Zara clasped her hands over her red ears grumpily and sat to the side. Waiting for Zack and Jean to finish changing into the Shouvain created suits. The two had worked together to get her and Edith in them first. Which she appreciated, except for one thing, it was too big for her. The excess material pooled around her legs and arms. Making every movement difficult or plain impossible.
Sure, they were warmer. Something she was currently enjoying. Everything not covered by the coat had begun to suffer from mild frostnipping already. The painful prickles, as fresh blood worked its way through the damaged skin, constantly reminded her.
Zack found the hidden zipper on his suit and pulled it up with a relieved groan. The cold had helped to dull the ache of his broken arm. The lingering numbness from its astral form being exchanged for mana had begun to fade some. Still, it was uncomfortable and cold enough that his quasi-healing ability alone could not keep him from feeling its effects.
Risking the effects of another healing spell would be worse than trudging over miles of frozen snow. The next spell would fix the broken bone and any other damage to the shoulder if he did it right. The cost to fuel the spell, however, could potentially leave him unable to use his legs or any other number of things. It was better to wait until later, or just let his ability fix all the damage.
Under Zara’s orders, the bears had been busy gathering up everything in the area. Pieces of weapons mixed with destroyed clothing, and the bodies. Everything was brought together in a pile for them to go through.
They needed to get walking true, but before that, they needed to make sure they were prepared.
Of the five available suits, they had only needed and been able to use four. The extra had a hole in its chest from Zack’s element-backed attack. The body was pulled from inside it and stripped down like the rest.
Unfortunately, the spies hadn’t been hiding anything under the suits. Just some thin underclothes no one wanted to wear… or touch. Dead bodies released things as they relaxed. Who knew?
Edith was given the best items they found, anything to keep her warmer. Mostly, those items had been worn by Dorn. Namely, his hat and gloves, something that none of the others had been using. The travelers had worn masks, back when they had faces, but those had all gone missing somewhere along the way. Only the two masks that the ladies who confronted Zack at the end remained. They had been set to the side for later inspection. The suits came with adjustable gloves built-in to them as well. It was hard to keep the body temperature properly regulated without them.
Jean laid out the remaining clothes flat and frowned. “They brought very little in with them. Which makes sense, considering they weren’t expecting to stay more than a few minutes. We have access to snow, so water shouldn’t be a problem under decent circumstances. As for food…” She turned and looked around. “I’m not sure. This portal should be teeming with high-level monsters attacking us non-stop. Yet, we haven’t seen one since we got inside. I can only assume that is either because of what is about to happen, or this area is desolate and barren enough to not interest them. Either way, food may be scarce.”
Zara grumbled and sighed. “I was just getting used to eating good food regularly too.” She waved George over and reached into the small hidden pouch in his back. “I only stored four of these, but they should help.” In her hand were four of the nutrition bars Jean and Rose had given Zack a week earlier.
“Okay, that will help, next then, is transporting Edith and Zara. We need to create a sled or something that we can pull with them in it. With all of this.” She pointed to the heap of items the bears had gathered together.
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“Not that, that’s ours!” Zara shouted, pointing to the pack full of money Dorn had killed the last of their kidnappers over.
“Zara, that thing weighs almost as much as you!” Jean protested. “Besides, you don’t need it anymore, remember? You were named as the crown’s special scholarship holder.”
Zara looked away and pouted, since she couldn’t properly move her arms. “It’s still ours, money should never be wasted.”
“Fine, whatever, we still use all of this to somehow create a sled.”
Zack took the staff he had charred with his electrical attack and set it to the side. It would work well as a walking stick, if nothing else. Though, he had a feeling that it was likely a decent weapon even with the damage done to it. He started to toss a couple of daggers to Zelda, but stopped when he saw she had already set aside a collection of her own. Instead, he handed them to Zara, just in case she ever needed them.
Jean had two different-sized swords and a bandolier of throwing knives attached to various places on her suit.
Working together, Zack and Jean laid out the spare suit as the bottom layer of their sled. The material was tough and slicker than regular clothes. It could withstand hours of being dragged across snow without disintegrating. Unzipping it, they made it as wide as possible before rolling back in the side with the hole in it. It was barely wider now than it had been all zipped together.
“This isn’t going to work,” Zack said after they had been messing with it for several minutes.
The few scraps of rope they had were the remains of what they had used to tie Jean’s hands and legs together. There wasn’t enough to do anything complicated with, and the clothes had already begun to freeze from residual moisture.
“Yeah, I know.” Jean stood and studied the landscape, hoping to find something they could use. There was nothing. Finally, she turned to Zara, a stupid idea sparking in her mind. “What about you? Can you do something? Can you do whatever it is you did to these bears, to the bodies?”
Zack groaned and rolled his eyes. That was not something that she should have said to Zara.
Zelda picked up a dagger and charged at the experienced soldier.
“What is this bear’s fixation on stabbing things?” Jean shrieked, hopping away from a furious Zelda.
“She has flat fluffy paws. Being able to hold anything is fun for her, though I think her obsession with sharp pointy objects may have come from what happened to us,” Zara said dully, unwilling to stop her little protector.
“While that is interesting, and also rather disturbing. Why is she suddenly trying to poke holes in me?” Jean ran circles around the smaller bear, who was quickly growing frustrated with her much faster opponent.
“You basically just called her a Necromancer,” Zack informed her, feeling the urge to move things along faster.
“Exactly, dead bodies are not cute! They are gross. Teddy bears and other stuffed animals are cute and cuddly! I’m a puppeteer, I can’t make a puppet out of anything that was once a living body.”
Jean’s eyes narrowed at the name of her class, flicking them thoughtfully at Zack before shaking her head. It wasn’t the time to worry about any of that. They could discuss it later once they were mobile.
“Well, sorry. I guess?” She danced back from the approaching bear, nearly tripping over the spare Shouvain suit. “What about this, then? Can you make something like this into a puppet? A simple one to carry Edith.”
Zara frowned thoughtfully and had the bears drag the suit over to her. “I don’t know. I’ve never tried to make clothes into a puppet before.” She began tracing mana-laced patterns onto the suit, the imprint invisible to all but her eyes.
The process took a minute of her complete focus and adding multiple layers to the pattern. Finally, she finished and leaned back. A thoughtful look came over her face as she began pumping mana into her newest puppet. The hole in its chest changed. The jagged edges smoothing out into a circular hole that now looked as though it belonged.
The damage her brother’s spell had done was too severe. That, combined with it not being her puppet at the time, meant she couldn’t fix the damage entirely. She could merely mask it and make it look like something else. Maybe later she would integrate material from a coat to patch the hole.
Aisha carried over the pack of money and waited for the puppet to unzip itself before stuffing it inside. Now they didn’t have to make a choice. The puppet would carry the money for them, along with Edith.
“Alright, fine whatever that works, let’s put whatever else we can fit inside the thing as well.” Jean gave in with a roll of her eyes. “What about you? Are you going to do the same thing to your suit as well?”
Zara smiled and nodded. She had just discovered another use for her magic. Of course, she wanted to try it out some more.