Keira
“Good, you’re awake,” he said, dusting the earth from his hands. “I’ve got some rations. We can eat as we go.”
He nodded and began to dig through his bag.
Something was bothering him. She could see it in his silence, in the set of his jaw.
“So the monster has been moving south, retreating into the forest between attacks,” Caspian explained.
Keira swallowed, forcing a large lump of bread down her throat. “Has anyone seen it?”
He shook his head as he scanned the treeline. “It seems to hunt at night.”
“Right.” Keira’s mind worked quickly. She was a passable tracker, she supposed.
Though she could read the forest well enough, Keira was no hunter.
It would be her magic that would find this monster.
She just needed a single trace of it to scry its location.
Then she could lead Caspian there, pointing out signs of it as she found them.
Simple enough. But first, “It will be difficult for me to track it if I don’t have some idea what it looks like. ” Keira chose her words carefully.
Caspian’s brow set as he thought. Then he dug through his bag, producing a pouch which he offered to her. Keira opened it and plucked a thick black quill from within. She looked at him quizzically.
“They were brought to me by a farmer. They were found on the remains of one of his cows.”
She searched her mind for a beast with quills like these that would feast on such large things as livestock, but nothing came to her. Her studies have been focused on spellcraft, not bestiary. Though she knew, maddeningly enough, that the answer would be in Ignatius’s collection.
Even so, she could scry its location, whatever it was. Now all she needed was to perform the spell, without Caspian noticing… This was getting ridiculous. She should just say something.
“So, which way?” he asked, followed by a heavy breath.
What was his problem?
“I say we follow the trail south, like you said, and look for traces.” And the minute I get away from you, I’ll work the spell, and then we’ll really be getting somewhere.
Caspian only nodded before leading the way.
Winter had not taken full hold of the wood, not yet.
Only a thin layer of snow covered the forest’s carpet of pine needles.
Keira noted burrows in the bases of the trees fit for foxes or hares.
Birds and squirrels flitted across their path, searching for late season offerings to store away for the winter.
They weren’t walking long before Caspian’s heavy steps startled a small herd of deer bedding down in a thicket.
Separating proved easier than she had feared. They had walked in relative silence for about an hour when they came to a sharp cliff. Keira needed only to suggest he search the caves below for signs of habitation. Meanwhile, she would of course be searching diligently at the top.
He’d agreed easily, trudging down the steep hill and out of sight, though not out of earshot.
Keira went to work quickly, releasing the Occulos charm.
Trying to work two spells at once was as maddening, and frankly impossible, as singing two songs at once or waltzing while solving arithmetic in one’s head.
From there, it was a simple matter of drawing the scrying circle into the dirt with her knife and laying the quills in the center.
With everything laid out, she closed her eyes.
Soon enough she could sense it, white fur thick with black quills.
Long, hungry teeth. Wicked claws. It was resting somewhere dark.
Keira shifted her focus. Not what, where?
Like from the eyes of a bird, she saw herself kneeling on the ground.
She flew at impossible speeds through the wood, over a thin icy river.
Farther until the trees grew thinner as they met the mountains.
The vision came to rest at the mouth of a cave littered with clean white bones.
“Erin?” Caspian’s voice carried from below.
Keira pulled her focus back to her body.
The effort took longer than she had hoped.
She stood the moment she was able, though a bit unsteadily.
She smoothed the circle away and laid her hand on the ground.
As she lifted it, the imprint of a large paw was left in its place. A satisfied smile crossed her face.
“Erin!” His voice sounded closer.
Fate have mercy. Keira growled the Occulos charm again before she turned.
“I’m here.”
Within a moment, she caught sight of him jogging through the trees to meet her, his heavy cloak swaying behind him.
“I found a track,” she said, pointing at her forgery.
He bent down and ran his fingers over the imprinted earth.
“Looks fresh.”
“Might be, but there hasn’t been rain for days. It’s hard to tell.” The lies just poured out so easily. They tasted like vinegar on her tongue.
He nodded, swallowing them easily. Because he trusted her.
“I think we’ll find more of the trail if we carry on northeast.” She angled her arm in the direction she knew would lead them to their quarry.
“Lead on.” That was all he had to say.
Keira did. Even as they walked for hours, she could still see the tension in his shoulders. The crease that would appear in his brow when he thought she wasn’t looking. It was driving her insane not knowing what was going on in that head of his.