Seeing as they didn't reply ,well, not like he expected a reply to begin with he chewed on a jerky, ignoring its raw taste since it had neither spice nor salt. He spoke while pointing the jerky at them.
"Come on. I know with how 'unfair' our little duel was earlier, and with all of you being empty of aether, you must be starving. So you sure you don't want some?"
He chewed some more jerky, and receiving no reply, continued with an exaggeratedly sad expression.
"Well, at least I tried. Guess my dear ancestors would be proud of how gentlemanly I am. But sadly, my efforts aren't appreciated."
He chewed on another piece of meat jerky.
"Tsk," Yasmin hissed, barely resisting the urge to send Rael a glare, which only made him chuckle.
Finishing the jerky in his hand, his face took on a serious look as he rummaged through the magic pouches he held all six of them, including the three belonging to his prisoners.
He brought out several items all various body parts of aether beasts instantly catching the attention of the tied-up trio.
Rael held a small knife and began cutting pieces from each of the body parts, the fangs of the mutated redskin spider he'd killed, the teeth of sabertooth worgs, twilight bat wings, and several more. Basically, he was gathering the main aether-focused body parts of the beasts, as the Boundary Ward manuscript had stated that the properties of each beast would be reflected when the sigil was activated , if he succeeded.
The manuscript didn't specify what type of beasts to use, meaning the decision was his. He simply used what he had at hand and he had a lot.
But he wasn't about to waste them on a first attempt, which was why he cut off only small pieces and placed them on the ground in front of him, sitting close to the fire.
He started drawing intricate lines and runic symbols, but this was the hard part. Each symbol and line had to be perfect, so this was going to take a while ,a very long while.
"Is that what I think he's doing?" Ayobe squinted her eyes from where she was tied up with her sisters.
"That's a lot of beast parts, and judging from their sizes, they're aether beasts. Who the hell is this freak?" Yasmin exclaimed, easily identifying each of the beast parts.
Ivyre stared more closely as Rael drew, watching him clear the dirt from the ground countless times in frustration. She turned to Ayobe.
"He's trying to draw an inscription?" she asked.
"Well, I can't be certain, since I can't see what he's obviously failing to draw, but it's definitely not an inscription. Inscriptions don't need beast parts only arrays or runes require such," Ayobe answered, interest gleaming in her bright green eyes.
Ivyre sank into thought.
'Why is he having difficulty drawing whatever he's doing? Isn't he the one who drew what's draining us of aether? Or is he not really alone? Wait… could it be'
With a worried thought, she whispered to Ayobe.
"Do you think he could be making a ritualistic array?"
At that, both Ayobe and Yasmin froze.
"I can't be sure. I'll have to see the symbols at least, and even then I won't know," Ayobe replied, worried.
"Great. Now it seems we got caught by a mad cultist," Yasmin muttered.
"Calm down. Let me try something," Ivyre whispered before calling out to Rael in a slightly mocking tone.
"You must be having a hard time drawing that, seeing as you've remained on the same symbol for an hour now. Seems you're all just brute."
"Shit!" Rael growled, missing the final tip that would have completed the symbol a shape resembling an 'A' mixed with several other alphabets.
He raised his head and glared at Ivyre. He had been so close, that final stroke having taken him what felt like ages.
"And what would you know about runic symbols, missy?" Rael snarled.
"Oh, more than you can imagine. My race was said to be the first to gain mastery over the arts of runes ages before you humans even knew what they were," Ayobe spoke up, already knowing what Ivyre was trying to achieve.
"Really?" Rael replied offhandedly.
'They were quiet a while ago. Why the sudden engagement? What the hell are they planning?' he thought before continuing.
"So let me guess one of you is probably an iron etcher, right? And you'll try to trick me into letting one of you cats free. Well, that'll only happen in your wildest dreams."
With that, he went back to drawing.
Seeing their plan to at least glimpse the symbol thwarted by Rael's caution, Ivyre glanced at Ayobe, who then spoke to Rael.
"I am, in fact, an iron etcher. So I might be able to help you."
Rael paused upon hearing that, but continued drawing, not bothering to confirm whether it was true or false.
Getting no response from him, the trio chose to remain silent as they watched him waste the night drawing, then wiping, over and over again.
Feeling damn frustrated, and seeing the gloating expression Yasmin threw at him didn't help matters. He had succeeded in drawing the 'A'-like symbol, only to be confronted by even worse ones. It wasn't that he couldn't draw them he just had to make them perfectly identical to those in the manuscript.
Sighing, he rose to his feet, knowing full well that if he continued at this pace, he'd waste days. Worse, this was just the basic foundation of the Boundary Ward sigil.
He peeked at the elves from the corner of his eyes, seeing both Ivyre and Ayobe sleeping though he knew they weren't and, of course, Yasmin staring at him with that annoying glint in her eyes.
"Fuck… well, I don't have a choice, do I? I'll have to hear what they have to say."
"Tsk," he hissed as he walked toward them, beating down his pride. Without the Boundary Ward sigil up and running, he'd have no way to complete the other quests and certain death would follow at the cursed hands of the Withered.