“Say, how did you manage to travel these mountains before you met us?” I asked Olivia, as we were packing up our things after breakfast. It was fascinating, to watch her move and work, the way she compensated for the lack of her hand, to the point that I had to make sure I wasn’t staring, again. Getting caught once was embarrassing enough, especially as I had a feeling that Olivia would call me out on it, probably with some sort of joke and a smirk on her face. She seemed to be that kind of person, not malicious but someone who enjoyed making other people a little uncomfortable.

“By walking, how else?” Olivia asked in response and, of course, there was that grin on her face. As I let out a frustrated sigh, she continued, “My Lady watches over travellers and one of the spells she grants her followers is called Sanctuary. While it cannot stop a determined attacker, it makes it harder to commit to an attack. While under its effect, I become uninteresting, for lack of better words.” she explained, making me perk up, curiosity fully engaged.

“That sounds strange.” I admitted, trying to mentally put together how such a spell could be made to work. There were quite a few parts, many of which I could only describe as concepts, not how to put them into practise with magic.

“And it works on both, bandits and wild beasts?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around things.

“Yes, even if most bandits avoid attacking lone travellers, unless the bandits are either very brave or very, very stupid.” Olivia responded, making me chuckle. The idea that travelling on your own was making your travels safer was quite amusing to me, who had been taught that staying in a group helped to keep you safe. But then, if someone had the confidence to travel alone, in a place that was filled with wild beasts and monsters, the chance that it was someone you didn’t want to offend was reasonably high. High enough not to take the risk, in any case.

“What do you think?” I asked Lenore, transmitting a stream of my ideas along to her. The first part, that I could only describe as a concept, was an effect similar to my cloak of shadows, only constant without the need to focus on it, almost akin to the effect woven into my cloak, but able to detect beings interested in you or around you. Some sort of automatic detection and targeting system. Another part had to be some sort of general mind-magic effect, suppressing interest, a vague concept if there was one. There had been a book, describing a SEP-field that made people ignore things, making them think that they were somebody else’s problem, maybe it was something along those lines.

“It’s divine magic. I don’t think we’ll easily be able to figure that one out.” Lenore replied, her words, and the wry undertone, only making me want to try harder.

“How does it work?” I asked, looking around to make sure we had nothing left behind and were ready to continue on our way.

“I pray to my Lady, asking her to grant me sanctuary during my travel and, as long as I’ve done nothing to make her reject me, I am granted the sanctuary I asked for.” she responded, making me grumble under my breath, even as I could hear her chuckle.

Part of my mind was trying to form a model that would fit the spell described by Olivia when we left the rocky outcropping which we had used as our camp-site, which was why I didn’t notice our surroundings until the connection between Lenore and me made me pay attention. Feeling her surprise, alongside a bit of apprehension made me look around, quickly noticing the reason for her feelings.

There was a roughly circular patch of barren soil, difficult to see at first but once you noticed it was obvious. In the surroundings, lichen, moss and some grasses, hardy plants that were able to thrive in the rocky and arid conditions, gave the area a touch of life, keeping it from looking like a desolate moon-scape but in that circle, even that small amount of colour, that bit of life, was gone. Drained, a small part of my mind recalled, drained to fuel the spellwork of Lenore and myself.

“Oops.” I mentally transmitted, both amused and a little horrified at the destruction, even as I considered what we apparently had done. If the small flashes I remembered were accurate, that we had managed to use Blood Magic in conjunction with Death Magic, to drain energy from something that didn’t have blood, it would be a major breakthrough. What if, instead of the sparse life of this mountainside, we had used that kind of magic in a forest? Filled with life, granting us far more power? Or, even better, in an area filled with incapcitated creatures, ready to be drained and used to power our spellwork?

“Impressive…” Lenore responded, as fascinated with the idea as I was. Just what sort of limits could we break, if we had enough human resources available? Or, really, any sort of living resources would do, as long as they were incapacitated and possibly connected to us using a prepared ritual?

The installation of the dryads of Tegi sprung to mind and the way they had turned their village in the frozen north into an enclave of constant spring. The sheer amount of power made me regret that I hadn’t looked closer, hadn’t investigated and copied down the runes and enchantments they had used and their solution to the miasma-problem. Instead, I had foolishly blown it to bits, even if it had been the only viable option at the time, at least the only one I had managed to come up with.

“It doesn’t look good, does it?” Olivia asked me, apparently misunderstanding the pensive look on my face, as I observed the destruction Lenore and I had wrought.

“We did what was necessary.” I simply replied, not going into the details of our actions.

“But at what cost? I don’t think anything will grow at this place, for a generation or two.” Olivia’s voice was heavy and I could see her shaking her head in regret.

“When it comes to my friends, I don’t count the cost.” I told her, my voice hard. In the privacy of my mind, I replaced friends with just Sigmir, as she would always be the priority but there was no need to say that out loud. Hopefully, I would never have to choose between the other two and her, it would be regrettable to sacrifice Adra and Rai. They had become close friends over the months we had travelled together.

“Taking care of your friends is important but one day, you will face judgement for your actions. That day, the records of your actions will be examined in full.” Olivia admonished me, causing me to smile. Certainly, one day my actions would be examined. But who would be the judge and what would the criteria be? Good and evil, right and wrong, merely subjective labels, depending on the one doing the judging, what impact did they have on me? I would leave a mark on Mundus, a mark not even Pantheon could ignore, a mark that would hopefully grant me an advantage at that time.

“Certainly, one day. And I will be standing proudly that day, not cowering with fear. For better or worse, I will not kneel.” I replied, getting a little carried away.

“Your pride might be your downfall one day. But, at the same time, my Lady teaches us to stand on our own feet, to walk our own path.” Olivia muttered, almost too soft to hear, making me chuckle to myself.

“Now, are you going to invoke your sanctuary-spell?” I asked, after we had walked for a minute or two, with me watching Olivia to see that spell in practise, hoping that either Lenore’s or my own senses would allow me to glean some more information.

“Oh, no, why would I?” Olivia asked, looking genuinely surprised. “We are travelling in a group, so it would be pointless to invoke it over myself, as you would attract notice anyway. The Sanctuary can only protect me as long as I remain unnoticed, once a being actively notices me and truly wants to attack me, it would break the spell.” she explained.

“In addition, it would be a little impolite to abuse my Ladies’ power, when it is not needed. In a group like this, I don’t need to use the spell, so I shouldn’t even try.” she added, making me raise an eyebrow at the way she pushed her protection to the rest of the group. But even as I thought about it, hadn’t she healed Sigmir the day before? Maybe, letting her keep power in reserve was a wise idea, just in case something bad happened again.

“How are you going to contribute then, if we are attacked? Just healing, or how will you act?” Adra asked, her thoughts obviously mirroring my own.

“Healing, certainly. But often, it is wise to prevent healing from being necessary in the first place, thus, my Lady has granted her followers a couple of spells that can turn away harm or help my allies in other ways. And, as one might expect, she also grants spells that can break shackles and chains, whether they be magical or mundane.” Olivia replied, her voice proud.

Hearing her made me wonder, did she simply keep her offensive abilities a secret, something I would regard as sensible, or did she simply lack such abilities? Time would tell, for now, I would keep an eye on her, just in case.