The remnants of the caravan got underway once again, delaying only as long as was needed to salvage what seemed to be the highest quality and least damaged goods that remained. Msaka was able to work his healing magic during that time, which left the remaining guards in fairly good health. The fact remained, however, that they still had a fair bit of distance to cover, and in such a small group, another large attack would pose a serious threat should one happen. All the more reason to leave quickly - carrion birds were already intruding upon the scene as they departed, and other scavengers and more dangerous creatures wouldn't be far behind.

Intent on putting as much distance between themselves and the gruesome scene as they could, the survivors pressed on well into the night. It wasn't until the moon had reached its peak and began to descend towards the horizon that they finally stopped and made camp. The site they chose was near the foot of a cliff, shielded from casual view by a large sand dune. A small fire was all they dared to risk, lest a large one give away their position to the creatures which prowled the night.

A watch rotation was organized, and the group settled down to rest. Msaka fell asleep quickly, having been both physically and magically drained by the day's events. He had only brief, fleeting dreams, and it seemed that only mere minutes had passed before he was being shaken awake to begin his shift on guard duty. He grumbled and sat up, feeling only slightly less fatigued than he had been, but thankful that nothing had disturbed the camp just yet.

A quick glance upward showed the moon hovering low over the horizon, though the sky was still dark. "Daylight will come soon enough," he thought wearily as he stood and trudged up the sand dune to take a look out over the desert.

His superior night vision revealed the land far more clearly than the unaided human eye would ever see it during the night, though it was still nowhere near as clear as it would be during the day. Still, it would give him an advantage in spotting any approaching threats - provided they were accomodating enough to reveal themselves instead of staying hidden behind the endless sand dunes.

Msaka sat cross legged atop his own dune and called his staff into being, prepared for a long wait. It was rather odd - he usually chose not to associate much with the people he'd travelled with, and hadn't felt any the worse for it. Yet now that they were asleep, and thus unavailable to speak with, it left him feeling much more isolated than he had before.

"I am being foolish" he silently chided himself. "These people may have their good qualities, but they are not my own. Their wizards may be somewhat worthy, but most of them are as ignorant and fearful of magic as the savannah tribes are."

He glanced back at the camp, where the other caravan guards lay sleeping. "I suppose it is not their fault," his thoughts continued, as he looked ahead once more. "They have never learned any differently, and it would be almost impossible to change that. Nor do they truly know what they are lacking, since they have no personal experience with magic..."

He paused as he glanced towards the camp a second time, as his attention was suddenly drawn towards something up on the mountainside above. While there was nothing visibly out of the ordinary about the rocky cliff face that he found himself staring at, his senses nonetheless told him that there was something distinctly unusual there. He frowned, wondering if some new attack, magical or otherwise, was in the offing. "Just what I need," he thought, sighing quietly.

But then, it could equally be something else that he was detecting. The residual effect of some powerful magical rite, a naturally magical area, the presence of some magical being, or any number of other explanations were equally plausible. On the other hand, if it was something dangerous, it would be better to go to it when he was ready than have it come to him when he wasn't. Msaka turned his attention to the desert again, scanning it as he considered his options. If he woke one of the others and set out up the hillside now, he might reach the area by sunrise. That would give him a short time to look around before the guards would want to move on; he could Recall himself back down afterwards. The only other course of action which presented itself was to do nothing. Tempting though that was - there were no guarantees as to the safety or even importance of the area above - ignoring a potential threat was never wise.

"This will probably prove to be a waste of time," he muttered, rising to his feet. With deft, practiced movements, he worked the spell necessary to designate the dune as his return point when it was time to Recall back down, then paced back down it to the camp. With the end of his staff, he gently prodded the guard who'd been meant to stand the final watch.

The man started awake, reflexively reaching for his weapon before realizing it was Msaka who'd woken him. "It is my time already?" he whispered. "I had been having such a pleasant dream..."

"You will have to have it another time," Msaka whispered back, trying not to sound too harsh. "There is something in the mountains above us, and I need to find out what it is. You will need to guard the camp while I am gone."

The guard chuckled. "Ah, so you may slip away a short distance and nap undisturbed while I take your duty?" he winked.

Msaka face darkened into a scowl. "If you don't want to do it, then I shall have to ring the camp with warding spells to keep out anything that approaches. If you think that sounds like a good idea, then consider that they will blast you all to death if you try to leave before I can return and dispel them," he whispered, much more harshly than before. "There is some kind of unnatural presence up there, and I am going to go find out what it is before it comes looking for us."

The guard stared silently at Msaka for a moment, then shrugged. "Very well then, I won't argue the matter with you, particularly since you saved our hides during the attack. Go on and find out what you must."

Msaka nodded curtly and began striding towards the hillside. Given the steep and jagged features of the mountain side, he was going to be doing a lot of levitating on the way up. If the cliffs sloped too much for that... well, he could always put into practice what he'd learned in the Shapierian guild.