Due to the horses and wagon Otto led, we traveled slowly. A journey that might have taken me a day and a half at an easy pace through the woods and over game trails was going to take us four due to the slowness of the cart and the need to take well-worn trade roads. If there was a bridge out somewhere or deep mud due to a storm, it could even take five days. I'd have much preferred if we'd simply carried what we needed, but it still would have been a three day journey.
At least this way let me store my armor and walk lighter. But really, Otto? If he was worried about game, it isn't so hard for me to shoot down some game on a nightly basis for the meat-loving orcs. I'd need to forage nightly for decent food for myself, anyway; hard tack and wilted produce don't match my definition of edible. This is going to be a long trip.
I like orcs, but a ten-day and more with a pair of them? Maybe I'm more elf than I thought. Or maybe I'm just too used to being alone. In the last three decades, I have spent an hour a day in company on an average day, or no more than three or four if a meeting is convened or I need to train a recruit. I'm not used to constant contact anymore, and I'm not sure how to handle it.
Every hour or so I would take ten minutes to scout a mile or two ahead and return. There wasn't much in these woods that could challenge a pair of orcs, and I really wasn't worried about bandits or ruffians during daylight hours. The minor bridges in the areas closest to Radasanth were made of stone instead of wood, so I wasn't worried about not having passable terrain. The pace was just restrictive, and I desperately needed to move. And I wanted a safe distance between me and Otto's pair of four-hooved hellbeasts.
I didn't speak for the most part, just ruminating. My mind went to the people I'd left behind. The great-granddaughter of one of my oldest friends hadn't seen me in months, when a visit from "Auntie Moggul" was at least a weekly occurrance. Would she even remember me when I went back? Would I ever be able to go back? Was Unfounded staying in touch well enough without my insanely fleet feet carrying communiques back and forth? Who had been arrested since my departure? Who had since been freed? Was everyone healthy?
My mind also went to dark-skinned Resolve and the worry in her eyes while she watched her lover prepare for a dangerous journey. I knew her heart already worried because he was not yet safely returned, even though her head knew we would be gone so much longer even if everything went perfectly. I knew the pain she'd experience if he never did come home, pain she thought she understood. I knew better. I'd been living with that pain for longer than she'd been alive. I thought of the five word promise I'd made to her while the orcs loaded the last of the supplies. A promise I'd made to spare her that pain.
I'll bring him home safely.
"Otto." Morning's gray haze had turned to afternoon's blazing blue, and we were about in between one of my scouting forays and the next. "For Resolve's sake... die an old orc, in your bed. Not a young one from violence or injuries sustained therein."
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