Converging Destinies: Part 2

Chapter 270

       Far to the North, deep within the Northern Woods, the other group woke up early. Thankfully, the fire had provided just barely enough heat for the group to sleep.

       Brie was up early. She had the small container that contained the arcane ink, and she had one of the illegal spellbooks opened before her. Globules of light hovered around her, but as the sun rose, she no longer needed them.

       "Brie, what's got you awake so early, did I not keep the fire warm enough?" Varhine asked, as berries sprouted from a tree limb in her hand.

       "No, I just have a lot of ink, and a vast repertoire of spells I want to acquire as soon as possible." Brie replied.

       "Ah, right, you're an arcanist." Varhine said.

       The group gratefully ate the berries, and Varhine also filled the group's water jugs.

       "Now, I have a plan for today. I will turn myself and Roya into eagles. Like that, we can fly for about two hours each day. If I get some rest in the middle of the day, we can fly for three hours." Varhine explained.

       "Very well, let's go." Roya said. With an emerald flash, they were transformed into a massive eagle, upon which Aiyoshar climbed. Then, Brie closed her spellbook, packed her magical ink, and the group took to the sky.

       From high above, Varhine was easily able to follow the stream. Within an hour, the group found the end of the stream.

       It was a small lake, buried within the woods. The group touched down before looking around.

       "Does this look like a place where we could find a gold dragon?" Brie asked. In her eagle form, Varhine glanced around.

       The ice was a glistening, pale blue color. The bushes and trees around it were evergreens, and alongside barren bushes, they hid the frozen lake perfectly. The lake wasn't large, maybe two hundred feet in length and half the distance in width.

       Varhine opened her wings and took to the sky, upon which Roya followed.

       "I suppose it didn't look promising!" Aiyoshar said.

       "She said it needed to be a large body of water, that wasn't very large." Brie replied. Halfway back towards the mountains. Varhine had to recast the spell she had placed on Roya.

       "I'm sorry that didn't lead to anything." Varhine said.

       "It's okay, we had no way of knowing, let's keep looking." Aiyoshar replied. Upon re-transforming Roya, the group once again took to the sky.

       Soon, they had made it back to the mountains, and Varhine continued her journey east. After another hour, the group landed.

       "I need some time to recover some of my power." Varhine said.

       "Are we able to walk at the same time?" Roya asked. Varhine shook her head.

       "I need to meditate." Varhine answered before she sat on the ground and closed her eyes. Brie took the time to continue writing down in her spellbook. After an hour of silence, Varhine got up off the ground, and the group once again took off.

       Continuing their journey East, the group didn't find anything that was promising. The group set down after Varhine's magic ran out. They continued the journey east on foot, but they weren't able to go nearly as fast as they could by flight. Thankfully, Varhine was good at navigating the woods.

       As evening began to fall, the group stopped, and Varhine started making a fire. Brie managed to finish transcribing the spell that she had started on in the early hours.

       Varhine held her hand out, and a small, pale blue globule appeared above it, she sighed loudly.

       "Bad news, it looks like tomorrow, there's going to be snow." Varhine snow.

       "Oh no, how much?" Brie asked.

       "Not sure, but at this time of year, snow is usually a lot. We need to get going early tomorrow, and fly above the clouds, as hard as it is." Varhine explained.

       "Very well." Aiyoshar replied.

       Varhine maintained the fire with her magic, Brie started transcribing another spell. The two others were able to find rest.

       Varhine wasn't certain of what would happen the next day, whether they would beat the snowstorm, or whether they would even manage to find a dragon willing to help them.