The Battle Mage

Mangrove

We sit on a meager island surrounded by marshland, having walked until the sun dipped too low for us to properly navigate. I hack at a tree with my throwing ax and toss what comes off into a small pile. 

"I'd say we did pretty well for our first day!" Lisa says brightly. She's feeding the ferret pieces of the rabbit, but it seems disinterested. "Only one of us almost died, and the ferret's still in top shape! Unless I can't get her to eat." She pokes it with a bit of meat. I chop off another branch. "This should be enough to get started." I say, wiping my brow. Despite the sun being down, it's still hot and humid, and everyone's beading with sweat. "I can start the blaze." Keanu offers. "I can use a simple fire spell." "All right, just make it on the far end of the island." Jack says, wiping away sweat. "I don't want to be any hotter than I am right now." Keanu nods and brings the wood to the other side. It's not a big island, maybe twenty square feet, so it wont make that much of a difference. 

With a whispered spell and a flick of his wrist, a small flame springs to life in the wood. I'd never been able to master fire related spells. I'm more of a defensive fighter, and fire spells were always used to attack. "I'll cook." Wesley volunteers. Lisa tosses him one skinned rabbit and the skinned snake, and he starts fashioning a spit out of the remaining twigs. 

"Can I borrow a knife?" Lisa asks Keanu. He hesitantly hands one to her, asking "What are you doing?" "Here, hold her." She trades the knife for the ferret, takes the skin of the rabbit, and starts slicing delicately into it. "I'm making a pouch to carry her in! It'll work like a satchel. The snake is gonna be the strap." Keanu nods, cradling the ferret. 

I sit next to Jack, leaning my shoulder against his. "You doing okay? You know, after the mud." I ask. He nods, giving me a tight smile. "I'm okay. I just got hit by this... feeling. What I felt down there was just... different. I mean, to be fair, I've never been submerged in dirt before, so maybe it's just because I was completely surrounded by it." Despite his reassurance, he still looks on edge, so I prod "Do you still feel like something bad is going to happen?" He scoffs. "I think that's just because I'm stressed about this test. I've been pretty useless so far. And anyways, it's not like seers get premonitions." 

I give him a light laugh, but I know he's just saying it to reassure me. What he said after we pulled him out had sounded pretty prophetic and had scared the shit out of me. I don't push him any more, though. "I'm gonna need more wood." Wesley says. The fire has started to die down, and the world around us has grown dark again. Obediently, I get up and draw my throwing ax. "I've never seen you use one of those." Jack comments as I start hacking at the wood. "That's because I haven't." I say. "I only brought it as a tool, not a weapon." 

"Ta-da!" Lisa says, holding up her finished product. She's cleaned the skin and managed to form it into a decent - looking satchel, big enough for the ferret. "Shh!" Keanu shushes her. It's fallen asleep again. "Sorry." She whispers. "I get excited about my products." I toss the freshly chopped wood to Wesley. "Keanu, can I get a boost?" He asks. Keanu sends another flame spell towards the wood, and the marsh around us lights up, but I can't see anything apart from mud and water plants. 

Jack stiffens, though. "What is it?" I ask as he stands. He blinks, rubbing his eyes, then squints into the distance. "Thalia, can you do air magic? I thought I saw some out there but it might just be the natural wind." "I'm not very good at it." I warn, but whisper the spell anyways, redirecting the wind around my hand. He looks at my hand, then off into the distance, then at my hand again. "Something's out there using air magic." he whispers. "Everyone, be quiet." Wesley stops rotating the meat, freezing in place. Keanu stops his conversation with Lisa, clutching the ferret in one arm and slipping a knife into his free hand. I reach a hand back to my battle ax, holstering the small one.