The rest of the day passed without further incidents for the better part and the trip was shaping up to be rather pleasant and enjoyable. Not even my embarrassing little mishap could change my mind about that. The failed spell had faded again, and in the end no harm had come of it, except for a bit good natured teasing. I would have to live with that. That was not too heavy a burden though. I would manage somehow. As long as Kaele made no second attempt at grilling me for details about my mistake in building the spell matrix.
Dear Moon Maidens, I had no idea that she could be so persistent about anything. No amount of persistence on her part had been able to produce any results though. My big mistake had been that I absentmindedly cast the spell after all. Thus I couldn't recall details I hadn't been paying attention to in the first place. That was the simple truth. It hadn't kept her from trying though. If only I had been able to satisfy her curiosity. Alas, it was not to be and I felt bad for it. Well, spilled milk and all that. Now it was dinner that had my undivided attention anyway.
Or rather it were the preparations for dinner that had my attention. We had set up camp a short way from and well above the creek a little while ago. Eldtide had been the one to pick the place and she had shared her reasons for doing so in the spirit of making this whole trip a nice learning experience. From here we didn't have a long way to get fresh water. At the same time we were far enough from the creek to not be washed away in case of flash flooding. In addition two large rocks, both leaning slightly against each other, and a number of sturdy trees provided some shelter from wind and weather.
Picking the right spot to set up camp hadn't been the end of it though. I had been slightly surprised that setting up the tent took so much preparation. Clearing the ground and digging a shallow ditch around it to keep rainwater from flooding us had taken some more time. And then she had made us dig a fire pit. She had been rather insistent in that regard. As if that wasn't enough she had us line it with rocks from the creek as well. Supposedly it would retain the heat better like this and we wouldn't cause a forest fire by accident.
That was rather unlikely, given the recent weather, but better safe than sorry. In the end it had meant that Khuzan and I had lugged plenty of stones up here from the creek. And now we still had to gather some firewood. We had brought some dry kindling, but we most certainly wouldn't find really dry firewood. Our fire would produce plenty of smoke as a result. There just wasn't any way around it. Unless one of the others knew some handy spell to dry wood on the fly. I doubted it though.
Still we tried our best. As a result I was now building a fire with the mostly only slightly damp wood we had gathered. While I did so, I watched my sister and our Gorgon friend clean and cut vegetables which then promptly landed in the small pot Eldtide had brought for the occasion. There were wild carrots of several colors and onions as well as some kind of pumpkin and a few mushrooms. A number of herbs, that all kind of looked like grass to me, sat on the side, waiting to be added later. “Whats up with that look? Not happy with dinner?”
Eldtide's questions were accompanied by Kaele's laughter. They must have caught me staring. I blushed and looked away. “It is a bit light on meat.” Ha, what an understatement. Of course there was none in the pot. We hadn't had time to go hunting today after all. “Maybe we can catch a few fish tomorrow?” The thought of them roasting over the fire on skewers alone made my mouth water in anticipation. But until we actually caught any that would remain nothing but wishful thinking. For now I would have to make do with vegetable stew.
“I'm not sure about that.” Khuzan had returned with another load of stones. Hadn't he noticed that the fire pit was finished already? I wanted to point the fact out to him, but he walked past me and used the stones to weigh down the anchors that held our tent in place instead. I looked at him questioningly. So did the others. “The weather. It looks like we might get a rainstorm tonight or tomorrow at the very latest.” He finished securing the tent. “If it gets really bad we won't be catching any fish here anytime soon.”
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“Damn.” There all my dream fish swam down the stream. “I guess I better get the fire started before the rain gets us. Vegetable stew is no good if its served cold after all.“ I took a deep breath and grasped the flow of magical energies surrounding us while building the matrix of a very simple spell. I paid a lot more attention than necessary to it this time. One spell failure was enough for a day after all. Finally satisfied I let the Mana flow and called out the spell's name. “Produce Flame!”
