link so Maya couldn’t hear as she still didn’t seem at ease with things. Rosa just smiled and sent her thanks back to me. “So what’s our next move?” I asked as we gathered around the large table.
Rosa cleared away the papers she was working on. “Ok, here is where we are.” She tapped the map twice and, suddenly, it zoomed into that location. The mountain we were on and the surrounding forest and lake now took up the entire table. Mesmerized, both Maya and I tried tapping the map and it refocused on the area that we tapped each time.
“I sooo have to get me one of these!” Maya grinned as she continued playing with the map.
Rosa laughed at us. “This isn’t even the best part!” She tapped the mountain again and then seemed to pinch the map and pull up. Amazingly, the map moved with her, forming a three dimensional model of the area, complete with trees and flowing water.
Maya was just awestruck. “Ok, now I definitely want one, can I have it for my birthday?”
“I'll see what I can do. But in the meantime, here is where we’re at.” She pointed to a flat area halfway up the mountain. “We need to scale down the mountain and into the forest to find the river here.” She pointed to a dangerous fast-moving river that wound its way through the forest. “We then follow it upstream until we come to the back edge of the forest were we will have what looks like our only major land obstacle.” She zoomed in on that area, and instantly I knew what she meant. We were on the wrong side of the river. “We will need to cross here where the mountains end and the first plateau begins. I know it doesn’t look like the best place to cross, but it is actually the safest place. This is where the water is the slowest, so if someone falls in, the water wizards will have time to get them out safely.”
Maya interjected, “I scouted all the way to the river crossing today, even getting across at that point isn’t going to be easy. But we shouldn’t have any problems up to that section, the forest is a dead zone.”
Rosa looked uncomfortable and I knew she had accessed the day’s events from my mind and was aware of what had happened at the pixie camp. She was also concerned about the prospect of whatever kind of monster that killed the pixies catching our party of wizards out in the open, but she put that concern aside. “As you both know, I’m counting on you two to lead the group. I may be 700 years old, but I am not a real leader. If it hadn’t been for Winya, I’m sure I would have messed up today’s meeting beyond repair; her counsel will be invaluable to us all on this trip. I also need you both to be able to deal with anything that would be in our way, be it troll, undead or dragon.” Maya growled under her breath at the mention of dragons, but Rosa continued, “I would be up at the front with you but the captains both insist that I stay in the middle so the guards can protect me.” She huffed a bit. “Stupid men, the safest place I could be is behind you two.”
“So what do you need us to do now?”
Rosa looked stern. “I need you two to get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be trying for everyone and I need my best people able to function.”
“We can find a tent or just sleep outside in our armor if Alera needs our rooms for more patients,” I suggested.
Rosa snorted, “No, I’m going to be selfish on this one, and you two are staying here tonight. As I said, I want you rested and out front tomorrow. Besides, I don’t want any civilians past the reading room in this place; who knows what would happen if someone wandered down into the workshop!”
“Yeah, they might accidently clean something,” I muttered.
Rosa pulled back her hand like she was going to whack me a good one but then noticed I was still in my armor and thought better of it.
Maya smiled, “Well, if Alex and I don’t get out of this armor soon and get baths, everyone is going to want us out front - way out