Once I was far enough away from Kara, a weight that I didn't know was on me lifted from my chest and my mind seemed clearer. I took a huge breath and let it out as my Presence energy that had been ebbing sprang back to full strength. Maylia noticed the difference as my energy spread to her and she glanced at me with concern on her face.

“Yeah, whatever power that skinny guy Josh has, must have been holding me there as well.” I said and picked up speed to run almost at our top speed.

“As a group, they might all have that power. If you are near one, you want to stay near one.” Maylia said. “You said you needed to leave several times and yet you didn't.”

“Yes, I wanted to leave... and for some reason I... I just couldn't bring myself to go. Not until Kara approached, anyway.” I said with a slight frown. “I don't like that it's affecting me, whatever it is.”

“I thought you might have stayed to hear that tanned man's story.” Maylia said.

“I wanted to, because it's going to be interesting to hear. I knew it would be some time before he would speak, though. He just lost three of his friends and I sincerely doubt he's going to say more than a word or two for a while.”

“Are you sure?” Maylia asked.

I nodded. “You don't seem affected by whatever that group does, so I doubt he will be affected either.” I said. “I really need to get a handle on using mana properly. The spell the girl used on me knocked me back and winded me, and I thought I was completely protected.” I said. “Just like when Sylvana kicked me, both times, my protection didn't mean anything.”

“I tried to protest that mortally wounding you was not a part of the bargain you made.” Maylia said.

I glanced at her. “That was you?”

Maylia nodded. “Then you threw that sword at her and plunged it into her chest.” She said. “I hated you so much when you did that.”

“You all did.” I chuckled. “That's why I did it.”

“To make us hate you?” Maylia asked, surprised.

“No, to show you that I could have easily killed her.” I said. “Hating me would have happened on its own when I beat her, especially since your people hold men in such low regard.”

“If you could have killed so easily, why didn't you kill all of us?” Maylia asked. “You threatened to.”

“You mean like what happened in that clearing during the rescue?” I asked, and she nodded. “It's difficult to explain. I was angry at your people for capturing and robbing me; but, I didn't feel any real malice or hatred from you.” I shrugged. “I normally don't just go in killing people like I did in the clearing. I usually examine, or listen, or try to find out what's going on first before I act. In the clearing, I just... I knew they were bad and needed to be dealt with before they hurt me or anyone else.”

“Like instinct?” Maylia asked.

“Yes, that's what it was. Instinct.” I said in understanding. “When I was inside the protection tree, I didn't have any proof that you wouldn't kill me, and yet... when I approached the sacred chamber, I knew you weren't going to hurt me and I immediately regretted having to hurt you to get free.”

“I felt that your apology was sincere and knew you were telling the truth about respecting the sacred tree.” Maylia said.

“I'm glad you did, or that could have turned out a lot differently.” I said. “In the clearing, as soon as my detection range touched them, I knew that they were evil and didn't hesitate at all, because I knew they wouldn't.”

“I agree. I didn't doubt for one second that they would kill us if we didn't strike first.” Maylia said. “Especially that mangled face man. I felt dirty just from him looking at me.”

I nodded and we stayed quiet for a while as we ran.

“Are we still going to the capital, even though they came from there?” Maylia asked.

“Yes, I should confirm their story at least.” I said. “Once I look around and see for myself what the standard of living is like, that is.”

“I'm interested in seeing that as well.” Maylia said. “There's no record of an elf visiting the capital of any country.”

“I guess that makes us both explorers as well as adventurers.” I said with a smile, and she smiled back.

“Are we stopping anywhere for the night?” Maylia asked.

“I don't know.” I said as night fell completely. There was no traffic on the road and it was easy to run on it without having to avoid anyone. “I feel pretty energized right now, and we know Kara and the others are probably right behind us.”

“We could buy some horses.” Maylia suggested.

“Can you teach me the mana boost you did on those oversized horses you rode in the forest?”

“I'll teach you anything that you want to know.” Maylia said and gave my hand a squeeze. “You've given me more knowledge over the last week than I've learned in the last ten years. Also, my mana ability has increased for the first time in thirty years.”

“So, you're telling me that you're easily bribed.” I joked and grinned at her, and she laughed.

“Only by you, Hunter.” Maylia said. “Only by you.”

I gave her hand a squeeze and we kept running. We arrived at the next town several hours later and asked the town guard where to buy horses. He said he didn't know, until I held a silver coin up. After a moment, he told us that we could buy some horses if we didn't care where they came from. He took us down the street and into an old barn. Inside were five horses that looked kind of scraggly.

