Joran stretched with a grunt, carefully undoing the stiffness of a fourth night on the road. So far, his lord's direction--to travel lightly and quickly, with only Joran, the Scion, and one other Knight--had proven wise. Even after cutting through the woods several times to shorten the journey, they'd yet to encounter even a single monster. Which, Joran thought sourly, was probably for the best. Not for the first time, he cast a glance at Sir Blythe, the other Knight that had been sent. He was fit enough, true, but his village habits were still on him. He had fallen asleep on every watch and acted like the trip was a stroll rather than a mission of crucial political importance.
"Ay there, Joran!" Blythe tossed him a strip of dried meat, as well as a fruit. "Have you tried these? They're delicious!"
"You know," Joran examined the fruit carefully, "I can't say I have. Where did you find them?"
Blythe shrugged, juice dripping into his beard as he chewed into another fruit. "In the woods."
Joran threw the fruit aside. "Blythe. Do not eat things you don't recognize in the Wilds. Clear your camp, I will see to the Scion." He pretended not to hear the grumbling complaints in response and leaned down to shake the Scion awake. "Scion, we must begin traveling again."
"Hmm?" The Scion's eyes squinted around. The sound combined with his hair--flattened on either side into a chicken-like swoop--almost made Joran crack a smile. Almost. Instead, he gathered the Scion's belongings, confiscated the fruit Blythe attempted to share around again, and had the trio on the road in only twice the time he would've preferred it to take. He resolved to drive their group faster than usual, both to make up for the lost time and to prevent Blythe from gossiping.
That evening, as Blythe finished yet another ribald tale of his time before the Knighthood, Joran at least consoled himself that they had more than made up the time.
At this rate we'll easily make it to Lord Gareth's outpost by sundown tomorrow. From there, we can travel faster on the developed roads and arrive at his keep no more than two days after that.
He felt a rush of satisfaction at what had, so far, been an easy, albeit tedious, journey.
Lucky the spell that Witch cast makes me able to press on with less sleep. I'd have been useless with needing to cover half of Blythe's watches every night otherwise. Speaking of...
He finished concealing his sleeping roll, then walked over to his companions.
"And see, Sir, her dress was near falling off with how tight it was around the--"
Joran interrupted. "Sir Blythe. You will take the first watch. Please prepare your sleeping roll so that the Scion can sleep."
"Oh of course," Blythe waved a hand dismissively. "One more night in the so-called "wilds" before we're back to proper housing and hot meals. Maybe this time I'll even stay awake through the full watch!" He guffawed as he walked off to prepare his own sleeping area.
Some part of Joran felt it unfair to blame Sir Blythe for his attitude, nor for his general belief that the wilds were no longer dangerous. Despite that, the whole of him did blame him. He couldn't imagine Sir Blythe putting up much of a fight against a monster, especially if he fell asleep halfway into his watch again. Still, Joran resolved to be cordial in the manner of the courts. He would simply wake up halfway through Blythe's watch, as he had been so far, one last time.
The Scion yawned and began to lay down on his unconcealed sleeping roll. Joran tutted, stopped him, and hid the sleeping roll before gesturing the Scion back down. Within moments, the Scion had fallen deeply asleep. Joran stared skeptically down at him, wondering if the boy perhaps took after his mother instead of Joran's Lord.
Either way, I hope this alliance proves as helpful as my Lord expects it to be.
Behind him, a quiet noise. Joran whirled, blade drawn, to see Blythe hurriedly turning away. Joran frowned. "Did you hear something just now?"
