Chapter 36
Allora seemed a little more herself when she awoke the next morning. Mitchell and Lethelin had swapped off watches rather than try to rouse her, but there was nothing for it. Whatever was going on with Allora, she needed her sleep.
"Are you feeling okay?" Mitchell asked as she forced down her breakfast.
Allora didn't answer for a long time as she stared at the dying embers of their fire.
"There is an empty feeling inside of me," she answered at last. "Where my mana was, it feels cold... dead."
Her voice cracked. The elf brought her eyes to his and then quickly looked away. Her skin had regained a little bit of color, but she still looked sickly. And her lack of appetite was beginning to show as well. She looked to have lost a kilogram or more in just the last two days.
"We'll figure something out," he told her and tried to sound reassuring. "We did alright against the wolves last night with just our blades and my spells. I'll keep practicing, and we'll get to your friend and find out what's wrong. It's going to be okay."
Allora gave a half-hearted smile, but he could tell she wasn't optimistic. Mitchell himself was more scared than he'd been at any time since he'd arrived. They had, at best, seven-to-ten days to get across these damned mountains and her condition didn't seem to be getting better.
With Marvin and Tammi fed and saddled with their gear, they set off up the trail. They had all pulled out their heavier cloaks as the wind blowing through the passes had a distinct chill and Mitchell could see hints of frost in the deeper shadows of the rocks and crags.
They marched on. Lethelin took the lead with Tammi, Allora was in the middle and Mitchell pulled up the rear with Marvin.
The passes they worked their way through were at times so narrow that Mitchell had to turn sideways to squeeze through. At other times they opened up into what could almost be called valleys. This far down the slopes they didn't have to do much actual climbing as the passes were well-used, but occasionally they would come to a part that was washed out or a section that was covered by a rock slide where things got more treacherous. By the time they settled in that night, everyone was exhausted. Mitchell felt like he'd hiked thirty miles, but, in reality, they'd probably made it less than five.
He ached all over and the girls weren't faring much better. He knew that the heart stone was helping to keep his body in peak condition and he would wake up mostly fine in the morning, but the others were having to do this without assistance. Mitchell needed to keep that in mind when he decided to encourage them to keep going or to rest.
In the end, they stopped earlier than they technically needed to because Mitchell was expecting another wolf attack and wanted to rest as much as possible so as to have a good fire going before their assailants arrived. Allora had taught him the signs of the large beasts as they'd walked and he had seen more and more evidence of their activity. They primarily came out at dusk, though, so they had a little bit of time.
As the group ate a hurried dinner, Mitchell was scanning through his spell book looking for anything else that might help. He wanted something that would help them make fortifications. When he explained to Allora what he was looking for, she said that most spells of that nature were from the transmutation school and he didn't have access to that mana type.
There were some other interesting possibilities, but they were complicated runes, and he didn't think he could master them in time to be useful. He was still struggling with the fire bolt spell, and that was only a second-circle casting. With a sigh, he put the book in his pack and went back to practicing the fire bolt while Lethelin scarfed down the rest of her meal and Allora forced hers down. Marvin and Tammi were set back against the far wall munching placidly on their oats. Once in a while Tammi would stick her broad, flat nose against Marvin's cheek and nuzzle him and he would respond with a rumble in his chest that almost sounded like a purr. It was kinda sweet, Mitchell thought.
The spot they had found to rest in was better protected than the one they had left behind that morning. The opening was narrower and, with the size of the dire wolves, they would struggle to get even two abreast, so that should make it easier to defend.
With Allora being in a weakened conditioned she was relegated to the back which didn't make her happy but she didn't have the strength to argue. Also, since she couldn't be healed if she were hurt, it was better to keep her protected just in case. Mitchell couldn't heal himself if he were hurt but he was stronger than he'd ever been in his life and stood a better chance if the wolves got in too close.
The plan was for Mitchell to try his fire bolt spell and burn the first one or two to make it in and if it looked like he was having trouble, Lethelin would assist with the stiletto and dagger. Without her rapier, she only had the option to fight in close. Mitchell didn't like either choice for her considering the size and power of the wolves, so he resolved to see none got past him.
Once roles were defined and the plan settled, he stood about two meters back from the entrance where he would have a little more room to use his long sword and they waited. Lethelin was to his right just out of reach of his sword arm, and Allora was back towards the center of the cave near the fire looking like she was having trouble staying on her feet. She had tried to hold her sword up in the ready position but her strength failed before long.
As before, it was the yulops who alerted them before the wolves made their move. Marvin let out a bleating whine as his large nostrils flared and Tammi was right behind. They both got to their feet and pushed themselves into the back corner and began to shiver.
"A lot of help you guys are," Mitchell grumbled to himself as he turned his attention back to the entrance, already forming the fire bolt rune in his mind. At least they were good for an early warning system.
The wolves didn't make them wait long.
"One just went past the entrance," Allora said from behind. Her eyes were sharper than his, even in her weakened state.
Mitchell hadn't seen a thing in the darkness, but he trusted her. He channeled the mana and held the spell at the ready. Holding it too long would cause additional damage to the bloodstone that worked with his evocation mana and cause it to degrade faster, but he needed to risk it. He needed this first fire bolt to go off correctly.
Almost like it had been invisible, the first wolf suddenly appeared in the entrance snarling with huge fangs bared and leapt at Mitchell's throat. He'd been wound so tight that his hand shot forward automatically, and he released the spell. Thankfully, it held this time and a tennis-ball sized orb of yellow-orange fire appeared a few inches from his palm and shot forward and right into the wolf's gaping maw. Its snarl turned into a near-human like scream of pain as fire engulfed its face and charred the fleshy bits inside its mouth. Crashing to the ground, it started thrashing about trying to extinguish the flames and Mitchell almost felt sorry for the beast. That didn't slow him down, though. He executed a perfect lunge and thrust the sword between the agonized animal's ribs and gave it a twist for good measure. Its thrashing ended then as the smell of charred meat filled the cavern.
Before Mitchell could celebrate, the second wolf came charging through the opening and he barely got his sword up in time to slash it across the chest. The thick fur blunted a lot of the force of the blow, but it yelped in pain and lashed a claw at his leg as it backed off. Mitchell felt lines of fire tear across his right thigh. He hissed in pain but slashed with his sword, trying to drive the animal back. The stone-colored wolf hopped away almost disdainfully and growled low in its chest. Mitchell could see its back legs start to tense as it prepared to lunge, and he quickly fired off another fire bolt which struck the wolf in the side as it tried to turn. It howled in agony and surprise spinning in a quick circle before fleeing back towards the entrance. Mitchell caught a brief glimpse of at least two more just outside, but neither rushed in to take their wounded pack mate's place. Watching it run off in flames appeared to have spooked them.
Not wanting to risk it, Mitchell fired two more fire bolts into the night in quick succession. They weren't as lighting fast as his arcane missile spell was, but they did more damage overall. He heard a yelp, whether out of pain or fear, he couldn't say.
"Your leg," Lethelin said from the side.
"It's not that bad," Mitchell said, though he was gritting his teeth. "Stay there. That last one running out may have frightened them off, but I don't know for sure."
He saw Lethelin nod from the corner of his eye, and Mitchell set his feet again and watched the entrance. He could feel the itch of the blood running down his calf from his wound, but he ignored it. For all he knew, the things were waiting out there for him to be distracted and they would try again.
