The sun dips as I approach the sign, wagons nearby with two horses reined in, one spotted a white brown and the other a straight black, and connected to them, a singular merchant tending to the horses with surprising affection as they lapped at an assumed portable trough, made of wood and filled to the brim with water. The merchant turns to me as I approach, his hand running through a horses mane.
"Who you?" He asked with an aggravated rough grunt, his voice is deep and gutteral as his dark brown eyes squinting at me on his pale face, his short black hair slicked backwards. A hand zips to his hip even as the other one remains resting on the horse, both clenching.
"Woah, calm down, I'm just a contracted guard for the wagon, from the towns Captain." I explain, holding both of my hands upwards in passivity. He continues to eye me, looking from feet to ear-tips.
"Snow Keidran?" He questions again in his borderline broken English, his eyes still looking over me in a scrutinous manner. I raise an eyebrow, does he mean those Snow Wolf Keidrans? Didn't Gerome say he was from the North? Regardless, I shake my head.
"Nay, I'm a basitin, do you know Gerome by any chance?" I ask-answer the strange man in return. He nods and returns to tending to, what I assume is his, horses.
"Don't know basitin, Gerome friend." He replies shortly, speaking under his breathe to himself in something that's very not-English. 'Does that mean human has sub human languages? Why isn't it just called English then?' I think to myself, but I shrug it off and instead lean against a wagon, ignoring the suspicious glare that the man sends my way.
The sun continues its dip as the afternoon glow lights up the area, after what's probably only a few minutes but feels like hours of doing nothing, the only things of note being the Northern Mans acute attention onto the horses and wagon, I hear something or someone walking up the dirt path, ears flickering as I pay extra attention. 'Doesn't seem like heavy foot steps, someone travelling light?' I wonder to myself, I straighten up to be a little bit taller and look over the edge of the hill, a familiar greying head popping up, a smile on my face as I raise my hand and wave towards him.
"Hey, Gerome! Figured it'd be you asking for me." I call to him, his large frame coming up in full sight, the regular jolly smile plastered on his face. I meet him mid way and clasp his hand in a handshake, sharing smiles.
"Oy, of course strange Zeke! Know little other persons to want to go travelling, you be best bet!" He responds happily, though I only raise an eyebrow to him.
"You couldn't find anyone else to guard the stock, could you?" I push a little with the questioning tone, but judging from his sheepish smile and general reaction, I probably have got it on the head. I shake my head and shrug. "Well, it's not like I have anything else to do. Who's your friend over there though? He aint particularly talkative."
"Oh! You meet Vector? He close friend from North! Can't speak regular human well." Gerome replies simply, patting me on the shoulder as he approaches his friend, who finally looks up from his stock-work. The change on his face is near immediate, from a sour but neutral face to a friendly but awkward smile, which is honestly a massive change judging from his character. Gerome has his own smile too, not the overly jovial one, but a genuine friendly one, the two of them chatting away in their strange language. Guess I'm back to doing nothing again while we wait for Edward, where's the man anyways?
A clunking noise catches my attention, twisting around and seeing said man himself marching up the hill, clad in the same armour from the night we met, all nice and shiny too. His dumb helmet obscuring his face, though as he looks up I can see the lower half of his surprisingly lax face, a hand gripping two sacks whilst the other rests upon his sword hilt, thumb rubbing against the pommel. 'I wonder why he's doing that? Maybe it helps alleviate any nerves?' I wonder, one of my hands reaching around and grabbing at the back of my bag, still there, no ones touched it. Edward takes one of the sacks from his hands, swinging the other back before pelting it towards me, it almost catches me by surprise, but I manage to grab it out of the air, opening it to reveal its amazing contents.
..of which is wrapped packages, along with a small pouch, reaching inside that to feel it up reveals cold circular metals inside it, coins? I guess it makes sense to as why he took a little longer than the rest of us, must've had to put this together.
"The hell's this meant to be?" I ask Edward aloud, pulling the sack together as he continues his march past me.
"Payment, as Captain said before, as well as food for the next few days, assuming you manage the rations correctly." He replies without looking back, instead planting his own sack into one of the wagons. I look back to my sack, shrugging and pulling my bag off, stuffing that inside of it, and then following Eddy boys' example and tossing the bag into the same wagon, I probably didn't anything too important. I rub my gloved hands together, a wide smile on my face.
