In a little corner of the woods, hidden amidst the trees and bushes was a cave. Within the cave's darkness, an image was forming. Shiny and rounded with hints of red. The image was fuzzy at first but soon, it started to sharpen, like a lens coming into focus.
"FIREBALL!"
"Hum?" Lina blinked as her concentration vanished. The image of an apple in front of her wavered and dissipated. "What?"
Turning in confusion, Lina stared at the cave's mouth in shock as someone far away once again cast another fireball, the young girl just caught the flashes of orange light and the ground shook slightly as the spell impacted. "Who would cast a fireball here?" Lina wondered out loud.
Zephilia was a little town where nothing exciting ever happened - partially because neesan lived there. No one dared cross her neesan, the Knight of Ceipheed, and neesan especially disapproved of using Shamanist magic to destroy nature. That was why she, her younger sister, was practicing magic inside a cave that was in a forest miles away from the restaurant where neesan worked part-time.
"FIREBALL!"
This time the fireball ignited a bush just outside her cave. Lina scampered out, muttered a quick spell, and put out the fire. She took a look around and saw the flashes of orange-red flames off to the side of her, just beyond the next row of huge oaks and aspens.
The little girl stood there for a moment in the bright spring day, and frowned in thought. "What are they up now?" she grumbled in annoyance as her hands went to her tiny hips. The Dagger Bandits were always causing trouble. "I thought I told them very clearly not to harm any more trees yesterday."
Lina's face turned devilish as she remembered how she had taught them.
It was a day like any other. Lina didn't think anything out of the ordinary was going to happen when she went to her cave to practice her magic. That was until she heard raucous voices laughing and saw smoke coming out of her cave.
Normally, Lina wouldn't have cared where she practiced her magic. However, this cave was special. It hid most of her treasure - a few spell books, a warm cloak that she loved, and a single gold coin that she managed to scrape up. The thought that some noisy, loud-mouthed slug taking her treasures set Lina aflame, literally. Gathering her power into her hands as she strolled purposefully toward her cave to have her revenge.
As she got to the mouth of the cave her pent up rage burst out in a furious spell.
"FIREBALL!"
The thieves never knew what hit them. They wisely ran away, even though some loudmouth kept screaming at them to come back. Lina didn't really want to hurt anyone, but when she got a good look around her cave, she found a total mess. Remains of half-eaten food were scattered all over the place and her treasures were gone. That last bit sealed the fate of the gang of thugs known as the Dagger Bandits. Lina needed to return the service they did to her temporary home and her treasures. All she did was find their camp and drop in to say hello. After all, what are ex-neighbors for, right?
"FIREBALL!" The shout brought Lina back to the matter on hand. "Where did they learn that fireball spell, though? I didn't think any of them was a sorcerer ..." her frown darkened. "Maybe, it's a ruse to get me to go after them. But I don't think they're that devious. Most of them didn't look like they can even count to ten!" Lina grinned suddenly. "Well, there's only one way to find out!" Carefully placing her worn out spell book in a bag she carried around, Lina took off.
It would be very interesting to see the expressions on their faces when they realized their old neighbor was coming to "visit" again.
The sun blazed.
Beaming so brightly, you would have thought the sun would burst at any moment. The clouds were like huge powder puffs as they moved lazily across a clear blue sky. The birds sang, chirping sweetly as the trees swayed their leafy crowns to the soft breeze. A little brook babbled merrily close by, adding to the idyllic picture.
It was the worst day of Amy's life; nothing was happening. She frowned at a pair of chirping birds sitting on a large oak tree off to her right. They were entirely too happy for her tastes.
"Why don't you try barking?" Amy demanded waspishly. "All you ever do is chirp, chirp, chirp." she mimicked them unnervingly well but her chirp had a decidedly mocking pitch. The birds ignored her and kept on chirping melodiously. Utterly disgusted with life, Amy angrily thought of ripping out their voices.
But, SHE will get mad with me if I mess with nature, Amy thought. However, no one would question a pair of dead birds... A slight smile touched her lips. Power gathered in her hands as she gazed menacingly at the two birds. Amy opened her mouth to speak the command ...
"What do you think you are doing?" A loud voice demanded.
