When morning arrived, Lewis graoned deeply, rolling into his pillow. "You tell that sun to go back down, would ya?" His words came out mumbled amd messy, but when there was no response, Lewis picked his head up to survey the room around him.
Empty. Except for two beds and two end tables. his bed was occupied, the other was made nice and neat. 'Cass?' The young mage thought. He grabbed his staff and book, and made his way down and out of the inn.
The morning was fresh, the sun causing mist and fog to rise and swirl in the area. Lewis breathed deeply, exhaling a cloud of warm mist. "She's got to be here somewhere." His eyes went wide with an idea, and he pulled out a string of copper wire. Wrapping each end of the wire around two fingers on both hands, Lewis pulled the wire taunt, and put it close to his mouth. "Where the Hells did you go?" As he spoke, the wire vibrated with his voice. The spell had a limited range, so if Cassandra was too far away, she would not receive the message.
The hesitation made Lewis tense. Until finally, in the front of his mind, he heard 'Tavern.' followed by laughter. He should've known.
The wizard arrived at The Frozen Tap to find an empty building, save the two people at the bar. Eli stood inside the bar, while Cassandra sat on a stool, opposite the barkeep. Both held cups of steaming liquid, and were laughing at something previously said.
"Is alcohol seriously the first thing on your mind in the morning?" Lewis incredulously asked his sister as he slid into the stool next to her.
"Of course not." She gulped the contents of her mug, and when she removed the cup, she had a foamy, white mustache. "Warm milk in the morning to wake your senses. Nothing more." She chuckled heartily as Eli set a mug in front of Lewis.
As Lewis scrambled to grab a few coins, Eli waved a hand, saying, "She already covered ye. Said ye'd be along soon 'enough."
Cassandra flashed him a smirk and a wink. "Drink ya breakfast little mage. Were going to make our way to Daerma's hut soon."
Shortly after, the duo was walking down the snow covered dirt road. After they were clear of the village proper, Lewis leaned closer to his sister, whispering in a low tone, "How is it that you still have money? You bought two Healing Potions back in Chillreach, I know those aren't cheap. And have paid for drinks and lodging these past few months. How are your coffers not empty?"
Cassandra looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Hush. I will answer another time." She was tense, Lewis had just noticed. And her pace had quickened slightly. "One of those fellows from Alexi's crew is trailing us." Lewis tried to look behind them, but his sisters large arm slapped across his shoulders, pulling him closer. "Do not be foolish. Just keep walking, they wont do anything in the village."
"And when we're back in the forest? What then?
Cassandra looked at him with a violent twinkle in her eye. "I hope you got the right spells prepared." That caused the young mage to gulp, and silently follow alongside his sister.
They walked for another five to ten minutes before they noticed another pursuer, Fredrik. Cassandra unclipped her axe sheathe, as both siblings simply followed the path out of the village. A few hundred yards past the last farm, Two more men, one of them being Aleksi, stepped into the road, 20 feet ahead of them. Fredrik and his partner stopped 20 feet behind the siblings.
Cassandra shouted out at Aleksi, "I feel very welcomed to your cute little village Aleksi."
The beefy man smiled through frosty facial hair. "We just want to have a little chat with the mage." His voice no longer slurred, and his eyes were focused. "But if you're really that interested, we could have a different talk later. In my house." He smiled again, and winked at Cassandra.
"Gross." Lewis said with a face.
Cassandra was just tired of the whole thing. She pulled out a hand axe, as the snow swirled around the six individuals. "Look, man, we're trying to leave. Just let of pass, and you'll never see us again."
"Until we, pass through on our way back from Daerma's, that is." Lewis stated quietly, but not quiet enough.
"Shut up." Cassandra scolded him.
"Yeah, shut the fuck up, wizard." Aleksi yelled out. "If you're headed up to see that witch, then I'm just gonna' advice ye to get back to the big city." He pulled out an axe with a two foot long wooden handle. "Nothin' but evil comes from that woman."
