By The Fire

Corinth looked to see an old dwarf sitting on a fallen tree two paces from a fire. Shrouded in an amber light the dwarf's brown beard was glowing red, and his shadow fell to a brilliant purple under the light of the blue moon. The dwarf had fallen asleep from an exhausting day, still sitting upright on the fallen tree. His mouth crept open as he breathed, letting in the cool air of the night to offset the warmth of the fire. His armor weighed on him, a heavy armor rounded at its edges from use. Its inner padding conformed to time, encasing the dwarf like a child's blanket with years of use and comfort bound to the very threads that held it together.

Corinth's eyes creased as he looked at him past the other side of the fire. Next to the dwarf sat a maul, chipped and scraped. Grass tickled its edges as the soft wind blew against the duo. Its handle seemed to be a dark wood with leather wrapping the upper half that almost reached the head of the dwarf from the ground. And dropped over the head of the maul was the Dwarf's bag.

It lay with its flap open, haphazardly thrown to the ground in the exhaustive end to the dwarf's day. It seemed thoroughly packed, typical of dwarven eating habits. The bag on Corinth's bag had started to hang lightly, his time spent gathering food had gone unrewarded. The deer had been eating what he could have found and without a bow he could not hunt them in return. He needed food if he was going to keep looking for the dungeon he had heard of, and surely, he thought, that this dwarf would be fine without an apple or two.

Corinth moved from the cover of the trees and towards the field the dwarf had settled in. He didn't move slowly, but let his feet roll as he walked, the grass was barren of crusted fall leaves in the early summer month. He got to the bag in no time, the distant noises of the forest more than covering the few sounds he made.

He looked at the dwarf one more time, the fire popping in warning as its wood burned low. His hands slid into the pocket and he felt around for a moment. He took no pride in such an action, but he did take some solace in the idea he could do this while the dwarf had kept asleep this whole time. The flap of the bag casted a purple shadow on his hands as he dug through the it, amber light glaring against him as the fire continued to burn. The square shape of hardtack pressed against his palm. He grabbed the edge and began to pull it from the bag, he could see its edge peeking out, but as he went to slip the rest of it out, it got caught on the lip of the bag. It let out a quiet, dull snap as it broke, easily overshadowed by the crackling fire, but to Corinth's dismay, the eyes of the Dwarf had opened, gleaming in the firelight as they locked against him.

The deep and grounded voice of the dwarf entered softly into the even softer night.

"Laddy, what're your hands doin in my sack?" The lack of hostility pierced through the image of need Corinth had constructed for himself in defense of his actions. Shame overwhelmed him and the deplorable thing he had done. But even more than that, he had failed once again due to his carelessness. His hands let go of the hardtack corner as it fell back into the bag. The tension left his legs as he fell to his butt on the grass.

"I was going to take some of your rations." Corinth spoke without reservation. There was no point in hiding it. In his head he had given up on even running away because he deserved some sort of punishment that the dwarf might suggest.

"Have it. But take a seat next to me, aye?" The dwarf sat motionless on the log. Enough space on either side of him to sit down. Corinth stood dejected and sat down a bit more than an arms length to the right of the dwarf. He looked into the fire, its amber light becoming gentle as his eyes adjusted. Its warmth was more than welcome. The recent rain had made starting a fire rather difficult, yet the dwarf had managed to do it. Warm light screened against his face and his face became heavy as the muscles in it relaxed.

"How long have you been out here?" The dwarf spoke into the calm night once more and his question made Corinth recount his days. It had been a day to get this far from town, and then three had been spent looking for the dungeon he heard about. Corinth only had enough food for the four days, but he refused to return to the town empty handed, deciding to continue his search.