Page 18 of Wandering Witch

It’s not like I needed sleep, and I could still keep my ears open from the sleep pile inside the tent. The bear didn’t say anything, but I could tell he was happy he’d brought me along after he realized I didn’t require sleep like he did. Now he could rest secure in the knowledge that the chances of anything sneaking upon him and his mate were next to nothing.

Speaking of my new favorite bear, when I returned to camp, he was stacking bundles of sticks he’d gathered for firewood. I hovered behind him for a few minutes, just watching before I noticed a longer stick that reminded me a good bit of a long broom handle.

I smirked as I reached for it. On my first pass at the stick, my hand passed right through the wood. I had to bite back a growl of frustration. It took me several more tries before I could push enough of my will into lifting the branch.

My trials weren’t helped when Locke returned with another armload of branches and dropped them right on top of my stick. When he came back with more, he noticed I was struggling. He pulled out the stick I was interested in and set it off to the side so it wouldn’t get buried as he gathered enough to last us until morning.

Finally, I could wield my wooden weapon, but then I had to figure out how to manipulate my energy to swing it around without dropping it.

I laughed as I moved the stick around similar to how I used a short sword I stole back in the old days. Now, I would be the first to say that I wasn’t skilled in any way, but that never stopped me from trying.

By this time, Locke had compiled what he must have figured to be plenty of firewood for our brief stay because he was now building the start of the fire pit. An idea crossed my mind as I glanced down at the weapon.

With careful aim, I started swinging my stick at him like he was my own personal training dummy. He must have either not noticed what I was doing, which I strongly doubted, or he was still in the mood to be a good sport because he just carried on like I wasn’t even there.

At least until I miscalculated my aim and swung right for his head. He moved so fast that I barely saw him twitch as he brought up a branch of his own to block my blow. When he rose, he brought his branch to block another instinctive attack of my own.

“Shit,” I muttered as I locked eyes with the armed bear as he smirked evilly at me before returning my attacks.

I raised my weapon to block his blows but failed several times and felt the club-like branch cut through my ghostly body.

“What the hell, man?” I asked as I successfully blocked a short series of swings. “It was just a joke. I didn’t plan to ever actually hurt you.”

“Good, then we are in agreement. But you keep leaving your flanks open.” That was all the response I got as he fired off another series of blows at me.

What was going through the damn bear’s mind? He didn’t give me much chance to think about what he’d said as all I could do was block him if I didn’t want him to continue to land hits on me. Hits that were slowly starting to leave me with more sensation than just faint wind cutting through my astral form.

He didn’t let up until well after sunset, but I was able to return blows by then. I didn’t realize I had started a sparring session at first, but I found I actually enjoyed having a bonding experience with someone.

Locke was the one to call an end to our training when he realized we were losing daylight. He clapped a hand on my shoulder before he stopped at the tent long enough to grab a water bottle from Fare on his way to start the fire.

I yawned as I moved over to the crackling flames.

“You look tired, for once. Why don’t you lie down in the tent for a while? I can take watch tonight,” Locke offered as Fare came to sit by his side.

I nodded without thinking as I left the pair behind.

Locke

Iglanced over my shoulder to watch as Roan floated into the tent, his feet were actually dragging through the ground with his exhaustion. I chuckled as I cracked my neck before looking at Fare.

“He’s really not as bad as I first thought. A little rough in a lot of ways and places, but he’s got a lot of potential,” I said.

She looked taken aback a moment before she laughed. I couldn’t stop myself from watching her as she threw her head back and longed to trace her throat with my tongue.

“He does grow on a person after a while, doesn’t he?” she asked as her laughter died down. “Kind of strange that you were actually able to tire him out though. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I guess. But he was the one who started it,” I replied. “But it was interesting. When we started, I couldn’t land a blow on him. Not that he was able to dodge or block me, but all my attacks went straight through him.”

I lost myself in my thoughts as I recalled the surprising sparring session.

When I’d first noticed Roan was trying to lift a stick, I had no clue what he was trying to do. But when I saw the extra weight from a bundle of twigs was too much, I helped him out by pulling it aside. That was all the assistance I had planned to give the spirit.

If he wanted to make himself stronger, he would have to ask before I would even consider aiding him. At least, until he could lift the damn stick enough to swing it at my head.

Okay, so I knew that wasn’t what he meant. After watching him swing it around wildly like a child, I made sure I had a weapon of my own to stop him from accidentally hurting either Fare or myself.

The boy had some minor skills, I would give him that. The thought had crossed my mind as I studied him from the corner of my eye. When I was done with my chores and was able to give him more of my attention, I think I intimidated him.

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