Ceraphine and I were one of the last to land. Serin, Altria, Liz, Aetherin and Beth had already landed when I finally touched down. Celine was close behind. The five all seemed glad to be back on solid ground after the short flight. They were already stretching their legs and talking to Enna as Ceraphine released her grip on me.

Ceraphine flapped her wings, rose in the air a little and glided to where the other five harpies were standing in a group a little way past the other members of our party.

With solid ground now back under my feet, I joined the others. It was just as the final harpy carrying Celine made her landing. “How did you find the flight?”

Each of the girls turned to me as I spoke. They all looked as if they had coped with the experience.

It was hard to tell in this light, but Beth probably looked a little paler than before her flight. “It was nerve racking!”

Altria laughed a little. “I wasn’t expecting you to be afraid of heights.”

Beth spun back towards Altria. “I’m not! It wasn’t the height, more the concern about what might happen if our new feathered friend loosened their grip even slightly.”

She still looked a little wobbly.

Liz placed a hand on her shoulder. “Well, you survived… I found the experience quite interesting myself. I’ve never had the chance to travel like that before. It’s quite convenient. You should hang on to those girls Theo, they will come in handy.”

I laughed, but I knew she wasn’t joking. “If they want to help us, I’ll appreciate it. We can’t keep them with us against their will. It depends on what they want to do.”

“You know, they are probably going to want to come with us.”

I did.

“Yeah…”

“Might as well make use of them.”

“I suppose, it’s just the way you say it, Liz.”

Serin coughed. “Yes, well I’m sure doesn’t wish to use his ability for that…” She looked up as Celine came to join us. “Now we’re here we should think about heading further from the border. We need to find somewhere to set up camp.”

“We’re going to stop for the night?” I asked.

“Yes. We still need the rest and now we’ve made it this far, we’re not in as much danger as before.”

“You don’t think we’ll be followed here?”

“It isn’t impossible, but I don’t think it’s likely. Let’s go and speak with the harpies, we need to check what they want to do now. We can also ask about who might be following us.”

“Good idea.”

The harpies we’re still grouped together a little way apart from the rest of us. They looked a little unsure about what was going to happen next as we approached them.

Serin stepped forward. “On behalf of all of us, I just want to thank you all for ferrying us across the plain.”

It was Ceraphine that answered on behalf of the harpy girls. “We all decided we wanted to be of some help to Theo.”

The other girls were nodding as she spoke.

“Still, if it wasn’t for you, we would be stuck out on that plain… We were planning on heading further in, up the foothills. I was wondering, what you were thinking of doing now.”

Ceraphine looked at Enna, then looked back towards the rest of the harpy girls. They were all nodding at her encouragingly. “Well, we spoke a little about this once we landed… We would like to come with you. For whatever reason we all feel like we should be with Theo. That and we’re happy to be reunited with our captain.”

“But won’t you want to return to your homes?”

“I don’t know if we’ll be able to, not now.”

I immediately felt guilty as she said that. Even if I knew the alternative was all of us being caught somewhere out the plain, I just couldn’t help feeling bad about controlling them like this. I wondered how many people’s lives I would end upturning with this skill.

Liz slapped me on the back. “See they want to help! I think we should let them come with us.”

Serin glanced at me. She seemed to guess what I was thinking. “Yes, well I don’t have a problem with it as long as you are all willing.”

Ceraphine beamed with a smile. “Great! Should we take flight again.”

“Oh, not yet… We were planning on walking for a while. Perhaps just over the first ridge so we can camp out of sight of the plain. It should be doable for you and not all of us are used to being flown yet.” She said glancing to Beth.

Beth looked relieved now that another flight was off the cards for now.

Serin looked back to Ceraphine. “Will that be acceptable to you?”

“As long as the captain agrees and Theo is going, we’ll follow.”

Serin switched her focus to Enna. “What do you say Enna?”

“We’ll head where you suggest Serin.”

“Great, but before we move. There was something I wanted to check with you Ceraphine?”

“What is it?”

“Do you have any idea who else is following us?”

“I’m not entirely sure, things have been a bit chaotic in the forest since the captain left. As the next in command, I was given the orders to search, but I wasn’t filled in on the whole operation. All I know is that we aren’t the only ones that were looking for you. It sounded like it was a large operation.”

“That’s a little concerning. Okay, what do you think the chance is that they come and search over the boarder?”

“I’d say you’re probably safe, at least for now. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that they cross to look for you, but I doubt it will be until they are sure you’ve left first.”

Enna was nodding as Ceraphine spoke. “I would agree with that too.”

“Good that’s encouraging.” Serin stopped to think for a moment. “Then unless anyone has any objections, I think we should go with my initial idea. Let’s head further inside the foothills and then set up a camp for the night. We’ll decide where we go from there once, we’ve rested a little.”

Beth shrugged. “I’m not going to argue with that. Even if we did rest in the day, I feel like I could sleep for hours and still feel tired.”

Liz laughed. “I think we all feel a little like that.”

Serin smiled. “Can I take it that no one has any objections to the plan then?”

“Of course, we don’t.” Answered Altria.

I was nodding in agreement. “If we’re not any immediate danger, it makes the most sense for us to get some rest. We’ve been on fumes for days now.”

Serin grabbed her gear. “Okay let’s get moving then.”

Altria took the lead like always, and Celine went ahead with her. Serin, Aetherin and I were a short way behind them. Liz and Beth took our rear. Enna had gathered up the harpy girls, they had all taken to the sky as we walked. They were now flying somewhere overhead in the night sky.    

The general mood of the party had picked up quite a bit since the airlift. There was a general sense that we were now in the clear. We had planned to walk for the entire night, but now we would soon be able to set up camp for the night.

We had walked for almost an hour. In that time, we had climbed and descended two of the smaller hills that led into the mountainous area that was ahead of us. The valley after the second hill seemed to provide an ideal place to set up camp. There was a small wood on the far edge where the land started to climb again. It was there that Serin called the party to a halt.

She stood at the eves and whistled for Altria who had gone ahead. “I think this will be as good a place as any.”

It seemed that way. The trees were fairly sparse here, giving us enough space to set up in between them and still have some cover. We would even be able to get away with having a fire. There was no way it could be seen from the plains.

Everyone was quick to unload the gear off their back and start to set up camp. We were all keen for the rest. We called out to the harpies up above and they soon circled around and came to join us. Before long we had a fire going and the smell of our first cooked meal in days filled the air.

While the food cooked, Serin broke some small sticks into different lengths. “We’ll still need to set a watch here. Let’s sort it out now, then we can eat and sleep.”

I looked to Serin. “Are we going to let the harpies take watch?”

“I think we should. Let’s pair up. If we’re going to travel together for a while, it would be good if we got to know each other better. Like we have with others.”

“Sure.”