“We caught some bandits last week that were trying to rob a man and his wife. They killed one of their horses and almost got away, then our patrol found them. They were no match for seasoned soldiers.”

That's probably the man and woman we saw on the main road that ignored us. I thought.

“They're a little scrawny and haven't been well fed. I've been trying to get them into good health, so I can sell them to the stable that rents them.” The guard said. “It's taking more to feed them than they're going to be worth when I can actually sell them.”

I chuckled. “Well, considering there's only two of us, we can't take all five.”

“If you pay enough for the two, I'll make it up from the other three.”

“Are you giving us the saddles, too?” I asked, and the guard looked at me warily. “We can ride without them; but, what are you going to do with two old saddles when people can probably buy them new?”

“You could buy them new, too.”

“I need to get to the capital as quickly as possible.” I said. “I have no extra time for shopping, or for the sales person to try and sell me something that I have no idea which one is the best. I could buy a cheap saddle for an outrageous price and I'd never know it.”

The guard looked at me like I was giving away all of my advantages.

“Before you think of doing the same thing, both I and my beautiful companion can tell when people are lying.”

The guard grunted and then smiled. “All right. Ten silver for each horse, and I'll give you the worst saddles of the five.”

I chuckled. “Okay, that's fair.” I said and gave him the money. He went to get the two saddles and I looked at Maylia. “Can you tell me which of these won't die when we ride them out of town?”

Maylia nodded and pointed to number two and number five. We gathered them together and put the tack and reins on them, then brought them over to the door of the barn. The guard came back with two pretty ratty and worn saddles and we strapped them onto the horses.

“Nice doing business with you.” The guard said and waved as he left to go back to his post.

I looked at the completely unguarded barn without a lock or even a strong door. I didn't even have to comment when Maylia put a hand on my arm and made me look at her. She smiled a knowing smile at me and I couldn't help but smile back. She already knew what I was going to say about the place.

“Let's stop at that stable and get some feed.” I said instead. We went to the stable and bought several weeks of feed for each horse and I put it into my bag of holding. We walked the horses out to the edge of town and I tried to do a quick Mana Presence Heal on my horse to see if I could at least get it back into normal health. The horse filled out slightly and neighed at me as if to thank me, so I pat its neck. I did Maylia's horse next, then we mounted up and took off riding. After an hour at a regular pace, Maylia directed us to go off the road and into the trees. Once there, I tried to conceal us from the road with Presence. She took an hour to teach me the spell she used to imbue mana into the horse to make it go faster. She used it on her horse and it glowed green and stayed that way.

“Now you try.” Maylia said.

I did exactly what she did and absolutely nothing happened. “You have got to be kidding me.” I said.

“It wasn't a joke. I told you exactly what I did.” Maylia said.

“Sorry, that's just a saying where I come from when something happens and we can't believe it.” I sighed. “Can you show me another spell? Something easy?”

Maylia quickly showed me the spell to generate arrows for a bow. She taught it to me and then cast the spell herself, and twenty pieces of thin wood came out of the surrounding trees and dropped into her hand. They had sharp points and fletches made of leaves.

“They are not as good as making them by hand and with feathers, but when all you have is mana and no feathers...” Maylia said, then she walked me through the steps again. I did my best and copied her exactly. I even called mana to my hands to see if that would help... and nothing happened.

“Isn't it just great that I can't use spells in a world full of magic?” I asked with a laugh.

Maylia opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. “You've cast powerful spells before.”

“No, they are just...” I stopped talking for a moment. “Son of a...” I didn't curse out loud or yell, despite really wanting to. “Only the things I can do with one thing, can I do with the other.”

“What does that mean?” Maylia asked.

I gave her the reins of my horse. “Hold these tightly.” I said and turned to look at a thick dead tree about twenty feet away. I called forth Presence Lightning, except I used the same technique that I had used with the Mana Presence Hands that Maylia had inspired me to do. I made a container for the lightning out of Presence and filled it with mana instead of using just Presence. I pointed at the tree and let a single bolt out. It was the same one that I had hit the princess with the first time and she hadn't even felt it.

A huge bolt six inches wide and two feet long shot across the distance instantly, hit the center of the tree, and blew it apart. I created a Presence Wall with mana inside in front of us to stop the old and dried splinters from hitting us. The horses had been spooked by the explosion and tried to get away, and I touched them with Presence and calmed them down. Maylia looked at the completely destroyed tree and then at me.

