The lizard people seemed to have doubled the guards around the tents. They probably noticed their missing friend, odd that they haven’t gone looking for him.

The guards didn’t pose much of a problem for Umbra, she could just jump past them and get into the tents. There were a few issues with that approach, chief among them was she didn’t feel comfortable killing people who couldn’t defend themselves. There was something about the fight that made it fairer as if she had earned it.

Umbra watched through the night, occupying herself with try to form a black figure of herself as Nyx did. It was pretty wasteful in terms of magic, but Umbra didn’t mind much.

The guards changed semi-regularly but still, no one left. Surely they would have to leave eventually for food, or firewood, or some reason.

In the morning a bunch of lizards left in groups of three. Umbra groaned she couldn’t fight 3, especially during the day.

Umbra picked one of the groups at random and followed at a safe distance maybe they would split up, fighting one during the day would be hard but she thought she could do it.

Two of the lizards were older fighters, they reminded Umbra of the one she had killed, but the smaller one in the middle was younger and held a bow awkwardly. She could ignore that one if she was going to fight them, the older lizards were the priority.

She was starting to feel the ever-increasing need for magic around midday when the lizards stopped to eat. They were in the shade of a large ridge, and Umbra considered attacking them here. They were distracted by their food and she was sure she could jump behind one of the lizards and kill it before the rest of them could do anything.

Umbra started circling closer, keeping the hills between them and keeping low to the ground. She didn’t know whether she should shadow herself, it might be more obvious, so she didn’t. She crawled up a hill, it gave her a mostly unobstructed view of the environment, there was a dense forest ahead. That is where they must be heading to. Umbra smiled if they were heading there she could take them.

The lizards ate quickly, raw meat by the looks of it, disgusting. Then they set off towards the forest again. Umbra followed excited for the fight and the reward of magic at the end.

The forest was dark, trees pressed against each other fighting for space. Umbra stalked her prey from above, shadow-jumping from tree to tree. They stopped every now and then to study the ground, Umbra guessed they were hunting, just like her. Umbra forced herself to patience, she wanted them to be a bit more split before she struck.

Around noon they stopped and hissed to each other in what Umbra guessed was Common dialect not that she could make out any of it. They then split and Umbra grinned she would take the lizard on the left first.

The lizard was wary spear at the ready, they must be getting close to whatever it is they are hunting. Umbra guessed.

Umbra gave it a few more minutes before she was sure the lizard was far enough away from the others that it wouldn’t be able to warn them.

Umbra cloaked herself in her shadows then struck, shadow-jumping behind him in the dark forest and thrusting Carn towards his neck. it and swung around before she stabbed it, swinging its spear into her arm. Umbra gritted her teeth, and shadow-jumped out of its reach cradling her bruised wrist, stupid things are so fast.

It eyed her cautiously but didn’t call for help. Umbra crouched low and shadow-jumped behind the lizard, putting herself close enough that she barely had to move Carn to push it into his back, she jumped again immediately keeping tight control of her magic. Umbra remembered how fast the lizard reacted last time.

It didn’t seem to care about the knife wound on its back and slowly advanced towards her. Death by a thousand cuts it is. Umbra repeated the same process jumping in close enough to a stab and then jumping out immediately. The lizard was starting to slow, and Umbra’s magic was taking a hit, she didn’t mind though as soon as this lizard died she could increase her capacity.

It truly did seem like it would take a thousand cuts or stabs in this case before it would die. It stood defiantly, it seemed barely affected by the dozens of bleeding stab wounds on its body. A bit slower but that’s it. The sound of footsteps could be heard in the forest, and the lizard hissed in what seemed like laughter. “You are in trouble now Huntress, your tiny spear could not kill me and now my brothers are coming.” Umbra just snarled in response, she needed to end this now.

She would have to take some damage but at this point, it was the only thing she could think of. She jumped behind him, and stabbed Carn towards the back of his head, it dug in a bit, but before she could push it further she was hit in the side of the head by the length of the spear, she tumbled to the ground and the lizard advanced, that hurt, but thank the deities they didn’t have swords or daggers, I would’ve been dead. Umbra jumped again and slashed her knife across his Achilles tendon, severing them with a grotesque snap. The lizard let out the first sound of pain as he fell to his knees, a high pitched hiss. Umbra took her chance and lunged for his neck sinking carn to the hilt, Carn sang and the lizard gurgled then dropped dead. Resisting the urge to channel she jumped to the canopy of the trees above, the sound of running was close now, the other lizards must have heard the sound of pain.

The lizard crashed through the bushes and onto the slightly clear path where the lizard Umbra had just killed laid dead. They stood still staring at the body the multiple stab wounds covering it. Umbra could sense the death magic from here and the craving to channel it was immense, but she knew if she did she would pass out and probably fall off the tree to her death. The smaller lizard holding the bow fell to his knees next to the body and cradled it, Umbra ignored that, and instead used some of her dwindling magic to jump behind the older lizard who was staring at the body obviously distracted.

