Ashio hung his head in shame and exhaustion. His forearms pressed into his thighs and his thick blue bangles slid down to the base of his hands. The smell of smoke emanated from his corded hair, his clothes, and he was pretty sure from his pores too. The surrounding exposed rock was still warm from the two headed hyren's fiery breath. Ashio sighed; it was bad enough that that he got defeated again, but it was worse that the stupid Book of Elders wasn't even where they were looking.
The Weave shadow magi felt somewhat proud that he didn't flinch this time when Warrada touched him. The Naroom shadow magi intimidated him, she wasn't particularly more powerful than him, but he knew that she was really smart which made up for a lot. Not to mention that he knew how deep her cruelty streak ran; if she wanted to hurt him, she would and he was to exhausted to do much to stop her. Warrada's gloved hand on his shoulder felt surprisingly gentle, but the heat from the firefight earlier had left him with some burns and her touch caused more than a little pain.
"With our luck those burns will get infected and you'll be useless if we get into another fight." The Naroomi's voice was low enough that she wouldn't be overheard. Ashio's cheeks flushed brown, Warrada rarely talked on group missions. Her voice was lovely and delightfully witchy, He wished she spoke more. From a pocket under her armored black skirt she pulled out a vial of burn salve. He did wince when she rubbed the medicine on his wounds.
"Youch! That stings!" Ashio knew that Warrada was glaring at him. He couldn't see it of course with her hair in the way, but he could feel it. It was the feeling that if he didn't comply she'd hurt him more than he already was. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back over to continue applying the salve. Ashio continued to grumble about it until she finished.
"That should keep ya." Warrada wrapped her work with some bandages and called it a day. Ashio mumbled something that could be interpreted as a thanks and tapped his foot on the ground, not knowing what to say next. The Naroomi suddenly found the sky very interesting and asked, "So… what do you think the odds are that Chur got the Book back?"
Speak of a chaos jile, Chur sulked into view with his tail thrashing angrily.
"I'm guessing you luck was the same as ours," Ashio snarked. He didn't shrink at Chur's glare and flashed a jagged toothed smirk back at him. The bald shadow magi could only sigh and roll his eyes, he did particularly feel up to another fight today. "So, Mr.I-wanna-be-the-next-Agram, what's next?"
"Shelter." Chur put his rough hands on his feminine hips and glanced around at the surrounding mountains. "Once the sun sets it'll get below zero and you four aren't built for freezing temperatures. As annoying as y'all are, you're more useful alive. Ugh, follow me, I've got a hideout nearby."
Chur laughed at the collective groan from his exhausted comrades as he lead the way down the mountain.
The last rays of the sun had vanished under the horizon by the time the band of corrupt magi reached Chur's hidey hole. Everyone but the biracial shadow magi shivered and all but dove into the cave as soon as Chur pulled back the thick enchanted curtain protecting it. He sauntered in and boasted, "Gotta love having Kybar and d'Reshi blood, practically as much protection from the cold as a Narian without the weaknesses."
Zed and Ashio rolled their eyes as Korg and Warrada started a fire. Chur pulled some long fur coats out of baskets and tossed them at his comrades. After a moment of thought he pulled out some dried meat and threw it at them as well, smiling in delight when a slab of jerky whacked Korg in the face.
The shadow magi complained about their loss long into the night. Eventually Korg and Zed fell asleep spooning dangerously close to the fire, their combined snoring echoed about the cave causing the other occupants to hope that the older magi catch on fire soon. Not long after Warrada huffed in frustration and stepped outside. Chur watched Ashio poke the ashes in the fire pit until the stick in his hand caught flame. The Weave shadow dropped it and stamped it out with his three-toed feet.
"You should go check on Warrada." Chur purred. At Ashio's look the bald shadow magi rolled over on his moga fur rug and sunk his elbows in the material. "What? She likes you."
"So-wait she does?" Ashio's hairless brow rose in curiosity. The Weave shadow magi made an annoyed growl when Chur snickered at him.
"By the ghosts of Eliwan, Ashio, your head must be full of grass," Chur stop laughing as soon as it became apparent that the other boy wanted him to explain what should be obvious. He sighed in mock annoyance before continuing, "She's nice to you, bandage your wounds, didn't get revenge on you for betraying us when we teamed up with the Dreamers that one time. Beside you like her, so just go."
"What? How? Ahhh fine, you know it all!" Chur smirked at the brown blush spreading the other boy's face as he turned and stormed out of the cave. Then he yawned and rolled over to catch a bit of sleep himself.
Not far from the cave sat Warrada. She had her borrowed fur coat wrapped tightly around her body as she stared up at the sky. As he approached he noticed that she was shivering a little in the cold mountain air. Ashio didn't noticed that he'd been holding his breath until Warrada spoke up. Her words floated up in white puffs illuminated by the El-light, "Come to watch the real stars?"
"They're probably the best part of life on the surface, way prettier than the star stones." Ashio shrugged as he sat down next to the Naroomi. He wasn't lying, the twinkling faraway gas balls seemed to change location every time he'd come to the surface in the six or seven hundred years. Unlike the eerily glowing stones embedded in the roof of their adopted home realm that were as static as its long lived relatives. In something that he'd later tell his comrades was a fit of madness if they asked, Ashio took off his fur blanket and wrapped it around the two of them. After a moment Warrada leaned against his side.
"If you tell anyone I'll set your pretty head on fire."
"You think I'm pretty?"
Their pointed ears pricked at the sound of pained yelps from the cave and Chur cackling with laughter.