After killing the Manticore, things went downhill, fast. Mostly because we travelled for the rest of the day without really caring for the exact direction we were moving in, simply following the river and the valley it had carved downwards. The idea was to hopefully get back below the treeline, find some forest to hide in, where the Manticores couldn’t see us from above and where trees would hinder their movement if it came to a fight. Trying to return to the ancient road could wait until we had gained some distance, maybe even until we reached Narristo, the town guarding the road on this side of the mountains.

During the evening, by the time we were looking for a good place to camp, anything but another cave, Adra suddenly paused before turning into the weird, goat-like shape she used to travel and taking off like a shot. The four of us shared a confused glance, before following our companion at a more sedate pace, moving at a fast jog instead of her dash.

Luckily, she didn’t completely leave us behind and after some ten minutes, we caught up to her, who had turned back into her normal shape, next to a couple of shrubs and a twisted pine-tree. Stepping up, we could see that Adra had her eyes closed, her head slightly bowed in a reverent manner. It looked quite peaceful, almost as if she was praying, and I could smell a tinge of Astral Power in the air, mingling with the natural smells of the vegetation near us. I could faintly guess what she was doing, letting her Astral Power mingle with the surrounding aura, in an attempt to cleanse herself from the harsh days we had spent underground. Dryads were supposed to be creatures of the forest and while there had been vegetation underground, I got the feeling it hadn’t been quite what she needed, slightly reminding me of the time we had spent with Dura Firebringer, how her Astral Power and aura had pressed in on me at times, trying to suffocate me. If Adra had felt similar to that, I should make a mental note not to take her underground for long periods of time again.

“Are you alright now?” Sigmir asked her, likely feeling my concern for our friend.

“I am now, yes. I hadn’t expected that being cut off from the forests would affect me so strongly.” she admitted, her voice musing, almost shily.

“Maybe it was a combination, the altitude, the tunnels, being hunted, all those things coming together and pressing you down.” I suggested, happy that she was feeling better, even while a part of me was disappointed in myself for not noticing her distress. If I wanted to be a leader, even if only the leader of a small group like this, I would have to keep better track of my companions' weaknesses and their state of mind.

I had long since decided that I wouldn’t want to be active in a larger organisation again, certainly not in a purely Traveller-focused one such as the Crusade of Light, though even the idea of a semi-native organisation like the Blades of the Realm wasn’t too appealing to me. That left me either going completely solo or in a team with Sigmir if I could meet her again in the future, or form a small team, like the one that had formed around me. Going alone had some advantages, mainly that leaving Mundus for longer than a day or two at a time wouldn’t be a problem, but the obvious drawback was that trying to go at things alone would likely see me die quite a lot.

And that was ignoring the whole question regarding Sigmir, which I was still pushing to the future, my plans having not made any significant progress thus far. There was a mention regarding a major event on the forum, one that involved testing a yet unfinished product for the Capsule that was in its Alpha-version with promised rewards for Road to Purgatory’s release, but what those rewards would be was unknown.

Shaking off thoughts of the future once again, I focused on the present and our current predicament, namely that there was a pride of flying lions somewhere in the area, possibly still looking for us.

“Adra, can you find out if there’s a forest or some nice cover nearby? Something where the Manticore’s can’t easily enter, or at least not fly around in?” I asked, remembering Adra’s skill to talk to plants, or however that worked. Maybe the local plants knew about their neighbours or something equally silly.

“Certainly, give me a moment.” she replied, bringing a grin to my lips. The more I learned about magic, the more I realised how much there was to learn. When looking at some of my skills, sitting at seventy, Ice-Magic even at eighty-two, I would normally think I was slowly reaching the pinnacle of magic, at least in regards to Ice-Magic, but the list of things I wanted to learn only got longer. Watching Adra use her own magic, as she did now, served to heighten that impression, showing me how others used their abilities and making me wonder if I was merely a frog, sitting within my well and looking at the blue sky above, thinking I knew how wide the world was.

Smiling to myself, I decided to apply what she did to my own magic, in an attempt to figure out where our flying foes were. I still had some Manticore-Blood and would be able to get a rough idea of other Manticores that shared a blood relationship with the one we had killed. If Manticores worked similar to other pack-animals, they would mainly work in expanded family-units, though I wasn’t certain just how accurate my divination was.

Taking a few steps back, trying to avoid interference between Adra’s magic and my own, I pulled out the Ice-Crystal containing the frozen blood of one of the Manticores we had killed before. It was a pure work of magic, without any runes to guide the images and intent within my mind, so I closed my eyes to help with my focus and concentrated on the Blood Line. Where was more of that Blood, where were the relatives. Where were our enemies?

The impressions I received were even fainter than before, maybe due to the Blood having decayed somewhat despite being frozen, but I wasn’t after precision anyway, just a general idea. Sadly, that general idea was even less useful than the last time I had used this divination, telling me that there were Manticores to the east and to the west of us, but with a generous error-bar on either side. Those imprecise bars were almost large enough to touch in the north and south, making the whole spell relatively useless, as it only told me that there were Manticores around, somewhere.

Luckily, Adra had more luck, or maybe an easier task and her vegitative friend told her that there were a few areas with plenty of vegetation around, one even close enough to reach before the night fully fell. Once again, I had to bow my head to her ability, I had trouble understanding the thoughts of other humans at times, but she could somehow communicate with a tree and glean useful information. It was truly magical. Or something.

But magical or something else, we quickly set off again, moving further down hill, now with a purpose to find that dense shrubbery, as it should be a good spot to rest for the night. At the same time, Lenore moved out of her Hallow once more, taking to the sky in order to look for something that might serve as dinner, after we had been forced to rely on our rations underground. Some fresh meat would come in handy, especially if we managed to find some wild vegetables or fruits.

It didn’t take her long to spot a couple of marmots that were taking in the last rays of sunshine, or maybe waiting for the night to set so they could venture further from their burrows. In this case, it mattered little, even their habitual vigilance was made useless by virtue of my Mind Magic. It was truly a marvelous skill, striking without delay, unable to be dodged or avoided, the only thing that could keep the enemy alive was the strength of their mind. In this case, the marmot I targeted had a strong mind, forcing me to use Overflow to put enough Astral Power into my Mind Blast and even then, I suffered a bit of a headache due to backlash. But the marmot’s mind was thoroughly blasted, allowing Lenore to swoop down like a slightly slow raptor, pick it up in her claws and carry it back to us.

By the time we reached the smaller valley, with the dense shrubbery Adra had promised us, Lenore and I had managed to retrieve another Marmot and a fat rabbit, providing us with a nice dinner, if a little heavy on the meat.

While Sigmir butchered my kills, the rest of us searched through the shrubs, looking for wood and possibly forage, though only Adra was able to find something, as the mushrooms apparently told her where to look, in exchange for a promise to spread their spores far and wide.

Later in the evening, after we had our dinner, Lenore and I flew up the slope of the valley, sitting high up on a cliff, to look at the moon above. For once, I could understand the saying, Absence makes the heart grow fond. I had missed the comforting light of the moon, her presence in the sky.