The rest of the night thankfully went by with no more alp attacks or any other incident in that matter.
Sachio woke up the next day and saw Mal skipping stones in the nearby river.
"What happened to keeping guard?" he asked sleepily
Mal threw another stone. "The sun was rising. Usually all the creepy crawlies go away when the sun rises."
He sighed. He can argue with that logic but it was still early so he decided against it.
They ate some of the fruit and bread they had brought. When Sachio saw the food Jaxen had brought him, he felt almost guilty. A loaf of manchet bread wrapped perfectly in a cotton handkerchief was sitting on the bottom of his bag. Sachio unwrapped the bread and looked over at Maleakhi who was holding his own loaf of barley bread, looking enviously at the loaf manchet bread.
"You wanna trade?" he asked.
Maleakhi looked surprised. "Seriously?"
"Uh... Yeah?"
Mal quickly snatched the bread from his hands and took a big bite out of it. Sachio had never seen someone eat bread so fast. Sachio stared at the bread as Maleakhi devoured it and he felt a pang of regret just giving it away. The barley bread he had traded for was nowhere near as delicious.
"All right let's go." he announced after finishing the rest of his barley bread.
He walked a few steps before hearing Mal shout. "Hey egg! What about my shirt?!"
Oh yeah, Mal's shirt still had holes in some very... disturbing places after last night's alp attack.
"Just turn your shirt. At least then it'll look more appropriate." he suggested.
Mal turned his shirt so that he was wearing it backwards. Sachio couldn't help but cringe a little at how weird it was to see someone wear a shirt backwards but hey, it was better than having people stare at them all day.
"I guess this works. You're making me a new shirt once we settle in the next town tonight." he told him. Sachio simple gave him a nod.
The two of them headed east following the flow of the river. Soon Sachio noticed the scenery change. The big bustling towns they'd passed through yesterday changed into smaller, less populated villages and instead of the sound of the clopping sound of a travelling merchant's horse, he heard the sound of birds chriping and the roar of the river next to them. He saw some girls chatting by the side of the river, when they saw the two passerby's they stopped and waved.
Maleakhi of course, didn't care. He walked right past without a second thought.
That guy needs to loosen up, Sachio thought as he smiled and winked at the girls. They giggled then disappeared beneath the current. Sachio blinked in surprise
"Did they just... melt into the river?"
Maleakhi smirked at the surprised look on his face "Why yes your majesty. They did. Those are called water nymphs or naiads if 'water nymph' isn't a fancy enough word for you"
Sachio ignored the last four words. "Now that you mention it, I have been seeing some weird stuff here, like glowing lights and stuff. Thought I was hallucinating."
"Yeah? Well that's how you know we've reached Eastern Alligera. It's always been the more magical side of the kingdom." Mal explained, then continued "I thought you'd know that, your majesty. This is basic knowledge after all, I'm sure one of the kwintillions of books in your library have mentioned it."
"First of all, 'kwintillion' isn't a word, second of all, I think I've ever heard something about that at school, I just didn't bother remembering it, and lastly, if I wanted you dead, I could've just let that alp crush you."