Amy froze. The buildup of power died. That can't be HER! Amy wailed silently. Without turning around, Amy asked in a resigned tone of voice, "Why are you always lecturing me?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Aren't you ..." Amy turned around to face the speaker. Her voice trailed off as she realized that it wasn't HER. Amy quickly got her wits back and demanded, "Who are you?"
"We," the speaker gestured behind him and Amy noticed there was about half a hundred men behind the leader. "Are the Dagger Bandits. The bravest, badest, and smartest bandits in Zephilia." He declared proudly.
"You forgot the ugliest. And also, that's 'worst', not the 'badest'. Didn't your mommy teach you anything?"
"How dare you insult the almighty Dagget!" Dagget shouted.
Amy laughed out loud at the ridiculous name. "Dagget?" She laughed even harder, choking slighty. "You humans are so funny!"
"How dare you insult my name!" Yanking out his long curved sword, the now enraged bandit boss shouted, "Kill the loudmouthed wrench!"
Amy yawned. Oh good, this should be at least mildly amusing, she thought, and waited. But not a single bandit moved.
Dagget turned to face the crowd behind him. "What are you waiting for? I said, kill the loudmouthed wrench!"
A man with an ugly scar across his face stepped out of the horde. "We would like to help you, boss, but we don't want to clean up the streets this weekend," he said sheepishly. "You know that for everything we do in the week, we've got to pay for it by doing Zephilia a service. Usually we rob people so we must sweep and mop the streets of the town. If we kill someone, however, what other punishment will they think up for us?" The rest of the bandits nodded and muttered in agreement.
"Besides," the spokesman continued, "I couldn't move after that last punishment so when that kid caught us stealing her stuff because I was too sore from all that work and 'cause of that the kid took all of our hard earned loot." Some of the other bandits winced as they remembered that day.
Amy blinked, relaxed and sneered faintly. These fools wanted to rob ME when they have been beaten by a child? They're even dumber than I originally thought. But something else tugged at her. These bandits may be dumb but they were physically strong and there were a lot of them, Amy thought as she continued to watch them. What kind of child can frighten grown - in the loosest sense - men?
Her idle, mildly curious thoughts were interrupted as Dagget, foaming at the mouth, began jumping up and down in anger and throwing his fists at the sky. "That little brat just caught us at a bad time! She ain't never gonna be that lucky again, ya hear!" he ranted furiously but Amy spotted a change in him that she hadn't seen before. A tremble that spoke of fear. What kind of child, indeed? She mused, tapping her chin.
He continued and demanded. "Are you men or mice?"
The rest of the bandits looked at one another and, in tandem, said. "Mice."
"WHAT?" Dagget roared. "How ..."
Amy sighed silently, stifling a yawn. This is becoming dull ... "I hate to interrupt this lively chat, but I'll be going now." She told the band. What a bunch of idiots, she thought in disgust, swing around. Good thing none of them works for me. Amy shuddered at the thought. I would probably kill them to put them out of my misery.
Dagget, however, wasn't going to let her just leave it seemed. The bandit boss stared at the slim girl as she strolled off. The tiny wheels in his head slowly turned, they had a solemn mission as bandits that they must fulfill! And she was getting away!! "Twenty gold pieces to the man who kills that wrench!" he yelled suddenly as that bright idea popped into his head, leveling his curved blade at her.
Amy stopped in mid-step and turned around slowly to look back at the bandits. The rest of the bandits had instantly frozen at that shout, Amy watched as gleams lit many beady eyes. Some had even drawn out their swords. It looked as though avoiding punishment wasn't as important to them as gold. "Sorry, ma'am," the bandit with the scar told Amy as he, too, took out his sword.
"Don't think anything of it. I haven't had any fun all day. I guess killing all of you will be somewhat fun." Amy smiled sweetly.
"FIREBALL!"
Lina peered out from behind a rowan, watching the strange girl tossing fireballs around like they were going out of style. Everywhere, trees, hedges and bushes were burning, even the grass. Plus, there was a big bunch of new, deep and blackened holes all over the place. The strange girl was laughing in glee, totally oblivious that she was destroying the forest along with the bandits.
