Dragging the three elves behind him, he made sure to keep an eye on both them and the time. He relied on his memory of how long it took him to recover his Aether reserves now that he was a Tier 2 Iron Fighter, but he was not foolish enough to believe they would wait for their reserves to fully recover.
So as soon as he reached the tree line, he quickly brought out Ivyre's blade, giving himself a small cut on his wrist. Then, pouring Aether into the blade, he sent forth a wide arc of red light that immediately split through three tall oak trees.
Without wasting time, he shoved the logs into the magic pouch, briefly amazed at how much it could carry. He then turned and dragged the trio back toward the compound, to the surprise of both Yasmin and Ayobe, as they had not anticipated that the scum of the earth, in Yasmin's words, would waste Aether just to chop down wood.
"Tsk," Yasmin hissed, annoyed at the little amount of Aether she had recovered. It was not even enough to cast a spell. She glanced at Ivyre, but seeing her expressionless gaze, she knew there was no luck on her side. She did not even bother to look at Ayobe, for if Ivyre could not, Ayobe certainly could not as well.
Ivyre kept her gaze fixed on Rael's back as he dragged them through the entrance of the compound. She felt the little ounce of Aether drain from her body and squinted her eyes as questions rose in her mind.
'Who exactly is he? A noble from some high territory? But why would he be alone in the Zodiac Woods? Maybe an exile.'
Even with that conclusion, doubt lingered. Which territory would kick out such a skilled Aether user? Some of his movements seemed clumsy to her, yet none were wasted. Even though she was certain she could best him in a duel if not for whatever was draining them dry of Aether, her curiosity gnawed at her, especially about that technique of his that could send out Aether attacks, something that should not be possible for an Iron Fighter.
Finally reaching his compound and feeling his Dominion senses return, Rael quietly breathed a sigh of relief. He dragged the trio back and tied them to the wall of the house of alchemy before turning and entering the furnace hall. That was what he chose to call the blacksmith structure, since soon he would be making a furnace and using it to craft a weapon. For now, it was time for carpentry.
Hearing the chiseling and the sound of wood being struck from the structure across from where she and her sister were tied, Yasmin blew a strand of her red hair from her face as she stared at it with an annoyed expression.
"Calm down, Yasmin," Ayobe said, her green eyes glancing at the vein popping on Yasmin's forehead. "You know being angry at a time when we should be clear-headed won't help, right?"
"And how do you expect me to be calm? We're tied up like pigs to be slaughtered, or worse, sold. So no Ayobe, I can't be calm ."
"From what he said earlier, he has no such intentions," Ivyre replied with her eyes closed.
"And how would you know that? You know we can't and shouldn't trust a human," Yasmin retorted.
Sighing in annoyance, Ivyre replied, "If you cooled your rage and stopped letting the past blind you, you would see that he needs us alive for a reason."
"Kinda obvious," Ayobe added.
"And what other reason could there be that won't benefit him and put us at a disadvantage?" Yasmin spat.
Ivyre sighed once more, opening her pale green eyes and posing a question in a scolding tone. "Look around you, Yasmin, and beyond the wooden fences. We're still in the Zodiac Woods, almost at its center. That alone drops the survival rate of any Aether user. And there are only thirteen days left before the gates of hell unleash those abominable creatures. Do you really think any Aether user in their right mind would want to be outside and alone in the Zodiac Woods of all places, said to have dozens of withered spawn points?"
Yasmin took a breath, finally calming down a bit. "So you're saying we could bargain?"
"Maybe. But if my guess is right and he's an exile, an outcast just like us, then he definitely needs us."
"It still doesn't change the fact that we can't trust him though."Ayobe whispered
"I know, and I'm not saying we have to," Ivyre replied, pausing as she glanced at the confusing sounds coming from the structure across the compound. "I just don't think we're in such a bad situation after all."
.....
Three hours passed as Rael held a short wooden pole, six feet long, with a sharpened tip, using his thumb to test its edge.
"Hmm, should be good enough. Can't be that perfect."
He turned his gaze to a pile of similar poles, hoping they would be enough to barricade the entire fence. After packing them into the magic pouch, he peeked outside, seeing the trio now silent. He had heard them talking earlier, though indistinctly, and it had sounded like an argument.
Choosing not to bother with them, he stepped outside the compound and began setting up the stakes around the fence. He planted them slantly at the base of the fence and tightened them with hemp ropes, making sure that if anything charged at the fence, it would end up impaled.
Once finished, he began practicing the methods needed to plant the boundary ward sigil. Looking up at the setting sun and the first rising moon, he decided to light a fire at the center of the compound, directly facing the tied elves.
He sat comfortably in front of the flames, pulling out meat jerkies while looking at the elves, who stared back at him in turn.
"i bet you're all hungry?" he smiled.