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The rest of that morning, and honestly the rest of that day also, passed quickly and easily enough for us. Dino and I gathered the firewood and kept the campfire going until the girls showed up damp and refreshed from their morning baths. Jess finished cooking breakfast for us – eggs, ham, and fried flatbread – and the rest of us took the time to do up the tents and repack them. By the time we’d finished packing everything up, and eating breakfast, the sun was up nicely and the morning oranges and reds in the sky had been replaced with an ominous looking set of darkening gray clouds.
Heading down the road, we passed the merchant not long after we set out. Taking a brief moment to ask him about whether he’d seen any sign of a school team or not besides us, didn’t help us any. He’d came from further up the north road, and hadn’t saw anything or anyone suspicious. If Skeet, Mongo, and the rest of their team was in trouble, apparently it wasn’t until after they got off this road.
Walking on, all was good until about lunchtime. The skies were darkening up gloomily and the smell of rain was in the air as the wind started to pick up. It was around this time that we had our first real argument as a group. Dino wanted to stop for lunch. I didn’t. We fought a bit about it, but in the end I stubbornly kept moving on and he was forced to either keep up and follow, or be left behind. I really don’t seem to be cut out for a leadership role, it doesn’t seem.
After that fight, we had a second fight over which damnable road we were supposed to turn west down. Dino was absolutely useless! Was it a dirt road? A cobblestone one? Did a grass trail count, or one of the hunter’s paths? He didn’t have a clue! In the end, I got so frustrated that I simply turned west at some random crossroads and decided to say piss on it! We could argue forever and we’d never get any closer to the team. Only by moving forward – even if it wasn’t in the optimal direction – would we get any closer at all!
Dino didn’t like this random approach to travel, and he was quite open about his honest displeasure with it. Grumpily, I told him to either come up with a better plan, or else to shut up. He glared daggers at my back, but got quiet for a while after that.
A few hours later, it started to drizzle, and once again we ended up in an argument. Dino wanted to stop, set up the tents, and call it a day. He didn’t like walking in the rain. I wanted to get as close as possible to the other team today so that I might be able to sense them with my magic at a distance tonight, but I couldn’t explain that to him.
Instead, I tried to argue about our need for speed in case the other time was hurt or injured, and Dino didn’t like that line of excuses. His argument – and it was a valid one – was that the other team had been gone already for about a month; a few extra hours probably wouldn’t change their fate too much one way or another. In my own way, I agreed with him, but I couldn’t come out and say that either, so we ended up arguing with each other and complaining about each other all afternoon long as we trudged along.
The two girls simply walked together and laughed about how the silly men were always butting heads together and they basically ignored us. Crystal got out a couple of nice hooded cloaks and gave one to Jess, and the two of them wrapped up and managed to keep fairly dry. Dino was too big an idiot to pack anything like a cloak, and I hadn’t thought about it as I’d normally simply wrap a layer of air magic around myself to keep the water away; though I couldn’t do that now without revealing I had magic. In the end, both us guys came across seeming stupid and unprepared compared to the girls, and even thinking like that simply made my mood fouler.
A while before we’d finally stopped for the evening, the rain had transitioned over from a mild drizzle to a steady rainfall. Dino and I both resembled drowned rats and no one was in the mood to try and gather wet wood, start a fire, or cook. We all agreed to a simple cold meal of whatever we had packed, and to hide out the rain in our respective tents.
By the time the tents were up and we were in them, my mood was as dark and stormy as the weather outside. Luckily, Crystal was a ray of sunshine which quickly helped calm my nerves and warm my heart. We weren’t in the tent for more than thirty seconds, before she unwrapped her chainmail robe and casually laid it to the side and then started to undress.
Without a care in the world, she unlaced the straps on the side of her tunic and then pulled it gracefully over her head while I watched her soft mounds bounce and wave freely as they were exposed to freedom. By the time she’d pulled off each boot, unlaced her leather pants and tugged them off, and basically stripped herself naked, I’d forgotten all about how annoyed and moody I’d been feeling.
Shamelessly, she laughed and then wiggled as she tried to shake the moisture out of her hair. “Are you going to stay drowned, or are you going to get out of those wet things sometime this evening?” She asked while smirking at me. Without bothering to answer her, I started to strip out of my own clothes while she unfolded a blanket on the ground, sat unabashedly naked on it, and shamelessly watched me.
Once I was just as naked as she was, Crystal stood back up and with sparking eyes hugged me silently for several long moments. The smell of her damp hair was light and refreshing, and the warm of her body and gentle feel of her flesh against mine made the last of my worries disappear as if they’d never been.
When she finally released me, she bent and pulled out the blue silken robe she was wearing that morning and a white silken one that I hadn’t seen before. Casually she handed me the white robe while she draped the blue one around her own shoulders. “In case the others come in, or need us for something,” she explained. Nodding that I understood, I slid the white robe on and tied it shut. Much to my amusement (and secret enjoyment), Crystal didn’t even bother to tie hers closed. It draped casually to either side of her body, and I was allowed a glorious view of her front as much as I desired.
For a while, we simply sat and enjoyed the sound of the rain as it beat across the canvas roof above us. Neither of us started a conversation; we simply enjoyed the sound of the rain and being close to one another. Digging in the packs, we made do with cheese and bread for supper, and shared a couple of oranges and bananas for dessert.
