-Vandlind-

The cloaking spell I used vacuumed almost a tenth of my mana from me. Canceling out the ability to be detected from sight, sound, and smell was, unsurprisingly, incredibly taxing. The results were well worth it, though. Both Veylin and I were able to slip out of my home undetected.

Currently, we were using the branches of the largest trees, comparable to redwoods from Earth, to close the distance between us and the caravan. It wasn't the most efficient method of travel, but I didn't want to leave any tracks for my parents to follow. It would be easy for them to guess as it was, I didn't need to give them more hints.

I motioned for Veylin to stop when we approached the area above the caravan. 'Stay above like this for the time being.'

It was only a matter of time before my parents decided to investigate the caravan below. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, my parents would assume I used the caravan as a front and left in another direction.

In the meantime, I inspected the wagons and people below. There was four wagons total, pulled by... a type of bison? My education had failed to instill the name of the animal. The beasts looked more reminiscent of buffalo than cows, but I supposed the weird hybrid animal could be classified as either if I used Earth standards. They plowed forward at a decent pace, seemingly unbothered by the load they carried.

Using my mana to sense for life, I knew that there were exactly thirty-seven individuals accompanying the convoy; I assumed this was an organized endeavor after noticing most wore the same red uniforms. The majority of the guards walked outside the covered wagons while only a few were riding as passengers.

The people were of all sorts of races; though, more than three-quarters of the group was human. Iris' equivalent of humans, at least. The two were virtually indistinguishable; however, humans on Iris had greater variations in hair and eye color. Dwarves, and even a singular half-orc, made up the rest of the group. Seeing different races for the first time filled me with a hint of wanderlust.

I wagered using my telepathy to gather information, deciding against it in the end. If there was someone there capable of detecting my probe, I would just give away my position. With that in mind, I silently moved from branch to branch in trail of the caravan.

There was perhaps a half-hour before anything happened. I felt the tell-tale signs of a scry on my location. My mother must have discovered my escape by now, probably using the same bowl as earlier to check on me. The wards I placed would prevent any information from leaking, so if my parents wanted to find me, they would have to check in person.

And that's exactly what happened. Soon after my mother dropped her scry, my dad blasted through the treetops in the same manner that we had. He perched on top of a tree dozens of feet away before pulling out an oblong stone.

Oh, shit, a seeking stone.

I grabbed Veylin by the shoulder, yanking her into my lap as I huddled into the crook of the tree we were on.

'Wha-' She began.

"Blokujte auru okolo mňa," I mumbled, too surprised to use a chantless cast., not that it mattered with the cloaking spell up.

A faint purple cover shimmered around the two of us before disappearing. The stone in my father's hand began to glow a faint blue and pulse rhythmically.

Heron slowly rotated around, looking at the stone intently. When he turned in our direction, he paused. The stone's constant pulsing hitched slightly. It began beating normally almost instantly, but my father continued to look in our direction.

Fuck. I was too careless with my cast. I must have not wiped our mana signature completely.

I shaped a ball of invisible mana in my hands before shooting it away.

Please buy it, old man.

The stone started pulsing wildly in the direction I shot my mana. Heron snapped his head away from us before following the stone's guidance.

Phew, that was close. I let out a terse breath.

'Could you please let go of me?' Veylin asked softly.

I looked down at the invisible person below me, realizing I was gripping her much too tightly between my legs, 'Ah, sorry.' I let go and she quickly stood from the space in my lap.

I stood up next to her, casting the blocking spell on her individually this time. I was pressed for time at first, but now I could cast a separate spell targeted on her. I was already feeling the exertion from the cloaking spells sucking my mana out of me so adding another wasn't ideal. Still, I had no choice if I wanted to leave unmolested. Fortunately, I still had around three-quarters of my mana left. At the rate it was draining, I could last a few more hours of constant use if I was careful.

Unfortunately, there were less than two hours before nightfall. This meant the caravan would be coming to a stop soon. I could hope for a bit of luck and continue moving West where the caravan was heading currently, or I could spend the night waiting for them. If it was the latter, I would need to cancel the invisibility spells I set up so I didn't faint from mana exhaustion. The spell to conceal our mana signatures would stay up, naturally.

I decided to ask Veylin, 'What should we do? Wait or leave?'

I felt her concentration before she replied, 'I don't know. Either option has its risks.'

Well, that's not very helpful. I complained to myself, careful to not let the thoughts sink through the bond.

I debated to myself for a while before coming to a decision, 'All right, I've come up with a comprise so we won't get lost or discovered, hopefully, at least. I'll carve a locator glyph onto one of their wagons when they make camp. After that, we'll continue West and wait for the caravan until they get out of the forest.'

Veylin expressed an emotion of satisfaction at the plan.

The plan would be effective; however, it wasn't without its risks either. The Primordial language was fickle about accuracy and carving a glyph without anyone seeing would prove to be difficult. It was also prone to alert anyone with a smidge of magical sensitivity when it activated. Still, it was the best option I could think of. I was banking on the rarity of mages to make this work.

As expected, the four wagons began to slow with about an hour of daylight left. They were situated in a circle formation, most likely to provide some protection for the people that were setting up bedrolls in the middle. Soon, a roaring fire was blazing through the camp, and the sound of idle chatter wafted into the forest.

