They spent the majority of the day in that manner. Fast ride then short break then slower ride. As the hours passed, Kre lost count of how many times they repeated that pattern, but he was fully aware of how grave the mood of the group was at every stop.
Somber and vengeful. Looking at the faces and actions of his companions at each of their breaks, Kre feared for the rakshasa. Weapons were sharpened, arrows meticulously checked for straightness and tight bindings, arcane components made more… arcane. Kre honestly had no idea what it was that Dain was doing, but the master enchanter spent every second of his breaks tinkering and grinding and mixing all sorts of stuff.
What the group was not doing, however, was chitchatting. Sure, they spoke, but it was always short phrases in whispered tones, much as Kre imagined soldiers would act like when preparing for a battle. Given the atmosphere, Kre held back all of his questions and simply did as they did.
He was thankful for the balm that Beleg had offered him at their first stop, as his legs no longer bothered him. Why they couldn’t use that every single day was a question that he would have to ask Dain next time the situation allowed a more relaxed atmosphere.
Talimar called another stop, which was music to Kre’s ears as his stomach had just started to rumble. The trail snacks were no replacement for a warm meal and the light was starting to fade, making their fast rides that much more dangerous.
“Three hours,” Talimar called out as they all dismounted. “Thirty-minute watches Beleg.”
The large man nodded and called out names for the watch order. Only Kre and Dain were excused from the chore. Kre was about to ask when Beleg looked over at him and waved him over.
“You’ll be on third watch, with me.”
One thing Kre had learned from his time in the woods with the Red Feather Adventuring Company was that the middle watches were the absolute worst. By the time you settled in to sleep, it was your turn to take a watch shift and trying to sleep after staying awake through a watch was always more difficult because you always seemed to be on edge from listening to and trying to interpret all of the strange sounds that came with the wilderness at night.
The meal that was prepared was cold, as Talimar indicated no fires were to be made, but it was still more filling than the trail bread and jerky pieces had been. Why they couldn’t use one of the those Ylveryan smokeless fire bricks that Kitalia had used was another question that he filed away to ask later, when the mood was more conducive to those kinds of discussions.
He barely had his head down on his bag when Beleg shook him awake. Kre had just been about to ask unnecessarily if it was their turn already but Beleg placed a finger to his own lips to indicate silence.
Kre complied and followed the larger man to the outskirts of their little camp where they sat back to back atop a fallen log.
“I assume you have questions.” Beleg’s voice rumbled even when he whispered. “If we are exceptionally quiet, I will answer what I can.”