We had changed the watch schedule a bit since we had to put someone on guard at daytime as well. We had set up our camp a few meters from the entrance of the cave.

Opening my eyes I saw Tilly, Caroline and Loraline sitting near the entrance of the cave, talking. I started to make myself ready for the day.

“Morning Lilly!” Tilly waved at me with a smile.

Caroline and Loraline turned to me waving as well.

“Morning!” I yawned while I stretched my arms and legs.

“We can have breakfast, Milly!” Tilly turned to look outside.

“All clear for now.” Milly appeared in the entrance of the cave.

“How is your thigh?” I walked over and tilted my head, looking at Caroline.

“It’s getting better.” She smiled patting her knees.

“It heals without an infection.” Loraline looked at Caroline with a wide smile.

“Let’s get something to eat.” Milly started to rummage in her backpack.

“How’s our water supply?” I looked at my partially filled water skin.

“We’ll need new water in a few days.” Loraline nodded at me.

“It’s quite a walk down to the creek. It’s near the other side of the valley at this point.” Milly got down on her knees and put some packages on a flat boulder.

“Perhaps we find one of the smaller ones that flow into the main creek nearby.” I sat down and crossed my legs.

“That would be much better.” Tilly nodded.

“There was none on our way here. We have to look that way to find one.” Caroline pointed east.

After a while we had finished breakfast.

“I take over the watch now.” Loraline got to her feet.

“I come with you to keep you company.” Caroline smiled at Loraline while getting to her feet.

“Ohh that’s nice!” Loraline smiled back at Caroline.

They both left the cave.

“The magic of our outfits changes. The connection with the slave marks is much weaker than it was before. I wonder what’s happening with it. It’s still draining magic like hell.” Tilly pressed her lips together

“It is. I hope it stops as soon as possible. It’s a bit of annoying to have no mana when a fight starts. The hardened skin is really helpful and the claws are very convenient in tight spots.” I sullenly nodded at Tilly

“We can’t change anything about it. Let’s hope the result is worth it.” Milly gave me a encouraging smile.

“The magic structure had changed in many ways over the time.” Tilly touched her sternum and closed her eyes.

“We have survived so far, we cross that bridge if we need to.” Milly laid her her arm around Tilly’s shoulder, smiling.

“Some day we get some rest as well. I am going to tear that whole empire apart if I have to!” I hugged Milly and Tilly.

“Try to survive until that time.” Milly gave me a peck on the cheek.

We stood there for a few moments in a tight group hug.

“It’s probably easier to get rid of these marks.” Tilly ruffled my hair.

“They will be after us even then. It would be easier to hide though.” I grinned.

“One step at a time. It’s a bad idea to fight them while we have these marks on us.” Milly pulled softly at my right ear.

“Oww!” I pouted at Milly.

As Tilly started to laugh we all fell in.

“So many things we have to be patient with. At the moment the list won’t get shorter.” Milly sat down on her bedroll and leaned her back against the wall.

“Yeah. It seems more things are adding themselves as we go.” Tilly sat down to her left and leaned her head on Milly’s shoulder.

“They seemed to be. At least there is some progress at some points. The rebind of the magic is working, it drains mana once in a while. While the growth of my mana pool seems to have slowed down to a trickle the regeneration has improved slightly over the last months. Our pursuers are not that close on our heels anymore and we have gotten closer to that dungeon in the east, well at the moment we’re stalling, but nothing serious as it seems.” I walked up to Milly counting points with my fingers.

“That’s right. And I definitely enjoy being able to set our own pace at least for the traveling.” Milly pulled me down on her lap.

“I’d like to experiment more with my magic, but with the constant mana drain its kind of a mess. It’s even difficult to quantify how much mana I have at the moment, as I don’t know how it feels when it’s full.” Tilly played with her ponytail, furrowing her brows.

“I hope this is done before it get colder. The extra heating was kind of nice.” I laid my right arm around Milly’s shoulder and laid my legs on Tilly’s lap.

“It would be nice to have an idea how long it is going to take!” Tilly grabbed my legs and pulled them close.

“There will be new and maybe useful magic available in the end. You’ll have something new to research.” Milly put her right hand around Tilly’s shoulder.

“That may be even a kind of challenge. This rebind has consumed quite a bit of mana over the time. The original binding has consumed far less power I suppose.” I smiled at Tilly.

“I agree, but why does it have to take so long!” Tilly gave me a despaired look.

“The longer it takes the more interesting it will be.” Milly tugged softly at her ponytail.

“Now I want it to take longer!” Tilly frowned at Milly.

“You don’t want it to be too complex to analyze it with your skills.” I chuckled and winked at Tilly.

