I barely spoke a necessary word to Jurian for the first few hours. The evening was approaching, the sun was slowly setting behind the horizon and the rays together formed a picture.
"We'll camp here," Lasin commanded. Jurian made a fire. "We'll take turns on patrol every two hours," she paused. "I won't patrol," she added.
I shot her an angry look. It wasn't very polite in the middle of the forest to leave the patrol to others.
"We all need sleep, not just you," I said in a strained tone.
"We can handle this," Jurian decided.
I gave Jurian a displeased look as well, but I preferred to let it go.
"How much canvas do we have for the tents?" I asked.
"I don't care," said Jurian.
Lasin looked at me. I assumed from her expression that she didn't have any and would like to borrow one. The canvas I had was quite small, so I left it to Lasin.
"I'll take the first watch," I said. I didn't want to beg if I could sleep in Jurian's tent after that. I stuck some sticks into the ground and stretched a canvas over them. It was fairly dry and muggy, so there was a chance of rain. Lasin handed out pieces of bread.
"Why are you so tense?" she paused. "After all, we're on our way to the city, and you guys here want to kill each other at any moment."
Our response was silence.
"We should be arriving in town tomorrow morning, so please start getting along." Her desperation for us was palpable. Part of me suddenly wanted to make things better, but I didn't even know where to start.
"You look like some kind of Detruan soldier to me," I said to Jurian.
Detruisian soldiers are some of the most feared on the continent. There are certainly many strong units in other countries as well, but as far as Detruisia is concerned, their regular soldiers would be considered elite in other countries.
"Once upon a time I was, but six years ago after the slaughter of the royal family the armies disbanded," he replied. "What are you?" he asked.
I've never talked about my past so it was such a weird question for me. Lasin looked at me curiously.
"I'm from a family of farmers where after the fall of Detruisia some soldiers traveled and I learned to fight from them and ran away from home a year later," I paused. "What about you Lasin?" I raised one eyebrow to emphasize the question.
Her gaze grew serious. "I lived only with Mother, but she was murdered when I was ten years old, and I was left alone." She took a deep breath. "How old are you? We all look the same age," she added.
"I'm thirty-two," said Jurian.
"I'm twenty-three," I replied.
"So I was right, I'm twenty-one."
Purebred Ming live longer, so in terms of human years it's pretty similar.
"Why are the runes of the past so important to you Jurian?" Lasin asked.
"Why should I tell you?" he retorted with a sting in his voice.
"If you wanted to, you could kill us on the spot," I pointed out.
"Just because I'm traveling with you doesn't mean I trust you, okay?" he said angrily.
"Calm down, I didn't want to upset you," Lasin tried to calm the situation. "I just want to know something about you," she added.
"Maybe it's better to know as little as possible," I suggested.
Lasin scowled at me. She probably hoped I would support her.
"Why are you going to Endton anyway?" I asked Lasin.
"I need to meet some acquaintances," she paused. "Fix a few things.." She took a deep breath. "I need help with this..." We looked at her curiously. "Of course I would pay or repay you somehow," she added.
"I don't want to stay too long in town." I said. Jurian looked at me.
"I would just arrange something in the meantime, then I would like to help," he offered.
"Thank you," she said.
The sun had already set behind the horizon and the forest was plunged into darkness.
"Well, I'm going to bed, so good night." Lasin got up from the fire and moved into the tent.
"I'll go too," Jurian mentioned.
After more than an hour, my eyelids started to feel quite heavy. I was hoping it was almost time to change because at this rate I wouldn't last an hour. The fire was no longer burning, but the moon was bright enough to make out various objects. It started to drizzle lightly. Winter was approaching, so it slowly started to get cold at night.
There was a slight noise from one of the tents. I couldn't even react slowly when Jurian suddenly appeared and sat down next to me. There was only silence for a long time.
"Join us at Endton, Lasin needs it," he said out of the blue.
"I have no reason to help her, she's just one of many people who need help."
Jurian looked into my eyes. "Don't try to hide behind a mask, no matter what happened to you, I still feel a good heart in you," he paused. "You want to help her, so what's the problem?"
"I swore to myself that I wouldn't go back among humans," I admitted.
"I understand that, but let it go through your head anyway." For a moment there was simple silence, broken only by the impact of drops on the leaves. "Go rest in my tent, I'll take the rest of the patrol," he suggested.
"I don't need your help," I said plainly.
"I won't carry you if anything happens to you during the night."
Scum, I thought. I got up from the tree and climbed into the tent.