Sword and Sorcery (tentative)
Chapter 9

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	As dawn finally spilled over the horizon, Raeni came to full
alertness.  Still sitting in a cross-legged position, she had
maintained her meditative state throughout the night, keeping watch
over Azure as he healed, as well as looking out for unwanted guests.
No longer levitating in the air, she sat on the ground before the
embers of the dying fire.  The fire had fulfilled its purpose during
the dark hours of the early morning, scaring off animals that would
have otherwise bothered them.  During the night, she had placed a warm
blanket over Azure while he snoozed contentedly.

	Shifting to her feet, she moved over to Azure's prone body,
checking on the bandage on his shoulder.  Relieved to see that the
bandage was not soaked by blood, she gently removed it to apply a new
one, disposing of the old one with a quick fire spell.  To her
amazement, a barely visible scar had replaced the fairly serious wound
caused by Uerris' sword last night.  She didn't remember Azure healing
so fast, not that he got hurt much.  The wound, which had been about
ten inches long and two inches deep, had fully closed.

	Tracing the scar with a finger, she tickled Azure awake.

	<Hey!  You disturbed me out of a beautiful dream,> Azure
complained in the early morning light.  He slowly got to all four paws
and stretched out his muscles, shaking off the blanket that covered
him.  <Ow,> he said as he tested his shoulder.  The newly healed
muscles still pained him a little.  <It's been a while since I got
hurt that badly.>  He began walking around the campsite, gingerly
moving his shoulder.

	"So tell me, Azure.  Getting slow in your old age?" Raeni
teasingly asked him as she watched him exercise.

	<What?  No!  That girl last night got the drop on me!> Azure
stated in his defense.  <I don't know who trained that girl, but
whoever did, did it well.>

	Remembering her own encounter with Uerris here in this
clearing, Raeni nodded in reply.  "I know what you mean.  As
frightened as she was, she didn't make any unnecessary noise.  If I
hadn't been watching for intruders by aura last night, I'm pretty sure
she would have caught me unawares, too.  So she surprised you by the
door, huh?"

	Grudgingly, he sighed, <Yeah.  I was so focused on you coming
out of the front door, I didn't even feel her come up behind me.  She
must have taken me for a wild animal.>

	"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore.  She knows
that you're my friend -- at least she'd better," she reassured the
giant cat.  "We'll rest this morning and head into town later in the
afternoon."  Yawning, she exercised the kinks out of her back and
pulled a pillow and blanket from her dimensional cache, laying them
and herself down by the fireside.  "Wake me up around noon, Azure.  I
need some sleep."  She promptly closed her eyes.

	Before Raeni could actually fall asleep, Azure whined at her,
<Hey!  What about breakfast?>

	Without even opening her eyes or reaching to her pouch, Raeni
gestured at a spot on the other side of the clearing.  Some meat
appeared where she indicated, pulled from their almost exhausted
stores.  A moment later, she gestured twice more, this time conjuring
up an empty bowl and a full waterskin.  She mumbled to Azure, "Serve
yourself, but keep it down."  She turned to her side and tucking her
head beneath the blanket, she fell asleep.

	***

	Raeni slowly woke as something long and wet repeatedly licked
her hand which lay exposed outside of the blanket.  The rest of her
remained covered.  Thinking that it was Azure, she shooed it away,
saying, "G'way, Azzie.  Lemme sleep."  The tongue went away for a
little while, but soon it was back, resuming where it had left off.

	Now irritated, she threw off her blanket and sat up suddenly,
ready to bellow at her recalcitrant familiar, but the sight that
greeted her eyes surprised her.  She came face to face with a
bloodhound with exceedingly large, puppy-dog eyes.  As she stared, it
stared.   Breaking the impasse, the dog, picking a more opportune
target, began licking her face. 

	More startled than scared, she backed away from the dog.  As
she feared, the dog followed her movement and soon wound up on top of
her chest, mercilessly licking her.  Laughing now from the ticklish
sensation of the dog's tongue, she attempted to dislodge it.  "Stop
that!" she scolded it and giggled.

	"C'mere, girl.  Come, Oppy," a voice far to her right called.
A man clapped and whistled, and the dog upon hearing her name, left
off her assault and ran over the owner of the voice.

	Raeni turned to the source of the voice, seeing a man standing
at the edge of the clearing.  With eyes still blurry from the licks on
her face, Raeni couldn't make out any details.  Rubbing her eyes
clean, she once again looked.  'It's him!' she thought as finally saw
him clearly.  It was the Ukyou male lookalike.  Looking very similar
to Uerris and wearing an outfit almost identical to what Uerris had
worn last night, the man stood there expectantly, waiting for Raeni to
make the first move.  She could see subtle differences now that she
saw him during the daytime.  His face was more square than Ukyou's,
and he wore a leather vest that bared his arms whereas Uerris had on a
long-sleeved shirt last night.  Although a grin was evident on his
face, he still had enough control not to laugh out loud.

