Halfway through the night, she felt a nudge.
"Come on, it's your turn."
Groggily waking up, Oriana found Bethany kneeling by her and realised why she had been woken up from her tormented sleep.
"I'm up. Unfortunately."
"You have to make some sacrifices to get what you want in life. Sleep is by far one of the easiest."
Oriana wasn't quite sure how to answer that, so she just got up for her shift.
Outside, she saw Bethany try to get comfortable in the spot she had previously been in, but like herself, the wind and all sorts of annoyances in the night air were stopping her.
Oriana sat nearby, with a good look over the road. She was partially hidden, and with only a small fire to keep her warm, the surrounding trees should make it hard for anyone coming along the road to spot her.
She had a very important job. Keeping an eye out for the carriage in question, aside, she still had to watch out for anything that might consider them a snack, as rare as that might be.
Before long, boredom hit. Alone, in the dark, with nothing to do but look around. It was bound to happen.
So, to keep herself awake, she practised her illusions.
Having seen the one-way illusion that Bethany had done, she realised that there was more she could learn with her magic.
She never really had anyone to compare herself to in the village. People had seen her illusions and complimented her skill. But having seen Bethany, it was clear that they were equally skilled and had tricks that the other didn't.
So, she tried to create something similar.
The issue, however, was Oriana's mental image of the illusion. Even with it being an illusion, things still had a shape, and you couldn't just look through them either. Creating something like that just felt odd to her.
So, she tried something new and made a pane of glass.
Glass was fairly transparent. In some poorer areas, it was less so, but in the city, the glass in pretty much every house was nearly completely transparent, so she had a good image of what it looked like.
The glass pane she made was simple, and as you would expect or hope, you could see through it.
Next, she tried to layer a wall of some kind over one side. A stone wall, for instance. Which was simple to do. But, as before, when she looked through either side, you now had a wall there, which you couldn't see through.
She tried several different ways to try and recreate what Bethany had done. She tried to make the wall a single edge, tried to put the mirror illusion into a solid one, all sorts of things.
It seems it would be some time before she could do the same sort of illusion that Bethany could. And that begged the question. Were there other illusory methods she could learn?
So far, she had standard illusions and a small hold on sound. But that was two of the five senses everyone had. Granted, she didn't think there would be much need for taste illusions. Unless if she opened up a restaurant or something.
That left touch. Could one make a solid physical illusion? Or was that just conjuring something?
And lastly was smell, which is also useful. Creating a smell somewhere to either attract people or ward them off. You might be able to change a smell on someone, such as if they had been camping in the woods and reeked.
To walk away from it all smelling of daisies would be quite nice.
It was fun to think about, and something she would definitely look into should she have some downtime. But first, she would master the one-way illusion.
Continuing through the night, she tried and tried to create such an illusion. She took a break partway through to regain her energy, having a bite to eat before continuing. She felt like she was on the right track, but had yet to succeed.
By this point, the sun was starting to rise, and it wouldn't be long before she would wake Bethany.
That is, until she heard the sound of hooves hitting stone and dirt. Looking over, she saw the head of the horse a short distance away, heading towards the city they had just come from.
Behind it was a carriage, surrounded by six guards, all kitted out in arms and armour, marching alongside it.
And there, on the side of it, was the marking of the transportation agency that they were looking for.
---
"Quick, wake up. It's here."
"Wha-. Oh crap. They left early."
Bethany was up as quickly as she could, grabbing her gear. Oriana kicked dirt over the fire, putting it out, and they both headed towards the tree line.
"Okay, just like we said. Quick and easy."
Oriana looked out the front of the carriage, and they got to work with her first illusion.
A growl.
Upon hearing it, the driver stopped the horses and looked around. The men guarding it all pulled out their swords, preparing for combat.
While this was happening, Bethany had put up another one-way illusion, hiding them in the tree line but allowing them to look out.
They were hard to spot initially, but the illusion was an added measure, in case these guards were more high-brow than others. They also cast their usual illusions on themselves to keep their identities hidden.
With their hiding place in place, Bethany and Oriana got to work on creating the illusion of the wolves coming out of the trees. They had agreed on how they should look, but a little deviation wouldn't hurt. It anything it may add to the realism.
Oriana continued the growling, and in the end, they had a dozen wolves all snarling, slowly encroaching on the front of the carriage.
By this point, the guards were slowly moving towards the front and heading towards the wolves. It would be easier to fight in the open, rather than by the carriage, possibly hitting it or scaring the horse into a frenzy.
And this is when they struck.
Bethany pulled out the pouch of sleeping power, the item they had collected from the apothecary, and drew closer to the carriage. Then with all her might, she flung it into the center of the guards.
It burst open, and the powder blasted into the air, hitting all of the guards.
Wails and cries at the sudden attack flew from their mouths. Something that only caused the sleeping powder's effects to kick in faster. The power was breathed in through the nose or mouth; it mattered not, but in their panic, they could hardly control their breathing. They still had a pack of wolves to deal with and now this.
Before long, as they rubbed the powder from their eyes, a few started to drop. The powder wouldn't blind them, by any means. But it was quite an irritant.
As more and more dropped, Oriana and Bethany headed towards the back of the carriage to claim their loot.
At its rear, Bethany reached in and took hold of the most ornate box she could find. If it wasn't in this one, then it's likely it wasn't here at all.
She was just starting to pull it out from the back when all of a sudden, she felt something pulling her.
Or yanking her was the most appropriate word for it.
Oriana had been so focused on the box as well that she hadn't seen one of the guards head from the other side of the carriage, and grab Bethany, pull her off the carriage and throw her backwards.
It was obvious to say it now, but it seems one of the guards was able to mitigate the effects of the sleeping powder.
But by the tired look on his face, it wasn't by much.
"Get away from that, you thieves."
He still had enough of his faculties to string together a sentence. And by the way he was pulling his sword from his waist, a fight might also be possible.
But, for two illusionists, it wasn't necessary.
Using her skills, Oriana made them both invisible. Bethany could tell the magic had been placed on her, and seeing the guard's bewildered look, realised what had happened.
Upon seeing them disappear, the guard, with his bewildered look, started to swing wildly with abandon. He didn't know if they had just teleported out or had gone invisible, but he was certainly not going to stand around like a fool and do nothing.
So he swung, and swung, all the while remaining at the rear of the carriage, keeping them from their prize.
They needed to do something else to move him from his spot.
Oriana looked around, but saw nothing to hand. Then she remembered she still had her nature magic.
They were outside, on a dirt path, with a forest nearby. This should be the easiest place to use it.
So, without further ado, she caused vines to grow just behind the man and quickly moved them up.
But before she could do anything further, a few things started to happen. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Bethany moving towards the guard, holding something in her hand.
And dead ahead of her, she saw the guard's face change to something like a look of realisation, which was followed by him quickly reaching into his pocket to pull out some sort of bottle.
Something was about to happen, and Oriana did not know if she would have enough time, skill or luck to deal with it.