An Ocean of Lies (AFOS II)

Chapter 19: Jo

A light in the distance matched the tug her whole body experienced: the humming became louder, like music, it echoed in her skull, in her bones. As she grew closer, the silhouette of a small wooden hut, surrounded by shrubs, became apparent. She gritted her teeth, made a tight fist. None was expecting her, she could get away with peeking through the windows without being seen, right? Right. She struggled with the leaves and prickly branches, what was that place? The hut was painted bright red with white decorations; it was unlike anything she'd ever seen in Ontur, with its either extremely neat facades or ridiculously adorned walls. It was loud and rustic, like a child's toy. The wood was thick, almost as if someone had plucked a bunch of trees, then piled them on top of each other after removing its branches. She leaned on the coarse wall, trying not to prick herself with a splinter while spying through the window. Books, heaps of them, neatly stacked on the shelves that occupied most of the walls, small towers underneath firedust lamps and other objects. Laurentius would love it there, so would Alaric. She wondered about the book she'd been reading, she never had much time to do so back in the village and it turned out she didn't really hate it. Whoever had her stuff better return her rightfully stolen book as well.

The hum in her ears came to a halt. She shivered, finally aware of her own body and thoughts after a while. What on the creators' names had that been? Her skin tickled, softly, tiny brushes all over, like feathers. She tried to block it, consciously, the hum came back again, gently at first. It was magic, definitely magic. She looked at her fingers, hiding under the window: maybe it stopped when her body became attuned with it? Like swimming in a cold lake, icy water biting her skin, then warmth, all over. She'd probably been doing it constantly, unconsciously, ever since the Faradian Forest. She trembled. That trip had been awful, in more than one way, thinking about it didn't help. She swallowed, then went back to peeking inside, ignoring her body's absorbing business altogether. There was a wall, behind one of the large shelves, and next to it, a door. Closed. She walked around, the next window looked into a dark room. The other, into a bathroom with its door slightly ajar. Plumbing, in the middle of nowhere? That place looked way too much like the Faradian Forest, for comfort, at times. A quaint version of it, at least. The next window looked into a lit room, but the flowery curtains made it a little hard to see inside. Ontur's ass. What if he was in there? What if whoever took them was in there? There was no way of knowing. She could knock on the door, maybe? Throw a random elemental magic blow at whoever it was, throw all caution to the wind. Her plan was stupid, Alaric could be anywhere, and she didn't really know how to use her stolen power at will. She sat down on the grassy sand, her feet were so cold she could hardly feel them anymore. She needed a better plan, and a pair of shoes.

"Jo?"

She squeezed hard against the wall, her heart nearly jumped off her chest "Damn it, Alaric, what have I told you about sneaking on me?"

"I'm happy to see you too, Jo," he kneeled, smiling. " And in one piece! And here I was, ready to venture into the night to sweep you off a dingy tower, maybe fight a dragon or two," he brushed her cheek.

"I came to do just that, but you had to save yourself, didn't you? I'm flattered, though, you'd risk your life to save me from a dragon? I'm not sure I'd go that far, maybe from a wyvern? They're smaller. If you ever get captured by a dragon, you're on your own, I hope you don't mind getting eaten: I hear they roast their victims in seconds, you won't feel a thing," she shrugged. Alaric crossed his arms.

"Nah, I'm too stringy with all these pesky muscles on my bones, and I hear dragons favor the tender flesh of virgins anyway," he winked. "At any rate, I was a little tired of getting rescued all the time, I thought, alright, maybe this time she'll let me rescue her for a change, huh? Dragons be damned," they laughed, trying to keep it quiet.