Chapter 52 - Freeing Slaves (3)

Arya left the tent and looked for Teressa to inform her that they would be staying with the group until they got out of the forest. He found her having a conversation with Gren under one of the trees close to the camp. "Am I disturbing something here?" asked Arya a bit disgruntled that Teressa was socializing with the person he disliked the most out of the group.

"Gren was just telling me about the time he fought a city guard." said Teressa as she turned to look at Arya. "This little shorty fought a city guard?" asked Arya, the disbelief apparent in his voice.

"What do you mean shorty, I'm way taller than you." shouted Gren as he stood up visibly angered by Arya's comment. He walked up to Arya standing over him, accentuating the height difference between them. Gren was about 1.2m while Arya was roughly 1.02m, Gren used his height difference to poke fun at Arya but ruffling up his hair. "Big mistake kid." said Arya as anger took control of him. "Child of water heed my call, bring about a chill to freeze my-" Arya was about to chant before Teressa stepped in. "Arya don't!" she said as she stood in front of Gren protecting him.

"When did you two get so close?" asked Arya as the mana that was coursing through his veins seeped back into his mana core, and the frost that surrounded his hands dissipated.

"Gren is like me, he understands what I'm going through. He also lost his parents to -. You wouldn't get it anyways." she said before she could finish explaining. "I see. I just came to tell you that I'm working with Raghnall till we leave the forest, though I'm not sure if that still holds any significance to you." said Arya as he stormed off in the opposite direction.

"Arya wait I didn't mean it li-" she tried shouting before Gren stopped her. "Leave him be, if he wants to act like a child let him." said Gren as he returned to the spot he was sitting at under the tree. "But he is a child." replied Teressa under her breath, so softly that Gren couldn't hear.

"Hey Arya! Over here!" called out a loud voice from a group of people sitting beside a tent. It was Geld, the leader of Silver-fox. "I heard you accepted Raghnall's offer. Welcome to the team, though there are a few things we need to discus about formations and contingencies when engaged in battle." said Gren as he gestured for the rest of the group to pay attention.

"With Arya here we might have to change our formation depending on his specializations. What type of magic are you more versed in, attack or defense?" asked Geld as the rest of the group turned to him as well waiting for an answer.

"My magic is mainly crowd control, most of my spells restrict my opponents movements though I do have a few offensive spells. I haven't versed myself in defensive spells." said Arya trying to sound like a real mage.

"I see, than you will be at the center of our new formation. You'll cast your spells before we attack to ensure that Gizem and Arian hit their marks. Since we might be going against mages our only hope would be to use guerilla tactics, attacking them when they least expect in then disappearing. Since we will be moving at night this should be easier." continued Geld while drawing their new formation on the ground.

"Can't Arya just kill them all? Since his magic is so rare shouldn't he be at the advantage." asked Arian as he looked at Arya with a bit of spite in his eyes. "Well it doesn't work that way. Many things can contribute to a fight between mages, like equipment and the level of their mana core." explained Abigail trying to diffuse the situation.

"Then what level is his core at?" asked Arian with seemingly more aggression than before. "Arian what's gotten into you?" asked Geld as he noticed Arian's passive aggression. "I just don't want mister mage over here to think that just because his magic is so rare that we will grovel at his feet." said Arian as he stood up to walk away.

"No one ever said that Arian." Abigail tried saying but Arian had already left. "Leave him Abigail, he just needs some time alone. Sorry Arya, he isn't usually like this, I guess that the possibility of there being a mole in our group has gotten the better of him." said Geld as they continued their discussion on battle tactics.

A few hours went by and lunch was finally ready. Everyone began to form lines to collect their meals while Arya was called into Raghnall's tent. "We've prepared your tent, it's located at the outer rim of the camp. I apologize that I couldn't place it closer into the camp, but it's already so full inside." said Raghnall as he sat on one of the stools in his tent.

"Ye right, you just want me on the outer rim so that if anything bad happens I'll be forced to deal with it first." sneered Arya inwardly. "Thank you very much." he said instead.

"Also I've arranged for your meals to be sent to your tent directly so you don't have to worry about standing in line. Though would you like to join me for my meal just this once? The other bowl was supposed to be for Gren but he seems to be preoccupied by your companion." Raghnall said as he gestured to the two bowls on the table.

"I might as well, it's not like there's a difference." grumbled Arya as he sat on the stool beside Raghnall.

"You seem displeased that Gren and Teressa are talking to each other." said Raghnall as he put a spoonful of soup into his mouth. Arya remained quiet. "You see Gren's parents'- " Raghnall tried saying before Arya stopped him.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude but I would much rather talk about how flies procreate than talk about that guy." said Arya as he began digging into his food at an inhuman speed. "You seem rather famished." commented Raghnall as he moved his bowl a bit away, seemingly scared that Arya would look at his bowl of food next.

"Ye, I guess being poisoned works up quite the appetite." replied Arya ensuing an awkward silence. After finishing his meal and not one of them had said a word to each other since he decided to make small talk. "Though there's one thing that baffles me. Why are you helping these people? I can't see a way in which you possibly gain from this. Unless you sell them once you 'free' them.. In which case I won't judge you, you're only human after all."