Arlie glanced at the twin moons in the sky, both appeared to be a full moon. It wasn’t often that she got to see a double full moon. Tonight the moons were particularly clear, and she could see their blue-green spheres quite clearly. Although they were rather shrouded in white today. It was something that made moon-viewing interesting, seeing as the moons tended to change a bit with time. Shifting her gaze away from the moons, she scanned the forest near their camp. She saw no signs of movement, a sign that her barrier was repelling the monsters from their camp.

Sighing she looked back down at the book in her lap. A mage light gave her just enough light to read it by. Fingering a page, she idly flipped to the next page, and began to study the magical symbols on the page. She had been reading the book every watch for the past three days, but this was the first time the book didn’t show her theory, and instead showed the practical structure of a spell. It was very plain to her that these symbols were merely the basics for a spell, and it would only form a simple non-elemental shield. Not a very strong one, but it could very well serve as the basis for a much stronger spell.

The moons had moved visibly by the time she had finished reading the spell. Setting the book to the side, she began thinking of a chant. Seeing as she had never used the spell before she would need a chant to help focus her mana. It had been a while since she had last made a chant. Her mind quickly went to work, working on a chant that brought the formulas she needed to use to mind.

Focusing her mana, she then began to chant, and channel her magic. After a few minutes of chanting, she felt the mana snap into place and a barrier formed around her. Although something didn’t feel right, and before she could figure it out a female voice spoke up, “The forward half of your shield is on the verge of collapse, and frankly the rear portion isn’t doing much better.”

Looking over her shoulder she saw a familiar naked dragoness watching her. Then suddenly she unleashed a small firebolt, and it slammed into her shield from behind. Arlie felt the entire thing shatter, and yelped. The firebolt was thankfully just a weak one, but it was hot enough to cause a minor burn. She gave the dragon a hurt look and tried to say something but she was faster, “I have seen pups make better shields than that. That one can’t even stop ...”

She interrupted her, “HEY! Give me a break! It was my first try!”

Aurora gave her a pitying look, and said, “You are going to have to do a lot better than that. A shield is meant to protect the caster from harm, and yours was barely stable. Not to mention it failed in its primary function.”

Arlie had a bad feeling where this was going. She sighed and turned around, “I’m not going to get it right on the first try. I’ll do better next time.”

The dragoness looked her right in the eye, and with a fierce tone replied, “Yes, you very much will get it right. Even if it takes all night.”

“Wait! No need to go that ... far” Before she had even finished her sentence she noticed Aurora doing something, and suddenly several firebolts were heading her way. She danced out of the way, only to trip over a root that sprang out of the ground. Suddenly the bolts changed course and slammed into her. Each one stung, but that was about it.

Aurora clicked her tongue, and said, “You can do better than that. Now try again, and this time try conjuring a shield.”

Those words marked the beginning of yet another painful training session. Just this wasn’t exactly how she planned to learn a shield spell. She made a mental note not to try casting new spells with Aurora around after the session. Arlie did, however, learn how to put up a shield more quickly than before. Not only that, but by the time the session was over her basic shield spell was also fairly stable. She still need ed a chant to cast the spell, but at least she could do it in seconds instead of minutes now.

Lily slipped out of her bedroll and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Arlie hadn’t come to wake her yet, so she guessed it wasn’t her watch. She grabbed a simple dress out of her bag and slipped it over her naked frame. Opening the tent flap, she looked around. The campfire was still burning, and she noticed Arlie was fending off firebolts. Naturally, the source was Aurora. Her bladder, however, reminded her that she needed to pee. So she left the scene alone, and instead walked towards the nearby bushes. They had cleared a spot for this purpose, and it was right on the other side of the bushes.

Lily thankfully found the clearing was empty, and did a quick survey of the surrounding vegetation. Then she proceeded to take care of her business. Once she was done she headed back, but instead of going to bed. She went and did something she knew was a little risky. Lily went over to talk with Arlie and Aurora. Mostly as she was curious to find out what was going on between the two of them.

As soon as she got close, Aurora said, “You’re up early. Good thing, I have something for you to do.”

“Huh? Wait! I just came over to see what was going on over here,” said Lily. However, it was too late.

 The Dragon just gave her a smile, and said, “Well, I think it is best if you put some training in now.”

She tried to talk her way out of extra training, but needless to say, it didn’t work. Next thing she knew, Aurora was giving her another painful lesson. She was still learning the basics, so she didn’t end up doing things like dodging firebolts. No, instead Aurora made her strip out of her dress, and then sit on the ground and started couching her on mana control. After she set up a spell that automatically cast firebolts at Arlie. Honestly, she was kind of glad that she wasn’t having to dodge firebolts, but that didn’t mean her own lesson wasn’t tough.

Aurora liked shocking her every time she messed up. As such she ended up spending hours trying to manipulate mana to Aurora’s satisfaction. At some point she noticed Rose coming over, and she too ended up getting dragged into the training session.

Elsewhere on the road, a young woman hid in the back of her wagon in a secret compartment. Outside she could hear the sounds of battle. A mighty roar followed by a scream. She didn’t know what had happened but it sounded like one of the guards had died. The young woman tried not to think about what was happening outside. 

She knew the guards were out there fighting for their lives against a monster attack. One that should never have happened. This road was regularly patrolled and spelled to prevent monster and bandit attacks. Suddenly there was a growl and a scream above her. It was another woman’s scream likely one of the maids. Suddenly her screaming went silent, and a moment later the sounds of battle died away. She held her breath and listened. Waiting for a signal that she could come out, but one never came.