This one wasn’t as fast, probably because it was distracted. And Umbra sunk Carn into its throat and ripped it around, the dagger shivered in glee, and the older fighter dropped dead, the air was full of magic now, but Umbra had one more thing to deal with before she could channel; the younger lizard. It stood watching her, it was hard to tell if it was angry on account of its rigid reptile face but given the way, it trembled Umbra guessed it was furious. “You killed my father,” it hissed in anger. Umbra paused a second, but the death magic was all around her now, corrupting the air she breathed, and the only thing she wanted was more death.

Umbra flicked the blood off Carn and crouched low, only a slightly darker shadow in the forest of dark shadows. The lizard pulled back its bow, but it was far to slow and Umbra was in front of him, she drove the dagger into his head from below his jaw and he died instantly, adding his magic to the already saturated air. Carn hummed.

Umbra wasn’t sure how long she spent in the forest, three dead bodies was more magic than she had ever channelled, and she shoved her channels ever wider to compensate. She managed to stop herself from complete unconsciousness, she was worried that some predator might try to attack her.

Eventually, the magic ran out, either dispersing into the world or being absorbed by Umbra, her being had almost doubled in capacity, an insane amount of magic to Umbra. She ignored the dead bodies as best she could, what that young lizard said made it hard to ignore the fact that she had just killed three sentient creatures, even if they were savages.

Umbra was better at ignoring things now, that much magic had made everything a bit easier, she felt stronger, faster and her emotions seemed more distant. It was a nice change. leaving the dark forest and the bodies behind Umbra shadow-jumped in the night back towards the lizard’s tents.

Umbra took far larger jumps now, she had the magic to spend after all. Covering the ground faster than she had thought possible it only took her a few jumps to arrive back at the tents, it had used a large portion of her magic though.

She arrived, as the other lizard groups returned, some with dead animals, others with firewood and other miscellaneous items. They seemed to notice the absence of a group and it sent them into a flurry of activity. Then more groups left heading back towards the forest Umbra grinned a search party.

There were 3 groups of 3 and Umbra followed them back to the forest, and when they split up to search, Umbra struck, none were as capable as the first lizard she fought in the forest, and she was faster and stronger now. She picked them off easily, drawing them one by one towards her killing ground, a mostly open clearing with thick bushes and tall trees surrounding it. Soon enough 9 lizard bodies were scattered around the clearing and all Umbra had to show for it was a cut across her upper arm where a lizard had got a lucky blow in. The clearing was saturated with death magic and Umbra channelled.

Umbra’s channels were so wide now that it did not take long to absorb the magic from 9 dead bodies. Forcing herself to stay conscious during channelling made her aware of how much time had passed.

Her magic had not doubled in size from the 9 deaths, though it was still a sizable increase. Looks like I will need to kill more for less, Umbra thought with a sigh.

It only took her 2 jumps to arrive at the tents, although it was a noticeable drain on her magic, practically halving it.

Umbra guessed it had been about three days since 9 lizards died in the dark forest, and the rest of them were in the process of packing everything up. The majority of the tents were in pieces and packs were being filled with food and other essentials

They must think it is too dangerous to be around here. So where are they going? Umbra watched them pack up curiously.

It was morning when the lizards finished and they set off immediately. They didn’t head towards the dark forest or towards the estate, but further away, where plains stretched as far as Umbra could see.

Umbra followed them, she had no intention of heading back to the estate, there was nothing back there for her to do except lessons with Dovrag, which she did miss, but she could make up when she got back.

The lizards travelled for days in that time Umbra managed to pick off another of their number. But it was unsatisfying, taking her about an hour to absorb the magic. It wasn’t enough but Umbra couldn’t take all 40 of them that were left. So she had to wait.

The plains started growing boggy and gradually morphed into a swamp. Disgusting black water with mossy plants growing in it, the paths were horribly muddy, the air was unbearably humid and all manner of biting insects flew around, truly an unpleasant place. There were a lot of small trees though, and Umbra travelled across them, no need to shadow-jump they were close together and dense, and Umbra was a lot more dexterous than she used to be.

After about a day and a half and another dead lizard. Umbra caught sight of a fort directly in the path of the group she was following. It was of an impressive size, the wall was built from the trunks of trees and small watchtowers peaked over the walls.

Umbra followed after the group she had been stalking until they reached the gates of the fort. Umbra stayed way back hidden in a tree, it was day and she would be easily spotted by the lizards standing guard on the walls. She couldn't imagine how many lizards were in there, probably enough to triple my magic.

Tonight she would scout the fort for prey.