41. Aru

The morning dawned crisp and clear over the mountains, the sun"s first rays casting a golden glow across the primordial landscape.

Aru had deliberately taken the last watch of the night. Watching the sky gradually brighten and night turn into day in these majestic mountains was a unique experience.

He contemplated starting a fire and warming some water for tea.

Doing so during the daytime would probably go unnoticed by the guards in the military base, but given that they were trying to conserve water so it would last them until the end of the day, it might not be the best idea. On the other hand, did it matter whether they drank it in the form of tea or straight from the canteen?

Probably not.

He should ask the others if they wanted some.

Aru suspected Negal and Dagor were awake, too, and the three of them were waiting for the human to wake up. Jasmine needed more sleep than they did, but on the other hand, she could doze off while riding on Negal"s back, so maybe they should just wake her.

For some reason, the guy insisted on being the one to ferry her around, perhaps because the harness had been made to fit him, and adjusting to fit Aru or Dagor might undermine its stability. After all, they had fashioned it from whatever materials they could find, and none of them was an expert on building harnesses.

Next to him, Dagor stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "We need to get moving."

"Soon." Aru turned to look at Negal, whose sleeping bag was on his other side. "Are you awake?"

"Have been up for a while." Negal pulled himself out of the sleeping cocoon and sat beside it. "I would love a cup of coffee right now."

"We shouldn"t." Aru cast him an apologetic look. "Not unless you can find us a source of water."

Negal glanced toward the base, which was not visible from where they were sitting. "I can make it there in half an hour, steal some water, and return in half that time."

"We can"t risk it."

Glancing over at Jasmine"s tent, Aru noted a slight rustle of movement from within, and a moment later the flap opened, and she emerged, her face still heavy with sleep and her hair all messy and tangled. But her eyes were bright, and the pinched expression she"d worn since getting injured was gone.

"Good morning," she said, her voice slightly hoarse from disuse. "Have you been waiting for me to wake up?"

Aru nodded. "We should be moving out soon if we want to make it on time to the spot Edgar is picking us up from."

She nodded. "I"ll just go over there to take care of some private business." She seemed perfectly steady as she rose to her feet as if her ankle wasn"t bothering her at all.

Negal got up. "I"ll take you." He started walking toward her.

"No need." Jasmine waved him off and stretched her arms over her head. "My ankle feels much better today, and I think I can walk alone." She cast Negal a knowing look.

Aru frowned. Did she suspect something?

Her ankle had healed too quickly, and she was aware of it, but there was no way she could suspect that he had given her a blood transfusion without her knowledge or consent. She suspected something, though. He would have loved to peek into her mind and find out what fantastical scenarios she imagined, but that would be an even more grievous violation, so he would have to remain curious.

"I"m glad your ankle is better, but Negal needs to go with you anyway. Some predators in these mountains might look on you as a tasty snack."

Jasmine winced. "I forgot about that." She waved a hand at Negal. "Come on."

As she picked her way carefully over the rocky terrain, he followed, and Aru watched them until they disappeared behind a large boulder.

"Let"s make coffee," Dagor said. "I"d rather start the day right and be a little thirsty later."

It was somewhat risky, but Aru nodded. "Let"s do it but boil just enough water for a small cup for each of us."

Jasmine and Negal returned a short while later, Jasmine"s face slightly flushed from the crisp morning air and her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I smell coffee."

"We"ve made a tiny cup of Turkish coffee for each of us." Dagor handed her one along with an energy bar. "It"s cooked with sugar, so it"s already sweet."

"Thank you." She beamed at him. "You are a god."

He chuckled. "Ha-ha."

She took a sip and closed her eyes. "Divine, truly. If you weren"t mated, I would ask you to marry me."

"What about Edgar?" Negal asked before biting into his energy bar.

Jasmine seemed unfazed by the question. "He hasn"t made me Turkish coffee yet. If he comes even close to this, I"ll marry him."

She didn"t sound very convincing. There was no wistfulness in her tone, only humor. It was as if she was talking about a colleague, not the male she"d been sharing her bed with.

Aru finished the last of the dregs from his cup and handed it to Dagor to stow away. They weren"t going to wash them for obvious reasons.

He turned to Jasmine. "As soon as you are ready, you need to whip out your scrying stick and point us in the right direction, so we can get to where Edgar is going to pick us up on time and enjoy the crappy coffee in the hotel restaurant."

Jasmine smiled. "Maybe I can read the future in the coffee grounds." She took a sip and then lifted the cup, turning it this way and that to coat the sides. After another moment, she sighed. "All I see is a long road ahead. That"s not telling me much." She reached into her pocket, withdrawing the scrying stick.

Closing her eyes, she mumbled something under her breath that Aru didn"t catch, her brow furrowing in concentration.

Not that it mattered what she"d said.

Jasmine"s mystical methods were just tools that focused her innate abilities. She could be reciting a recipe for momos for all he cared.

Thinking about the delicious Tibetan dumplings made his mouth water, and he banished the craving by thinking about the call he had missed with the queen the previous night. She had known that he might not be able to call because of conditions in the field, but he still regretted not being able to make it.

The truth was that he enjoyed being privy to the lessons the queen gave her granddaughter and everything else they talked about. He found it fascinating and educational. The lessons she imparted to her granddaughter were a masterclass in politics and strategy, and Aru absorbed every word like a sponge. If he ever decided to pursue a political career, the knowledge he gleaned from these calls would be invaluable.

"Oh boy," Jasmine murmured as her hand holding the scrying stick started vibrating violently. The movement was so pronounced that it seemed like the stick had a life of its own.

Jasmine rotated her wrist, moving the stick in a circle. The vibrations intensified and then suddenly stopped. When she moved it again, the vibrations resumed, and when she returned to the same spot, they abruptly stopped again.

"It seems that the stick settled on a heading," she said. "It"s quivering with an almost palpable energy when I point it at that lower peak over there."

The mountaintop she pointed at was less than a mile away, within range of Aru"s scanner.

He pulled it out of his backpack, hoping to find a trace of energy with an Anumatian technology signature that would corroborate Jasmine"s findings.

Regrettably, the only energy the device registered was human-made and emanated from the nearby military base.

If there was anything on the mountain the stick was pointing at, the scanner should have picked it up. It was probably just pointing to a path, not the actual location, although given the triangulation, it should be nearby.

Well, provided that Jasmine was onto something, they weren"t wasting their time on a wild goose chase.

She wasn"t faking it, that was for sure, but she could have convinced herself that she had magic, and that conviction could have influenced her energy flow, which in turn had made the stick vibrate.