Kre reined in his horse and tried to find the sources of the menacing voices with no luck. It was simply too dark here in the woods for his eyes to do much more than play tricks on him. “Who’s there?” he called tentatively.
“Keep riding,” Kitalia stated simply, following her own advice. “Ignore those idiots.”
“Idiots?” came the immediate response, sounding slightly offended. “Hurts a tah, it do…”
“Don’t mind her,” came the second voice, the less accented one. “She’s an elf, and you know how high and mighty they act.”
“She ain’t be need callin us the names na,” came the first voice. Kre had a rough time placing the accent. It was slightly slurred with an odd assemblage of words. It was simultaneously dizzying and grating.
“Is this a robbery?” Kre whispered to Kitalia.
She shook her head and sighed, “If only. Those two pride themselves on being forest guides, and they charge a fee to ensure the safety of travelers to Red’s place.”
“But why ask what’s in our bags then?” Kre responded.
A figure stepped out of the brush about ten feet in front of Kre. When he spoke, Kre recognized him as the second voice, “Well, cause I’m hungry and I was curious if you had food to share.” The man was large, easily topping six and a half feet tall with a thick, muscular upper body and legs like small tree trunks. Kre certainly hoped that, of the two self-proclaimed guides, this one was the muscle or they’d be in for a world of hurt if it came to a fight.
“Ya always be hunger,” came the first voice, still hiding somewhere in the darkness.
“I think I have something here,” Kre offered, pulling a few bits of various snacks from his bag, some leftover jerky, a stale biscuit, and some dried fruit, and held it out.
“Cool,” the man responded. He stepped forward and took all of the food with a single slow swipe of his hand. Now that he was closer, Kre could see that, though he had a full beard and thick hair up and down his arms, he had a youthful look to him. If Kre had to guess, he would venture to say that this man was actually closer to his age.
“I’m Kre,” he offered.
“Wock,” the other fellow mumbled while chewing on the entire handful of food at once. “Good… no wu…”
“Wock?” Kre repeated. “Interesting name.”
“That would be Roc,” Kitalia interjected. “Rodi is correct in that Roc is always hungry. His body uses a lot of energy to be that big.” She had stopped her horse as well, waiting for Kre to finish interacting with Roc so that they could continue on their way.
“Yeah,” Roc said, swallowing the whole mouthful at once. “Sorry. Mouth was full. It’s good to know you Kre.”
“Look,” said the first voice, the one that Kitalia identified as Rodi, “go ya way an let us in peace. Ya scaring me customers.”
Kitalia sighed, “Rodi, there is no one else in these woods for miles that does not already know their way to Red’s place.
“Speaking of which…” Kitalia clicked her tongue and got her horse moving onward again. “Time to go Kre. Unless you would rather spend your night with your new friends.”