The followers - part 8

The followers
Part VIII

The next day seemed to take too long to come for Nih’na as she lied in bed trying to sleep for the night. She lied there thinking about this strange day that had just passed, how she had seen Feuor change and grow in a way she had not thought of. Perhaps it was due to the circumstances, the energy she had to put into managing through each day, that had stolen all her focus. She thought of the mental image she had of Feuor from that day he had turned into a shell of anger when he had defended her from her attackers. He had been so strange, so determined and fierce, but in the blink of an eye he had suddenly been the nice and caring Feuor she had known him as.
But he had not shown any resemblance to the Homin she had seen that day and for some reason she felt safe. Just before she fell asleep she smiled again.

The next day they met up outside the houses as they always did before going to the Academia and started walking. They had arranged to meet Dinah on the road just outside the town, prepared in battle gear since they were to do the hunt first. Nih’na and Dinah had looked in a few books during their discussion yesterday and found some animals they would focus on. According to the documentation of their habits and what they ate they were most likely to be found near watery areas and fortunately there was a small lagoon not far away from the town and this was their destination for the hunt. As they came nearer the town they saw someone standing at the roadside some bit away and they both figured that it was Dinah. They were proved correct in their assumption when they come closer , but at first they did not recognize her at all. The armour she had worn yesterday had been a lower quality one so the details and colour of this one stumbled them a little. Perhaps knowing her as little as they did, just seeing her in the Academia and just talking to her one day had gotten them used to see her wearing simpler clothes.

“Wow, your armour is really a masterpiece Dinah. We almost mistook you for someone else.” Feuor said with a smile.

“Th-thank you.” She replied with a lowered voice.

“Is there something wrong Dinah ?” He asked her as he noticed how she had reacted. Also Nih’na had noted her reaction.

“Well.. ehm.. thank you then.” She said and raised her head looking at Nih’na and Feuor. “I thought everyone knew that I come from a less fortunate family. And I..”

“Dinah, with a friend like you, who can ever be poor.” Feuor said and started walking down the road leading from the town towards the lagoon.

Dinah and Nih’na just stood there looking at him, he had done it again; said something serious again in a playful way. They looked at each other and after a second they smiled and followed Feuor.
They continued down the road and even though it had been a bit silent at the start they were soon talking as if they had known each other for some time already. It was about one hour later that they arrived at the small beach of the lagoon and placed their equipment on the sand and stretched.

“Aahh, a good warm up before a battle.” Feuor said and started unpacking his heavy armour. He had only worn his boots and pants during the travel and had the rest in his bag. Nih’na took out her amps and looked at them closely, she had always been careful with her amps since they were so important to her not to mention her part in the team healing. Dinah was also unpacking her amps and tried them on, it seemed as he was more used to wearing them then Nih’na as she put them on without any problems. But Nih’na had mostly trained without using hers.

“Oh no. My earrings seems to be lost.” Dinah said with a worried voice as she was looking through her bag. I am most certain that I placed them in here last night.

“Here, I have an spare set you can borrow Dinah.” Nih’na said as she handed over a pouch with jewels.

“Are you really certain Nih’na?” Dinah asked as she took the pouch.

“They have a better use on you then when they are in the bag Dinah.” She replied and smiled.

Dinah accepted the pouch and put them on her and another smile from her told Nih’na that she appreciated the gesture. Feuor had put on his armour and was swinging the sword around to warm up.

“So ladies shall we give it a go then?” He asked and looked around for animals to hunt. “How about that clopper over there ?”

“I think it will do well.” Dinah said. “I hope that I can bind them with my spells though.”

“Here we go ! “ Feuor had already run up to it and smacked it over the head to get its attention before running back half the distance between him and the girls. There he stopped and taunted the clopper while Nih’na sent a spell of heal to him. Dinah focused on the clopper and rammed her hands into the ground causing it to shiver a bit and a purple bolt flew along the ground hitting the clopper. As soon as it did root grew up from the ground holding the cloppers claws and legs so it could not move or attack. Feuor took this chance and landed some well aimed blows on the head of the clopper and as soon as the roots disappeared it staggered around and fell to the ground dead.

“What a team !” Feuor shouted as he looked at the remains of the clopper and managed to get some parts from it which he placed in his bag.

They continued for a while, attacking different animals and gathering as many materials as they found and it seemed as the more they fought, the better did they work as a team.
As they were attacking an animal a clopper suddenly ran up towards Dinah and Nih’na without Feuor being able to see it. It was headed towards Nih’na and was just about to attack as she turned around hearing Dinah shouting a word of warning to her. When she saw the clopper she fell backwards and landed on the ground, but the clopper did not move, it had the position as if it was about to attack but suddenly it sank together and appeared to be sleeping.

“That was a shot of luck indeed, I was not sure if I was able to attach my spell to it.” Dinah said as she helped Nih’na back on her feets again. Feuor had already finished off the one he was battling with and had noticed the commotion. He ran up to the clopper just as it regained its consciousness and looked around for its target but instead it was faced with the edge of Feuor’s sword.
The battle was short and quickly done with and soon the clopper fell to the ground.

“I think we have enough of these materials now. Perhaps it is time for a short rest before harvesting.” Feuor said as they walked to where they had placed their equipment and was accompanied by the two girls. They sat down and looked at the materials they had gathered from the animals and sorted them out into piles. “It’s time for lunch I think.”

They prepared the food they had brought with themselves and started to eat. After they were done they packed the left overs and sat down a bit.

“How about… ehm..” Nih’na started to say.

“What ?” Feuor and Dinah asked simultaneously.
“I was just wondering… when we are done harvesting if we should perhaps take a little swim ?” Nih’na asked. She felt safer with them now, even though she was still careful since she did not want to be a nuisance to anyone risking to loose the two friends she had.

“That sounds like a great idea Nih’na! Lets do so!” Feuor said and started removing his Heavy Armour.

“I would very much like so.” Dinah said and smiled towards Nih’na.