Things Lost and Found (a Waglington and Mianite fanfiction)

Chapter 29

Okay, so "Take Back The Night" by CaptainSparklez very loosely ties in with this chapter. Really, how can I resist using one of his songs? :) It's too early for me to think up anything else to say. :P Enjoy the chapter! I promise Wag's friends figure it out next chapter. ;)

*Kay's POV*

We continued trekking through the mixed birch, sycamore, and oak trees. Our footfalls were complimented by the skitter and crunch of fallen leaves. Ilanna lit a torch she'd had the forethought to bring as the sky faded to dark blue-black.

When the moon started rising, I realized in horror that tonight was a blood moon. I had left my sword back in my tent. Echo laughed at my face when she turned to see why I had stopped. "I was wondering why you were so cool with going out tonight. Were you really so stressed out that you didn't notice?" Apparently I had been. I hadn't even recognized the tension and dark magic building throughout the day; I'd been too focused on picking the best campground. "Here, you can use my sword," Echo offered as she unsheathed her alumite rapier. Echo preferred hand to hand combat or her dagger generally. Swords weren't her thing, but "it never hurt to have one around" she would always say.

Actually, this could be a great opportunity to blow off some magical energy, I thought as I allowed sparks to course over my right hand. "No thanks. I need some magic practice." Echo grinned and re-sheathed her sword. "Where are we going? You never told me earlier."

A mischievous light crossed Echo's eyes. "You'll see. Focus on getting there in one piece."

A loud growl from a zombie nearby spurred us forward again. Echo ran with her steel dagger in hand. Illana was close behind her carrying a torch in one hand and an obsidian sword in the other. I brought up the rear, keeping an eye out for skeletons that might take a parting shot at us as we fled. My adrenaline started pumping as we raced further from camp. We broke from the trees into a meadow stained red by the moon rising in the sky. It would have been quite beautiful, if not for the score of monsters between us and the continuing forest beyond them. The meadow was sprinkled with skeletons, zombies, spiders, and creepers like they were wild flowers. Even an enderman or two strolled across the open space.

We all stared at each other for a silent moment before a skeleton took the first shot. I vaporized the projectile with a small burst of blue magic. Chaos ensued. Now, I wasn't too worried about the monsters hurting us. Rythian was a demanding combat instructor; these were nothing compared to the drills he put us through. However, I was slightly worried about accidentally hurting Echo or Ilanna with my powers. My magic had gone through a bit of a growth spurt a few weeks ago and was still growing, and I hadn't had time to fine tune my use of it. Where I intended to slay one monster, I incinerated it and left a five foot crater behind. Yeah, I need to work on that.

The zombies and creepers fell with little effort; they couldn't get close to me. A mana elemental surprised me with a stinging bolt of magic to my back, and almost distracted me enough to miss blocking an arrow from a rather large skeleton. I quickly dispatched the elemental, and focused on keeping some swift-footed spiders at bay. From then on I remembered to turn around occasionally to make sure I didn't get snuck up on again.

Echo and Ilanna were working in tandem since neither of them had magic available for use in combat. Echo darted in and out making quick disabling cuts with her dagger or sweeping the legs out from under her targets while Ilanna followed a few steps behind her, finishing off the wounded mobs with her black sword.

By the time the monsters stopped coming, I'd shrunk the crater size of my spells to 2 feet. I'll count that as an accomplishment, I thought with a satisfied sigh. I noted with unease that it looked like someone had bombed the field with all the craters I'd left. Maybe I should have taken Echo up on her offer and used her sword; it would have been a lot less conspicuous. "How much further, Echo? I love target practice as much as the next wizard, but we don't have all night. I don't like being this close to Dagrun either." This was the closest we'd been to mortal civilization since we camped a few miles from a dwarven city six months ago. I think its name was Thel Olihm. I didn't pick up much dwarvish while I was there for supplies.