"I don't suppose we could bribe you to leave us alone, hm?" Lewis stepped forward, reaching for a pouch.
The man next to Aleksi, wielding a short sword, charged the mage. As did the two behind the sibling pair.
"Damn, I was actually going to do it to." Lewis pulled a peeled strip of adders stomach, and a powdered leaf. Rubbing the powder into the stomach, he pulled the snake gut tight, taking aim, and released the projectile. All the while, Arcane words fell from his lips, and green energy came from his eyes, and the components of the spell. When released, the snake stomach turned into a caustic glob of acid, almost pointed on one end.
The charging thug was caught off guard, and took the spell to the face and chest. He probably would have screamed, but the top half of his body was now a melting skeleton.
"What the fuck, Lewis!" Cassandra exclaimed. Then she whirled around behind the mage, equipping her shield simultaneously. "You didn't have melt the man!" She braced her body behind the shield, watching the two men approach, swords drawn. Fredrik was on her Left, and the other man on her right. They attempted to split around her, which Cassandra expected. She threw the small axe she had been holding in her right hand at the unknown man. And without seeing if she hit, the warrior charged to the left, using the shield as a ram. The axe hit the mans shoulder, and the shield hit Fredrik's face, at the same exact time.
Lewis and Cassandra slammed their backs together. "I didn't mean to do that kind of damage. Honestly." Lewis admitted. Truly, he had aimed to impair the man. Lucky shots happen.
Aleksi charged toward the young mage, axe raised high, screaming in anger. Lewis waitied for him to get a little bit closer, preparing a protective spell. Aleksi pulled the axe from the sky, sure he would get a killing blow. But Lewis raised a hand, his fingers making a complicated sign, and he said a magic word. A faint barrier of pure, translucent Arcane energy appeared in front of the mage, catching the axe and pushing it aside.
Lewis knew the shield wouldn't last, so he raised his staff in his other hand, calling forth the Arcane fuel in his body, his soul. The tip of the staff, a flair of white wood holding a clear gem in the middle, glowed a vibrant blue. He thrust the staff in Aleksi's direcrion, and a strange, circular sigil formed in the air around the staff, and four brightly colored missiles of pure force shot out towards Alexsi.
The man was much too slow to dodge the spell attack, and all four bolts crashed into his body, one after the other. Trails of smoke rose from the impact points, and Aleksi gritted his teeth in pain, tightening the grip on his weapon.
Cassandra blocked an overhead blow from Fredrik with her shield, pushing him away. She turned just in time to catch the other man coming in low. She parried his sword with her own, spinning around him. With vicious speed, she punched her shield into the back of the mans neck, seperating his brain from his spine. The mans momentum buried him into the snow as Cassandra spun around again to face Fredrik.
Again, the siblings were back to back. Cassandra's shield raised and blade ready to strike, and Lewis holding a ball of flame in his right hand. Each of them breathing calmly, focused on their targets.
Aleksi and Fredrik looked to each other, through the deadly duo. Aleksi made a head motion, and each of them ran into the trees, retreating back to the village.
"Well, thats one way to stretch the muscles." Lewis stated as he dusted off the bottom of his robes. He looked up to see Cassandra glaring at him. "What?" He asked dumbly." She gestured to the still melting body Lewis hit with his acid arrow spell. Lewis gasped and said, "He came at me with a sword! What was i supposed to do?"
"Could have thrown the shield up. Or tried to talk it out, like I wanted to." She cleaned the blood off her blade, sheathed it, and continued on their path. "These are simple villagers caught up in their own pride. We could've roughed them up, and sent them on their way."
"I don't think they were the type of people to 'go on their way'. That Aleksi fellow hates us."
"Even more so now that we killed two of his friends. Let's just get to this witch, and get our answers." She trudged up the road, Lewis falling into line behind her.