Adra and Sigmir quickly woke up, once I started shaking them, Rai needed a moment to realise just where he was. As soon as he realised that during the night, Adra had imitated an octopus and wrapped herself around him, as if he was a hug-pillow, he could not get out of bed quick enough, blushing all the way. I shared an amused look with Sigmir, but both of us were aware that teasing the two of them would have to wait until our situation had been resolved.

We quickly broke camp - wolfing down a meagre, cold breakfast as we did so - and started our day. One thing we made sure of, was that we left nothing behind that hinted at the fact that anyone had camped at that particular spot. As we did, Lenore retreated into her Hallow for a bit, knowing that she would have to play an important role and needed strength.

Once more, Adra used her magic to conceal our traces and, using Lenore’s sight, I guided us onto the traces left by the dryads, merging our traces with theirs, as we came closer to their camp. I added my own concealment magic to Adra’s, hoping that the Jonari were not checking every meter of the track too closely, but we needed the added concealment to get so close to the dryads without getting detected.

We took up position close to the dryads camp and Lenore took flight once more, searching for the Jonari, as we watched the dryads. Now, we had a much better visual of their camp, allowing us to identify the group as two dryads and fourteen nymphs, currently finishing up their breakfast and packing everything they had scattered around their campsite, even if their actions were less careful as ours had been. In addition, the larger group left clear traces behind. It was interesting to watch the two dryads to use a spell that was so very similar, maybe even identical to the spell used by Adra, to conceal their party. It seemed less because they were worried about pursuit and more a simple habit. Seeing the spell for the first time from the outside was a little weird, their figures blurred a little, becoming indistinct and hard to notice as they seemed to blend into their surroundings. It didn’t let them vanish from our sight, we could still track them as we knew where they were, but finding them without that knowledge would require special senses.

Soon, they were on their merry way, we carefully stayed behind them, just out of the sight of their rearguard, relying on our concealment spells and the forest to keep hidden. Lenore reported on the position of the Jonari, letting me gauge their speed and distance, so I had a chance to get the timing right.

The minutes crept on, until I felt that the timing was right. The Jonari were almost in sight and we were in an overgrown part of the forest, so now was the time to act.

“Let’s go, it’s time.” I told the others and Sigmir, Rai and I sped up a little, while Adra fell back and Lenore landed on her shoulder.

The three of us caught quickly up to the rearguard of the dryads and my plan was to attack them with ice-magic, before fading into the forest. I was about to start casting, when Sigmir stopped me. “Let me.” she said, as she pulled a throwing axe out of her bag and moved into the open. Trusting her, I dispelled my concealment, leaving her visible, Adra was too far away for her concealment to still cover us.

“Giantblood!” A shout echoed through the forest, followed by the meaty thunk of a throwing axe striking flesh. The last nymph had spotted Sigmir, before falling to her attack. Sigmir had proven once more that she was an elite-fighter by striking a concealed target with an unfamiliar weapon and still splitting the targets head.

Immediately, I refreshed the concealment-spells on her and used Ice-Magic to prevent any tracks from forming. It was a totally different approach to the magic used by dryads and Adra, leaving little to no magic residue behind. I had experimented a bit and the residue faded within minutes.

At the same time, Lenore let me know that Adra had taken her shot as well. Her part was to attack the Jonari-scouts, maybe even killing one of them. I linked my senses to her, using her eyes to renew the concealment-spells on Adra. Luckily, those were Darkness based, so the strain on Lenore was small. The Ice--Magic I used to conceal her steps was sadly not, but it was only for a short time, until we met up again. Lenore and I were able to angle towards each other and away from the two groups we had just attacked.

As soon as we met up, Lenore moved over to me and gave me a long-suffering look. “Once more into the breach.” she said, just before flying away again. This time, to make sure that everything had worked out.

The rest of us continued moving and I made sure that there were no traces of our passing. Behind us, the sounds of battle started, shouts, the clanging of weapons, screams, the whole, horrible litany of death and destruction.

My new conviction to try to act better was reminding me that I had just started a conflict, maybe even a small war, for the sake of convenience and revenge. Was that what I thought ‘good’? I would have to do better next time, think of a better way. But for now, it was done. It felt so easy to shake of the idea of feeling guilty, far too easy.

Using the information Lenore had gathered and the locations we had seen the dryads, I could roughly guess the direction in which their main-camp was located. That would be our next target, so I guided the group in that direction. It was rather likely that the conflict with the Jonari would draw their attention away from their camp.

We had moved for about an hour, when I felt Lenore close in and land on my shoulder before returning to her Hallow. There was a stream of emotion from her, a non-verbal communication complaining about the time she had spent flying in the cold. I sent back a bit of mockery, reminding her that she had spent most of her life in this area, cold and all, and that the availability of her Hallow had made her soft. Her response almost caused me to fall down, as the image she sent back was simply one of herself, turned away from the viewer, with both wings spread, and raised tail-feathers. The message was clear, even if the concept was more of a humanoid one. I wondered just how much subconscious transfer went on between us. Maybe, I would start trying to groom my feathers, or search for worms, who knew?

But apparently, she felt that our little teasing contest had ended in her victory, as I was quite literally speechless and it was time for serious business. I let Sigmir take the lead, and my main-attention retreated into Lenore’s memories, only leaving enough attention behind that I was able to follow Sigmir.

For a moment, I felt discombobulated, the mental switch between my normal, humanoid body and Lenore’s avian body was jarring, but after that moment, it felt amazing. The wind beneath her wings, the air around her. Once more, I felt the ultimate feeling of freedom, before focusing on her sight, taking in what happened below her.

I saw that the Jonari had heard the shout and found their scout, seated against a tree with an arrow in his chest. Without serious healing, he would not live long. One of the others bent down to the wounded, as if trying to hear something, before straightening. With a few hand-signals, the other Jonari moved into a formation and surged forward, weapons at the ready.

The view shifted, as Lenore had searched for the dryads at that point and used her special sight for that and soon, I saw the signs of nymphs hiding in the forest. One of the Jonari-hunters was apparently able to see through their camouflage and warned his comrades before launching an attack on what he believed to be ambushers. The chosen weapon was a throwing axe, just like the one used by Sigmir earlier, only this hunter was less capable than her, or maybe the nymph was lucky, the axe ‘only’ sunk into her chest.

But both sides were off to the races, at first striking from range, then starting a ferocious melee. I almost had to laugh, when I realised that one of the dryads was using a mix of water and ice-magic, creating icicles to attack her foes. It was so very similar to my own method of attacking, almost indistinguishable.

Lenore had stuck around for some time and I watched people fall on both sides, before the nymphs started their retreat. The Jonari had taken enough casualties that they did not try to give chase, most likely knowing that there could be more nymphs waiting in ambush. They collected their fallen, before retreating as well. Once the fight was over, Lenore left and started to fly after us.