	"You!  You!" she spit out as she stalked up to him.  "I don't
know whether I want to slap you or thank you!"

	Surprise evident on his face, he asked, "What did I do to you?
I would have thought you'd be throwing yourself in my arms in
gratitude after I saved you twice."

	Fuming a little, she accused, "So you admit it!  You were
there by the riverside yesterday."

	"And what of it?  Didn't you want to be rescued?"

	"No!  Yes!  Don't distract me!  You saw me naked!  And ... and
... you dare show your face to me again?" she yelled as she pulled her
hand back and slapped him, hard.

	Too surprised to dodge the blow, the man took the force of
slap full on, causing him to fall to the ground, landing on his
behind.  "Oof.  Geez, you're overreacting!" he yelled back, holding a
hand to his face.

	Anger vindicated, Raeni immediately calmed and continued in a
more normal voice, "Now that I feel better, I'm Raeni.  And you are?"
She held out her hand to help him up.

	Staring at her like she had something grotesque growing
between her eyes, the man sat there in silence stunned beyond words.
His jaw dropped open, and he attempted a reply, "Muh.  Muh."  Shaking
his head to clear it, he yelled, "Goddess preserve, what the hell was
that?!"

	Raeni stood there impatiently tapping her foot.  She repeated
again, this time slowly and stretching each word out as if explaining
to a young child, "Myyy naaamme iiisss Raeeeennnii.  Whoooo aaarrree
yyooouuu, ssstttuuuppiiidd?"  She still waited for him to take her
hand.

	Throwing her an indignant look, the man said, "Hmmf.  MY name
is Errin."  Ignoring her hand, he scrambled to his feet without help,
quickly dusting himself off.  'Goddess, this girl is rude!' he thought
while grimacing.  He muttered under his breath, "Must be that time of
the month."  Unfortunately for him, she heard him.

	Giving Errin an evil glare, Raeni stomped back over to the
dead fire.  "I heard that!"  Seeing the pit full of fresh firewood,
she casually said, "Orus," causing a small fire to spark to life.
Ignoring the man for the moment, she pulled out a waterskin, a teapot,
and some tea leaves.  Mixing the leaves and some water in the teapot,
she set it on the fire to boil.  Turning her back to him as she tended
the fire, she asked, "So what are you doing here?  Gloating?"

	Stiffly, he replied, "No!  What's got you in such a bad mood,
anyway?"

	Silence, broken only by Raeni's quiet shifting of the wood,
answered him.  Then she sighed.  "I'm sorry.  I am grateful for the
two rescues, but these last few days haven't been too good for me.
Let's just say that having you save me really bugs me.  But I'm even
more, I'm pissed at a certain someone for letting you and your dog
wake me like that."  She looked to a spot 20 feet above her and to her
right, pointedly glaring at the panther perched there.  ::Damn you,
Azure!  Why didn't you wake me?:: she angrily asked the cat.

	Azure, who had remained silent throughout this whole exchange,
snickered a reply, <Ha ha.  I just thought it would be interesting to
see how you would react.>  He paused, reigning in the full laugh that
threatened to break.  <And it was worth it!> he crowed.  He couldn't
hold it in any longer.  <HA HA HA HA HA!>  He laughed so hard that his
body shook with reaction.  <Oops.>  He tottered off the branch and
fell with a thump to the ground.  <Ow.>

	Seeing this and unable to hold back her own guffaws, Raeni
suddenly pealed out in laughter, startling Errin.  Azure's revealed
form did more than startle Oppy, however.  The poor bloodhound ducked
behind her master's leg, cowering in fear from the panther's presence
and whining pitifully.

	Regaining control over her own laughs, Raeni gestured to the
panther.  "Come here, Azure, and greet our guests."  The panther, with
wounded dignity, slowly stood and padded over to her.  When he reached
her, he sat down on his haunches and sat there waiting, with tail
lashing.

	Raeni introduced Azure to Errin, "This is my friend, Azure.
And Azure, meet Errin.  Uerris' brother, right?"  Azure raised one
eyebrow and held out his paw in anticipation of a handshake.

	Eyeing the panther suspiciously, Errin slowly approached
mistress and familiar.  Carefully, he shook the paw held out to him,
as if fearing that the panther would attack him.  "Yes.  Uerris's my
sister.  I heard from mother this morning that you two had, ahem, met
last night."

