It was interesting how the others instantly looked up, into the sky, the moment they left the cave. It might be a yearning for the open sky, born from being forced to hide in a cave for a couple of days, it might be a cautious reaction caused by the hostile presence above. I wasn’t certain, and didn’t want to draw attention to something so unpleasant.

Instead, I focused on my own spellwork, what I considered to be the most difficult part about our retreat. It was one thing to conceal myself in the shadows for a relatively short time, it was a different kind of beast to hide all five of us for the entire night. But it had to be done, if we got spotted by the Manticores as we were moving to a new hideout, things would get even more difficult, as the flying monsters would know about our plans. Hopefully, they simply would keep focused on the cave for another day or three, before realising that we had left.

For the first two hours, we moved through the night without problems. It was a dark night, with clouds blocking most of the moon- and starlight, but luckily, all of us either had some form of night-vision or were perceptive enough to get by. The most interesting thing I realised was that I had underestimated the newly formed connection between Sigmir and myself. It wasn’t just emotions and such that were transmitted, but there was an aspect of our respective perception that was included. It was low-key, essentially only sharing the subconscious things your brain gathered without the mind being aware of it, for example to let you avoid walking into things or falling over roots and things like that. At least that was my perception, it was difficult to pin down due to the subtle effect. I would have to talk to Sigmir about it, and test things out with Lenore and Ylva. It might just be something similar to the sensory combination employed by Sigmir and Ylva, allowing them to react to things the other perceives while in combat.

Suddenly, a small rock I had failed to notice decided to try overthrowing the tyrants stepping on it and slid out from under my foot. Instead of easily compensating and keeping my balance, I reacted too slow, flailing as I tried to keep myself from falling on my behind. Luckily, Sigmir managed to reach out, grabbing my shoulder and stabilising me. For a moment, I just stood there, my heart racing from the surprise, trying to calm my breath.

That moment also made me realise just how tired I was, a good chunk of my stamina spent from hiking in the mountains while channelling a relatively powerful spell. Either of those was manageable with only a minor drain on my stamina, but combined, it took more out of me than I had expected.

“Do you need a break?” Adra asked, looking over to me. For a moment, I considered agreeing to a break, but the distance we had to cover during the night was far and if we got spotted in the morning, all would be for naught. Before I could answer, I felt a slightly weird sensation over our bond and realised that Ylva was about to leave her Hallow. The two of them, Ylva and Lenore, had remained within their Hallows to keep me from having to conceal them, too, but apparently, Ylva felt the need to be active.

“We’ve got a better plan.” Sigmir spoke up, steady conviction coming over our bond. I was ready, instantly covering Ylva up with my concealment when she appeared, curious what the two of them had in mind.

For a moment, Ylva and Sigmir just looked at eachother, before Sigmir suddenly turned into a silver glint and vanished, very much in a reversal of Ylva’s earlier appearance.

“I didn’t know Sigmir had her own Hallow now.” I muttered to Lenore, letting the part of my concealment that had covered Sigmir fade.

“She hadn’t tried that, yet. I’m not quite sure, but I think she wanted to remain active at all times, ready to protect you.” Lenore explained, while I noticed a curious change regarding Ylva’s body. The fur on her ears and neck had suddenly grown, forming something almost akin to a lion’s mane, the colour just a little different to her normal silver fur. It was darker, with a blue undertone that reminded me of Sigmir’s skin-colour and the sensation I got from Ylva was quite a bit stronger.

“Come, I will carry you.” Ylva softly growled, her size swelling to that of a decently large pony as she stepped up to me. It was a slightly amusing solution, especially as I had really no idea if riding on a wolf was that much less exhausting than walking on my own two legs, but the sincerity and desire to help I could feel over our bond made the question moot.

A quick, careful jump brought me onto Ylva’s back, where I had to scoot around a little to get somewhat comfortable. Her back truly wasn’t made for riding, narrow and bony, but at least the newly acquired mane made for a decent place to hold onto. When my hands buried into that mane, the mane almost entangled my hands, keeping them warm and tightly held in place.

“What do you think the effects of having Sigmir within a Hallow will be?” I asked Lenore, thinking of the effect I had when within my Hallow and Lenore’s when she was in hers.

“At a guess, physical strength, maybe endurance or possibly something similar to the red aura Sigmir uses in battle. Any of them, or a combination, would be quite useful, certainly better than the Ice-Effect having you riding along gives to my talons.” Lenore replied, her tone mocking. We exchanged a few quick, mental barbs regarding the worth of the abilities we respectively granted the other, when Ylva started to move.

Riding on the spirit-golems we had been given in Neyto had been one thing, especially as they had come equipped with built-in saddles, but riding Ylva was a whole different pony. Or rather, not a pony, which was the problem. Even when she moved slowly, it was difficult to keep my balance, almost making me drop my concealment-spell. Not wanting to disappoint my companions, I forced myself to hold on, when Lenore suggested a solution in my mind.

“You have those vines, do you think you can do something with them?” she asked, giving me a good idea. Channelling Astral Power into the Eisblumen-Accessory I was wearing on my upper arm, I let the growing vines wrap around Ylva, carefully making sure that they didn’t hinder her movement, while at the same time wrapping around me and binding me in a somewhat comfortable position. It made me little more than luggage getting carried on the back of a massive wolf, but it allowed me to get somewhat comfortable with my head resting on Ylva’s mane. I certainly didn’t have to worry about falling off.

Curiously, lying tightly bound on Ylva’s back was a lot more comfortable than expected, especially the mane made a great pillow. It was almost as if my head was cradled in Sigmir’s arms, held and protected, allowing me to fully focus on my concealment-spell, letting my companions literally carry the physical burden. At the same time, the bond between us allowed me to have my eyes closed and still have a vague feeling of our surroundings, allowing me to fully relax into an almost meditative state. My mind didn’t need to do anything, but pull Astral Power from the Astral River and weave it into a spell to hide us. Everything else was taken care of.

I might have overdone it with the relaxation a little, letting my mind drift off too far, to the point where I was essentially asleep. At least it felt like I was waking up when Lenore mentally poked me, letting me know that we almost were at the cave she had found earlier.

Blinking open my eyes, I relaxed the vines holding me a little, careful not to fall off without the bonds. My care proved instantly necessary, when a spike of pain went through my mind, the mental “muscles” that had constantly channelled power into the concealment-spell cramping up, for lack of a better metaphor. Still, I hadn’t kept it going this whole time, only to muck things up on the last few steps.

The cave Lenore had found wasn’t an easily accessible one, instead the entrance was in a crag some fifteen meters up a wall. Climbing up was certainly possible, though not necessarily easy, but without knowing about the cave, there was little motivation. And you needed hands, which were something of a rarity amongst most local beasts.

With a growled prompt from Ylva, I got off her back and had to hide a grin a few moments later. While Ylva vanished with a glint of silver light, Sigmir re-appeared, stumbling as she tried to find her footing. It was obvious that she had tried to replicate the instant-switch Lenore and I habitually used, only to realise that the two of us had needed a bit of training to pull it off smoothly. For once, I was the one able to catch the stumbling Sigmir, even if I had to cheat with the still present vines.

Climbing the cliff was almost trivial, each of us at least somewhat stronger than one would expect from our physiques and none of us clumsy or inept. Rai didn’t even need to climb, instead he simply stepped through the shadows, going first and making sure that nothing was waiting for us in there, to make a snack out of us.

With the first rays of the sun illuminating the peaks quite some distance above us, we all disappeared into the cave, hiding from the day and the predators it brought.