“What was that?” Maylia asked, surprised.

“A hastily adapted technique.” I said. “I've been slowly changing the things I know how to do by adding mana, and it makes them more effective.” I looked at my hands and then up into the sky. “I didn't realize that the more mana I use, the more powerful it becomes.”

“Isn't that how it always works?” Maylia asked, slightly confused. “The more mana you use, the bigger the spell, and the more it drains you.” She looked at the tree. “Why aren't you light-headed or feeling tired after that?”

I chuckled. “Maylia, I can't describe the amount of Presence I have inside myself. I can't tell you how much I have or how much I can gather temporarily when I need it.” I said. “When you removed my shackles and they stopped draining me, both my Presence and my mana filled up. They are the same size.”

Maylia blinked her eyes at me. “But... if you can't cast spells... what is the point of the mana?”

“Exactly.” I said and turned to her. “I had a feeling not long ago that it was like I had two people inside of me. One with Presence and one with mana. I thought combining them was what I needed to do to make the energy work for me, because my Presence techniques weren't quite working right.”

“It's working now, isn't it?” Maylia asked. “We can run pretty fast.”

“Yes, and when you learned the technique and added your own mana, we went that much faster, didn't we?” I asked, and she nodded. “Now, imagine you were using the technique by yourself, and someone like me used only mana and shared it with you.”

Maylia had to think about that for a minute. “You're saying you've only been sharing a small amount of mana with me this entire time?” She asked and it was my turn to nod. “But... but that means...”

“Now we have horses, and only you can cast the spell to boost the horse with mana.” I said. “But me? I can't cast the spell. What I can do is share my energy with a willing participant.”

Maylia's eyes widened. “You've been unconsciously holding back, because you're not used to using mana like everyone else here.” She said. “If your mana reserve is large enough for the princess to be interested in keeping you, then... then you...”

“Shall we try it?” I asked. “Cast the same spell on my horse and I'll share my mana with you.”

Maylia nodded. “I'll be the focusing rod.” She said and touched my horse and I took off my glove and touched her neck. I caressed it briefly and then held on. Maylia started to chant and instead of sharing Presence like I usually do, I only used it to make the connection between us, then poured my mana into her. Maylia glowed brightly and she poured that energy into the horse. She finished the spell and the horse glowed just as brightly as she did. She reached out and touched her own horse, then a moment later, it glowed just as brightly.

“I'd call that a success.” I said with a smile and she turned to face me. I kept my hand on her neck and it slid around to the front. She stepped close and stared into my eyes, because she could see through the blast shield just as well as I could.

“We... can't waste the spell.” Maylia whispered and licked her lips.

“I think we can spare a few seconds.” I whispered back and kissed her. We stayed there for a few minutes, then she sighed and broke the kiss. Without a word, we led the horses back out to the road and climbed up into the saddles, then took off at a ridiculous speed, even faster than the conditioned horses that the elves had. The horses weren't bothered by the speed at all, and I had to assume that they could see pretty far because of the glow they gave off. Either that, or they were sharing our detection range.

In any case, we ran for the rest of the night and made fantastic time as we headed towards the capital. Both my Presence and mana regenerated in under two hours when we stopped, so after we fed and watered the horses and ate breakfast ourselves, I took Maylia's hand as she cast the spell again on the horses. We mounted up and rode at full speed again. We repeated this process each time we stopped to eat, fed and watered the horses, and the countryside passed us by faster and faster.

Maylia was the one that noticed the horses were getting more muscular and were slightly bigger than they had been. At this point, nothing I saw or experienced seemed odd to me, so I nodded to her and we kept going. We couldn't really talk or share stories as we rode, so it was companionable silence between us until we stopped to rest. Of course, I didn't waste those opportunities and cuddled Maylia while we ate and relaxed. She was more than okay with that and enjoyed it as well.

*

Kara and the others made it back to the town where they had left the carriage, and they had been surprised that they hadn't passed Hunter and the woman he was with. They thought for sure, even after waiting to heal the injured for as long as they did, their horses should have caught up to them. They had no idea that Hunter and Maylia had been just down the road in the barn as they waited for the guard to return with the saddles.