What is she trying to do!? The little girl winced as a rather big fireball roared past her, dangerously close, and took out a bunch of bandits. She wouldn't have minded as much - they were bandits, anyway - hadn't the huge oak next to them gone up in smoke with them. Lina cringed at the blackened bit that was once such a magnificent tree.
Neesan is going to kill me!! Lina thought in horror. I've got to stop her! Stepping out of her hiding place so she could get a good, sure shot, Lina cleared her mind. She raised her hands in front of her, and stopped suddenly as a new thought intruded. Hands still half-poised in a spell casting gesture, her childish face turned devilish. But first, let's have a little fun with my dear neighbors, the Dagger Bandits...
"Maybe, I'll get all of the gold this time instead of my usual amount," she mused aloud. Lina smiled in anticipation. The Dagger Bandits were in for an even worse day than they had first thought. Lina's smile widened into full-fledged grin.
In what had been the heart of the forest, Amy was having the time of her life. I rarely get such exercises, Amy thought delightedly as she blasted another human with a fireball.
"What?" Dagger's eyes bugged as he watched the girl burn his bandits. He still couldn't believe any of this was happening. With the added incentive of reward money, his bandits should be slaughtering the girl by now, but instead it was the other way around. "M-My," he stammered stupidly.
She hadn't seemed like much. An ordinary - or so it seemed - brown-haired and browned-eyed girl who was scolding some birds. The bandits had shrugged that bit off as just another of those things that pop up in that phase of being a teenager. All teenagers had a few loose screws in their heads somewhere... Other than that, she was as ordinary as they come. The group had even wanted to let her go peacefully, but Dagget insisted.
They had seen no other traveler that day, and Dagget wanted loot. He didn't think it would be so hard to take the money since the girl looked so fragile-and a teenager besides. Yeah, there was that long sword hanging from her belt but it looked too heavy for her frail body. How did the great and almighty Dagget know that she could kill them without ever drawing the old thing?
"She must be with that girl from yesterday," Dagget cursed. Was robbing travelers to make a living really asking too much?
"FLARE ARROW!"
Suddenly the butts of a knot of bandits burst into very bright, very hot flames, making them howl and drop their swords as they wildly began to swat their burni ng backsides, running around in comical little circles. "What!?" Both Amy and the bandits turned to see the new attacker.
A little redhea ded g ir l clad in a plain whit e village sh irt, tight brown pants and a long black cloak that flapped in the breeze stood beside one of the very few untouched oaks in the heart of forest-now a BIG clearing. She leaned on it arrogantly, her arms crossed smugly as she looked at them. She carried a leather bag slung loosely over her right shoulder. The little girl smiled. "Got your attention, Dagget?"
"You're the girl who destroyed my camp!" Dagget screamed as he unconsciously took a step back. "Glad you remembered," the tiny girl stopped smiling and the some of the bandits squeaked in fright. "I thought I told you not to hurt this forest any more." she frowned and Dagget flinched.
Amy gawked as the bandits around her froze and a bunch even spun around and fled. What is going on? she thought dumbly, one of the very few times she was at a total and utter loss. She stood, stunned, her hands half up, the newest fireball she had made frizzling out in a puttering noise. All thoughts of roasting bandits gone - she focused on the little redhead.
The redheaded girl pushed off the oak and calmly strolled up to them.
Amy watched in mute shock as the bandits hastily moved out of the little girl's way as she skipped up to Dagget. This is very strange, she thought. Her mind slowly started turning as her shock began to wear off. Looking at the girl closely, Amy realized that the redhead girl barely reached past her waist and seemed even more delicate and fragile than she looked right now.
They are scared of this little thing? She thought incredulously. Then her eyes narrowed a little in anger as she remembered that the fools she's been toying with for the past couple of hours hadn't show such intimidation towards her. I really must brush up my tactics, Amy thought, or people are going to think I'm forgiving. Amy continued to watch the child as she got closer to Dagget.
"When did you say that?" Dagget demanded as he got his voice back, but it was noticeably on the squeaky side. Amy glanced at him and saw the burly bandit, who was as wide in the chest as the little girl was tall sweating slightly. Dagget's knees seemed to shake a little bit more the closer the little girl got to him. Amy tossed a few of glances around and saw the rest were also sweating a lot. I definitely need more practice, Amy thought decisively.
