Heather's Adventures: The Search for Maxamus

Chapter 82. Max

The two of were able to sleep well in the cabin that night, finally getting the well-deserved rest we needed. We did, however, wake up the next morning hungry-and the best part-we were still without food.

So, our morning consisted of Heather's stomach growling loudly, her denying she was hungry, and the two of us just sitting around the cabin for nearly an hour without any solid solution. We finally just decided to start walking again since sitting around in a cabin filled with our own self-pity wasn't going to do anything.

The good thing was it only took us another hour to find a small town. We were finally getting somewhere.

"Should we find someone and ask for directions?" I asked Heather as we walked on the sidewalk beside the road. We were finally reaching a small downtown area it looked like the locals would gather, much like back at home in the Caverns.

Heather didn't answer my question, instead she just stopped walking, freezing where she stood. Her eyes coated over with a bright orange as her face began to turn slightly frustrated. Her eyebrows nearly stood straight up vertically, and she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"Hey Heather...is everything...okay...?" I asked her, half in hopes it was just her reaction to have been walking for an hour with an empty stomach.

"I feel a familiar power. It's been trying to reach out to find me."

"How does that work?"

"Water wielders can send messages through water, right? Well, us fire types speak through flames, smoke, and ashes. The farther the smoke and ashes spread, the further our knowledge can spread. There's a rather large fire in the distance in that direction. Whoever it is wants to contact me." Heather pointed in the direction we were already generally heading.

I gave her a strange look, "But why? What if they're the enemies. Wouldn't it be best to avoid people actively seeking us out?"

"I don't know, I maybe threw a rather large fireball last night, and you were even there to witness it!" Heather half-shouted back at me, "And the power is familiar. I've felt it before, it's just very weak at this distance that I can't quite identify it. Plus whoever it is decided to disguise their signature markers and make it as close to a standard fire ash as possible. Ugh they're a well-trained mage makes this even more annoying."

"So are they going to track us down, whoever they are?"

"No, because I'm going to track them down because I ask the questions here, I'm the leader." I don't know if it was the hunger or just the situation, but Heather seemed more peeved then usual. She began walking off in the direction she pointed in, following the smoke trail she decided existed that I couldn't even see nor smell yet. "I swear if this is some stupid joke..." She grumbled as I caught up with her. She was like an angry fireball herself in the form of a twelve year old girl.

I continued to follow Heather on her new short-tempered mission as I felt the tension within Heather rise. I was surprised her fists weren't on fire--yet alone herself.

"You said the power had a familiar feel to it...does that mean you recognize it, even without the signature?" I asked her, trying to make conversation and sense of her motivations.

She waited a minute to respond, perhaps she was choosing her words carefully as if she was being watched, "I haven't felt this power in four years. To feel it here, is highly suspicious since I was told I shouldn't be able to identify it, or at least identify it out here."

"Heather, what's going on? What power are you feeling?" I asked as we reached a small park with some fire pits. Heather kept walking passed groups of people, not letting anyone get in her way until we made it to a small clearing in the back. She then hid behind a large tree, attempting to think up some sort of plan.