"Hey. Hey kid. Wake up." I didn't respond to Ze-dric calling for me. "I can see your eyes open, kid."
"No you can't. I'm like ten feet away from you." I had set the fire in the middle of the cave and laid him on the other side. I thought it would give me time to bolt if he decided to try and capture me and move with those wounds. That's it. Yeah.
"I have better eyesight than you think." He said as I turned over on my side to look him over. I put a hand over my mouth to muffle my laugh. "What's so funny?"
"You just... Oh my sky child, I didn't realize how silly you look with all those bandages as I put them on." I continued to try and stifle my laughter. He didn't look pleased.
"Hah hah." It was monotone and most definitely sarcastic. But he sighed and sat up with what was definitely a very loud groan of pain. "But thanks." He added, not looking my way.
"You did save my life. I'm sure you would have done the same if our roles were reversed." I shrugged it off, pulling myself from my blankets. I quickly stored them away. "Though, you're like, super heavy." I joked before starting up the fire again.
"Or you're just weak." He was facing me now and out of the blankets I gave him. Wonder if he'd notice I gave him the least torn up ones. "These look like they went through a lot." He asked, and handed them my way, avoiding the fire.
"They wouldn't be if we didn't jump off a damn cliff." I retorted, grabbing the blankets quickly and storing them with the others. "We'd probably both be dead if not for them. Don't be so rude to them."
"They're blankets..." I looked up and squinted at him.
"Everything has feelings if you care about them enough." I went back to the flames, materializing a whole camping cooking set there." I didn't move to properly set it up until the light faded.
"I don't... Think that's how that works." He was watching me closely now, shuffling closer. I'd think he was genuinely curious if it wasn't for the borderline scowl ever present on his face.
"Says you." I shrugged, pulling out a few eggs that I need to use before they go bad.
Crack. Sizzle. Scrambling.
"How do you do that?" Ze-dric asked, leaning closer.
"Cook?" I joked, fully aware of what he meant. "You just heat thing up and-"
"No, the poof thing."
"... Poof thing?" Snort. "You mean my magic?"
"Yes, that." This guys kind of a goof if I look past his scary presence.
"Well, for one, I call it the bloop thing. Because it looks like the items just bloop right in. Bloop bloop."
"It looks like a poof to me." I laughed at him.
"I've been doing this my whole life. I think I can decide that it looks more like a bloop."
"Maybe it just... Used to look like a bloop and you were so used to it looking like that you never noticed it change into a poof."
"I-" Oh no. "How could you say that? Now I'll have to go through an entire identity crisis about bloops and poofs. This is a mess. A tragedy. How dare you, Ze-dric."
He laughed. A real, genuine laugh. Neat. "You're weird."
"You're weird." I waved a finger in his face.
"And you forgot about the eggs."
"Crap!" He was right. They were burning already and I had to act fast. Fumbling with untentals and the eggs, I eventually got them off the heat and into small bowls. "There. Phew. Here, enjoy half burnt eggs."
He hummed a thanks and grabbed the hot bowl. "You didn't really answer the question you know."
"Hmmph?" Eating eggs. Can't talk if I'm eating.
"I'll ask when you're done." Damn it.
We both finished even though I took my sweet time. I took too long to clean up, and too long to move at all. I could tell he was getting aggravated. But still, he waited with watchful eyes.
"Fine." I sighed out, flopping against the cave wall.
"Finally. I was beginning to think you were going to pretend to suddenly lost your voice or something."
"I'm not that childish."
"I didn't say you were."
"If you don't wipe that smug look off your face I won't tell you anything." His expression dropped instantly. It was scary how quickly it did. "Err, okay so... It's pretty simple really. I can sort of access this small, pocket dimension? Like the entrance to it follows me around. Or more like the entrance is in my hands? I can take things from the pocket dimension and store things into it. It's pretty hard to keep organized so if anything is put in there I have to take the time to categorize it. Pictures really help. My papa would sew a specific symbol into things and if I could find that symbol, then I was at least close to the item I needed. It's a lot of mental imagery I got to do."
He was quiet for a moment, just nodding along. "So you could smuggle weapons or worse across borders."
"What?"
"That must be why you have no papers and ran, right?" He doesn't look happy. Not that he ever has but he looks pissed. "And why you were so hesitant to tell me about your power."
"No no NO-" I was waving my hands in front of me, crossing my arms into an X, anything to say he was wrong.
"But you don't seem the criminal type. Is someone forcing you to do this?"
"No! I'm traveling on my own free will! I'm not-"
"Are you a criminal wannabe?"
"No no! I'm just-"
"I'll have to subdue you and take you back either way."
"No I have a mission! For the sake of the-"
"But I'm in a lot of pain, so even if you're small and weak you could still, possibly out match me."
