The first night out of the plateau, Gwendith helped build their shelter for the night. Inexplicably, her Animus reserves had grown naturally and she felt herself already at Sollus. It was a pity she couldn’t take the chance to advance now. More to the point, she wasn’t sure that the part of her Heritage that she earmarked to open into a Facet was the one she wanted.

The path towards the Knight level was clear-cut for the Sharine Heritage. The next Facet was actually Ice Manipulation. Like any other technique, Ice Manipulation could be used without inlaying at the cost of taking more time and a fair bit more Animus. However, Gwendith felt that her control was quick enough for the inlay to not matter much. Instead, what she wanted to do was to extend the reach of her Temperature Control by removing the Internal part of it.

And, since she had to map her Heritage lines first, there was no way she could do it while they were still in the wilderness. Not to mention that they had run out of food. There was that giant herd of elk and a few other species they saw from above, but getting there would probably take a day or so.

The last of their ration bars barely made enough for dinner for everyone.

“We should have gone to half rations earlier,” Gwendith muttered, regretful that she didn’t insist. She had brought it up a couple of days ago but Yuriko vetoed it.

“You need all the food you can get, Don’t worry about it.” Her tone was so confident that Gwendith couldn’t help but to go with what the beautiful girl said. Only when she asked what the plan was when they ran out, “We’ll see,” was the only answer.

Well, there was food on the hoof but they’d go on short rations for at least a day. And Gwendith was sure that the herd was the barbarians’ so it was unlikely to be unguarded.

In the middle of the night, Gwendith woke up with her guts churning from hunger. However, she had lived the past year mostly on the edge of starvation so this wasn’t anything new. The past few days when she could eat her fill was like a dream though.

That morning, there were only the dregs of dinner for breakfast but Yuriko did something strange.

“Close your eyes and open your mouths,” she said imperiously and all of them obeyed without question.

Gwendith only came to herself when she felt something wet go into her mouth and then the command, “Swallow.”

She was tempted not to but then, the sweetest taste exploded in her mouth.

“Oohh,” she moaned as warmth radiated from her guts and just like that, she wasn’t hungry anymore. She was full. Far more so than if she had a seven-course dinner! What was that?

“Don’t bother asking,” Yuriko sighed.

Gwendith felt the mental pressure on herself lessen. Strange, she didn’t even notice it until it was gone. When she opened her eyes, Yuriko sat there with a contemplative look on her face. None of the others questioned her and to Gwendith, it looked as if they didn’t even have the will to think about what just happened. From the expressions on their faces, they were happy just to have something fill their bellies.

“This isn’t a long term solution,” Gwendith said, “Whatever that was, you don’t have an unlimited amount, right?”

“No, of course not.” Yuriko shook her head. “That’s why we’ll go to that herd and hunt.”

“It’s the barbarians’ herd, sure to be guarded.”

“I doubt there’s more than a few. And I’m sure we can take them easily.”

“Yes, but,” Gwendith insisted, “there’s thousands of elk. We only need one or two. I’m sure we can do it without the barbarians finding out. And,” she mused, “the enemy’s supply source is important intelligence for the legion.”

“Alright…” Yuriko muttered. “So you want to get the legion to attack en masse?”

“Well, yeah. If we do it, then most likely the rest of the herd will scatter. Then Ouera Bo will send their warriors and hunters to regather them and nothing will change. The camp’s there to try to starve the barbarians out, but they won’t succeed with the secret herd. For a while back Ouera Bo was starving but then the Fleetfoot Tribe arrived and reversed it. So this is our chance to break this siege.”

Yuriko frowned as she thought things through.

Well, what did she intend to do anyway, Gwendith wondered? Just go snag an elk or two, kill the herders and let the rest stampede? Unless she intended to kill every last one of them? Gwendith hoped not.

“Alright, I guess we’ll do that.”

Gwendith gave Yuriko a wide smile. The other girl returned it, causing her heart to skip another beat, but then, the other frowned and held her stare. “Yuri?”

Yuriko didn’t seem to hear. She looked at Gwendith as though staring straight into her Anima. Then, she shook her head and muttered, “I must be mistaken…”

“What?” Gwendith asked.

“Nothing,” Yuriko said in a tone that told her not to press.

They tidied up the camp and packed all of their gear. Gwendith helped Kalla remove traces of their camp. They walked along the valleys between the hills, with Nathan or Sheamus tramping down the snow. Yuriko glided up the hillsides and stood on the crests, keeping a careful eye on their destination.

From what Gwendith saw, the valley the herd was located in only had two ways to enter it, from the northeast and from the west. They would have to go southeast for a few longstrides, then south for another two leagues.

The distances were as the crow flew, however. The path to get there on foot required them to follow gullies, cross a couple of ridges, walk around large outcroppings, and then follow an icy stream down another gully. Afterwards, they found themselves following a beaten-down trail.

Gwendith spotted cropped up grass, and from the colour of the sap, it was blue-veined grass, which answered the question of what those things ate to live. There were bare bushes and the lower halves of the evergreens had been…trimmed. It was a veritable trail of consumption.

It was late afternoon by the time they entered the valley through the northeast entrance. Fully a quarter of the valley floor was covered by the herd. A wide river bisected it, with the headwaters coming from the northern mountains. Gwendith couldn’t see where the barbarians were though.

