Chapter 174: Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Four: Mountainside Camp

I propped myself up with my back against one of the trees as I took some water and looked around the group. Everyone was doing the same. We would never normally walk for that long without stopping for rest and sleep, but this time we had no choice. We were going to need some rest before we made the final approach to the shrine. In this state it would be dangerous to attempt to reach it.

I looked over to Serin sat against the next tree. “What do we do now?”

She was already undoing her boots. “Now we rest. I think we should stay here until it’s dark, then make our move. We’ll sleep in shifts and try to recover.”

Liz walked over and plopped her bag down next to Serin. “I agree we should rest, but shouldn’t we send Celine ahead to check out the area around the shrine?” She asked.

“I was planning to ask her, but she needs to rest too. Let’s just wait until it’s night, we’ve all been on the move for a long time. Nothing good is going to come from us trying to rush things. We’ll all be thinking clearer after some food and a sleep. We’re lucky we found this place and can wait things out.”

Liz nodded. “I suppose we have nothing to gain by checking now. Even if we found the shrine was inaccessible, we wouldn’t be able to leave the mountain until later.”

It was time for some food and then we would set up a small camp. It was only preserved goods again, we weren’t going to risk a fire in this position, but it was still welcome.

Once we had eaten everyone seemed to have regained some of their strength and we set up our camp for the day. No tents, we were going to sleep out in the open. If something happened, we needed to able to leave immediately.

Luckily the weather was warm and fine, even if we were up the side of a mountain. There was no need for shelter. We decided to set a watch in pairs, despite the cover here our position was dangerous.

Aetherin offered to be on the first watch, there wasn’t any objection to this. Everyone could see she was in the best shape out of all of us after that trek. Serin took the first watch alongside her, and the rest of the party prepared to sleep.

I climbed straight into my sleeping gear. At first, I thought I might struggle to fall asleep in the light, but it turned out to be easy enough. I was just so tired after the previous day and spending the entire night walking.

The next thing I knew was Serin gently waking me. “Theo, it’s time to wake up.”

I squinted, looking up at the sun coming through the leaves above. “Hunh? Oh, Serin morning. I suppose it isn’t morning anymore is it!”

“It’s still before noon, it’s just time to swap shifts.”

“Right, I’ll be right up.”

Serin left me to wake Beth. I quickly dressed and joined Aetherin. She was sat in the shade near the centre of the group. Not long afterwards Serin joined us while we waited for Beth to get up.

I looked over as she sat down next to me. “I guess that we weren’t woken before, means it’s been pretty quiet out here today?”

“I haven’t noticed a thing. I was a little worried that the harpies might have flown over this way, but there’s been no sign of them so far.” She replied.

“That’s good. Maybe we’re lucky and they aren’t searching in this direction.”

“I suppose it would make sense if they didn’t head this way first. They’re trying to track someone that escaped, the logical guess would be that you would try to head towards the border, not further into this territory.”

“True, they have no idea what our purpose so there’s no reason to for them to think we would go this way.”

“But we can’t be complacent. They can cover a lot of ground and quickly. There’s still a chance that they could send patrols over here. We should keep out of sight just in case.”

As we spoke Beth joined and sat down with us. “Ugh, I still feel so tired.” She said with a yawn.

“That’s no surprise. Yesterday was an exceptionally long one. You’ll get another chance to sleep in a few hours and we’re not moving before nightfall. Rest up until then.” Answered Serin.

“I know, I will.”

Serin stretched then stood back up. “Saying that, I’m going to go to bed now.”

“Night… I mean, have a good sleep.” I said as she made her way to bed.

“Thanks Theo… Oh Aetherin aren’t you going to bed too?” Serin asked turning back to the group.

“I was going to stay up for now.”

“Didn’t you bring sleeping gear? I have some spare…”

“No, it isn’t that. I just don’t require that much sleep. Is it a problem if I keep watch with these two?”

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Serin was glancing between Aetherin and me. “No, no problem. Is that really true?”

“I have no idea how much sleep she needs.” I answered.

“It’s true, we only need a few hours and can go days without sleep.” Explained Aetherin.

“Oh, I see. Well, I’ll see you all later then. Theo, make sure she gets some rest.” Serin said with a wave as she left.

“Well, that is surprising.” Commented Beth.

“You must have seen how fast we regenerate, is it really that surprising that we need less rest too?” Asked Aetherin.

“No, I meant I thought Theo knew everything about a girl’s sleeping habits!”

Aetherin laughed. “Yes, he is frequently invited to their bed chambers!”

“I’m no expert and all of my experience is while they are awake!”

Both of them laughed at my response. I was just glad that even Beth seemed to be gradually becoming used to the demon girls. She wasn’t suggesting that we shouldn’t trust them at every turn at the very least.

I was reminded about what Serin had told me on the way here. Before meeting and getting to know any demons, myself I had a perception of what they were like. Part of it was from this world, the damage they had caused the people here during the war and I suppose part of it was the connotations of the word from my world.

All the demon girl’s I had got to know since then, were just like normal people. They were basically human in the way they behaved. I wondered what the demon lord might be like, if they turned out to be reasonable too maybe there was more than one way out of this war. I first thought they were much like the monsters of this world, unthinking and there was no chance of negotiation, but that wasn’t true.

As we sat under the tree’s and talked the day rolled on. I looked up and could see the sun was at its highest now. In a couple of hours’ time, we would swap out with Celine and Liz, they would take the final shift for the day.

I pulled out some food from my bag, my stomach was starting to groan, and it was pretty much lunchtime anyway. Beth was already doing the same. As I ate, I first wondered if I would need to feed Celine.

We were expecting her to scout out the shrine before we approached. It would be for the best if she was fully charged before she went. Then I wondered about Aetherin, she would eventually need to feed too.

I must have been looking at her when I thought this because she looked up at me. “Is everything okay Theo?” She asked.

“It’s nothing really, just you know we’re both here eating and, well aren’t you hungry?”

“I only really eat for enjoyment. It would be a waste of me to have any of yours.”

“I meant, you know, for blood?”

“No, not yet. There’s no need to concern yourself about that. I wouldn’t want to take any from you, not now when we’re in this position and possibly weaken you. Not even if I really was hungry.”

“Right… It’s okay, there’s time for me to heal and recover before tonight.”

“Honestly I’m fine. If we encounter some resistance tonight, I’ll feed then.”

“Would you really be okay feeding on your own kind?”

“I doubt that there will be any vampires there, although anyone we do encounter is going to be a demon of one kind or another. Food is food, I have to eat. It’s frowned upon for any demon race to eat one of the other races, but in this situation, they would count as my enemies. I might be forced to kill them anyway. It’s a difficult thing, having to rely on the lifeforce of sentient beings for sustenance. Regardless of the race they belong to.”

“Just don’t starve yourself… As long as I can do it safely, you can always take my blood.”

“I don’t know about the other girls, but if you can control yourself when you feed, I could offer you a little too.” Beth said a little awkwardly.

“Beth!”

“What? I just don’t want you to end up drained, between her and Celine. You’re basically a walking meal for the two of them. Besides right now, as long as she’s an ally, it’s in my best interest if she stays strong.”

Aetherin beamed with a smile. “Thank you, both of you… I don’t quite know what to say. I never expected someone to offer their blood to me like this.”

Beth made a face like her response was obvious. “Well, we are on the same side, we’re a party, it’s natural that we should try and help each other.”

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