The little girl ignored him. "Are you trying to get my neesan mad at me? She knows I always go to this forest and if anything happens here, I'll be the one to blame." The girl stood in front of the leader of the Dagger Bandits. Dagget seemed to slouch down, and cringe under her gaze.
Neesan...? Amy could have sworn that now she caught an edge of fear in the little girl's voice. Surely, no sister can be THAT intimidating? She blinked. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised since SHE lives in Zephilia, too. Amy shivered a little suddenly. There must be something about Zephilia that causes it to keep producing VERY, terrifying women no one should ever see or meet. I've got to look into this neesan, Amy frowning a little. She may be trouble if that little redhead is any indication of her older sister's talents.
Dagget fidgeted under the redhead's intense gaze. "I... uh..."
The girl suddenly grinned and Dagget squeaked in fright.
"FIREBALL!"
His hands flying to stop protectively over his face, Dagget screamed as a very tiny fireball exploded right next to him. He instinctively jerked his right leg back and up against his body at the impact. Peering through his large fingers, he watched in horror as the girl's grinned got wide and nastier.
"FIREBALL!"
Dagget barely escaped the next one by moving to one side. He was still holding his hands over his face as if they were two shields that could protect him.
She laughed. "Alright, Dagget! I never realized you were such a nimble dancer!" she clapped her hands in childish delight as her grin somehow getting even more sinister. "Let's see just how nimble, ne?"
"FIREBALL! FIREBALL! FIREBALL! FIREBALL! FIREBALL!"
The bandit leader of the Dagger Bandits got down and boogied as Amy and his men looked on, wide-eyed and gaping at the spectacle. He was jumping and hopping in a crazed frenzy, his hands flapping madly as though he meant to fly off the ground to get away, ducking and dodging the marble-sized balls of fire that were flung at him.
The little girl laughed and clapped in glee, skipping a little, too, as she watched him. "Hey, you are pretty good!"
She's got potential, Amy thought. Although why humiliate the leader further, it would be quicker just to.... Amy's thought trailed off and she stared as coins, gems, and jewelry tumbled to ground from the "dancing" Dagget's hidden pockets. The valuables were remarkably untouched by the blast of flames that erupted around the bandit boss. Why you sneaky little thief! She thought admiringly. Brilliant!
When he had stopped jiggling, the girl hurled the last fireball right at his butt and the Dagget ran around, a lot like his other men had, howling like a tormented beast as he wildly slapped at his backside.
Amy watched as his men at last caught him, by tackling him to the ground and wiped him across the ground in order to put out the fire. A scorched, very black and blue Dagget was the outcome. The remaining bandits wisely ran away with their leader limping after them.
Amy turned back to the girl just to see her finish scooping up the last of the gold and other loot she had just received from Dagget into a large sack. Greedy, too. A nice combination. Amy grinned widely. I wonder if I could offer her a job...
Heaving the bulging bundle over her shoulder, the redheaded girl turned to go-staggering a little under all that treasure. Amy moved quickly to intercept her. She had better move quickly or she'll lose a potential recruit.
"What are you doing?"
Lina looked up at the girl that the bandits had been attacking; her hands gripped her sack tighter to keep it from slipping off her shoulder. "I hope they haven't hurt you, miss. But everything's fine. You can go home now." Everything said, Lina turned to go.
"Wait!" The other girl grabbed the sack slung on Lina's back to stop her.
Startled by the unexpected movement and buckling under the weight, the bag of loot slipped from her fingers to crash onto to the ground. Lina wailed out loud, "Look at what you've done!"
"Well, it's bound to happen." The girl shrugged, crossing her arms knowingly.
"What do you mean 'bound to'?" Lina asked as she stared mournfully at the heap of treasure scattered around the open sack.
"There is a lot of stuff," the other girl noted poking the large sack with the pointed tip of her boot. "If you want to carry all of this without falling down every few feet, I suggest you divide it up."
"Divide it between you and me?" Lina glared dangerously at the other girl. "It's my treasure. As I recall, you didn't help me get it so it's my treasure. MINE! I don't care to share it with anyone." Building up a fireball, Lina waited to see what the girl would do, and set to fight if she had to.
