“Alright, it’s just our bed left, so I will set it up in the next room, and we will see you all in the morning.” Cassie declared as she picked up her dinner ration pack.
“Oh no, you don’t. I might actually die of envy if I have to listen to you and the demon getting freaky in the next room all night. None of us have seen a man under fifty years old in months, and knowing that you get the only one around is bad enough without having to hear it at night.” One of the witches complained.
Ella hid her laughter behind a hand and began creating a wider bed for the three of them.
“Though I am not an exhibitionist, I can’t guarantee anything. We have been separated for a while now, and that’s not easy with the Familiar bond.” Wolfe teased the other witches.
“That’s alright, we’ve been with them for quite a while through all sorts of hell, and I’m certain they wouldn’t torture us like that when our own auras are so heavily damaged.” The same witch replied.
She had a good point. These witches had lost a lot, even if their familiars were still safely inside Sylvan City, other than the five who were Wolfe’s Servants and had lost theirs in the first suicidal mission that the Morgana Coven sent them on.
At the current rate of healing, their auras would still take a year or more to recover, possibly longer since their familiar was further away than usual and couldn’t transfer as much energy as they could when they were nearby.
He would start working on rebuilding their auras tomorrow, but for tonight the cot that Ella had made was looking pretty comfortable.
Once he was settled into the middle of the cot with Cassie on one side and Ella on the other, Wolfe focused on his meditation, helping repair the damage everyone bonded to him had taken to their auras and started to bring them up to his current level.
They were so intent on their work that they didn’t even notice when the others got up for the morning or served breakfast. They didn’t even notice when Stephanie came to sleep in Wolfe’s chest. What finally woke them up was a startled scream from one of the witches in the upper chambers.
“Calm down. They’re friendly. We’re not under attack.” Priya was shouting at the witch while a startled yipping marked the scout’s retreat from the tunnels.
“What was that?” Someone in the same room as Wolfe was asking, so he sighed and sat up, moving Stephanie to his shoulder.
“We made a deal with the local mutants’ villages. They were likely dropping off supplies and checking to see if I had made it back safely. Don’t attack them.” He explained, then realized that everyone in the room was staring at his exposed torso.
“I can see that we all need to have a meeting about what we’re planning to do in the near future. I can help everyone with their auras, but it will take time. So, while we do that, we will still need to scout for human units and assist the mutants in eliminating enough of them to keep us supplied and fed.” He continued, but they were barely paying attention.
“Enough gawking. Before he ran away, the local boy left a message for Wolfe. It says they found another supply convoy, but it’s got two escort units waiting to ambush anyone who comes for it. They want your help to take out the escorts tomorrow morning.” Priya informed them.
“That’s not a problem. The belt-fed weapons with the enchanted ammunition worked wonderfully during the rescue effort, so I will make some more for our allies, and they can take one while I get the other.” Wolfe agreed.
“You’re not planning to leave all of us out of the loop, are you?” Cassie asked.
Wolfe didn’t miss the hint of threat in her voice, so he started making new plans. If he enchanted more rifles, they could come with him and use his mana pool to take out the escort units from multiple angles.
It would be even more efficient than going solo, and he should have the mana pool for it, as long as the battle didn’t drag out too long. Three of them with burst fire activated were going to be casting a lot of fireballs, even at low intensity.
They had plenty of time, though, and he could enchant extra magazines of ammunition in advance, allowing it to be activated automatically when fired. He would be doing it for the mutants already, so it would only take a little more time to do the same for everyone else. They would just have to be very careful not to let the mundane army get their hands on any of those rounds.
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Wolfe considered the various options for a while, then decided to just accept the mana expenditure and give the ones bonded to him the same rifles that he was using.
“You look like you’re thinking way too deeply about this, Wolfe. We’ve been fighting at the treatment camp. We can handle ourselves.” Ella reminded him.
“That’s not it. I was deciding how to equip you for the battle. I’ve got it figured out now, and I just need to do some inscriptions to get the gear we took from the mundane army ready for tomorrow’s expedition.
Once that is done, I will meet with the mutants and give them the plan. They can communicate just fine, but not around witches.
I’m not sure if it’s because they grew up here with all the curses and the devastation or if it’s a lingering curse that was deliberately set, but the moment a witch gets too close, they switch to animalistic barks and yowling.
It’s really quite annoying, but we work with what we have. As you can see, they can pass notes just fine, so there are ways around the curse, even when you can’t understand each other.”
The witches whispered among each other, and then one of them stepped forward.
“There is one more thing we need to ask. You have said you will equip us to fight the mundane army, and we are thankful, but how exactly do you plan to rebuild our auras fast enough for it to matter?
Can you do what you did for those five to everyone? Or is it just because they’re bonded to you?”
“While I admit that the bond between us helps a lot, I can still give each of you a daily dose of mana to work with. It’s not a perfect solution, but it will help you recover much faster than just waiting.
I can also repair the damage to your mana channelling pathways caused by the gas, so you can use what aura you do have as efficiently as possible.”
“Can you show us before you run away on your supply run?” The one with a scar on her face that healing magic didn’t seem to affect asked.
“Of course. Pick a volunteer, and I will start with them right now.”