The caravan had grown considerably now that they were traveling alongside the villagers. It also meant they were moving considerably slower since many of them had to walk, including Tanisha. She was already falling behind after only a short while of having to carry her bookbag, alchemy case, the additional bag Joha gave her, the druid staff and combat knife.
Bjorn stayed with her as she struggled but she also noticed the occasional eye of one of the young village men. He looked to be a few years older than her, probably eighteen. He had a short sword and she assumed he was one of the village guards. He looked very similar to Hrolf just with a goatee and obviously much younger. When she started to lag behind reaching the last rows of travelers he slowed down and approached her.
"Hey, are you okay?" The young man said. "I can take some of that for you."
"N-no. I got it." Freja said between labored breaths. "It is part of my training."
"Okay." He looked down at Bjorn who didn't seem bothered by him, so he walked alongside them. "Well, my name is Tyr, you saved my and my granddad's life with your potions. I mean, thank you for that." He paused to consider his words and hesitated a few times before settling on something. "My dad is the village leader Hrolf by the way. Oh, not bragging or anything just so you know." He scratched his head. "Are you sure you don't want me to take some of that?"
She slowed down a little more. "Yes, I am sure. It is nice to meet you, Tyr. My name is Tanisha. That is Bjorn."
"Uh, what are you training for?" Tyr asked. "I thought you were a mage or alchemist."
"I am the apprentice of Joha, the demon tiger guy." Tanisha stated. "He is going to teach me how to fight like him."
"Woah really? I saw him fighting, kind of. It was insane." Tyr said, looking up at the colorful wagon Joha drove. "I mean all of them can fight but between him and the gnoll I think he is the best." He looked down at the sword at his hip. "If I was stronger maybe I could have saved some of the people we…" He took a deep breath.
"You're a warrior?" Tanisha asked.
"Mystic swordsman in training, my dad was teaching me the way of the sword passed down through our family." Tyr said as he patted the hilt of his sword. "It is called Hrior af Brotnum Isi or Storm of Shattered Ice. I didn't even get a chance to use it. The attack happened so fast, one second everything was normal, the next I was on the ground bleeding and explosions were going off. It wasn't what I expected a real battle to be, you know?" He paused for half a minute. "Your master was the first to act, everyone else was, I don't know, frozen, in shock."
"What about your dad?" Tanisha asked.
"He was away when the attack started, out hunting I think." Tyr sighed. "I was supposed to protect the village while he was gone. He arrived sometime during and helped the gnoll capture one of the druids. I was unconscious at the time and would have died if not for you."
The two were silent for a long moment and as they continued to walk. Tyr matched her pace as she continued to slow down. He didn't offer to take her things anymore but instead started to cheer her on. Telling her she could do it and to keep pushing. It was a long few hours and finally at midday the convoy took their first break. It took Tanisha and Tyr an additional thirty minutes to catch up to the rest site.
"There. I made it." Tanisha said as she threw up her hands and fell into the soft grass.
"I'll get you some water." Tyr said as he ran off.
Tanisha rolled onto her side taking off the heavy bag. Then rolled again onto her back now free of all the extra weight.
"Bjorn, can you carry me the rest of the way?" Tanisha said with an exhausted groan as she petted him. "Everything hurts already."
"There you are." Joha's deep voice bellowed. "We will be here for another hour or two judging by the group. It will be a good place to see if you can find more ingredients for your potions." A plate of seasoned meat appeared in his hand. "Be sure to eat slowly."
Tanisha sat up as Joha handed her the plate. There was more than she would normally eat but it smelled delicious. She was going to give Bjorn some, but Joha had already produced a second plate for him. She happily dug into the meal feeling more ravenous than usual.
Joha petted Bjorn before he continued. "Training your body will require more food. I suggest you have Bjorn hunt in the future. It will sharpen his instincts and provide ample meat."
"He is venomous." Tanisha responded.
"Ah, that will make it easier for him to take down larger prey." Joha nodded approvingly.
Tanisha shook her head. "No, I mean, we can't eat what he kills?" She said it like a question.
"So, he is poisonous?" Joha asked.
"No, I don't think so." Tanisha said as she tilted her head. "He has poisoned fire though."
"Have you ever seen something else eat what he has killed with his venom before?" Joha asked as he sat down in the lotus position.