It was a simple enough spell. A single flame came into existence in the palm of my hand and I dropped it onto the kindling at the bottom of the carefully arranged pile of branches I had built in the fire pit. I had to be quick about it. Otherwise the magical flame could have burned my own hand. We demons had a natural resistance to fire but that only extended so far and getting burned didn't feel nice at all. The kindling caught on fire fairly quickly and before long the first branches were burning as well. And of course there was plenty of smoke.
I coughed and Khuzan grimaced in sympathy. But he didn't offer to swap places with me. Instead he pointed upwards. “I'll go and check the trees for any dry branches. Don't want any to drop on our heads when the storm hits.” I nodded. Of course that sounded reasonable enough. I certainly didn't want to be woken up in the middle of the night by getting a branch to the head. That sounded rather painful and not fun at all. I watched him climb one of the larger trees surrounding our camp site for a moment before focusing on the fire again.
Before long I would have to add some of the slightly more substantial pieces of wood we had gathered. Until then I needed something to pass some time though. Just staring at the fire was way too boring. I eyed Kaele's bag. A few scrolls were peeking out of the top. She couldn't have brought any of mother's scrolls, right? Those were prized possessions. If anything were to happen to them she would be really mad. Rightfully so as well. Well, there was only one way to confirm or dispel my fears.
I snatched one of the scrolls and unfurled it, ignoring my sister's raised eyebrow. I breathed a sigh of relief the next moment. That was Kaele's neat handwriting. She let out an exasperated breath as well as she must have guessed what was going through my mind. “You honestly thought I would nab some of mother's scrolls? Do you take me for a complete moron?” She shook her head as she dropped last of the gathered vegetables into the pot. “You should know me better. You really should.”
I bowed my head in shame. She was right. I shouldn't have doubted her. “Sorry.”, I whispered. In the meantime the content of the scroll caught my attention. I glanced across the page. Those were instructions for a spell. I read through them again, to study them in greater detail. Actually this looked easy enough. Especially given the way the instructions were presented. This wasn't just a copy of one of mother's scrolls. Kaele must have adapted it especially for me. “Spellcasting for dummies.”
My sister laughed out loud at that and Eldtide joined her only moments later. “Well, if you say so.” Damn, did I say that out loud? My sister continued unperturbed though. “I brought some for everyone.” I could only nod dumbly as I kept my eyes glued to the instructions. The handwriting was neat and the text organized well. There were illustrations explaining the construction of the spell matrix as well. Damn, why couldn't all wizards write their spells down like this? Was that too much to ask for?
A maniacal smile spread across my face. Absentmindedly I put a few bigger pieces of wood on the fire. Then I rose to my feet. Before any of the others could say anything I grasped the flow of the ambient Mana once again. I built the spell matrix following the instructions on the scroll and let the energy I had grasped flow into it. The spell activated briefly as I called out its name. “Lion's roar!” And roar I did. My voice echoed far and wide, fueled by the energy of the spell. Bah! No mere lion could compare to that! In a fight that was sure to get me the full attention of every opponent.
The next moment Khuzan fell out of the trees, thankfully landing next to me and not in the fire. I blanched as I saw the look of anger on his face. “Are you totally out of your mind? You can't just cast a spell like that on a whim. What if something nearby decides to take you up on that challenge?” We all looked around us, as his words hit home. He was right. That had been foolish. I was just about to breath a sigh of relief as something else rustled in the branches above me. I looked up just in time to get a small bundle of fur, teeth and claws right in the face.
I closed my eyes on reflex which was for the better as the little attacker's claws raked across my face the next moment. I was taken completely by surprise. In the end it was Eldtide that came to my rescue. She grabbed the little creature by the nape of its neck, casting a spell at the same time. I could feel her draw in Mana. “Calm Monster.” She whispered the activation phrase in a way that actually sounded quite calming. And just like that the little creature was turned into a pitifully mewling heap of misery. “A long tailed tree cat. They are usually pretty reclusive.”, she elaborated.