Stories of Giladriis: The Paladin's Squire

Part Four

The group, including their new elven member, ended up traveling another two mines down the path before setting up their tents. Since they only had three horses that had room to carry people, Razeem had offered his horse to Cianna, who politely turned it down. She claimed that horses were the only animals she had ever met that had an instant dislike of her. Instead of riding alongside their walking companion, Razeem decided to walk next to her.

    Olsyn rolled his eyes as he moved uncomfortably on his saddle. He had had enough riding for one day, and now he had to witness his teacher's not so well hidden attempts at flirting with the forest elf. Gunder chuckled at the reactions Olsyn made to some of the comments Razeem was making towards Cianna. Normally the dwarves distrusted the forest elves, though they always hated the Minotaur more, but Gunder was more open minded than other dwarves. He had been traveling with Razeem long enough to see that most forest elves were not the malevolent or corrupt beings that his people and the mountain elves had made them out to be.

    When they set up their tents Razeem offered his to Cianna and informed his squire that he would be sharing his with him tonight. Olsyn sighed at first, thinking that he would have to literally share the inside of his tent with him. It wasn't until they were eating their dinner that he realized that only one of them would be in the tent at a time.

    Gunder took first watch, patrolling the small campsite vigorously. He desperately wanted one of the Minotaur that had run away to return so that he could teach it a lesson. He chopped down plenty of wood to feed the fire for the rest of the night and tried to keep his distance from Cianna and Razeem, who were deep on in conversation with each other. He could see the look of interest in both of their eyes and did not want to get in the way. He knew Razeem would never let it go if the dwarf was the reason why did he not get a chance with the green haired elf, whether it was by accident or on purpose.

    Olsyn had decided to go to bed right after eating. He had the watch that he hated the most, the third watch. Whoever was on third watch was already awake when the others were getting up, so they did not get to go back to sleep until the next night. He wished they had went back to letting everybody sleep at once, as they had been doing the days before, but his desire to not be killed in his sleep by an angry group of Minotaur outweighed his desire for a few extra hours of sleep. Maybe he could just sneak some sleep on the back of his horse tomorrow.

    Cianna laughed at a joke Razeem told. He added more sticks to the fire, which glowed brighter for a few seconds while a new wave of heat hit them. Though the night they had moved closer to each other, though it seemed that neither noticed. They continued to talk about their pasts for hours. Razeem explained what life as a paladin had been like and entertained the green haired elf with stories of his victories over the armies of Mythos. She told him stories of growing up on the border between the Nation of Fleurydia and the old elven passage and of the rare creatures she had hunted before.

    Gunder yawned as he walked over to the paladin and elf. "Aye Razeem, it's your shift. Hopefully ya ain't been blabbin' too much tonight. We wouldn't want your friend to run away." He laughed as quietly as he could at the look that Razeem gave him. The dwarf always found it fun to embarrass Razeem when he could.

    "I think I should be alright," Razeem said while trying to appear confident. He stood up when Cianna did and kissed the back of her hand. "I hope my tent will work for you tonight. If you need anything I'll be patrolling the edges or brushing the horses." He bowed lightly to her and Gunder before starting his slow walk around their campsite.

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    The night was quiet. The Minotaur bandits were either unable to find the group or, as Cianna had suggested, they had given up when they realized they were outmatched. Olsyn and Razeem woke the elf and the dwarf up with the smell of breakfast. At some point in time the night before Razeem had set up a trap and eventually had caught a wild hog. Gunder praised ever one of his ancestors one by one when Olsyn offered him a wooden plate stacked with freshly cut and cooked bacon.