"Vultures were eating parts of the troll… and the wolves now that I think about it." Tanisha agreed.
"Did they die?" Joha asked.
Tanisha thought about the vultures and the wolves. None of them seemed sick or died from eating the troll meat. The wolves were all well enough to chase them when they tried to leave the forest. She hadn't thought about that fact.
"No." She responded.
Joha rubbed his chin. "Venomous bite, poisonous breath. The bite is natural venom; he can most likely enhance it with magic temporarily. There is a creature in my country called a basilisk, they are terribly venomous and have similar abilities. Venom must be injected to work. Poison, well poison does not. Breathe it, eat it, let it come into contact with your skin, depending on the type, any or all of these could work.
"It is important to know the strengths and limitations you have. For you that is knowing your own and your familiars. What is safe around him and what isn't. Even the venom of the basilisk could be drunk like fine wine. I wouldn't recommend it but that is the difference between venom and poison. He can kill your meals with or without the venom and you will be fine. I recommend cooking the meat to be safe."
"What about the poisonous fire?" Tanisha asked between bites of her food.
"More than likely, it is magic infused into the blaze." Joha responded. "He is essentially a toxin mage. Once the magic has run its course the toxin dissipates. Whatever he kills will be safe to eat. Safer even than what he kills with his venom. You won't even have to cook it if you don't want to."
Tyr ran back up with a canteen in his hand. He bowed to Joha who nodded in response.
"You are the son of Hrolf, right?" Joha asked.
"Y-yes sir." The young man responded. "My name is Tyr."
Joha looked between Tanisha and Tyr and smirked. "Thank you for looking after my apprentice, if she is any trouble let me know." He looked at Tanisha who had already finished her food. "Besure to use the pipe I gave you. We will continue your training tonight once we stop for the evening. Until then do your best to keep up with the group."
"There is going to be more? Today?" Tanisha asked with a tired groan.
"This is the warmup." Joha said with a wink as he stood up.
"What does the pipe do exactly?" Tanisha asked. "It doesn't seem to have anything inside of it."
Joha opened his mouth, stopped himself then asked."If you don't know what the pipe is, why did you ask if you were a demon?"
Tanisha sat up a little straighter at his response. "I have mental projection magic. I think it came from my familiar bond with Bjorn. I can see my status and skills."
Bjorn perked up at that and Joha watched the lizard with renewed interest.
"Interesting but I cannot speak on the ways of your magic. Especially with familiar bonds, demons cannot form them, and I know little about magic." Joha said with some thought. "I will ask Helina to assist in assessing your magical abilities. As for your training this discovery will help in monitoring your progress." The tiger demon smiled. "The smoking pipe is attuning you to the maya. You gain maya from me as your patron, but those energies would be useless if you cannot attune your body to them. We will go over more tonight."
The demon tiger left, and the plates Tanisha and Bjorn ate on disappeared in a puff of red smoke without warning. Tyr handed her the canteen, but she didn't need it. She had one of her own, but he ran off before she could tell him. Instead of dashing his goodwill she thanked him and drank.
The two talked for a while but not about much, the road, weather, how much longer they would be traveling that day, which would be about another five hours. Tanisha groaned at that but accepted her fate carrying the heavy bags. At some point Bjorn had wandered off and Tanisha thought that she might as well look around for any useful herbs. Tyr seemed like he wanted to go with her but was called for guard duty.
"Well, he's nice." Tanisha said as she waved him off.
She couldn't help but think of Mat, her human friend from the academy. They looked nothing alike of course Tyr being a snowfallen wendigo and Mat being a human. They weren't even built the same, snowfallen were naturally lean and although Tyr was in better shape and quite muscular. She thought to herself why did she think about Mat just then? She then remembered Julie told her that Mat had a crush on her, and he didn't deny it.
Tanisha patted her face with both hands. "Not the time or the place, Tanisha." She stood up and took out her pipe. "Let's look for some herbs while I have the chance."
She smoked letting blue smoke escape her lips. The smoke didn't burn anymore, it just felt numbing and kind of nice. She could feel the magic within it as usual but for a moment she swore she felt something else. Something darker but just as quickly as she felt it the sensation was gone. She wondered if she felt anything at all. The smoking seemed to be revitalizing her and making her less sore and giving her more energy. Knowing now that it was attuning her to maya, an energy from the higher planes, was intriguing to say the least.