'Very pretty; what's it good for?' Tarma asked when she took her hands away.
'Well, for one thing, I've cut off the wind; for another, the shield is concentrating the heat and the meat will cook faster now.'
'And what's it costing you?' Tarma had been in Kethry's company long enough now to know that magic always had a price. And in Kethry's case, that price was usually taken out of the resources of the spell-caster.
Kethry smiled at her accusing tone. 'Nowhere near so much as you might think; this clearing has been used for overnighting a great deal, and a good many of those camping here have celebrated in one way or another. There's lots of residual energy here, energy only another mage could tap. Mages don't take the Trade Road often, they take the Courier's Road when they have to travel at all.'
'So?'
'So there's more than enough energy here not only to cook dinner but to give us a little more protection from the weather than our bit of canvas.'
Tarma nodded, momentarily satisfied that her blood-sister wasn't exhausting herself just so they could eat a little sooner. 'Well, while I was scrounging for the hooved ones, I found a bit for us, too -- '
She began pulling cattail roots, mallow-pith, a few nuts, and other edibles from the outer pockets of her coat. 'Not a lot there, but enough to supplement dinner, and make a bit of breakfast besides.'
'Bless you! These bunnies were a bit young and small, and rather on the lean side -- should this stuff be cooked?'
'They're better raw, actually.'
'Good enough; want to help with the shelter, since we're expecting a blow?'
'Only if you tell me what to do. I've got no notion of what these winter storms of yours are like.'
Kethry had already stretched their canvas tent across the top and open side of the enclosure of rocks and logs, stuffed brush and moss into the chinks on the inside, packed snow into the chinks from the outside, and layered the floor with pine boughs to keep their own bodies off the snow. Tarma helped her lash the canvas down tighter, then weighted all the loose edges with packed-down snow and what rocks they could find.
As they worked, the promised storm began to give warning of its approach. The wind picked up noticeably, and the northern horizon began to darken. Tarma cast a wary eye at the darkening clouds. 'I hope you're done cooking because it doesn't look like we have too much time left to get under cover.'
'I think it's cooked through.'
'And if not, it won't be the first time we've eaten raw meat on this trip. I'd better get the grazers.'
Tarma got the beasts one at a time; first the mule, then her mare. She backed them right inside the shelter, coaxing them to lie down inside, one on either side of it, with their heads to the door-flap just in case something should panic them. With the two humans in the space in the middle, they should all stay as close to warm as was possible. Once again she breathed a little prayer of thankfulness for the quality of mule she'd been able to find for Kethry; with a balky beast or anything other than another Shin'a'in-bred horse this arrangement would have been impossible.
Kethry followed, grilled rabbit bundled into a piece of leather. The rich odor made Tarma's mouth water and reminded her that she hadn't eaten since this morning. While Kethry wormed her way in past her partner, Tarma lashed the door closed.
'Hold this, and find a comfortable spot,' the mage told her. While Tarma snuggled up against Kessira's shoulder, Kethry knelt in the space remaining. She held her hands just at chin height, palms facing outward, her eyes completely closed and her face utterly vacant. By this Tarma knew she was attempting a much more difficult bit of magery than she had with their dinner.
She began an odd, singsong chant, swaying a little in time to it. Tarma began to see a thin streak of weak yellow light, like a watered-down sunbeam, dancing before her. In fact, that was what she probably would have taken it for -- except that the sun was nearly down, not overhead.
As Kethry chanted, the light-beam increased in strength and brightness. Then, at a sharp word from her, it split into six. The six beams remained where the one had been for a moment, perhaps a little longer. Kethry began chanting again, a different rhythm this time, and the six beams leapt to the walls of their shelter, taking up positions spaced equally apart.
When they moved so suddenly, Tarma had nearly jumped out of her skin -- especially since one of them had actually passed through her. But when she could feel no strangeness -- and certainly no harm from the encounter -- she relaxed again. The animals appeared to be ignoring the things, whatever they were.
