Amaro delved into the fog, spotting the trail left behind by the Wulviir she had rode in on.
It was immediately clear that she had used her magic to create more tracks in the snow, but even if Amaro knew that, he didn’t know how to find her.
Amaro understood what a huntress of the altix meant. Could he consider himself a worthy suitor to her if he couldn’t track her?
But then did that mean she had some sort of affection for Deka as well?
Amaro was okay with that. It wasn’t abnormal for people to have multiple partners. He shook his head. This was no time to be daydreaming about the future. He closed his eyes and listened.
His keen ears picked up on the sound of beating paws in the snow due northeast. He shot off to intercept, only to slam into Deka by accident.
“Bastard!” He hissed, skidding along the forest floor.
Amaro played it off as if he intended to do that, “How clumsy of me,” he mused in as sarcastic a tone as he could muster.
The two vanished again in a flurry of kicked up snow, trying to beat one another to the wulviir.
That white wolf was not only hard to see, but it was also silent when it wanted to be. Its rider created obstacles in their trail. Neither of the two lightning users could get close enough without stumbling over themselves and each other.
Deka was a hair more agile than Amaro, though, managing to not only evade the next set of traps and obstacles, but get out in front of the Wulviir and wrestle it to the ground.
Amaro launched forward, but he would be too late, Deka grabbed the rider by her tail. “Looks like it’s my win-”
Kaara exploded into a million pieces.
Amaro blinked, unsure if he had seen that properly. Deka was now stuck to a nearby tree coated in ice.
Then it hit him, “Looks like Ms.Tibur was a lot more clever than you gave her credit for, prince.”
To think Kaara could make not only a golem, but also a trap with such strong binding ice. Everytime Deka shattered it, the ice reassembled on top of him.
“Have fun getting out,” Amaro said, leaving to find the real Kaara. If their eyes and ears would deceive them, then he would find her by sensing her magical signature.
Only problem was, when he did that, he picked up more than a dozen traces in every direction around him.
So Kaara could create golems and other decoys that mimicked her presence? In that case, she was likely erasing it. He tried to find gaps in the crowd. A bare spot in the swarm of presences he was picking up. A place where all of those golems had been born.
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He keyed in on it and took a chance. If he was wrong, it would be a significant waste of time. Amaro rushed with all his speed, lightning splitting from his back as he evaded trees and underbrush within a split second of seeing them.
Kaara had done well to bring their game to the forest. He couldn’t move at his full speed unless he wanted to plow through several trees in the process or snap his leg on a rock.
He saw her silhouette. Amaro had been right on the money. He deafened his steps, a skill he had picked up trying to evade the highly perceptive Lorshiir. He glided forward, silent as an owl before he landed on top of her.
He tumbled with her in the snow and pinning her beneath him. He would have to apologize at dinner, but for now he wanted to take this opportunity alone with her.
“Sorry if I flustered you earlier…” Amaro realized too late that he had also been duped.
‘Kaara’ opened her body up in a horrifying fashion and swallowed him whole. Amaro sank up to his neck in snow, suspended by shifting fluffy flakes which provided no traction. Getting out was like trying to flap his arms and fly away.
Was this something she used to trap beasts in? Regardless, it was highly effective.
Amaro picked up a presence behind him as another snow golem came into view.
It began to write something in the snow. Amaro crooned his neck to see what it said.
“Dumbass”
The Golem spanked itself and lobbed a snowball in his face.
The cold of the snowball didn’t sting as much as the embarrassment. It was clear that Amaro was not entitled to a victory like he thought he was. In fact, he hadn’t been entitled to anything from the beginning. Amaro didn’t want to rule out the possibility that she still liked him, but even he could understand this message at least.
He had been acting like a fool the entire time too, and this was Kaara’s way of teaching him that. There was a part of him that wanted to explain himself and excuse his behavior. He had intended to protect her and keep her from humiliation.
And yet the other part of him fought back. In the end, she had never needed protection from him, and she had proven that in such a short time. It was he who needed to prove himself to her.
Amaro spat the snow out of his face, “I understand. And I assure you this isn’t all I have up my sleeve,” he said to the golem, “I was letting my emotions get the best of me. I figured you would make it easier for me to win so we could both humiliate Deka together for acting like he was. But it’s clear I need to win fair and square huh?”
He didn’t know why he was saying it to the golem. He considered it practice for the real thing, “I’ve still got so much to learn, both from you and the rest of the Tibur. I will get out of here and prove to you I’m worthy of you. I swear it-”
Another snowball pelted him in the face.
“Dumbass! You’re only half right!” The golem said aloud.
Amaro was bewildered. Kaara could create talking golems too? Was that even possible without wind magic? Or was it possible Kaara was one of the mythic few born with two elements?
No, the simplest answer was the most correct one, “Kaara?”
The golem didn’t say anything, a moment of silence between them before she pelted him with another snowball and dashed away.
She said he was half right? Of course! Golems couldn’t write things in the snow either. He hadn’t gotten the message the first time. She was helping him to win, but only in figuring out where she was hiding!
He had started to fear that maybe she didn’t like him back, but this proved it to him. Now all he had to do was figure out how to get out, and he had an idea.