“Hmmpf!” Tilly crossed her arms under her chest.

“When did you check out the dragon book the last time? Maybe you can turn more pages?” Milly patted her head with a smile.

“That’s a good idea!” Tilly perked up.

After I pulled back my legs Tilly scrambled to her feet.

“I am outside.” Tilly got the book from her backpack and left.

“You were right to cross the creek at that point. I’m reluctant to admit this, because I don’t want to you to get cockier. There were too many goblins waiting for us. Excuse me for doubting you.” Milly hugged me while looking me deep in the eyes.

“It was. Don’t excuse yourself for caring. It was a bit dangerous, as we could have been attacked while split up. The crumbling rock was unexpected. Fortunately I had not enough time to panic enough to botch the landing.” I returned her look and hugged her back.

“I’m just happy you made it in the end. I’m not angry at you. Anymore.” she squeezed at bit harder.

“I’m not mad at you either. While I’m usually not as foolish as you paint me it helps that someone else has concerns about what I’m going to do. It’s a sign to be extra careful.” I gave her a peck on the forehead.

“It feels like an eternity since all this began.” I sat down beside her.

“I does.” She gave me a peck on my cheek.

We were silent for a while.

While the time until we had left the keep was much saver than our current situation, we were free to chose what to do to an extend. Without the slave marks of course, as they were a persistent threat. There had to be a way of getting rid of them without dying. And I’d love to kick that priest in the balls who was responsible for them in the first place. On the other hand he was old enough to simply dying of old age before I even get a chance.

“Let’s stop dwelling on the past too much. We’re alive now and here.” Milly gave me an encouraging smile.

“Right. We’re going for the dungeon and try to find the heart.” I nodded at her with a smile.

“Finding the dungeon should be achievable, while finding that heart maybe tedious. How large may the area we have to be?” Milly grimaced looking at the cave around us.

“We search. Maybe we find some magical way to help with it. The dragon book still has plenty of unknown pages.” I pulled my legs up to knees and slung my arms around them.

“I wonder how staying in such a place will be. It doesn’t sound pleasant from the descriptions.” Milly again looked around in the cavern.

I nodded.

“Let’s go outside and enjoy the suns a bit.” Milly got to her feet.

“We could take over the watch for now.” I got to my feet as well.

Tilly was totally absorbed by the book.

Later we had lunch.

“Something new in the book?” I smiled at Tilly.

“It’s a chapter about mana generation essentially. The dragons called it the first surge which should be the regeneration we have at the moment. There is a second surge as well later on which is an empowered version of mana regeneration. Unfortunately it takes much more effort to achieve it. There is some additional information on mana as well, but I’m still struggling to sort it out. Maybe you give the chapter a try later and we can discuss it’s contents.” She looked at me grinning eagerly.

“Sure. We’re going to stay here for a few days and there’s not much to do until we continue our voyage eastward.” I nodded at her smiling.

“Do you have an idea how long it takes to ramp up regeneration?” Milly tilted her head glancing curiously at Tilly.

“They write not long, but substantially longer than the first surge.” Tilly shrugged her shoulders with a sigh.

“No help for now I think.” I scratched my chin focusing on my mana pool.

It was mostly empty as usual. A lot of mana has been drawn in from the rebind over the time. Well, red mana, which didn’t count for much.

“Nothing we can do about it.” Milly nodded with a shrug.

The afternoon was uneventful. The sunny weather persisted an so we spent our time in front of the cave until dawn. I put my light stone in the sun to load it. I had no idea how charged it was.

Milly had put the viewpoint of her mirror beside the entrance of the cave. It gave a nice view over the valley.

“Maybe you should place that everyday along the path we took. As we can hear through it as well it warn us of someone following our tracks.” I laid an arm around Milly’s waist.

“I can change it every day. There a usually multiple places with a good view back.” Milly nodded as she laid her arm around my waist as well.

We went inside and chattered for a while like in more peaceful times. Once in a while someone went outside to check for dangers. After an hour or two I took the first watch while the others got ready for the night.

After a while it was silent. As the area was mostly barren there was barely a sound to hear. Down in the valley there were movements once in a while, but they were too far away to see any details in the bright light of the stars.

We were going to rest here a few days longer and tomorrow we’re going to look for water. I hoped one of the many small creeks coming down from the mountain won’t be that far away.

Once in a while I looked after the sleeping girls. I don’t know how long I enjoyed the view over the valley, but as I started to get tired I woke up Loraline who volunteered for the next shift.

I got myself ready for the night, and found a spot next to Tilly. After a few moments I fell asleep.