"Alright! Is everyone ready?" I once again ask aloud, walking up besides the rest of the group. Gerome puts on his trademarked grin and nods, his elbow lightly nudging his friend, of whom looks upwards and away from Gerome, his face stoic and unmoving, but he nods alongside him. Edward sighs a long sigh, taking off his helmet, dirty blond hair falling to the sides of his head as he pinches his eyes together.
"Fucking dammit, you're already insufferable." He responds to me in an part aggravated part annoyed tone. I wrap my arm around the poor poor man and pull him into a one armed hug, his continued grimacing and groaning only fuelling that fire to annoy him.
"Come on, we're friiiiiiiiiends aren't we? It'll like, a mini journey for us all!, hurrah to it all!" Gerome cheers along with me, dragging his subdued friend into the now group hug, Edward 'hrk!'ing in surprise as hes squished between us, his helmet smacking against the dirt with a dull thud.
"I hate you, I hate everything about this, and especially the Captain." He continues to grumble, sighing in a resigned manner towards the end.
"Come on Eddy boy, it'll be fiiiiine!" I wink towards Edward himself, sticking out my tongue soon after in a goading manner. His lips are pursed as he returns my look with a glare of his own.
"Oy Edward, will all be fine! Uncle Captain is a man of good judgement!" Gerome's broad frame ends up squishing us all together in a bone crushing hold, I myself shouting 'aye!' in agreement. Vector, I believe his name was, had a small though confused smile on his face, at least he could feel the vibrant mood, Edward continued to grumble and grimace his moody ass outta the hug though, what a kill joy. I stretch and crack my back, the merchants shortly speaking to each other before hopping onto their wagons and whipping the reins, the horses understanding the idea and moving forward, dragging the cargo along. The water trough is nowhere to be found, funnily enough, maybe Vector threw it back into a wagon? I shrug, matching the march of Edward and the horses, no where to go but forward I suppose.
The sun continues on it's downward spiral into the edge of the world, natural darkness filling the area with the only light against it being the torches that Gerome had prepared attached to the front of the wagons, lighting the way, with more lighting equipment in the back, turns out that the people around here had lanterns too, I wonder, is it it was possible to make a light bulb with what's common around here? Glass probably exists, thankfully despite the constant trekking, my legs don't feel too stressed or over worked, paws are a tad bit sore due to it though, some shoes would really help. The time during the walk was passed by mostly pointless banter, entirely on my behalf because Edward has the social capacity of a banana when doing a job, Edward himself walking by the right of Vectors wagon whilst I guard the left of Geromes.
"Hey Edward, you're pretty quiet, anything up?"
"We're marching, Zeke, stay alert."
I think I've actually managed a proper conversation with a banana, actually, sorry mister banana from some amount of years ago. At least I figured out where we were going beyond "we're going to towns".
"Where are we going? Like, to what towns?" I inquire, Gerome thankfully pops his head up, and through the glimmer of the torch I can see some sagging bags under his eyes, a tired smile planted on his face.
"Oy! Gerome can answer this, we are goings to a village, no name as far as Gerome remembers, and then we are going to the port city!" He responds to me before looking back ahead, barely stifling a yawn while he rubs at his eyes. I hum in thought, port city huh?
"I assume this is for buying and selling reasons? What's the port citys' name?" I prod further with the questions, thankfully Gerome still seems willing to chat, the silence was getting to me, granted there's always the nightlife noise but that doesn't particularly do anything in terms of talking for me.
"Da, as well as some other tradings, when we leave the next village we'll be on the way to Wreathwood, does strange Zeke remember any bout it?" He responds again, I scratch at my chin and think again, Wreathwood, Wreathwood? Wreeeeeeeeeeeeeeathwoo- nope, doesn't tingle anything.
"Can't say so, but thank you for it Gerome. How's everyone else holding up?" I call out to everyone, the marching and dullness of the trek might've gotten to someone after all.
"Gerome is, okay, tired but used to long journys." Thats Gerome there, not surprised he's used to it.
"I'm okay, marched for longer." The stiff and gruff reply on Edward, he really has a stick up his arse, jesus. The only other reply is a grunt of affirmation from the other wagon, Vector seem's okay too. We continue to march onwards in silence for ages longer, the deep pitch black of dark surrounding us, my eyes flick towards the woods as my ears twitch, is someone out there? What do they want who is it I swear I'll cut you do-
A sneeze rockets through my mouth, the force of it actually tearing up my throat just that little bit, leaving it feeling a little bit raw. out of the corner of my eye I see Gerome jump out of his seat, swinging the torch over my head, the horses stopping as he pulls in the reins. I hear the 'shing' of a sword drawn as Edward slips past the horses, his eyes covered from his generic helmet and lips a terse line.