They split the injured between their rooms and slept for the rest of the night. No one was surprised when Steven offered to guard the lamia in his room. Siada didn't object, which was a surprise; but, Kara wasn't going to let that happen and took the lamia into her room and covered her mouth with Presence to protect herself. Imiryl, the blue haired girl, went with Aimee and Jessica into their room. The tanned man, Allirynn, went with a disappointed Steven to stay in his room. Josh and Evangeline had their room to themselves; but, they were too tired to take advantage of that.

The next day, they piled the injured into the carriage with the rest of the group and Jessica and Aimee rode the horses. The kid guide told the driver where to go to deal with the next group of monsters, and he took them there. Josh had been tempted to do the speed spell that the acolytes had given the carriage that first day; but, he needed his mana for working on the injured and did that instead while they travelled. The group arrived at the first spot and saw several people carrying humanoid frog carcasses across the road and there was a large ship shoved into the dirt of the large riverbank nearby.

“We're emissaries for the Goddess Chiaya.” Jessica said to the man that wore a white hat. “What happened here?”

“You wouldn't believe me if I told you, pretty lady.” The captain said with a smile.

“I'm sure it's not that strange of a story.” Jessica said without smiling back.

“All right.” The captain said.

The captain told them about Hunter and how the ship was attacked by the creatures, how Hunter had stopped the boat from sinking and killed the attackers, then how Hunter had docked the ship by himself.

“Damnedest thing I ever saw.” The captain said. “He just looked at the dirt and it covered the hole!”

“I told you it wasn't that strange of a story.” Jessica said and smiled, her thoughts happy that Hunter had helped them in their time of need and acted like the hero he was supposed to be. “Thank you.”

“Hey, are you going to look for the source of those things?” A man asked as he came over to them. “Hunter didn't have the time to go and look for them himself.”

Jessica looked at the others inside the carriage.

“You were sent from the capital to help, weren't you?” The man asked and looked at their faces.

“Yes, we were.” Kara said.

“Thank god.” The man said in relief and missed the raised eyebrows on some of them. “We've been asking for months for them to send someone. The things usually show up every few weeks. These ones showed up the night before, so their tracks or trail or whatever should still be easy to follow.”

“We will probably need one of them.” Evangeline said.

“Well, there's a couple dozen of them, so help yourself.” The man said and pointed to the pile. “We've been moving them to my farm to use them for animal feed, once we clean and strip them, of course. The bones are too hard, even for the pigs, and they can eat anything.”

That was too much information. Jessica thought. “Thank you. We'll get right on it.”

“That's great!” The man said happily and turned away. “I'll tell the neighbours!”

“Are you really going to stop them from coming?” The captain said.

“We're going to try.” Kara said. “We can't promise any more than that.”

The captain chuckled. “That's what Hunter said about protecting the boat.” He said and walked over to the side of the ship. “If you're as good as he was when he tried and succeeded, we're all in good hands.” He banged a fist on the wood. “Hey! Tell me when you want the log pulled out from this side!”

“We've almost got it cut off, cap'n!” A muffled voice said back.

“If you fix the ship by suppertime, I'll pay for the food!” The captain said, and a few yells replied. He smiled and turned to Jessica. “You need to keep them properly motivated or they slack off.”

Jessica nodded and slid off the horse and tied it to the back of the carriage, had Aimee do the same, then they both climbed up and squeezed into the carriage. Kara had been right. It was way too crowded with all of them inside.

“Aimee, what do you recommend?” Jessica asked.

“A locate spell won't work, even if we use their equipment to look for the source.” Aimee said. “If we... hmm... well...”

“It's not a test that has a right and wrong answer.” Jessica said with a smile. “I'm asking your opinion.”

“Oh!” Aimee exclaimed, and her face flushed slightly red. “Well, if that's the case, we could try a Remnant spell.”

Jessica closed her eyes for a moment and thought about it, then opened her eyes and smiled. “I think that's the best course of action, as long as we take the original with us.”

“What's a remnant spell?” Kara asked.

“It's a spell that essentially creates a ghost.” Jessica said. “We use the original body and cast the spell, tell the remnant that we want to return the body where it came from, then tell the remnant to go home.”

Steven barked a laugh. “Are you kidding me?” He asked. “You're going to ask a ghost to take you to its home? Really?”

“It should work.” Jessica said. “The ghost will fade when the task is complete or if we dispel it.”

“Then let's do it.” Kara said. “Steven, your skills won't be at their best. We're not going to be directly saving people, so you should stay here and protect the injured.”

Steven nodded, and Kara, Jessica, Josh, Evangeline, and Aimee stepped out of the carriage to put their really odd plan into action.