"Hey! I'm not-"
"Maybe I could wait for-" He was the one interrupted now. We both heard a loud, deep growl from further into the cave. It didn't sound like any animal I know. Judging by the look Ze-dric had, he either knew exactly what it was or frightens easily.
He was on his feet in a second and grabbed me. He picked me up, kicked the fire out, and shoved both of us into a large crack in the wall. It was smaller than the entrance and definitely cramped. I could feel his ribs stabbing my collar bone.
He had the hand not holding me over my mouth, making it harder to breath. But I knew it was keep me from audibly freaking out. I could practically feel how much he was. I could tell he felt the danger. It seeped out of every pore he had. He didn't show it but he was scared.
I heard a another growl and strained my neck to look through the crack.
I saw it.
It was taller than me if I stood on Ze-dric's shoulders. Even as it hunched and stomped about. It sniffed the air near the fire, it's flattened nose flaring at the scent. It avoided the light from the entrance so it was hard to see most of it. But I could tell it was much paler than the Orcs I've seen before. It was smaller, too. I could see it's ribs clearly even in the dark and just make out sunken cheeks.
It looked liked nightmare fuel. Like all the nasty things about a regular Orc were mashed together with a mole-rat. Even if I wanted to right then, I couldn't move.
I think it might be able to smell fear because the second I realized I was frozen in fear, it's head shot in our direction. I felt Ze-dric tense more which made me do the same. Seriously, Ze-dric, your bones are like knives.
It got closer, closer, and closer. It felt like it was doing this on purpose. Trying to scare us more like it enjoyed it or something. To my relief and utter horror, Ze-dric kicked a leg out and kicked it right in the, for lack of a better word, nards.
I'd of laughed if I wasn't being yanked from the crack and pulled out of the cave with Ze-dric. Who happened not to get crushed by this thing the second we left the crack.
I went to keep running but he grabbed my collar, tugging me along the cliff side, and stopping only 20 feet from the cave.
"What are you doing? We have to run from that thing!" He didn't let go or run.
"Calm down, kid. It's not a normal Orc. It won't leave the cave."
"Yeah, because I have every reason to trust you even know what that is."
"Just wait." With a displeased huff I did. When the uglier-than-normal Orc met the outside of the cave I only saw it for a second before it hissed and bolted back inside.
"Lucky guess."
"I patrol the border between The Forest and the wasteland. I've seen more than you... But I wonder what that's doing under the border like that. Those Orcs are usually further south and stay underground..."
"Wait, we're...?"
"Yes. That cliff we fell-"
"You jumped down." I corrected.
"I jumped down," He continued after correcting himself, not pleased. "Is the landmark for the border here. Probably the most prominent one. Definitely the one with the most drastic difference between the two lands. We have to go back up."
"Nuh uh. I'm supposed to be here! I have to continue." I struggled against his grip, making him let go only to grab my hands and pin them behind me. "You can't do this all the way up a cliff, you know." I pouted, defeated for now.
"You're right. This would be easier with-" as if on queue we heard a shout and then saw vines growing down the cliff side and connecting to each other like a ladder. "A-llex."
"You know, for someone you're dating you say her name like it's bad cheese."
"Shut up." A figure slid down the ladder made of greenery. I saw her bright hair before the rest of her. She smoothed down her dress, several more noticeable holes near the bottom that weren't there when I first saw her.
"You look like crap, Ze ze." She eyed me, grinning. "And you still have the Typeless! Maybe I should give you more credit. I thought I'd find you dead and with no blank kid to be seen. Or I should give it less credit." She laughed.
"Mm." He responded and then turned me around forcibly, pointing at my hands.
"Ever the talkative one you always are, I see." I turned my head around, just able to see her bend over behind me before feeling warmth wrap around my wrists, holding them together better than a hand. The warmth quickly cooled and left behind an itch.
"This isn't comfortable." I said with a frustrated frown.
"And nobody cares, blank."
"Sorry." Ze-dric said. "It's the best way."
"You could... Just let me go. I think that's the best best way." I grinned up at him, attempting to cute my way out of this like I would do with my father.
"Nice try, kid."
"You know I have a name!" Now I'm pouting at him, a similar attempt. "I'd tell you if you let me goooo."
He stared long enough for me to be hopeful. "Not quite tempting enough." He turned me back around toward A-llex. She was staring at Ze-dric like he grew a second head.
"You okay there, miss?" Her hand was in my face, inches away to shut me go.
"Don't talk to me. You don't get to."
"Okay..." Next thing I knew I had vines covering my mouth. "Rude." I thought with knitted brows.
Ze-dric threw me on his back with vines from A-llex to hold me there like I was a backpack. I really did feel like an amendment object at this point. Even after I was on my feet and pulled along with them I felt that way. This really sucks.