"The fuck was that?" He asks, eyes turning to train on the woods, sword still drawn in preparation, it's surprising how agile he can be despite the clunkiness of the armour.
"I, uh, sneezed, it was pretty loud, whoops?" I say in a sorry and soft voice, shrugging and smiling awkwardly, it was genuinely accidental! Gerome at least gets a laugh out of it as Edward sighs, shoving his sword back into his sheath.
"You're actually a pain in the ass, at least there's no keidran around." And with that he walks back to his post, I laugh weakly, I swear it was an accident! Gerome whips at the reins, and I hear Vector do the same, and thus the journey continues, at least the general air feels less stiff... what was I thinking about before? The woods? I shrug, resting a hand on my hilt, I'm sure it's okay.
Walking, walking, waaaaaalking this is actually so god damn boring, Jesus Christ. I groan softly, yanking out my sword to at least have some stimulus, and I might as well check on it. The sword's still mostly unused, having drawn no blood other than Edwards makes it seem.. purer somehow, Edwards a friend now though, so it's worked out fine. I do wonder why it's shaped the way it is, it's not exceptional at the whole stabbing thing cause of how one sided its heft is, the cleaver aspect of it would really shine if I take a full swing at someone.
"Hey Gerome, who made this thing, and why's it shaped so oddly?" I ask the Northern man once again, eyes still trained on the road.
"I was wondering the same thing, actually. You tried to use that thing more like a regular sword and it was mildly awkward to watch." Oh hey, Edward actually pipes up with something, of course its to bully me, what an ass. I bend and glare at the guard through the horse legs, flipping him the bird, which he at least chuckles at.
"Was wondering when you'd ask! Anna wanted a sword for your, uh, brutish stature, and I had a friend who owed me a favour, Gerome thought you'd appreciate it more than a regular one." He explains, and looking it over once again, and at myself, I can see why Anna would think that, my shoulders are pretty broad. 'Maybe I should use it in a wilder stance next time I fight?' I wonder to myself, the flickering sheen off of it from the torches glowing light is a distracting sight, a gorgeous one that I'm thankful for. After what feels like minutes of twisting and turning it to gauge how it reflects the light, I finally put it back in its sheath and focus back on the boring ass walk, hopefully we get to that damned village soon, oh man the next walks gonna be even longer, god dammit. We come pass a clearing, of which Edward dips into sword still on his hilt, he examines the area ('can he see well under that helmet?') before nodding, waving us over.
"It's been a long march, lets rest up here. Zeke and I will keep watch for the night." He dictates simply, the merchants yank at the reins and pull the horses into the area. So we're setting up camp here huh? Well lets get in it then! I jog up Edward, giving him a lazy slaute and a sly grin.
"Ayo Boss! Where we sleeping, I'll take first watch for ya too!" He takes of his helmet, clearly showing disproval in his eyes and rubbing at his head.
"Dont. Call me boss, okay? My boss is the Captain, and hes your boss temporarily too, dont forget that. The Merchants are likely going to sleep in each wagon, it's cover we might as well use, the spare of us two are gonna sleep in whatever one has more space. Or whichever's less likely to get pissy over it, either or. As for watch, quite frankly I don't trust you for either of them, but we best get it out of the way. You'll take first watch, wake me up when the sun raises past way through the horizon, shouldn't be too hard, now don't fuck it up, I'll be sleeping very lightly." He goes full dictator mode, his voice steely and full of pride and confidence, it's probably the most this proud spirited assholes talked in the his entire life, but I'm so proud of this man. I respond to his instructions with a wide grin and a straighter salute.
"Rodger dodger, I'll be the best god damn basitin you've seen!" He rolls his eyes at my exclamation, instead walking past me and against Vectors wagon, then stopping, twisting his head around.
"Hey, Furball, why were you so confused about Wreathwood?" He asks suddenly. I raise an eye at the nickname from him, crossing my arms.
"If you must know, Blondie, I'm an amnesiac, kind of, its hard to explain but there's a lot of things that I should know that I don't, like what keidrans and basitins are, satisfied?" I respond, paw tapping against the ground. He seems, confused at that answer, but shrugs.
"Explains the oddity around you, as well as your dumb naivety." I roll my eyes and poke my tongue at him, he flicks two fingers to his eyes, then back to me, using the wagon to pull himself up, disappearing into the wagon. I shrug myself and step up onto the wagons seats, planting my rump onto of it and a hand at my hilt, sobering myself up and standing at attention. This is gonna be so god damn boring.
