What Side Didn’t Know – A2,C11. Bump in the Night
After drying the fur, and scraping off any remaining bits of meat, I started feeling odd and my mouth became very dry. Then, for the second time in a very short while, Tristain surprised me.
“Here, suck on this.”
I blinked for a few seconds, not really understanding what he was talking about, then grabbed the translucent object in his hand. It was oddly cold, and slippery, like the juice from a fruit. I put it in my mouth, following his instructions, and sucked on it. It was, by far, a most pleasant experience, especially after the heat I had just endured. It soothed my senses, and cleared my mind, much like having a fruit of the trees after running a long distance.
“What is this?” I questioned, struggling to talk with the hard object in my mouth.
“Its ice.” He replied, and put one in his mouth as well.
“Where did you get it? It’s very refreshing.” This was a mystery. It continued to shrink in my mouth, making talking easier, and became a fluid that soothed my throat.
“Ah, the air. If you chill the air, ice naturally condenses from water vapor in the air.” While I barely understand any of that, I nodded nonetheless.
“With your runes?” I figured it had something to do with his runes, like producing heat earlier.
“Sure.” He gave me an odd look. I didn’t like it, I felt he was patronizing me, but I let it slide since he gave me that nice piece of ice just a moment ago.
Thinking of which, it was gone now, and I wanted another. “Can you give me more? It was just what I needed.”
After a moment of concentration, a cylinder of ice slowly formed in each of his hands. After watching it grow, the speed reminded me of how the flowers near us grew when blood was spilled on them. Finished, he handed me one, then folded up the fur.
“Well, let’s get back to the big tree by the same path we cleared before. It’ll be night soon, and we don’t want one of these bears finding us.” He kicked dirt onto what remained of the fire he had used to cook the bear meat, and we walked back to the tree.
Upon returning, we cleaned an area of flowers next to the trunk, then we spread out the fur, and sat down.
“I’m not really tired right now, so you can sleep if you want to. I’ll wake you up if anything happens.” I didn’t understand the context of his statement, but figured he was just being weird again, so I eased myself into slumber.
* * * *
I was awoken by Tristain shaking me. “Get up. Stay quiet, but get up.”
I rubbed my eyes, and tried to focus on what was going on. There was a haze to my thoughts, much like a dream, making it hard to focus. To my left, however, I heard a distinct crunching noise. Looking over, it was towards where the bear corpse had been left. I could have sworn I saw something moving.
Oddly however, everything was hard to see. “Tristain, why can’t I see well?”
“Shh… It’s night time, keep quiet.”
The crunching continued to get closer.
I could make out the figure now, it appeared to be a person, and in the light of the night, although I couldn’t see their face, I could tell by the shape that it was quite the curvy woman.
“Hello?” I stood up and looked closer.
“Tch,” Tristain reacted quickly and pulled me back from the woman.
“Ehehehe, such a cute little girl! You look absolutely delicious.” Something about the way she said ‘delicious’ caused me discomfort.
Tristain was the next to speak up, “what can we do for you tonight?”
“Oh, I was just looking for a meal. I’m awfully hungry, after all.”
He replied back to her again, “There was some meat from an animal in the direction you came from. If you wait till morning, I’ll cook you up some.”
“Hoo… But that wasn’t very delicious. Can’t you help me out?” Personally, I thought the bear meat was tasty. Apparently, it isn’t for everyone.
“Not ‘till morning, I’m afraid. My eyes aren’t that good in the twilight.”
“Insufferable. Fine, I’ll just have to wait here then.”
Author’s Note:
Thanks for the support! I am in your care! Hype!
If you would like to support me writing, the RTD patreon is available with entries to support me. I don’t expect any money, but if I do get some, I’ll be splitting it between paying my editor (whom otherwise does this out of the goodness of his heart) and commissioning pictures of the character and/or scenes.
Editor: DungeonPalmz