Converging Destinies: Part 1

Chapter 44

       The next day, they all felt that familiar feeling that they had twice before. They could never quite place their finger on it, but they all felt stronger, more resilient, and in some cases more magically capable. As they all looked around, they saw no sign of town guards or other forms of pursuit. For now, all of them were safe. As the sun rose, Cedric searched for nuts, berries, and other foods in the woods.

       However, after thirty minutes of searching, he was unable to find any. He went back to the group, several of which were still sleeping, and began to meditate, preparing his druidic magic for survival in the sparse forests of the island.

       "I feel stronger! Didn't think I could get so much stronger this quickly." Ella said.

       "Stronger?" Zerai asked.

       "Yes, my greatsword is easier to carry." Ella said.

       "I mean, I've felt this a few times before, but not many." Zerai replied.

       "Ahh. Maybe it's because we had a great battle and won!" Ella said.

       "Maybe we won, but we did lose a lot." Ara' Sei pointed out.

       "What do you mean?" Ella asked.

       "We've all been seen by town guards. Cedric and I are now known as arsonists and murderers. None of us will be able to go back to the city without being arrested and possibly killed." Ara' Sei explained.

       "I could pull it off." Eris said.

       "How so?" Ara' Sei asked.

       "I have illusions that I can disguise myself with." Eris explained tersely.

       "For how long?" Zerai asked.

       "About three hours a day." Eris answered.

       "Alright, that's probably enough. As long as you slip in through the slums and go to the main city, you'll be fine." Zerai said.

       "Are we sure they'll be alright?" Ara' Sei asked Zerai.

       "I'm not sure we have much of a choice." Zerai said.

       "I think we do, Cedric can turn into animals. I could fit him in my hood." Eris said.

       "Do we know how long?" Zerai asked.

       "After he's done meditating, we certainly can." Eris answered.

       "Okay, so, we have a way of access to the city. But, there's just one thing. What are we going to do next now that we've burned down the armory?" Ara' Sei asked.

       "Well, the first thing to do would be to wait. Thankfully, I shouted to one of them on the way out, so it's possible that animosity has already brewed between the slavers and Aria." Zerai said.

       "How long should we wait?" Ara' Sei asked.

       "Well, we can't wait too long or they'll call on reinforcements or purchase another ship. But, we need to wait long enough for all of this to die down. They're even more certain that someone is trying to take them down, so we're going to have to fight more than ever from now on. However, regarding our next step, we need to work to grow the divide between the local government and the slaver's guild. We might want to forge a letter with the help of Aria's seal." Zerai explained.

        "Alright, I can go to the city to buy the paper and ink for that. I think I could do my best to make a forgery, but I'm going to need Cedric's keen eye to see if it seems convincing enough." Eris said.

       "Alright. In which case, either today or tomorrow you and Cedric can go get the materials for forging and forge a letter. I know where their base of operations is, so we can mail the letter there. Together, we can figure out what to write tomorrow." Zerai said.

       "Alright, it's good to know we have a plan. I can do it tomorrow, but for today, I've got other plans."

Author's Note: This chapter is the first one where the characters are now level 6. For several of them, this means new features and/or spells.