White mist covered a part of the northern cliff, close to the headwaters. Maybe they were there?

“Wait, Yuri! Don’t climb up there!” Gwendith called out as the other girl was about to hike up a slope.

“Oh, right,” Yuriko muttered as she shook her head.

“Let’s set up camp in those hills,” Gwendith suggested, pointing at an area away from the valley. “After we catch one, we shouldn’t linger. For the hunting party, Sheamus, Kalla, and Pavo?”

“Huh, what about me?” Yuriko asked.

“You’re on overwatch. In case the barbarians see us. At that point, you’re to head off any pursuit.”

“I suppose.” But then she shook her head, “Listen, it’s probably faster and better if I throw a pebble at a stray and we hurry to retrieve it.”

“Range?”

“Four hundred paces.”

Gwendith looked at the herds. The nearest individual was more than a longstride away, but there were enough outcroppings and rolling hills to sneak in.

“I can do this quickly,” Yuriko insisted, “no need to risk the others.”

Gwendith nodded. She had a point, of course, and honestly, she didn’t think there was much of a threat here that five Knights wouldn’t be able to face. “Go for it.”

Yuriko nodded and left, running quickly yet silently.

“Alright, let’s look for shelter. Sheamus and Desire, please wait here for Yuriko. I’ll send someone back once we’ve found a spot.”

Desire sniffed then said, “I’d stay here waiting for Master even if you didn’t say anything.”

Gwendith’s eyes narrowed but she let the girl have her snit. Desire was rather, physically demonstrative to Yuriko and Gwendith was…well, she actually wasn’t bothered, now that she thought about it. It was more that she wanted to do the same things…

Shaking her head at her own foolishness, she nodded to Desire and gestured to Kalla and Lucinda to lead the way. They went back west about a couple of hundred paces and chose a spot next to an outcropping. She sent Elsie to wait with Sheamus and Desire, and to lead them back to camp. The rest of them worked on setting up.

“We’ll want to either smoke the carcass or preserve it with salts,” Lucinda muttered. “We’ll need a temporary smokehouse. Think you two can help control moisture?”

“We could freeze the meat instead?” Kalla offered.

“But then we’d have to carry heavy ice blocks along,” Gwendith muttered. “Smoking should be fine, but I can’t control moisture.”

“Ah, I can do it.” Kalla volunteered.

Even before they could get to making the smokehouse, Yuriko and the others returned. The carcass was bigger than Gwendith expected and should provide enough meat for several days. More than enough time to reach the Imperial Camp.

Yuriko watched keenly as the butchering was done, while Gwendith helped with the shelter and the smokehouse. Four of the rescued women, Katie, Bonnie, Leah, and Ava, went off towards a nearby grove to fetch branches and logs to build a fire. Since the brazier didn’t let off smoke, that wouldn’t work.

The smokehouse they built would hold the smoke, but she worried about what would happen once they were ready to leave. Still, the smell of roasting meat made her mouth water. Oddly enough, her stomach didn’t growl or complain, despite the fact that the only thing she had today was whatever it was that Yuriko fed her.

By evening, they had venison skewers and the rest of the carcass was cut into strips and chunks. The innards and the hide had to be abandoned though, so they dug a pit and dropped the offal there.

It took nearly a day before the process was done. Gwendith spent most of this time mapping her Heritage lines to see which ones she should inlay. She made good progress and was halfway done by the next afternoon. At that point, the smoking was finished and they packed up the preserved meat using cloth and leaves. The next morning, after a breakfast of stewed venison, they headed east. It didn’t look like the barbarians noticed anything.

Gwendith saw Yuriko drawing a map in a notebook. Gwendith took a peek and nearly giggled. Yuriko’s hand at art wasn’t the best, that was for sure. The golden-haired girl shot her an aggrieved look and she held out her hands in supplication.

“What?” she growled.

“Uhm, are you sure you’d be able to get back here with that?”

Yuriko looked at her drawing, which was mostly squiggles and letters. “Yes. Now, shoo!”

Gwendith grinned and shooed. Though now that she thought about it, was Yuriko even using a pen?

As they travelled, they kept the mountain wall to their left. Keeping a set distance of a longstride or two was difficult simply because the terrain didn’t allow it. Oh, Gwendith was sure she, or Yuriko, Ancestors, even the scouts would have managed walking up and down the hills, but the other women were still recovering from their long captivity and abuse. Elsie and Jamari were looking much better, having put on more weight. For that matter, Jamari’s incessant coughing had stopped, much to Gwendith’s relief. The other women were improving, too.

In truth, they could have made the journey from Ouera Bo to the downslope in a single day. The stretch couldn’t be more than ten leagues. Hopefully, they’d make it to the camp in three to four days.

On the third day after they finished smoking the venison, Yuriko landed gracefully down the snow from her perch atop a tall evergreen. She met Gwendith’s eyes then sported a rather vicious grin. Again, Gwendith’s heart skipped a beat, but she was sure she kept her expression even, though she felt some heat rising up to her cheeks. Yuriko’s words brought her away from her spiralling thoughts though.

“Barbarian raiders.”