The moon shone brightly, sending down its rays at the four as they tracked through the forest. A small orb of light showed them the way forward, followed by Kian and Thatcher. Roxane and Diana walked side by side, and if the orb left the area in front of them without light, Roxane was quick to guide Diana in the darkness. Even though the moon was out, the density of the trees around them still made an inescapable cover of darkness.
Roxane breathed in the cool night air. She tightened the cloak around her as she squeezed Diana's hand with her other hand. Her heart was lighter than it has been in days. They were finally free.
"We're here," Kian said behind his shoulder. Roxane looked into the darkness before them. She could make out the minuscule building sitting only about a dozen feet away from them. Even in the darkness, she could tell the wooden building was in a state beyond hope of ever repairing. The wooden boards of the shack were hanging from its frame, many of the boards appeared rotten, with mildew growing on the sides.
The two women stood by patiently as a flame appeared above Kian's fingertips while Thatcher grabbed the wood that was left in the abandoned stockpile near the shack. In mere moments, the small area around them was lit up. Not needed anymore, the white orb of light faded out of existence.
"Are you sure we should light a fire?" Roxane asked the wizard, now overly conscious that she still held on to his cloak.
"I doubt they would be able to shake off that amount of destruction and come after us. The prince alone would most likely wake up in another day or so. More if we're lucky."
Diana winced at the mention of the temple's destruction. Although she was always quite nervous whenever she was near men, she stepped up to ask him a question.
"And the other priests and priestesses?"
"Presumably, they should be fine. Priestess Sabine would have made sure of it." Thatcher spoke up then, he undid the belt that carried his sword and removed it from his waist. Diana let out a huge sigh of relief as Roxane felt uncomfortable for she was the one who had done the most damage to the temple. She didn't particularly care much for the temple, but she still didn't wish for any harm to befall the people there. She especially hoped Sabine was in good health.
"Don't worry too much. You should try to get some rest while it's still night." Thatcher motioned to the deteriorating shack. "I know it isn't much at all, but it'll have to do. Kian and I will keep watch outside. Come dawn we'll need to start our journey to the nearest village."
Roxane nodded, she could feel how physically exhausted her body was after transforming, and she could also tell Diana was as exhausted as she was. She grabbed onto her friend's hand, moving towards the wooden structure.
The shack's front door was broken and off its hinges. It blocked the front entrance, but Roxane easily moved it to one side.
She felt the eyes of the two men on her back and turned around. Thatcher's eyes widened slightly when Roxane turned to face them, but she wasn't interested in them. The inside of the shack was pitch black and she doubted Diana would willingly want to sleep in the darkness without first inspecting the inside of the building.
"We need light." She said without much emotion. This jolted Thatcher from his faze and he quickly looked at Kian. They seemed to be thinking the same thing, as the wizard walked over to the side of the shack where there were overgrown bushes. He parted them and grabbed two bags. Roxane realized one of the bags was her satchel, the one she had packed just this morning.
He handed her satchel over to her, then he placed the other bag on the floor and began to rummage through it. Soon he found what he was looking for and took it out.
"This is a stone that acts like a candle." Roxane let him place the jagged piece of black rock in her hand after she handed the satchel over to Diana. "To light it, you only need to strike it up against any hard surface. It's not normal fire so you can't burn yourself."
She nodded at his instructions and went back to the shack. Thatcher took off his cloak and placed it over Diana's shoulders.
"Use this as a blanket."
Diana thanked him shyly and followed behind Roxane.
Roxane followed the wizard's instructions, striking the black rock against the side of the wooden wall, and was surprised how easily the rock came to light with what looked like fire but had no heat. Her hand that was holding the rock was also seemingly holding a flame.
The inside of the shack was small and cramped, as a broken bed sat on one side of the room and it took up most of the space inside. Roxane put the rock on the table that was beside the bed and beckoned Diana inside.
As soon as Diana came inside, she went over to the front and with a single hand dragged the door back to stand in front of the shack's entrance.
Diana looked around the tiny space, and as if coming to a conclusion, she set down Roxane's satchel on top of the bed.
"I packed only one set of clothes." Roxane gestured over to the satchel. "Can you hand it over to me?" Diana nodded and opened up the satchel, grabbing the clothes she found, and went over to Roxane, the dress spilling from her arms.
Roxane slipped the cloak completely off her body and Diana helped her into the plain off-white colored dress. Then she bent down to take back the cloak. In the meantime, Diana examined the state of the bed.
"Would we be better off on the floor?" She asked, and her green eyes went to the floor.
Roxane shrugged her wary shoulders. "I have no preference." Thinking about it, the floor was more inviting than the broken bed. With that thought, she sat on the ground after extending the cloak out onto the floor. Once again, the cloak found itself back on the dust-filled ground.
Diana soon joined her on the ground, sitting down on top of the cloak. She took Thatcher's cloak and covered their bodies with it as best as she could. Together, they laid down their heads on the hard ground. Instantly, Diana inched her body closer to Roxane's and Roxane opened her arms to let her friend in. They snuggled against each other and Roxane felt her eyelids get heavy.
"Roxane, what will happen to us now?" Diana whispers, barely letting the words out of her lips.
"Honestly, I don't know." She squeezed her friend in her arms with the little strength she had left. "But whatever happens, we will be together." Roxane kept struggling against her closing eyelids but was still able to hear a small laugh come from Diana.
"This brings back memories from before. Remember we used to sleep on the ground just like this?"
How could she not remember? Back when before they were taken in by the temple when they both struggled every day to survive. Those times were hard for the two little girls, but those times were made more bearable because they had each other.
"I was happy then too," Diana said, but Roxane couldn't quite believe it.
"Really?" She said sleepily. Diana nodded.
"If things had been any different we wouldn't have met at all. You are my most precious friend Roxane."
Roxane felt a smile blossom gently on her face, and she finally gave in to the beckoning lull of sleep. She let her eyelids slowly close.
"Good night Roxane," Diana said, her voice suddenly felt as it was coming from far away. "Thank you for saving me." She said finally. Then snuggled even closer to Roxane as she also fell into a deep sleep while listening to Roxane's steady heartbeats.