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Relaxing for a few minutes after that, I gently pulled in the flows of earthen energy and checked the surrounding landscape for whatever was close. A few farm houses weren’t too distant, and neither were the barns and such around them. Had it just been Crystal and me on the road, I would’ve probably sensed the area more as we traveled and noticed them earlier. We probably never would’ve needed to set up the tents, as more than likely we could’ve simply given the farmers a few coppers and slept in the barn for the night. Unfortunately, it was too late for that now.
Finally letting out a deep breath, I opened up my eyes and grinned over at Crystal. “My Lady, I’ve got a task for you this evening?”
“Oh? What is it, I wonder?” She smirked and playfully swung the sash on her robe a few times.
“Not that. At least not until we get back to town,” I assured her. “The road isn’t any suitable place for our first time, no matter how much I might want to indulge myself. I’ve got something important for you to do,” I told her seriously.
Instantly she noticed my serious expression and she sat up straighter and nodded solemnly. “You can depend on me, My Lord. What do you need me to do?”
“I need you to guard the tent and watch over me for a while. I’m going to need to truly concentrate and stretch my magics to their limits to see if I can locate anything resembling a graveyard off in the distant northern forests. It’ll be a little dangerous if I’m interrupted, and I don’t know if either Jess or Dino will notice the change in the local flows of magic while I’m working. It doesn’t seem like observing the flows is something they teach, or are even aware of at the school, but if I can learn to do it on my own, one of them might have as well. You’re going to need to stay silent, not interrupt, and not let them interrupt me until I’m finished. Understand?”
“I understand.” She nodded solemnly and slowly wrapped the sash around her robe and tied it. Firmly, she gripped the handle of her blade and then moved to position herself at the front flap of the tent. “I’ll keep watch, and keep you safe, My Lord. You can depend on me.”
She looked so serious and determined now, I couldn’t help but smile at her. “I don’t think you’ll have too much trouble,” I told her honestly. “Just don’t let Jess or Dino bother me, in case they do notice anything. I’ve already scanned the local area and there doesn’t appear to be anyone else out and moving in the rain and I didn’t sense any sort of animals which might be dangerous to us. We seem safe here for now. I’m just worried they might notice something and try and interrupt me if they do.”
“Well, you can have faith in me, My Lord. Crystal assured me. “I won’t let them bother you until you’re finished.”
“Good.” I nodded at her in satisfaction and then slowly closed my eyes and began to gather as much energy from the nearby surroundings as I could hold and control. It’d been some time since I’d last allowed myself to indulge and fill with energy until my hair tingled and electricity felt like it was dancing across the ends of my nerves – I think it was probably when I released the volcano on the island that I last felt like this – and I was enjoying the feeling.
I don’t know if it was my imagination at play or not, but it seemed like my capability to hold raw energy had increased even more since that time. For several long moments, I simply pulled in more and more energy from my surroundings and let it gather inside me. From the ground I borrowed the energy of earth. From the storm, I borrowed from the energy of air. The nearby trees and forest provided a large source of life energy. From the nearby streams and ponds, I pulled upon the flows of water. From all these sources, I pulled and gathered mana for several long minutes and converted it to the raw energy I needed for my own purposes. My hair crackled and static electricity sparked and arced off it by the time I was finally satisfied and released the energy slowly north and west, spreading it out in waves like a drop makes falling into a bucket.
I sensed fields and forests. Farmland and wilderness. I sensed past the farmland and on into the deeper forests. Small spots of death stood out to me where bodies lay in decay, but these sources were new -- recent graveyards that contained the relatively fresh bodies of the local peoples. They didn’t have the feeling of the old forgotten death that I was seeking, so I moved on past them.
Feeling the essence of the forest itself, it was a bright and vibrant place full of life and energy. Trees and plants grew in abundance and wildlife of all sorts thrived. Dino had said that the group was going north past the road and into the deep forest. I could now understand what they meant. Signs of people were extremely few and far between, and the further I extended my search to the north and west, the rarer human presence became.
Eventually, the energy I was exuding passed the last hunter’s shack and after that there was nothing but forest and wilderness for quite some time. Just as I was beginning to think that the group was still beyond my reach, I felt a deep old presence of death. There definitely was a graveyard out there in the distance, but from what I was feeling, I didn’t like it. The death was old and powerful, and it seemed to resist my probing and prodding at it.
I knew there was a graveyard there. I knew where to find it. I also knew it wasn’t a place where humans were buried, and that it didn’t want me to bother it. The place was dark, resistant, and trouble.
With a shiver, I finally opened my eyes and looked around the inside of our tent. What felt like days, but was probably only minutes or at most an hour, had passed and I was exhausted. One look showed that Crystal was still sitting and guarding the entrance to the tent, and that either no one had bothered us, or else she had successfully dealt with them.
Wearily, I stretched down and told her, “I’m finished. I found where they’re probably at. I can lead the way to them now. If I’m right, they’re probably in a lot of trouble.”
Crystal simply nodded and then went over and gently laid her sword on the ground without saying a word. Silently, she untied her sash and lay down beside me and pulled my head gently between her breasts and stroked my hair.
In no time at all, I was asleep and peacefully lost in a dreamless slumber as my body worked to recover from the strain I’d put it under earlier.