By The Light Of The Moon

Chapter 26

Thunder boomed overhead, and I expected rain to start falling any second. Had the clouds not darkened the sky, the world around us would have been much lighter with the coming dawn.

"Olivia, there's a cave over here. It isn't the best, but there's too many soldiers in this forest for us to try traveling during the day."

I sent Milly in the direction of Shane's voice. We pushed through the shrubs, eventually finding him against a rocky outcropping. As I got closer, I could see a narrow gap in the rocks.

"Can I borrow your flint? Rocks capable of making sparks are usually common around here, but I wasn't able to find any today."

"Sure." I quickly tethered Milly and located my flint striker as Shane shifted to his human shape and came to take it from me.

After unsaddling Milly, I carried my gear over to the cave. I eyed up the limited space and decided to put the saddlebags under a different ledge. It would be a tight fit for both of us in there, so I wasn't sure if Shane planned to squeeze in or take his chances in the rain.

"Don't wander too far," Shane said. "The underbrush in this spot is fairly dense, but once you go past it, you can see for quite some distance."

"Thanks, I'll keep close. Which section of bushes is best for bathroom breaks?"

He pointed to the side. "The ones against the cliff have a small opening in the middle."

The clearing lit up as lightning flashed overhead, followed by the tumultuous booming of thunder. A raindrop hit my cheek, and I pulled my hood up as I went to help Shane chop the roots and meat for the soup.

Rain sprinkled down around us as the soup cooked, and I wandered along the edge of the small clearing, eventually finding a fairly straight branch. I cut it free and took it back to the fire.

"Making another spear?" Shane asked, absently breaking twigs in half and flicking them into the fire.

I continued trimming the branches off. "It won't help against an archer, but it might come in handy if a bear tries to contest our ownership of the cave."

"You're sitting beside someone who can turn into a large canine, and you think your best defense against a bear is a stick?" he asked, a hint of humor lacing his words.

It surprised me that he was willing to joke about it, but I was open for a round of bantering. "Oh, it'll probably end up as firewood. Besides, I'm pretty sure if I threw it and suggested a game of fetch, you'd probably whack me over the head with it."

He snorted and dryly replied, "Indeed. And then I'd turn it into firewood."

I chuckled and put the bowls beside the fire since the soup was almost done.

"It's probably best if we camp here all day," he said. "Half the groups we slipped past would have seen us in daylight."

"That works for me. Some of those groups were much too close for comfort."

"I agree," he said as he checked the soup and poured it into the bowls. "The sun isn't far from rising. Since I can't make the necklace appear in wolf form, I'll leave it with you. I want to see if it'll let me shift once the sun rises."

"I assume you want me to stick it over your head like yesterday?"

"Yes. I'm hoping it works. If not, just put it in your belt pouch, regardless of how often it falls out. Don't wear it. I'm not sure if it would do anything, but it's probably better not to risk it."

I nodded seriously at the warning. "Do you think it'll let you shift?"

He glanced at the necklace around my neck. "I could still sense your necklace, so I'm hoping mine also works. I just can't summon mine in that form for some reason."