While Haera walked the perimeter of the clearing, staring into the darkness of the forest to make sure nothing was lurking there, Larc and I double-checked to make sure we were on top of solid ground and not more tunnels that could crumble away. It made me feel a little uneasy that we wouldn't be protected by a barrier tonight, we would have to rely on our own wits to keep us alive.

We formed a circle with our cloaks — a defensive strategy used so that everyone would be able to see in one direction to make sure we weren't being ambushed — and started to unpack what we needed for the night. Thankfully, with the summer heat, we didn't need to risk a fire for warmth.

My sister found a stone to sharpen her blades as I dove straight to the salve in my satchel. It was a miracle we hadn't lost any of our belongings during the whole escapade with the blind shadow creature.

"Can you turn around?" I asked Larc as I shuffled over to his side. "I'm going to start healing your wings now if that's okay." They seemed to have stopped bleeding, but that didn't mean they could go without healing.

"Of course." He turned around to give me full access to his back, his muscles rippling under his torn shirt.

Closing my eyes, I pushed my magic into the severed wings, searching for any gaps or tears in the flesh that could be filled in. I found the source of the blood within seconds and made sure that the fresh scab was healed. If it opened again, there was a high chance of infection and that was the last thing we needed.

When I was confident there was nothing else my power could do to aid his pain, I took out the salve and began to rub a generous amount on the most mangled parts. Larc's body tensed as the balm touched his wings.

"Sorry, I should have given you some warning before I put it on." It had only been two days away from Silverwood and I was forgetting my training already. "Did I hurt you?"

"It's okay, it didn't hurt. It was just a sudden jump from feeling the warmth of your magic to the coolness of the salve." He relaxed again, a silent signal for me to continue.

Before long, the task was finished. "How do they feel now?" I asked as I put the remaining salve back into my satchel.

"Better, thank you." The wing that had been torn to shreds lifted for a moment but slumped back down again in defeat. "It's strange. Sometimes it feels like my wings are still there and it hurts so much. I don't know why it's happening."

"That would be phantom pain." I sat down next to him as I offered him my explanation. "I've treated one person who lost his arm after coming back from the front lines and he described the exact same thing. There was nothing I could do to make it go away." Thinking back to our journey so far, it hadn't seemed like Larc had been in a lot of pain. "When has this been happening?"

"Mostly at night when I'm trying to sleep. I can't decide if that's the best time for it to happen or the worst." The Dragon-born needed his rest, but it would also be troublesome if he was in agony while we were trying to get to the mountain. There was no winning in that situation.

Haera placed her blades at her side and began to get the food out.

"You must have healed a lot of people," Larc started. "Your power must be a real asset."

"I'm very grateful I can help everyone in Silverwood, but I haven't healed too many people." I flexed my fingers, attempting to gauge how much magic I had left before I would be exhausted. The blue glow from underneath the bandage wrapped around my blood oath wound was a strange sight to see.

"Silverwood is only a small village and not many people have cause to get hurt. It's really only the hunters that stop by the Temple to get healed when they accidentally get nicked by one of their own weapons or a trap backfires on them."

I nodded in agreement. "The larger villages get a lot more use out of their healers."

"What about sicknesses? Are you not able to heal those?" Larc questioned.

"Only if it's caused by an infection. That way, I can treat where the infection is coming from directly." My reply was followed by a frown. "Otherwise, not that I know of. I've tried before and had no luck."

When I was younger and our mother was ill — bed bound by a fever for days — I had tried my hardest to let my power help her. According to her, I was trying so hard that my face had gone completely red and all I had been able to achieve was making our mother laugh.

"The elders at the Temple helped me learn how to make concoctions and medicines to treat who I couldn't heal, though."

Larc thanked Haera as she passed him some food — the same rations of bread and dried-out meat. "It sounds very interesting to learn about. Are many people blessed by the Goddess?"

"Not really." I had to pause to think about my answer.

"There are a couple hundred thousand people in the Kingdom of Aerla and only a few hundred are blessed," my sister added,

"Though, because of the Goddess's stories and fame, a lot of people know about medicine." The fact made my magic swirl with pride.

The Dragon-born took a bit out of his bread. "Was there really no mention of the Lyre at all in any of her stories?"

"I know them all off by heart and there's nothing. Unless there are some in bigger cities that haven't made their way over to Silverwood over the centuries they've been circulating." I couldn't figure out why that was. After finding the letters in the abandoned infirmary, there had been a mention of the Lyre. Was it possible that it was purposefully kept out of the stories and songs? It was used to help defeat the darkness, to confine it. Perhaps it was kept a secret.

"Then the mountain is our only hope."

Silence filled us as we ate, our gazes landing on the mountain that towered over us in the distance. It wasn't until Larc spoke again that we turned away from it.

"Are you a healer too, Haera? Or know a little of the craft?" His question had me stifling laughter.

"Me? A healer?" My sister cracked a smile. "I'm far from it. I haven't got the gentleness needed to heal people, nor the patience. Instead, I hunt animals for food for our family and a few others when they need help."

The Dragon-born's brows raised in surprise. "So there is a little piece of kindness that exists within you. Helping others isn't something I can picture you doing." A hint of a smirk formed on his lips while Haera's vanished in an instant.

"It was just a joke," I said between giggles, nudging her with my boot.

"I have plenty of kindness. Only none of it is reserved for people I can't trust." She placed the last of her food into her mouth with an icy glare fixated on Larc.

He held his hands up in surrender. "It was merely an observation." Finishing the last pieces of his own food, he decided to change the subject before he walked into a waiting minefield. "How long have you been hunting for?"

"Since our father died around eleven years ago." It took her a moment to respond, but she did so with a slight sadness in her voice. "He was training me up until his death and then I got taught a few tips and tricks from the other hunters in the village."

The topic settled a thick blanket of melancholy over us, the memories of our father seeping through the fabric. We needed to move on before it soaked through completely.

"Does anyone have any injuries that still need healing that I might have missed?" I asked.

"Missed? Don't insult your skills," my sister warned. "I'm fully patched up."

"I am too." Larc rolled his shoulders and winced. "Well, aside from the obvious."

A wave of relief rolled through me. "I don't mind taking the first watch tonight."

"I can take it," Haera insisted, motioning to her weapons that were already prepared for the task.

"You did it last night and for longer than you were supposed to. Take some time to get a little bit of rest. You'll be the first person I wake if something happens."

"Okay, fine." She settled on her cloak with a sigh. "But I will be taking the second watch."

"That's fine by us, I'm sure." I only smiled when she looked up at me and rolled her eyes.

The Dragon-born followed suit and laid down on his cloak too, tucking his arm underneath his head to act as a pillow. I couldn't help but wonder if he was getting any of that phantom pain now.

"Do you think we'll actually be able to make it up the mountain?" My voice was a whisper as I gazed upwards, resting my back against a tree. Every time I looked, the challenge seemed more and more daunting.

"If we need to get the Lyre, we don't have much of a choice." Haera closed her eyes as she spoke, letting the looming dilemma lull her to sleep.