It’s probably something specific to Keras, because if Katashi could just teleport to any person he wanted, he would have found Tenjin immediately.
Hrm.
Normally, I would have just pushed those questions into my queue of things to research, but I was trying to break the habit of putting things off. And I needed to be better about taking advantage of the information sources I had available.
“Sera, come with me for a bit.”
We walked behind the wagon, and then retrieved the tents and other heavy items from the Jaden Box. No one asked any questions about where we’d gotten them from. Maybe they assumed we’d been carrying them the whole time, or that they’d been inside the wagon.
If they weren’t going to ask, I wasn’t going to volunteer anything.
We set up the tents, and I asked Sera to talk to me privately inside one of them for a bit. The thin canvas of the tent wouldn’t block that much sound, but we could whisper without looking too suspicious.
“Can I ask you some questions about teleportation?”
Sera rubbed her throat. “Yeah, but I’m not going to be able to talk much. Been speaking a lot today and my throat is killing me.”
That was worrisome. It was easy to forget that Sera was improving, but she still wasn’t fully healed. I wasn’t sure she’d ever recover completely on her own.
We weren’t far from the Vanreach Mountains right now, and that meant the herbs needed to concoct something to heal her were close by. That was something I wanted to look into, but it wasn’t the right time. As much as I wanted to help her, failing our exam wasn’t an option. Maybe we could investigate it after the exams were over, though, while we were still in the general region.
“Okay, I’ll keep this brief.” I shared my thoughts about how we’d been teleported straight to Keras.
“Hm.” Sera pondered for a moment. “I doubt Keras registered as enough of a priority for Katashi to bother divining his exact location regularly. I think it’s more likely your second guess: an anchor. Which is more worrying for Keras, to be certain, since anchors can be used for much more than just teleporting someone into your general vicinity.”
I nodded. “Maybe when Keras was in prison, Katashi took some of his belongings?”
“Or, even simpler. Katashi could have collected some of Keras’ blood after their fight, just like you did.” Sera rubbed her throat again, wincing.
“Okay. I think that’s a good enough explanation for now. Thanks for the help, Sera.”
She smiled, although her expression was still distorted by pain. “No problem. I’m glad you asked.”
I pondered what I could do about that, and I came up with something mundane. “Let me make you some tea.”
Sera blinked. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you make tea. Or cook anything. Ever.” She laughed, but it quickly transitioned into a cough.
“I’ll make Patrick do the real work. Come on.”
We slipped out of the tent. I did, in fact, have herbs for tea with me.
“Patrick, can you start a campfire? I want to make some tea.”
He nodded. “Sure, that’s easy. Help me gather some stones to make a ring first, though, so it doesn’t spread.”
“That may be unwise,” Roland interjected. “Starting a fire is going to make a clear signal about our location. If there are still other teams looking to ambush someone, we’d be making ourselves an obvious target.”
“But we’ll be miserable without heat,” Rupert complained. “It’s cold up here. Practically freezing.”
Our group conferred for a bit longer before finally settling on making the fire, but keeping it small. We needed something to cook with in general, and not just for tea.
We also decided to set watch rotations for the evening. Patrick, Marissa, and I would take the first watch, then wake Desmond, Jin, and Rupert for the second. Kyra, Roland, and Sera would be third.
Jordan didn’t take a shift, since he wasn’t really required to help us, just to escort us.
We made the tea, as well as an evening meal, and then the second and third watch groups went to sleep.
As the night drew on, the temperature in the area dropped. As much as I hated to admit it, Rupert had a point. Without the fire, we would have been in awful shape.
Patrick, Marissa, and I huddled close to the flame. It wasn’t the ideal position for keeping watch, but we were freezing, and we had weapons close at hand. We agreed that one of us would stand up and patrol the area every once in a while.
“So…cold…” Patrick murmured.
We shivered in agreement, but the boredom of just sitting around bothered me more than the temperature. I didn’t like just sitting without an activity.
“We should do something,” I suggested.
Marissa shook her head. “Don’t think I’m movin’ from here, Cadence. Fire is all that keeps this tolerable.”
“Maybe we can tell stories?” Patrick suggested.
“Wouldn’t mind hearin’ a few, but I don’t got much to tell,” Marissa admitted sadly.
“You used to read all the time, Patrick,” I recalled. “You got any good stories?”
“Tons! Let’s see…” Patrick grinned. “Okay, I’ve got one. Let me tell you about Symphony, the Lady of Thieves…”
No one attacked us in the middle of the night. I admit that I was almost disappointed. Fighting always warmed me up.
Still, I enjoyed hearing Patrick’s stories, and Marissa seemed even more enraptured with them.
A group of Soaring Wings members met up with us the next morning, resplendent in their copper-colored plate armor and white tabards.
While the armor style was antiquated — dueling tunics were in favor these days, since they didn’t restrict mobility as much as traditional armor — there was still something impressive about seeing someone wearing heavy armor. And given that dueling tunics and shrouds didn’t offer the same degree of protection against close-range attacks, the armor still had a degree of utility to it, especially against monsters with close-ranged attacks.
We exchanged a few words, then the Soaring Wings escorted Loria and Kathy away from our camp. I felt a little sorry that they’d been eliminated from the test so soon, even if they were up against us. They’d been in a difficult position.
With that done, we packed our equipment and continued the trek toward the settlement.
The settlement was better developed than I’d envisioned. I’d pictured a circle of tents and wagons, but they’d built a wooden wall around the whole place, and sections of the wall had runes on them. They even had a crude gate, which swung open as we approached.
Six students approached from the open gate, putting us on our guard. I recognized the leader — Curtis Maddock, my dorm chief. I hadn’t seen him much since I’d moved into Derek’s manor. He gave me an odd look, probably because he’d assumed I’d been kicked out of the school or something.
“I’ll take care of this,” Kyra declared, moving to the front of the group. We’d never settled on who would be our spokesperson, but no one complained. Sera would have been a good candidate under normal circumstances, but her voice was clearly still bothering her.
“Who goes there?” Curtis shouted. I could see that his group was equally tense, hands hovering near weapons.
“Just a resupply group from Valia,” Kyra explained. “We have crates of dried meat, vegetables, blankets, and other odds and ends.”
Curtis folded his arms. “We were told that there would be two wagons.”
“Saboteurs destroyed one of our wagons before we got here. Tails of Orochi traitors,” Kyra spit into the dirt near her, emphasizing the effect.