In short? Yeah, being the night watch is super damn boring, at least the flickering flame of a torch that Gerome oh so generously left out for me is a nicely distracting sight, the light of it reflecting off of my sword is just gorgeous and I have no idea why. 'Maybe I'm just easily distracted, is that something I've always been?' I think to myself, laying the sword across my lap, rubbing at my eyes with a hand. I'm not tired, far from it actually, I feel so full of energy for something, there's just nothing to do. I gaze out into the woods, the only company around would be the frogs and crickets and other nocturnal wild life, faint 'hooing' from an owl.
'Aren't owls super freaky? Was it them who had 360 degree rotational heads and the whole seeing their eyes through their ears? Or was the ears one crows? Does crows have ears?' I shake my head and dump the random thoughts out of my skull, I might not be tired but a bored mind wanders. A chill runs up my spine as my ears twitch, I straighten myself and plant the torch onto the cart, leaping off of it with sword drawn and looking around the field, eyes squinting as I become quickly accustomed to the dark, I wish I had something to toss, the fields covered in grass and dirt with little else, not even a rock. I look towards the rising sun, I'll wake Edward in an hour or so, and return my focus on the field, there's something in the woods, I feel my blood race around, the noise of my racing heartbeat smothers my ears while my hands shake and jitter, whoisitwhosouttherewhatdotheywant.
A stick snaps to my left, twisting around and gripping my hands on sword, pelt my sword towards the source, sideways swinging and singing through the air, digging deep into the trunk of a tree with a solid 'thunk', a loud long grunting noise from the general area, a fucking deer blitzing away from the situation. I stand still for a few moments, breathing heavily and shakily before collapsing onto my knees, trying my best to still my rapidly beating heart, vision blurry as I look down to my shaking hands, sticking them underneath my armpits and resting. 'Breathe in Zeke, one, two, three, it was just a deer, nothing at all'. I unsteadily return to my feet, still taking in sharp breaths and staggering over to the wagon, leaning on it for support.
'The fuck was that? Why is everything so jittery and messy? What's going on? Am I paranoid or was Zeke the paranoid one?' My minds a jumbled mess, I groan and smother my face with my hands, blinking away sleep and confusion. 'Steady yourself' I mentally command, taking in another breathe, I gotta get my sword, punching isn't helpful. Tottering over to the tree, taking my time and looking around, getting jumped here would be awful, I examine it closely. The swords dug into it a good bit deep, less than half of the blade jutting out, I guess the nervous energy from before helped with it. I sigh a deep sigh before gripping the blade, tugging it a few times only made it slightly loose, so I keep at it, and with a final grunt I yank the rest out, falling on my ass for my troubles. I drag myself and the sword over to the wagon, using the torch light to look over its edge, I still can't see any knicks or blemishes other than the wipeable mess on it, wiping it off doesn't exactly leave it shiny clean, but its better than nothing. I look over towards the sun, the little episode clearing up enough time and draining myself enough to make me want to sleep, the sun more than entirely peaking out of the horizon.
I drag myself off of the wagon seat and towards the back, pulling myself up into the entrance of it, the wagons an organised mess of stock and produce, Edward snoring away still in most of his armour near a barrel of something, water I assume, and his helmet planted on top of it, a softer snooze in the back being Vector most likely. I waltz over and nudge at his legs with a paw, I'd love to kick him awake but kicking full plated armour would just hurt me. Edwards snoring shortens out as he awakens, head shaking before standing at full attention, stretching and cracking his back and arms, 'Wonder if hes sore from sleeping in armour, can't be too comfortable'.
"Anything to report, Zeke?" He questions as he plops his helmet on his head, lightly tapping at it. I shrug and yawn, rubbing at my eyes.
"Nothing but wild life, tap me awake when the merchants get up." I reply shortly, brushing past him and flopping onto his spot, I'll use your warmth for something Eddy boy. He walks over to the exit and drops out of the wagon, his armour clanging as he reaches the ground. I pull my hood over my head and sink further onto the barrel, my body's gonna kill me for sleeping with chain mail on, but I squeeze my eyes shut and try to force myself to sleep regardless, I think that'd do some good at least.
Authors note: I've decided to post chapters weekly at least, possibly more depending, but it's a bare minimum. Nothing much about this chapter other than taking a few days to complete. Zeke's not too comfortable in his body, his anxiousness really wouldn't be helping :)