am-books Chapter 97 – Setting up Camp
Chapter 97 – Setting up Camp
Chapter 97 – Setting up Camp
It took us about an hour after the Griffin attack to reach our planned camping grounds. Vanya and Sextia left to go scouting immediately while the rest of us set up the camp: tents, a few fire pits for cooking, and then a short survey of the surrounding fields.
There wasn't much to find in them, just weeds and abandoned plants. Well, and griffin footprints and landsites. The only real problem is that there isn't much cover; the griffins took the few hills in the area to nest in. Luckily, the griffins have likely killed anything we would need to worry about already. So just two people on watch should be enough unless there is some insane number of griffins that we always have to be prepared against. The damn eagles can see better than most of us at night, but once we spot them, Shimmer can light up the area.
Inanos and the healer are busy talking in one of the tents. Hopefully, she finds something that loosens the curse a bit, maybe lets her circulate some mana through. Elyne and Shimmer are keeping watch while the rest of us wait around for the scouting party to come back. Yaleph says we're about two hours from the nest, so we won't get information till a little after dinner.
Not that we're eating dinner. We're switching over to the magic supplement to make the food last longer. Nasty stuff, but only needing one meal a day makes the food last and gives you a lot more time in the day.
Vanya and Sextia had to eat on the way here, while the rest of us finished our meal just a little bit ago after setting up the camp. If Yaleph is accurate on the time, the duo should have half an hour before they can start snooping around the nest, giving us all a lot of time to do nothing. It's a bit of a waste of time saver. It'll only really help if we have to go chasing the griffins during their hunts.
I would prefer to just kill them all in their nest.
Most of the women are spending the time meditating in their tents. Just Yaleph, Geta, and I sit around the fire pit, the sap in the wood popping as the flames flick around. Shimmer got it going with a bit of mana. She could keep it going without any wood, but we want to conserve our mana.
The chairs are more like wooden crates than chairs, but they store easily and work well enough on the move. No need to worry about a crate getting damaged in the weather or a surprise fight; simple enough to buy a new one or fix it up if the damage is small.
"Your Highness, I've heard you can use a bit of fire magic," Yaleph asked with an expectant look in her eyes.
"Yes, not much. A weak affinity, if even that. Didn't even know it till I got my third class and got a skill that lets me set my blade on fire. A bit useless; I don't normally have my blade on my enemy long enough to catch them on fire. Looks cool and probably intimidating, but practically it just taunts me with what I could've had. The Queen's Fire has always been a bit of a dream for me, and it seems to just keep getting better. She had quite the display at my little sister's birthday party," I say. I've gotten a few other skills that incorporate fire in some way. I can pull out enough mana to start a fire if I have some kindling, but even those without a fire affinity can do that if they have enough mana.
I've tried to have Shimmer help me get more out of my fire affinity, but it seems our mana works differently. Her method just doesn't seem to bring any extra mana out of hiding. If I can get it to just one fireball worth of mana, I'll be so much more dangerous. Just a bit of extra reach is helpful in keeping the mages worried in a fight.
"It is a relief. Higher nobles have been a bit more agreeable when they visit in the last decade or so. Makes it a lot easier to be a guard when you don't have nobles bickering over little things and maids running wild in the castle."
"Never thought about that. Always thought nobles would behave just in case the Queen needs an excuse to promote someone or give a bit of land away."
"Fear only works so much, and when the punishment is rare and small, they don't care. She rarely takes anyone's land and most that lose their title had it coming over much worse things than being rude to a baroness. Bigger monsters to worry about for the Queen, so I don't blame her."
"I suppose so. I guess it may be hard to reach the Queen about that kind of thing, with her mail going through a bunch of hands before they even have a chance to reach her desk. Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of requests get cut before they should."
"Nothing is perfect. She doesn't have time to review every request, so she's got to give it to people she trusts. The Queen's got a lot to care for. She did well getting you out here and solving some of her problems. The best you can do when you reach the throne is make sure your kids do the same outreach. You've proven they can cover for the Queen. I should join the others and meditate. With there likely only being two or three left, I'll want to be ready for the attack tonight," Yaleph says. Trying to cover up her complaints a bit. Though I do agree with her. A big part of the Queen's job is keeping the nobles in line.
"Yes, that isn't too bad of an idea. Geta, would you like to join?" I ask the paladin.
"Sure, honey. But meditating is a personal thing," Geta says with an eye roll.
"You can meditate while letting your wife hold you in her strong arms."
"Yes, just reminding you not to distract me," she says, standing up.
"Don't worry, we all need the rest. Just want to hold a wife while I do it. What is the point of marriage if you can't hold them a bit?"
"Plenty of things, dear," she says with a small shake of her head. Too bad we need to be ready for an attack. I would love to show her one of the plenty of things to do with a spouse.