The other girl only smiled. "No, I meant you should divide it up and put in it separate bags. It'll be easier to carry, for one thing, and you can balance the weight better." The girl looked at Lina and added, "Besides, it would be less conspicuous than carrying a large bag over your shoulder."
Lina thought about that and her fireball quickly dissipated. "It would be, wouldn't it." Lina agreed thoughtfully. She briskly sat down and got to work. The other girl watched in approval but made no move to help the younger girl with her task.
"Say, would you like to work for me?" Amy said as casually as she could.
The redheaded stopped to tuck the last bag of loot under her cloak before turning to face her. "Why should I work for you?"
"Well, from what I've seen, you seem to be pretty good with magic." Amy said speculatively. "You're good in a fight, and you've got a good sense of humor. Although we'll have to work on the technique a bit." Amy looked at girl critically and said, "Making bandits do the boogie is just so cliché, you know."
"Oh?" The girl asked as her right eyebrow twitched with anger at Amy's superior tone of voice, "What kind of expert are you? I haven't seen you cast anything but fireballs all day." The girl strode up to Amy and said in as haughty and as superior a tone as possible, "You're also quite sloppy from what I've seen. Your fireballs not only burned the bandits but also the trees and bushes along with them. My fireballs on the other hand ..."
Amy laughed out loud. "Also boastful and bold." Amy grinned so widely that the irises of her eyes could barely be seen. "Looks can be deceiving, uh ..." Amy looked expectantly at the redhead.
"Lina," the redheaded little girl said shortly.
Walking in a small circle around Lina, Amy continued without even a glance at her. "Looks can be deceiving, Lina. Take me for example - my name is Amy by the way - the bandits thought I was an easy target until I blasted them away with my fireballs." Stopping in her pacing, Amy turned to face Lina again. "Or someone like you. Who would ever believe you're such a good sorceress when you're so short and skinny?"
"What do you mean SHORT AND SKINNY!?" Lina screamed at Amy loudly. Her red hair seemed to almost burst into flames. "I'll have you know that I'm only a few inches shorter than the average women of my age. I also have a great figure, but I doubt anyone your age would understand."
Amy frowned. Your age? She thought indignantly. Unconsciously, she held up her hands to check for any sign of wrinkles. I'm quite sure there weren't any wrinkles the last time I looked in a mirror .... Amy thought as she stared at her hands.
"And of course, I'm powerful," Lina continued. "I'm the most powerful and beautiful sorceress this side of the barrier!"
Tearing her gaze away from her hands, Amy shot back challengingly. "Wanna bet?"
"Bet what?" Lina asked suspiciously. The weight of her new treasure was suddenly very heavy. It was a wonder that no one could see or hear the rips in her cloak as the treasure suddenly grew in weight.
"If you cannot beat me in a show of magic, you'll become my apprentice and learn all the magic spells that I know. If you can beat me, we go our separate ways." Amy explained with uncharacteristic seriousness.
Lina frowned as she scratched her head in puzzlement. "What do you get out of this? It sounds like I'll get everything in the end no matter what happens."
Amy smiled again. "Oh, I'll get some more entertainment today," she replied vaguely. Amy tried to look as innocuous as possible.
Lina looked at Amy's innocent smile, and she then, too, smiled. "Sure!" It's not like I've got anything to lose, she thought. "How will we decide whose magic is stronger?"
Squinting at the sun, Amy pretended to think it over. After a few moments, she blurted out. "How about the bandits?" Taking a few steps closer to Lina, she bent low and said, "The person to get rid of the most number of bandits by their spell wins." Amy turned her head to watch Lina's reaction. It was fairly predictable considering Lina's performance earlier.
"ALRIGHT!" Lina cried in delight, clapping her hands together gleefully, skipping a little. She certainly is energetic, Amy thought. I wonder how I can use all that energy and fire...?
Lina suddenly pounced on her. "And I know where the bandits' hideout is. Let's go! RAYWING!" Grabbing a surprised Amy by her right arm, Lina took off and flew through the forest, zooming like a shot for the bandit's hideaway.