“The more mana a mage can draw upon from their surroundings, the greater the strength of the spells they can wield. The only known way to increase the reservoir of mana is to practice the craft through repetition and discovery of new spells.”— A Scientific Treatise on Mages, Volume One
The Wilds of Ilsylvania. Day -23.
Aliyah looked over her map while Rhoda kept her hands on the reins. Her two daughters, Alyx and Lynn, ranged around the carriage on their horses while Aliyah’s own horse was drawing the carriage with Rhoda’s three.
Alyx and Lynn had a habit of testing the boundaries Aliyah and Tyree pressed upon them and within reason, they allowed them to. It was important for them to explore and understand the world around them, and yes, even experience the consequences of that exploration. And so, as they strayed further beyond sight of the carriage, Aliyah listened to them with her keen elven hearing.
Through listening to her children, Aliyah quickly realized something was off. The roads were emptier than she expected and the forest was quiet, save for the soft plotting of the horses on the cobblestone trail.
Unusual. They should have seen plenty of Guardians by now. The warriors and mages that made up their kind often patrolled the lands outside of Castera in numbers that made them hard to ignore.
Like the combined might of Diurne and Nocturne's high and low tides, the Guardians’ numbers could swell and shrink on the slightest whim. Typically a shrinking of their number meant the discovery of a new magic dungeon somewhere on the continent. They would congregate near it and adventurers would also be drawn to them for the chance to claim whatever new loot waited inside.
Aliyah would be kidding herself if she believed that was the case now. What happened last night with Diurne and this apparent absence of Guardians could not be coincidence.
Folding and storing her map, Aliyah turned to Rhoda. “Would you mind scouting ahead?”
Rhoda glanced around the carriage and gave a nod. “Sure, take the reins.”
If there was one thing Aliyah liked about Rhoda, it was their shared kinship as Serethi elves. Rhoda was Aliyah’s junior by nearly eighteen years, but she had still been raised by parents who were old enough to remember a time before the Guardians.
That was a time when adventuring was more akin to monster hunting than exploration. The Guardians had been around for nearly fourteen years when Aliyah had been born, but her parents instilled in her the need to pay attention for monsters and to be ready to defend her tiny village at a moment's notice from goblin swarms or any of the other monsters that called the wildlands between the Serethi city-states and the human settlements their home.
Rhoda had that same instruction drilled into her. And so when asked to scout ahead on what should have been a safe road, she did so without question.
Like Aliyah and Tyree, Rhoda was a Master mage. She excelled in the craft of stealth and elegantly weaved the ambient mana around her into a shroud of concealment that barely gave the slightest distortion of light as she leapt from the cart.
Gone only a short while, a girl's scream quickly followed by yells and laughter from three voices preceded Rhoda’s return to Aliyah’s side. Alyx and Lynn likewise appeared back alongside the carriage.
Aliyah glanced at Rhoda, but the rogue only shrugged. “I figured you wanted me to reign them in.”
Aliyah shook her head and laughed. “Not exactly what I meant. Did you notice how quiet things are?”
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“I did,” Rhoda answered. “That's why I pulled your daughters back. I didn't see any Guardians ahead of us. Just the other day, there were dozens. Right down eerie, if you ask me.”
“I think we should take the old adventurers’ route north. Just to be safe.”
The adventurers’ route ran roughly parallel to the main routes between Castera and her surrounding villages, but deviated slightly to capture known safe houses and other safe areas to avoid night spawns and rest while travelling. They were kept up much more regularly than the kingdom’s outposts, which as far as Aliyah knew, hadn’t been looked after in nearly a century.
Rhoda glanced at Aliyah. “You think that's necessary?”
“No, but I would rather be safe than staring down a goblin swarm at night.”
If they were going to be changing their planned route, Aliyah knew she should leave a sign to let Tyree know why she might not find them.
Aliyah turned to Rhoda. “Stop here, I want to leave Tyree a note in the fork in the road.”
When the carriage came to a stop, Aliyah hopped down and knelt. She weaved her hands in the pattern of a spell and a single orange carnation sprouted from the ground. It was ever so slightly off center, skewed towards the path they would be taking.
Rhoda glanced at the flower, then Aliyah. “You still remember how to cast that old spell?”
The carnation had been the symbol of their old adventuring party. It was a beautiful flower and was also Tyree’s favorite. If she saw it, she would immediately know what it meant.
“It still has its uses. I know you remember it. Go on, add your own.”
Rhoda bent down and began imitating Aliyah’s spell gestures, albeit roughly and imprecise, but a dark blue, almost indigo carnation sprung up beside Aliyah’s orange one.
Rhoda cocked her head slightly. “Not quite the color I was going for.”
“You still did good,” Aliyah patted Rhoda on the back. After a pause, she added two slightly smaller orange flowers beside the larger pair. “Alright, let's go.”
***
The safe house was a cave carved out of the side of a tall cliff face by an earth mage two or three centuries ago. In that time, it had been expanded and even had rudimentary facilities for horses to be kept away from any prowling night spawns. Someone Adept with earth or water magic was required to keep those areas clean. Aliyah was pleased to see those in her former profession still kept up with that bit of courtesy.
The ground was hard earth, but that mattered little thanks to the bag of holding Aliyah always kept with her. She pulled bedrolls and the tools to set up four hammocks, the bed choice of adventurers the continent over.
Lynn and Alyx put the horses in their own area while Rhoda prepared the meals.
Aliyah watched Rhoda struggle with starting the fire for a few moments before walking over to her.
“You know I could just…” Aliyah wagged her fingers, making a small flame dance above her hands.
The tinder Rhoda used ignited into a small fire that popped and cracked as it flared to life from Rhoda’s renewed effort.
Rhoda glanced up with a smile of satisfaction. “And what if you weren't here, oh mighty sorceress?” She drew her words out in a strong Serethi drawl that would have made an Orleanan dock worker blush.
“You'd probably be cold tonight,” Aliyah said, pressing her mana upon the fire, causing it to burn hotter and brighter for a moment before she released her control of it.
Dinner came and went and Aliyah had taken the first watch by the cave's entrance. She moved the earth and stone into a series of overlapping walls too tight to allow anything to pass through, but still large enough to allow for the draw of fresh air.
Aliyah sat quietly on a blanket, meditating and listening. With her ears, she listened to the slow rhythm of Alyx and Lynn’s sleeping breaths. With her mana, she listened through the earth. She wasn't as sharp with the skill as a dedicated earth mage, but it was enough to let her know if anyone, or anything, was nearby.
Rhoda was beside her, meditating as well, but she was using a more restorative variant than the technique Aliyah was using. It was a uniquely Serethi skill. Some humans could learn it, Tyree was one, but they never seemed to get the full benefits she or Rhoda could get.
As Aliyah continued to listen, she heard it. The faint footsteps of goblins. Lots of goblins. They weren’t close, but Aliyah was glad they had detoured.
As their footsteps passed, Aliyah relaxed a bit, allowing the tension in her muscles to ease. She resumed her silent vigil, hoping she was worrying for nothing.