each of her open palms. She then proceeds to get a running start and jump in the air. As she flies through the air, she twists around and blasts every crystal, except the one I pointed at. The crystals briefly glow the same shade of blue as her blasts, then they turn clear once more. Lotus lands facing the one I pointed at and she blasts it.

"Impressive," I say. How did she do it? I have so many questions. I'll bide my time and figure it out later.

"Thanks, but that was just lucky. Usually, I miss the practice crystals and hit the trees. Foxtail, on the other hand, sticks his arrows in everything you can shoot and never misses. He even shoots the trees, and I have to magically remove his arrows. It annoys me to no end," Lotus rolls her eyes briefly. Poor trees. I glance around and notice some scorch marks on some of the nearby trees.

"So that's where the scorch marks came from."

"No, that's mostly people hitting them by accident. And by people, I mean me because I'm a terrible shot when I practice but for some reason have perfect aim when it counts. That also irks me to no end."

"What else does?"

"The list is pretty long. You sure you wanna hear it?"

"No, I'd rather not. Hey, Lotus?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we out here?"

"Well, you've never used your curse-breaker magic, assuming you have it. We're going to need you to at least be able to manage some sort of magic blast."

"And if I can't?"

"We go back to your mother and get her help, if possible."

"You seem to have thought this out."

"No, not in the slightest."

"Really?"

"Okay, maybe a little. Not enough for it to really be considered a plan, but it's been thought through somewhat."

Silence.

"We should probably get started," I say.

"Yeah," Lotus agrees. We stare at each other.

"This is awkward," I say.

"Yeah."

Silence again. Lotus is staring at me, and she seems kind of terrified. She's not comfortable with me yet. She's extremely energetic, but only when she knows the people she's with. I take it she also gets easily worked up when she's afraid someone won't like her. Interesting.

"So... how familiar are you with the laws of magic?" she asks.

"I know the basics and I am very knowledgeable when it comes to herbal magic and enchanting."