From the looks of it, many of the travelers were indulging themselves with alcohol. I wasn't sure how intelligent it was to drink in a forest home to at least one ground-drake. Although, I wasn't about to complain about them making my job easier.

I would have preferred to wait until they were all passed out drunk before sneaking in; the state of my focus thought otherwise. So, with the sounds of people still shuffling around drinking, I began descending from my place in the treetops. Drunk and awake was better than sober and awake, but it wasn't ideal, especially if they had a mage hidden somewhere.

Upon making my approach, I was careful not to break any leaves or twigs. The spell would mask the sound, not any tracks I made. Though, the caravan was lax with their guards; no one stood watch, so my caution was most likely unwarranted.

I silently sidled up to the closest wagon and squeezed under it. The feet of the travelers were visible from my hiding spot. I quickly drew the knife situated on my right thigh and began carving. The enchanted blade easily sliced the wood, making the glyph carving a smooth process.

Alright, time for my least favorite part.

Magic required a medium to work through. Just because I placed a random scribble on a wall didn't mean that scribble would work. For the most part, mages used their bodies as mediums, but specially crafted wands and staffs were other methods to help with control. In the case of this glyph, the medium would be my blood.

I gently drew a cut on my index finger with the tip of the knife. The crimson liquid flowed out slowly, wrapping its way down my finger. I carefully traced the blood over the glyph, using my finger as a makeshift paintbrush.

With the work complete, I muttered the final part, "Určiť," The bloody glyph pulsed red faintly before becoming dormant.

I tensed. If anyone would discover me, it would be now. When the revelry beside me continued as if nothing happened for several minutes, I let out an unsteady breath and scurried out from under the wagon. Quickly and quietly, I made my way back to Veylin.

'Good?' she asked.

'Good.'

Veylin and I continued to head West, leaving the caravan behind. The hours bled together, and the two of us were panting by the time we came out of the forest. My invisibility spell had worn off a half-hour earlier, so we were left standing near the tree line for cover.

"Fuck," Veylin gasped, "Did we really need... to take the treetops the entire way?"

I collapsed to the ground, lungs burning and breathing heavily, "At least... you... could use body enhancement..." My words came in bursts as I eagerly gulped down air.

Veylin slumped next to me, waving a hand, "Answer... the question."

I waited for my heart rate to settle before answering, "Yeah, my dad's a freakishly good tracker. Even in the trees, I don't know if we were capable of limiting our tracks enough for him to lose us."

Veylin chewed the inside of her cheek nervously, a bad habit of hers, "Maybe he'll just leave us alone anyway? Only your mother seemed to have a problem with you leaving."

"That would be the best-case scenario, yes."

The night was well underway by this point, and I estimated it was a little past midnight. My sharp eyes made the oppressive dark a nonissue, but we would need to find shelter to sleep. I didn't want to risk putting up a tent, and I didn't have enough mana to cloak it all night if we did.

My head let out a groan of annoyance as I stood up, informing me of my foolish expenditure of mana. I grimaced but held out a hand to my exhausted bond, "Come on, we need to find a place to take cover."

Veylin wearily grabbed my arm and gave a huff as she was pulled to her feet, "And where, exactly, are we going to find cover?" She gestured to the empty plain in front of her; the mountains farther in the distance than I would've thought. "Surely we can't go back in the forest."

I grinned before walking out into the plain.

"No," Veylin pleaded, "We are not going to those mountains. That's at least two more hours of walking, and who knows what monsters might've made that their home. At least we're familiar with the forest."

I continued to walk without looking back, "The more we travel now, the more we can sleep in before the caravan catches up. It'll even out. Besides, I have something for the monsters," I patted the sword at my right hip.

"Shit! Fuck!" She glanced between me and the forest before mumbling a string of curses and jogging out of the forest, cursing all the way.

I raised an eyebrow when she slowed beside me, "You swear like a sailor."

"Fuck off," she mumbled.

I laughed, unable to contain myself.

Veylin turned her head swiftly in shock.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing."

*

-Heron-

It had not been hard to find his son. The boy was a prodigy, but he still didn't know everything. After sending off that blast of mana, it was only a matter of time until he tracked where it came from. Heron was quite impressed at the boy's ingenuity in placing a locater glyph. Staying in the forest would've led to him being inevitably caught. A lesser tracker would never have found him; however, he was no simple tracker.

He perched along the tree line, watching silently as his son started walking further towards the mountains. His bond ran shakily after him, noticeably tired. He prepared to jump off the branch he was on and chase after them; they wouldn't be able to resist with the meager mana that they had left.

That was when it happened, a beautiful sound, unlike anything he had ever heard. His son had laughed. Of course, Vandlind had laughed before, but this past decade, it was always... constrained—tight. It was as if the boy carried a burden with him. Now, the burden was gone. He sounded alive... free.

Streaks of warmth rolled down Heron's face. He faintly realized he had started crying. How long has it been since I shed tears?

He turned back towards the forest, away from the mountains, and raced back to his wife. A faint smile slowly crept its way onto his lips.

"Be safe, son."