	"Don't worry," Raeni reassured him.  "Azure's tame.  He won't
bite."  Under her breath but loud enough for Errin to hear, she added,
"Usually."  She continued brightly, "We met your mother and your
sister last night."  She tried to not let the dark events from the
previous night cloud her voice.  "But why are you here?  Come in hopes
of rescuing me, AGAIN?"

	"Heh, heh.  Nothing like that.  I came to check up on you
because mother asked me to.  She was quite upset that you left -- in
such a manner.  Besides, do you even know where the town is?" he asked
her.  "You left in quite a hurry last night."

	Raeni paused to think.  "Umm," she gestured tentatively, "that
way?"  She pointed to a south-south westerly orientation.

	Gently taking her arm, Errin adjusted her aim.  "No, that
way."  He shifted her arm to a more northerly direction.

	"Eheheh.  I meant to point that way."  Raeni tried to laugh
off her little mistake, placing her arm behind her head in
embarrassment.

	Laughing a little himself, "You're so cute when you're angry."

	Raeni stilled at his statement.  Then she turned coldly away,
angrily saying, "Don't call me that.  I am not cute!"

	"But why not?"  Errin was truly puzzled at her command.
"You're one of the prettiest and cutest girls I've ever known, and
trust me, I know a lot of girls."  Being the son of the town Lord
often led to girls in the town practically throwing themselves at him,
not that he took any offers.

	"Because I'm a ..." Raeni yelled back in fury.  "Because I am
a ... nevermind.  Just don't."  She turned away because she couldn't
bring herself to the point of explanations.  She couldn't just tell
him she was actually a guy, and the fact that she couldn't disturbed
her.  Was she any longer the man she was before coming into this
world?  Raeni had lived for the last ten years mostly as a girl, and
it shaped her thinking greatly.  No longer self-conscious of her
gender, she had accepted being both without qualm before her memories
had come back.  But now, she just didn't know.

	Shoving conflicting emotions aside, she turned back to Errin
and changed the subject.  "So you're my guide to town, huh?  What's
the name of your town, anyway?"  She began cleaning up the campsite,
gathering together all of her things and placing them back into her
dimensional pocket, making sure to at least seem to place them in the
pouch out her side.  Before dumping out the teapot, she pulled out two
cups and filled them up.  Then she put the tea pot away as well.
Turning, she offered one of the cups to Errin.

	Graciously accepting, he answered, "Gasenheart."

	"Bless you."

	"What?"

	"Oh, didn't you just sneeze?"

	"No!  The name of my town is Gasenheart.  GA SEN HEART."

	Flushing prettily, Raeni tried to hide her embarrassment by
lightly coughing and staring into her tea.  Then she looked up,
saying, "Well, drink up.  We might as well be going."  Raeni downed
her cup in one gulp.

	"Uh, wasn't that hot?" Errin pointed out.

	"H-h-hot?  Don't be s-s-silly!"  She stammered, pasting a big,
false grin on her face to hide the pain that just registered.  "Now
drink it and let's go!"  With a gesture, she banished the fire and
threw sand on the site to make sure.

	Giving her a funny look, he sipped the tea in his hand slowly.
Taking his time, he finished and handed the cup back to Raeni which
she promptly placed along with its companion back into her pouch.
"Okay.  This way, milady," he mockingly said as he swept his arm
towards the woods and bowed.

	Turning to Azure, Raeni said, "Azure, you should shadow us,
but keep your distance.  You're scaring poor Oppy over there."  She
thumbed the bloodhound had hid behind a tree after her master had
approached the fire.  ::But keep in contact.  I don't think this guy
means any harm,:: she added silently.

	Nodding in agreement, Azure bounded away into the woods,
replying, <I didn't either.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have let him
anywhere near you.  He feels all right.  Besides, if he meant any
harm, he would have done it earlier, when you were helpless yesterday.
But be careful, Raeni.  Just because this guy doesn't mean any harm,
doesn't mean he's harmless.>

	::You can listen in as I talk to him,:: she granted Azure.
::That way, I won't have to repeat anything he tells me to you.::

	Errin took the lead as they headed toward Gasenheart.  They
both walked in silence for the first mile or so, when Errin struck up
a conversation, asking, "What brings you to the Iron Woods?"

	Raeni considered the answer, and she finally said, "I'm
following destiny."

	"Destiny?  You are joking, aren't you?  There is no such thing
as destiny."

	"What would YOU know?  What do you have against destiny?" she
threw back in his face.  "I suppose you wouldn't believe that your
sister is destined to leave these woods with me.  I suppose you
wouldn't believe that your sister and I were both from another world
and cast into this world to fulfill prophecy."

	Errin whipped around and confronted Raeni face-to-face, worry
evident on his face.  Upon seeing her normal expression, which was a
slight smile, he misinterpreted and broke into a laugh.  "You're
joking with me aren't you?"  Turning back, he did not see the grimace
that flashed across her visage.  "Well, if you don't want to tell me,
just say so."

