Playing With Water, Scene v1

“What did you see?”

“There was someone on the ridge about a hundred paces ahead of us. I only saw the person looking over here for a few seconds and haven’t seen them since. I couldn’t see much other than their cloak,” reported Kismet.

Nakita looked further down the pass. She couldn’t see more than twenty paces in front of her before it became pitch black. The earth was boggy and the wheels of the caravan were sunken. “Whoever it is, we should be safe for the night.”

She turned back inside and began drying the sleeping animals. Lu walked to her side, rubbed the back of his neck, and cleared his throat. “Thank you for drying our uniforms.”

“A sick soldier is a useless soldier,” replied Nakita, without redirecting her attention.

“If you don’t mind me asking, how did you dry everything so quickly?”

Irritation flashed over the young witch’s face. She resumed drying the animals as she explained, “I pull the water to the surface, turn it into ice, then shatter it so that it falls off.”

Lu crouched beside her to watch. Ever since he was little, he was always fascinated with magic. Unfortunately, his blood was never potent enough to control magic well. “That’s ingenious! Oh, I was also wondering, what do the essences on your gloves actually do?”

Nakita finished drying the horse in front of her with a sigh. She gazed at him coldly. “They amplify the ability to manipulate water, while also serving as a source. Want me to show you?”

“That would be great!” he exclaimed.

“It lets me create water, like this.” She took his hand in hers. She hung her right hand over his. A small stream of water trickled onto his open palm.

“And I can manipulate it, like this.” She froze the water into a long spike. He watched in terror as she thrust it downward. His heart stopped as the ice melted upon contact with his skin. The water that covered his hand froze and began to slowly encroach his arm. Nakita left Lu to his freezing arm and returned to Devin’s side. Lu desperately hammered off the ice that encased his hand before returning to the company of his sleeping comrades, with a lingering chill running down his spine.

Nakita pulled a pair of jerky out of her ration pouch and handed one to Devin. She filled his canteen with water as she spoke. “Having her keep watch throughout the night again?”

Devin tore the jerky with his teeth. “She offered. Says she has nothing else to do anyway.” He paused for a moment for a large gulp of water. “I’ll admit, she’s actually very useful to have around—”

“Low maintenance, definitely. But quite the headache when it comes to bringing down our reputation and having to stop all the quarrels. I just hope Raze knows what she is doing,” chimed in the young sorceress.

“I’m sure she does. She always thinks everything through. If I had to trust anyone, it would be her.”

Nakita let out a small laugh, “I wouldn’t really expect to hear anything else from her adoptive father.”

“And what about you? She’s been there for you ever since you came to Rokan. You two are basically sisters,” huffed Devin.

Nakita looked out into the rain. Kismet’s yellow eyes shimmered eerily in the darkness. “You know I trust her with my life. She just tends to be a bit more radical than I’d prefer at times.”



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