The Angel of Frost

XXI.

Despite the fact that the nymph exuded a strange warmth, Diana shivered.

The creature asked no more questions - it merely stared at her with a curious look, but Diana wasn't sure that she wouldn't cry out to alert the guards.

She cursed under her breath. So much had been put at stake on this one mission alone. Even if they had the Blivoom gas, it was unwise to rely entirely on it for a quick escape.

She glanced quickly behind her, then returned her gaze to the nymph. She gave the creature the most intimidating look she could manage under the circumstances, hoping that the message she conveyed was more similar to "be quiet" than "I'm going to kill you".

Jonah, the stupid, senseless buffoon, was still admiring the fountains and consequently hadn't noticed their new situation. Diana merely hoped he would do anything stupid once he finally noticed the nymph.

*

Hasuma stared at the scruffy-looking woman wearing a black cloak. Her hood was sent backwards by gusts of silent wind, revealing her tired face, which, she guessed, had a look that was meant to be intimidating. It wasn't.

Her attention was definitely captured, though. Two cloaked intruders, breaking into the castle? Oh, wait till Hasuantar hears about this! she thought.

There was no telling whether they were simple thiefs or skilled assassins, though. Hasuma had learned long ago not to judge by appearances.

She'd learned that from a demon named Levi. He'd been a bit of an acquaintance - at least before Lissandra, her demonized stepmother, had finally gotten hold of him and used his power to pursue her dark goals.

She had come very close to achieving one among the worst of them all - then Hasuantar himself had appeared in a flash of light, the river itself shaking with every stroke he made.

He later related the tale to her as one of legendary proportions: two masters of water, both equal in strength, skill, and burning fury, battling in the ruins of Petralos, city of nymphs, with unbridled power. Both unleashed their all with waves, blasts, and currents and roars.

Hasuma believed him. She'd felt the fight in her sleep, after all, as its tremors shook even her troubled dreams. In her mind, it felt wrong to call it a mere fight. In truth, it was a battle of forces.

"I wouldn't have been able to save you, lass, were it not for whatever - or whoever - had kept that damned ice from covering my river. Mind you, the second I felt the ice receding, I came as soon as I could," Hasuantar had said. He was a deity, and, according to her dead city's culture, allowed to do whatever he wished, and so Hasuma wisely refrained from asking why he'd acted so quickly to save her when his duties as the river's deity included checking his river for damage after a storm, a plague, a battle, or in this case, a sheet of black ice spreading over the surface.

She had also been forced (culturally, by a people virtually extinct) to follow Hasuantar in his quest to find a cure for Glaucus and Levi's "conditions".

It hurt a bit, how Hasuantar talked about the two - even if they were mere acquaintances - like they were problems that needed a quick fix rather than two brothers enslaved by her stepmother. Being unable to voice what she felt (since Hasuantar was a deity) hurt her more.

Since saltwater was fatal to nymphs, they left Namata in spheres of freshwater held together by Hasuantar, and traversed the seas in their quest.

"'Only the Daughter of Leaves, the Son of Snow - and the maiden . . .," Hasuantar would recite as they raced along the gyres that rotated the waters of the oceans in their spheres. Hasuma remained silent throughout the journey, either lost in her thoughts, or unwilling to trouble the deity with her questions.

The nymph's curiosity was often aroused when they passed a fishing ship, with dozens of wriggling fish caught in its lowered nets, or even mermaids with their unearthly beauty and mischievous smirks. Often Hasuantar saw her attempting to converse with a bewildered sailor, or one of the predatory mermaids. Often he would have to forcefully pull her from the object of her curiosity to save both of them from a dangerous situation.

Hasuma resented Hasuantar's inteference in secret, and had vowed to one day explore the sea and all its wonders alone, and without a deity acting as her chaperone.

At last, after a day of swimming, Hasuantar said they should rest. He led her to the nearest river and fell asleep instantly on a makeshift bed of kelp. She was forced to endure his loud snores with gritted teeth as she sat near him, thinking that if the mermaids and the nets didn't kill her, the boredom would.

She endured, for she was not in the mood the sleep, then after a few minutes saw her oppurtunity. Casting a quick glance at him to make sure he was still asleep, she left Hasuantar to explore the river - whose currents brought her to the castle, and right in the middle of Diana and Jonah's clandestine operation.

*

Diana grit her teeth in frustration. The oaf! When in Gantler's name will he notice that--

"Diana," he hissed. "What are you doing, admiring that nymph? We have matters more pressing to attend to--"

"Idiot!" Diana hissed back. "What if she calls for the guards? We're done for!"

"Leave her alone, then! If she wanted to call for them she would have done it by now."

"We can't let anything jeopardize this mission, you arse! She's a witness--"

"And she'll leave us alone," he replied, more firmly, then turned to address the nymph. "You will, right?"

The nymph nodded. "I have no business in mortal matters. As long as it does not involve this river, I shall not interfere."

"Well, is that enough for you, then?" Jonah asked Diana, a smug smile forming on his lips.

His eyes widened as he recognized the naughty smirk on Diana's face. "Whatever you're planning, don't."

Her expression never wavered as she shifted her gleaming eyes to the nymph. "I'm afraid she'll have to, as she says, interfere. I have a plan, and I have no doubt that you won't like it."