	Raeni wanted to kick herself for blurting that out.  She
wasn't sure how Uerris or her family would react to her news.  From
the short confrontation she had with Ucchan last night, she could tell
that the girl didn't seem to recognize her, and although she no longer
wore her traditional pigtail, the red hair was a dead giveaway, and
she hoped her face wasn't that forgettable.  "Uh, yes.  I was just
pulling your leg, uh, I mean, joking.  Yeah, that's it.  Azure and I
are just traveling."

	"Speaking of Azure, that's the name of your familiar, right?
I've never seen a cat quite like that, what is he?"  He leapt over
some gnarled roots in his way, circling the trunk they were attached
to.

	Raeni followed him exactly.  "He's a panther.  They normally
live in more tropical areas than this, ya know, jungles and stuff.
Why do you think he's my familiar, rather than my pet?"  Taking the
lead, she picked up the pace a little, jumping over a tree stump
overgrown with ivy.  She threw a challenging look behind her.

	With a wry look at her, Errin also jumped over the stump.
"I'm not stupid, you know.  I saw your magic.  And I saw Azure
understand what you said to him.  Animals aren't normally that
intelligent."  He regained the lead, vaulting over an eye-level bush.

	Following him with ease, Raeni asked, "Humpf.  Coulda fooled
me.  And you aren't scared.  I noticed Uerris last night was really
frightened of my magic."  Under her breath, she added, "Although I did
go a little overboard."  Jumping up to a high branch, she sat on it,
waiting for him, arrogantly gazing down in disdain.

	Impressed, he asked, "You're not using magic to do that, are
you?  From what I understand, most magic users aren't so nimble."  He
bounded up the branch, waiting for her next move.  "Yes, Uerris came
home all shaking and in tears.  Whatever you did really scared her,"
he added reproachfully.  "Magic users and magic aren't really all that
common around here.  Only a couple hedgewizards and minor healers live
in this forest.  We used to have someone powerful in town, but Old
Miri died over five years ago."

	Raeni flushed, defensively explaining, "Well, I wasn't quite
in my right mind last night, and like I told you, this hasn't been a
good week for me."  Looking ahead, she asked, "We're still pretty far
away from town, aren't we?  We should pick up the pace if we want to
get there before sundown."

	Errin nodded a reply.  "I could probably make it back fairly
quickly, but alone.  I normally jump from tree to tree, but I doubt
you could keep up."  As an example, he hopped over to a tree twenty
feet away, landing softly on a branch at about the same height.  Oppy,
his bloodhound, slowly padded over the tree he was now on, noticeably
taking longer than he did.

	Without batting an eye, Raeni jumped over the gap that
separated them, landing solidly to Errin's left.  "Just because I
didn't doesn't mean I can't," Raeni said coldly.  "Why aren't you
reacting to my magic like your sister did?"  She pointed out the dog
patiently waiting below them.  "If we go this way, how's Oppy going to
follow?"

	"I usually carry her.  So we are agreed then?"  Errin leapt
down to the ground and speaking in low tones to her, he placed her
into his backpack.  It was obvious that the dog was used to her
master's mode of transportation because she didn't even whine in
protest.  Errin jumped back up to the branch.  "Let's go.  Oh, and
although it looks like I'm not quaking in fear, doesn't mean that I'm
not.  I'm just pretty sure that what I've seen of your magic is
nothing compared to what you showed my sister."  Before he could leap
away, Raeni stopped him.

	"Hold on.  I don't think this little game is fair."

	"What do you mean?  Afraid that you won't be able to keep up?"
he asked with a smile firmly plastered on his face.  "What's wrong, I
have a handicap in Oppy.  Isn't that enough?"

	"No no.  The handicap is what I object to."  Turning slightly,
she called out, "Azure, come here."  A minute later, the panther sat
on the branch beside her.  Oppy, in turn, scrabbled in reaction, still
trapped in Errin's pack.  "Azure won't be able to travel as fast as
us.  I'll carry him with us."

	Ignoring the dog digging its claws into his back, he asked
incredulously, "This time you have got to be joking.  You can't
seriously think that you'll be able to carry it and keep up with me."

	Smiling wolfishly, she replied, "Care to lay a bet on that?
I'm dead serious, and I ain't slowing down."  Pulling a rope from her
pouch, she had Azure get on her back, and using the rope, she tied him
securely to herself.  "I'm ready.  Are you?"  Without giving him any
warning, she picked her tree and jumped.

	Shaking his head in disbelief, he said, "You aren't kidding."
Then he realized that she was already some distance away.  He yelled,
"Hey!  No fair!" and quickly followed.