A couple hours after the suns peak, Grysn pulled his reigns up to halt us in a semi clear wooding. I was dreary eyed, but awake and sat up when I heard the hoofbeats of the others coming toward us.
"We're stopping for lunch," he said to me quietly as his followers approached.
I nodded, not sure why he needed to point this out to me.
He slid off the horse as other grayskins circled around the clearing on the backs of their own mounts. They congregated in a sunny patch near the center.
For a moment, I hoped I'd be left on the horse alone while the grayskins ate, but Grysn immediately undid the ropes attaching me to the saddle. He lifted me down and set me in the grass, hands still held together with a length of cord.
He led his horse, with me in toe, toward the others.
I kept my eyes down as we passed by grayskins dismounting and joining the group. The wagons had just caught up, and I'd assume that's where the food would be coming from.
"Is it keeping you good company?"
My head snapped up to find the source of the voice. It had sounded like a woman. Did they have women in their group? One of the taller grayskins with cropped hair met my gaze and flashed a toothy smile. I withdrew my glance, not sure if they were the origin or not.
"She is," Grysn laughed in response as he let go of my lead to tie off his horse to a nearby branch.
"Was she begging for more this morning?" another asked.
I looked up at Grysn, hesitantly. He was smiling but shook his head. "That's enough." He sat on the grass and gestured for me to sit next to him. I knelt instead of crossing my legs as he did, but otherwise followed his example.
We were forming a large, lumpy circle in the clearing.
Careful to not meet any eyes, I glanced around the group. I noticed Jingry scowling and arguing with another on the far side of the field. It didn't feel quite far enough.
Others in the group occasionally eyed me throughout their conversations while they waited for lunch to be served, but otherwise paid me almost no attention. Grysn's pulling me closer to him, may have been one reason for that.
The shortest grayskin of the bunch, as far as I had seen, at least, was setting up one of the wagons at the edge of the group, pulling out stacks of wooden bowls and a large tub, maybe? Perhaps that served as a pot? It wasn't round, and not quite large enough to fit a full pig in, but almost. The squat man struggled with the weight of it as he hefted it out of the wagon and onto the ground.
I looked up at Grysn, wondering why he, as supposed leader, wasn't instructing everyone on what to be doing. Most of his people, other than a couple of the short grayskin's helpers, were just sitting and chatting. They acted like they were on vacation.
"Ynog said a new temple's going up for Iolym next summer," the grayskin two down from Grysn said. "He just got the contract for the glasswork."
Grysn didn't notice my gaze, or at least, didn't react to it, so I dropped my head to resume studying the shoes and pants of the others as he joined into the surrounding discussions. "They've already knocked down two of the old buildings by the south wall. Is that where it's being placed?"
"Wasn't there a problem with the site they had chosen for it?" another interjected, as bowls started to be passed around.
"We have too many temples as is, they should just replace one of those," the original speaker said. "I don't understand why they refuse to get rid of the old ones."
Grysn shook his head, though I was having trouble following. Our buildings were so close together, there wasn't any room for new buildings. We didn't have the manpower to spare taking down the empty buildings, regardless. But I guess when you're not 'dwindling' that didn't really matter.
My face was sullen when a bowl came toward us. I put my hands out for the bowl to cup it as Grysn handed it to me. "Some of us actually appreciate the old gods," he said as he nodded toward the grayskin sitting next to me. He was already being handed another bowl, when I turned to hand the bowl off to the next person.
The grayskin next to me, one of the younger ones here, was enthralled in his conversation about horsenip, whatever that was. I'm not sure he noticed me at all.
Grysn, ready to hand me the next bowl, noticed the hold up and looked over to the responsible party. "Rocni, pass the food down."
Rocni, brushing the wisps of light blonde hair out of his eyes, finally turned his body toward me, while still fully engaged in his conversation. He put his hands out for the bowl blindly. "-and if you don't give it enough light, they'll wither anyway."
I tried to place the dish of warm liquid safely in his hands, when he finally faced me. His eyes went wide as he violently recoiled at the sight of me, right as I let go of the bowl, allowing it to free fall to the ground.
The thud of the heavy bowl reverberated off the trees in the sudden silence. The sludge didn't lose much contents, and the bowl was not upside down or even sideways.
At first, I assumed his shock would quickly turn into anger, so I immediately reached for the food and started to apologize when he did so first.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he shouted, backing away from me as I awkwardly offered him the bowl once more. He almost seemed scared, but I didn't understand of what.
"Calm down, boy," Grysn said. "Take your food."
Looking around, most the others were staring at the young grayskin with confusion or annoyance. I turned back to Grysn for directions out of this mess.
"I'm not taking anything it's touched," he responded, as though Grysn should have known that. "We shouldn't have it here."
Grysn sighed. "She's not cursed, sit down." He pulled me back so that I was now further outside of the ring than in it, then handed Rocni the bowl he still held.
The boy sat back down farther forward now, eyeing me the whole time. Grysn resumed passing around food, bypassing me now.
I picked out a piece of grass from the soup, wondering if I needed to wait to eat. Once others began to slurp their meals, I began to do the same, ignoring the constant glances from the boy.
_________________________
We traveled until dusk brought a stark coolness before stopping to setup camp. But the temperature was far more moderate than the night before. Perfect for my escape.
Grysn had left me in his tent once again as he took care of his group. I was fully awake this time though, so I could prepare.
The dimming day light lit the tent enough for me to clearly see even before they got their fires going. Grysn being the simpleminded being he was, left my hands tied in front of me, alone with his things.
Digging through the pack he had left, I found plenty of useful things. A small amount of dry rations, flint, a mostly full waterskin. I really hoped I'd see my gun, but no such luck there.
He probably had more on his person. Weapons wise, at least. But he'd take that all off him when he slept, so I could still consider it part of my supplies.
Refilling his bag so that the things I wanted would remain near the top, my thoughts began to drift toward our earlier conversation. He wasn't all that talkative after lunch, thankfully. Though I never got to ask the questions I was owed answers to.
Grumbling to myself about the fairness of it, I moved back to the side of the tent he had originally sat me down in. The sun had been down for maybe half an hour when he finally came in.
He almost looked surprised to see me, his lips twisting into that crooked smile with his forehead creased. Taking things out of his pockets, setting them down near his pack, he chuckled softly. "Are you hungry?" he asked as he took his time organizing the items he was relieving himself of.
Lunch had been more than filling, but with how large they were, it would make sense for them to need more food than me.
I shook my head, though he wasn't looking over to see it. "No."
This was going to be the hardest part. Getting past the other grayskins wouldn't be too bad, especially with how his tent had been positioned this time.
