Returning to wakefulness was a slow process, my mind not willing to let go of the wonderful dream I had been having. I wanted to close my eyes again, to fly some more, on my own wings, not merely on borrowed wings. But once I was aware enough of my surroundings, the urge to sleep faded from my mind.

Still, I didn’t instantly try to get up, instead trying to put the things I had seen in order, to make sense and form conclusions from the experience. What had actually happened when I tried to connect with Sigmir? To my understanding, the connection between us was on the level of our souls and somehow, I had managed to cause a resonance between my Blood Magic and that connection, allowing me to go deeper, so to speak, than I had ever expected. Maybe deeper than ever intended, the only analogue, the only experience that came close was the ritual the Grandmother had conducted to allow me to heal Sigmir from the affliction cast on her by her tribe’s shaman. The Grandmother had explained that her ritual had allowed me to connect to Sigmir’s soul and it had felt similar to that last, brief moment before Lenore had ended the experiment.

“Do you know what happened?” I asked Lenore, without opening my eyes.

“I’m not quite sure, just that you suddenly channelled vast amounts of Astral Power. I used some of my own Astral Power to keep you from draining yourself dry and pulled you out as fast as I could, but that’s all I can tell you.” she responded, sounding a little worried but also curious.

“I think I touched Sigmir’s soul.” I quietly admitted, still trying to wrap my head around the experience. For a minute or so, only silence responded and if Lenore had a jaw, I was quite certain it would have dropped at that comment. Before, I hadn’t even been able to perceive souls, my magic and perception had been limited to the Body, using my Blood Magic, and the Mind, using my Mind Magic.

“That…” she began, her voice haltingly, as if trying to come to grips with the revelation, “makes a certain amount of sense.” she admitted and I could feel her mind reeling thanks to our connection.

“Astral Power flows through the soul, with the Mind controlling the flow and the body acting as an anchor. The basis of Blood Magic, when you use it to drain power from someone, forcibly severs the connection between their Astral Power and their Mind, allowing you to drain it from their Body.” she considered and I had a feeling where she was going there.

“And that severing is the reason why it hurts so bad? That I’m literally ripping out something that is flowing through their soul and cutting it off?” I asked, following along. Going by her reasoning, I had somehow managed to follow the Astral Power far enough into Sigmir’s being to perceive her soul, if only for a moment before the drain of using an ability outside it’s normal scope had forced Lenore to act.

“Doesn’t help us, does it?” I asked, realising that while it was a fascinating discovery and a unique experience, it didn’t really help us with Ylva’s problem.

“No, I don’t think so. Maybe if you were able to open a connection between Ylva and the realm of Spirits that spawned her line, so long ago? That might help?” Lenore threw out a few ideas, none of which seemed practical, certainly not without a whole lot more experimentation. Which put them on the back-burner.

Opening my eyes, I realised that Sigmir must have dressed me,after I had fallen asleep and had also put me into our shared sleeping-furs before cuddling up to me. Given that she was still wrapped around me and deeply asleep, I had a feeling that she had taken a watch during the night, so that I could get my rest.

Carefully wriggling out of her grasp so I didn’t disturb her took a few moments, but it was time well spent. Looking around, we were still in the back of the cave, the circle I had used during the night still present and even a small whiff of Blood Magic still lingering in the air.

Walking to the front of the cave, I realised that the others were all up and looking worried.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking towards the entrance of the cave, just as they did.

“I saw four Manticores when I was out earlier, trying to hunt down some food.” Adra told me in a quiet voice. An equally quiet curse escaped me, as I realised the problem. While it was unlikely that they had detected us, there was little doubt in my mind that they would instantly do so if we ventured out during the day. And while fighting a single Manticore, especially a young one, was relatively trivial for our group, trying to take on a swarm was akin to suicide. Even a single Manticore experienced enough to avoid being crippled by ranged attacks, or sturdy enough to endure what Adra and I could throw at it, would be able to make things difficult for us, let alone a swarm that could simply overpower us.

“Olivia, do you know their hunting-patterns? Are they active during the night, or do they prefer the day?” I asked, searching for more information to form a strategy.

“I’ve only heard stories. The wingless ones are generally active shortly before dusk and with the coming dawn, while the winged ones are hunting during the day. I’m pretty sure they can see in the dark, they are partially giant cats after all, but mostly rest during the night.” she replied, to which I nodded in response. It gave us something of an opening, if we moved during the night, maybe even managed to lure one in shortly before dusk, using the limited space in the cave to wound or maybe even kill, before getting away under the cover of darkness. That second was a horrifyingly risky tactic, but just scurrying away without even showing them our claws felt wrong to me. There even was a small part of me that wanted to take the fight to them, to show them that they were not the masters of the skies, that they couldn’t take them from us, but I was self-aware enough to realise that if trying to fight a swarm of Manticores on the ground was suicidal, trying to do the same in the air was a step above that.

“So we are safe for now.” I nodded, concealment and the narrow cave taking away their strength in numbers and negating the advantage brought by their ability to fly.

“For now, yes. But we’ll have to be careful and keep an eye out. You want to move during the night?” Adra asked, despite knowing me well enough to guess the answer.

“Of course. I think if Lenore and I put our minds to it, we’ll be able to conjure up enough of a cloud to make them think twice about flying, I doubt that they’d want to smash into a mountain cause they can’t see where they are going.” I responded with a grin, Lenore agreeing that flying over the mountains with low-hanging clouds was an incredibly bad idea.

“We might even stay here for another night and I can scry to find another cave for us, further along the path. That way, we can move from one cave to the next, without ever showing us out in the open during the day.” I added, considering the options. We’d need to hunt at some point, but if the Manticores were hunting during the day, I had a feeling that most creatures that had any capacity for nocturnal living were doing so. I certainly would want to avoid the massive, flying hypercarnivore monsters in the sky, if I were a chamois or a mountain-goat.

“For now, I’ll get back to work, if we have to wait here for the day, I won’t waste my time. Not if I can help it.” I told the others, before stepping back to the part of the cave where I had set up my circle. I would have to be careful with my experimentation, that I didn’t drain myself of Astral Power again, while also making sure that I didn’t do anything that caused a magical commotion that the Manticores might detect. But other than that, there was nothing that stopped me from continuing on with the experiments, especially if there was the possibility that Ylva gained a power-boost before we had to fight mature Manticores.

Looking at Sigmir’s slumbering form, I decided that a bit of delay with the experiments was fine, at least long enough to allow her to wake by herself. Sitting down on our furs, I carefully pulled her head into my lap, trying to project calm contentment over our connection, hoping to give her a nice dream. The way she nuzzled into my lap certainly made me think that everything was fine, even with the massive murder-lions soaring far above us.