Elevation of Mana Chapter 24 Regrouping

I awoke to find myself laid down on the cold stone. While it took me several moments to realize where I was after the initial shock of waking up somewhere new my brain caught up. I'd suggested this place, there should be no surprise that I was now here.

As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes I sat up a bit and began to look around me. Here and there were the people of my village, all looking exhausted and resting where they could. Their faces, those that were awake at least, were hard. Much of my own family was curled up around me in a pile, which at least was our normal way of sleeping. Those that were awake though, looked rough.

Ninden's father is near the entrance of the cave, as is Larus, both keeping an eye out.

"Want help?"  I ask the two hunters.

Both look back at me with a slight smile.  "Sure Elian, but keep well back in case those beasts show up," Larus says.  "If they do though, use your light like you did against that bear if you can."

My father is still out cold behind us, so I take some time to sit with them, keeping about ten feet back from the opening.

"Did you two rest at all?"  I ask.

"Not yet, some of the others will wake soon and when they do we will.  Until then we're just keeping an eye out."

Soon enough some of the others replaced Ninden's dad, though Larus stayed up until father returned.  It seemed they wanted at least one magic user on the door at all times.  As the current guards were replaced, the others went into the giant pile of elves that was the current sleeping arrangement.  This cave wasn't big, and with all of our stuff and the people we had, it was packed.

Luckily the sun hadn't gone down yet, so there was still a bit of light spilling in from the outside, but judging from the color of what was coming in that wouldn't last too much longer.  People awoke one by one, taking up what little space they could and looking positively nervous.  The fact that our elder had finally woken up and was calmly eating breakfast before addressing the village was also off-putting to some.

"Everyone not guarding the door, gather round so we can talk," she finally said.

There wasn't a whole lot of moving around, as we were basically sardines in here right now, but that got everyone's attention.  The took a few moments to look around, and meet people's eyes.  Even I came a bit nearer to see what she had to say.

"Things are grim everyone, it is sad, but the truth.  Those monsters left us, but went  after our loved ones, and we will be paying them back for that, but for now, we need a few moments to mourn our dead."  Everyone sat silent, waiting for her.

"Good, the hunters will soon venture out to kill the remaining two beasts, but they must rest and recover a bit first, so we will be spending a few days here.  Once they've finished them, we'll return to the village, and we'll repair what we can.  It will be hard, particularly with the cold season on its way, but we will survive."

A few more platitudes were given before she motioned me over to her side.  We retreated to the very back of the cave, near the big boulder that blocked off the tunnels behind it.  When I'd first come here I could easily squeeze past, but I'd grown a good bit since then and now it might be a bit difficult.

"Mind helping me shrink this down Elian?  We need more room for everyone."  She motioned to it and we set to work.

"Why is it here anyway?"  I asked.

"Surely you can sense the power coming up from below?"  She retorted.

"Yes... what is it?'

"I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?  You just blocked it off for no reason?"  I was flabbergasted at her response to that question, but she seemed amused by my questioning.

"I don't know because the cave is very deep, and there's never been a good reason to go all the way down.  As for why it's blocked off, that's simple.  The energy leaking up from whatever is down there has attracted magical beasts in the past, and I've no desire to let them get into whatever it is.  Most wouldn't, but we use this cave sometimes, and I don't want to have to clean it out every time I come out here."

We cut away little bits of the blocking stone until it could be pushed further into the cave.  With a few quick motions Elaya managed to make it roundish and just let it roll back.  I watched as we went deeper, stopping before we'd gone too far.

"Should we keep going?"  I asked.

"No, we'll need to use our light so that everyone can see as it is, too deep and we'll have issues.  We'll all just be cramped I suppose."

When we returned to the front area of the cave it was clear to see the sun had fully set.  Mother seemed to have taken the initiative and grown what looked like a wall of thorn bushes in the entrance.  Seemed nobody was going in or out for now at the very least.  She and our elder shared a look before the older woman took up a spot near the opening.

"I'll help the men on watch for a bit, if you and yours would like to take a place.  It might be useful for you to settle near the back of the cave so that Elian or Eduan can keep a light on for people..." Elaya said.

My father, along with mother and my aunt appeared, and led us to the back.  There were a few others who shared the hut with us that moved that same direction, keeping close, but a slight distance.  My direct family got the spot at the very end by the boulder, and I threw up a light for everyone as I was still very fresh, and that particular spell was quite easy.

"Let's talk, privately," mother said pointedly.

Father hummed a few lines of a song and the low mumbling of our neighbors fell to a barely audible buzz.  Soon as that was done mother looked at us all.

"Can the hunters take those monsters?"  She asked father, not holding back a bit.

"Yes, but it will be a hard fight, and I'll have to go with them," his answer didn't seem to please her at all.  "We also need to worry about them coming after the people who stay behind.  You saw what they did to the village."

I cringed.  We'd lost people, nobody close to me personally, but those were the first deaths our village had seen that I'd witnessed.  Elves were ageless, and with healers like mom around most things could be stopped from killing us so long as we caught it quickly enough.

"Can I help?"  I asked, and mother gave me a hard glare.

"You'll stay here son, but that doesn't mean you won't.  You're stronger than a lot of the village, and we'll need you to keep everyone safe while we're away.  That's an important job."  Father bent down to my level as he spoke, placing a hand on my shoulder and smiling.

"The monsters though..."

"They won't go far.  Remember that they'll want to come for us, we killed some of theirs, and even with our village wrecked they won't stop.  So we'll fight them, and we'll win."  Father sounded sure, and his eyes blazed.

"For now dear, you rest.  I'm sure Larus will want to gather the strongest of our men as soon as dawn arrives, and you already said he'll need you," mother chided.

Dad took to checking his weapons, as well as those of the others in the cave.  It seemed he wanted everything in proper shape.  While he did so the women of our little tribe tried to prepare some food, struggling due to the lack of fire.  Eventually I offered some help, which was more than welcome.  A good meal was be just the thing to raise spirits.