Kre stayed with the horses even after his chores were done. He took a look at one of the heavy oat cakes and noted that it seemed incredibly dense, as if it was actually a great deal more oats than it seemed by size. A casual sniff indicated that it had some sweetness to it, likely honey or some sort of tree-based syrup.
“Don’t eat that,” Beleg rumbled from behind him. “It’ll blow out your stomach something fierce.”
“Trust him,” piped up a smaller voice. “He did it on a bet once. Didn’t get out of bed for days.”
Beleg swiped at the air behind him, but Ras had quickly moved away. “You were the one that made the bet!” He turned back towards Kre and smiled, “Anyway, dinner is ready.”
“We ‘ad to change the recipe a bit,” muttered the dweorvkin in charge of the stew pot. “Mos’ of our cookin’ uses funghee, but you cannae ‘ave it.”
“Luckily,” Ras said with a smile, “we had some great luck with the slings and got more rabbits than usual to make up for it. There’s some stickbread too.” He gestured to the long wooden sticks topped with a wrapping of golden, steaming twirls of bread.
Dain rejoined the group long enough to grab a dishful of food before retreating back to his tree seat. Kre couldn’t see a lantern, but there seemed to be plenty of light for Dain to continue reading by.
“This camp is in a good place,” Talimar said once most of the company had finished eating, “so we will keep camp here for about a week while Ortho and Gnore…”
“Jus’ me,” grumbled Ortho, interrupting the company leader’s declaration. “Best I go alone.”
Talimar fixed him with a firm look, “…and Gnore. This is not a combat situation, so I still have the lead and the final say. Ortho and Gnore will visit our contact a couple days ride west of here. If you both agree that Gnore will hang back during the actual meet… fine, but you do not travel these parts alone.”
Ortho thought for a moment, then nodded once, letting the matter drop. Talimar continued, his voice slightly less stern now that the issue was settled, “Kersath, Ras, and I will be running in and out as we scout the surrounding area, and Beleg and Garth will train our newest on fighting for part of the day. Focus on defense and fighting as part of a company. For the other part of the day, Dain will be covering history and geography with young Kre. In between lessons, it will be Kre’s duty to exercise the horses and continue their care.”
Dain gave a soft groan at hearing his task and Talimar turned his stern look towards him, “Do note that the lesson plan does not include the arcane.” Dain pursed his lips and nodded vigorously, realizing that he had probably overstepped in his lessons earlier today.
“All others will continue their usual duties and training regimen. You know your parts better than I do. Though we likely have no need to worry over Rangers coming this far in, there are still always things in these parts that will not take kindly to our continued presence. So, keep it light and always be ready to move if need be.”
“Standard fall back?” Beleg asked and to which Talimar simply nodded.
They broke shortly after that, with everyone participating in cleaning up. Kre found a soft patch of grass on the side of the glade nearest the horses and set down to rest for the night, his mind wondering what the next few days had in store for him.