-----At this point, while everyone pauses, Garrison speaks up saying, “We probably have four or five more hours of riding ahead of us. We have no moon this night to guide us. Should we camp here until it gets lighter? If we ride on, we fight not only sleep but we take a chance of our horses striking something out here on the plains.”
-----"We make camp. I won't risk th' horses tonight, an' we could use th' extra rest." Sol slowly levers himself off Thunder, removes his gauntlets and helm, and begins to make his steed comfortable after the ride. Soon he frees Thunder of his bit and the saddlebags, and then the saddle, whereupon the Gorian ends up taking out a horsebrush from the bags to give the stallion a dressing down. As he does, he calls to Dilton, "Ye want t'take first watch? Wake me fer th' second, an' I'll do th' same fer Garrison's third."
-----Dilton quickly agrees to Sol’s suggestion for the watch.
-----As the party settles into camp, Jeilin finds a spot to sit not too far from Shakalee. From her backpack, she retrieves the case of maps taken from the army camp earlier, going through them one by one at leisure. She looks up at the night sky after a time and, not seeing much hope for the clouds to clear away, sighs and puts away the maps. In their place, she resumes reading a small book while occasionally tracing symbols on the dirt and humming to herself.
-----Meanwhile, Lovan grimaces as he faces the village of East Bend in the distance. His eyes look skyward for a moment as he checks to make sure the sky has not changed. Seeing no stars, the Storm Priest begins to grumble. “I wonder how they would feel to see me walk amongst them and deliver the Fury of the Great Rager.”
-----“T’would be fierce, t’be sure,” Dilton croaks in reply, “but now’s th’ time t’be restin’.” The warrior casts an uncertain eye in Sol’s direction.
-----“How about we take a look at your wounds?” Garrison says to Sol. “We’ve been riding pretty hard today.”
-----Lovan takes a few steps in the direction of East Bend as if to get a better view of the settlement in the distance.
-----With a groan and an apologetic look at Thunder, Sol begins to unbuckle his armour, leaving the plate and chain in a pile on the ground. Grinning ruefully, the Gorian comments, "Garrison, ye'd make my mother proud. Either that, or Rinda's had a word in yer ear a'fore we parted." Despite his mocking, Sol's grin moulds into a thankful smile.
-----Now looking past the aiding huntsman, the Gorian eyes Lovan carefully. As he lifts his arms to allow Garrison access to the bandages around his torso, Sol calls solemnly to the Storm Priest, "Lovan, my friend, this storm heads fer Kulendra, an' I say save yer own fury fer there. I would be dearly pleased t'see what rage o' the Lord of th' Skies ye can bring t'our foe there."
-----“Damn!” Garrison mutters more to himself than anyone else, “What in the hell did you run into?”
-----The woodsman then helped Sol change some of the makeshift bloodied bandages. The Gorian’s torso still seemed to feature light wounds.
-----“Couldn’t be helped,” Garrison says as he works, “but riding this past day didn’t help.” He then looks at Sol and says with a smile, “I know these words are probably going to drift more into the night than anything, but . . . once we get near Kulendra, you need to rest before we see anymore major fighting.”
-----Lovan holds his position for the moment and then turns to acknowledge the others. “Once we get to this place we ride to, the enemy will cower before the Great Rager. We will only need to fight to finish what rabble is left.”
-----Dilton gives a weary expression and then turns toward the Star Priestess. Seeing her sitting on the ground with a book in hand, he begins to say, “MiLady, be there anything . . ?” He stops when he sees her busy reading and tracing things in the dirt.
-----Jeilin stops to look up at Dilton, putting down her book for the moment. "Ah, no, I'm just making some calculations. In fact, be there anything that I can help with?" She says as she brushes some dirt off her hands, but the priestess seems to be staring somewhere beyond, to where her mind still is.
-----"I don't suppose ye know how t'slay entire armies wi' a wave o' yer hand?" Sol interjects hopefully, before batting Garrison away, quietly insisting that he's fine now. He also waves off any reply from his non-serious question, and begins to settle down for the evening. Or at least until second watch.
-----Jeilin stops and actually considers such a feat. "In the histories, I have read only of starfalls capable of this," she shakes her head slowly, then smiles. "But perhaps Lovan has a way."
-----“Starfalls?” Lovan says, for the moment shaken out of his angry stare at the village of East Bend. He turns and looks at the Star Priestess. “I don’t know about starfalls, but the Great Rager’s Fury takes the form of mighty lightning bolts that would destroy an army. Have I not told you of the time that we faced a dragon in the forests of Silvergard?”
-----“Oh no,” Garrison muttered under his breath. Quickly changing the subject, the woodsman quickly asked to no one in particular, “Say, if I remember, a few days ago, we saw some of the troops pass not far from this very house. Would it not be better if we moved to the field where we hid the wagons on the way here?”
-----Garrison points to a field just to the west of their position where high shrub bushes dominate.
-----A sigh of impatience is heard, and a short reply comes, "We camped here, because ye said camp here. Fine, if ye think it's preferable." Sol hauls himself off the ground and begins to gather his gear for the short move.
-----Likewise, Jeilin stands and dusts off herself, then packs up her belongings for the new campsite.
-----“Sorry,” Garrison says a bit testily as he begins mounting up. After a while, the party moves between the huge shrubs and finds that it does make for a more comfortable campsite. Toward the center of the field, they find they can even set a small fire which the surrounding vegetation helps to conceal.
-----So it is that the night passes peacefully and Dilton, Sol and Garrison take their watches and complete their time without any interruptions. In fact, in the surrounding countryside, nothing appears to move except for the gentle breeze that continues through the night.