Silly Idea

"Sorry, can you speak louder. I couldn't hear what you said".

I was so nervous, that almost no sound had come out of my mouth even when I tried my hardest. I cleared my throat and said in a louder voice, "I was thinking that since Turek and I are slowing you down, you two could carry us. This way we could move faster than all four of us walking. It will probably be slower than if it was just you two but it should still be an improvement. We might even make it to Tiaanway in 2 days!"

Cleo started laughing and Leana looked at me with a surprised face. Then her expression changed and she started thinking.

After Cleo could control herself, she finally said "You do realize you are asking two women to carry two men? If anyone saw you guys…."

I got embarrassed but said "Who is going to see us? No one takes this way to cross the cities!"

Cleo straightened up and stared at me for a few seconds. She then looked at Leana and asked "What do you think Leana? Do you think we can do this?"

"Uh… it's a pretty silly idea if we carried them the whole time. I don't think I could do that. We would be too tired to protect the party if we got attacked."

"That's true. While it certainly has its advantages, it has its disadvantages as well…. Then how about if we carry them in turns? We should be able to do that much and still conserve enough strength in case of an attack."

"But then one of them still has to walk right? We wouldn't be able to increase our pace"

"Well, they will also take turns. If Ren is tired, he gets to ride. Once he is good or if Turek is tired, we carry him. This way the boys can rest while they are being carried. We can shorten our breaks to almost nothing this way."

I was getting increasingly shocked listening to this conversation. They were actually agreeing with my stupid idea? I looked at Turek who looked back at me with a shocked face as well.

"Alright Ren, let's do what you said. You seem like you are in a better shape, so we will carry Turek first. Do you want to take the first turn Leana?"

"Sure, come here Turek"

Turek was a tall guy but he was still shorter than Leana. He stood in front of Leana and looked up at her "Umm… what do you want to do?"

"How do you want to be carried?"

"Uh… um.. I don't know… what do you think?"

"Sigh… I guess I will just carry you on my back." She turned around and bent down "Now jump on my back"

Turek looked uncertain for a few seconds but finally jumped. Leana held him with complete ease. She shifted him up a bit and said, "Lie down on my back and wrap your arms and legs around me"

Turek did as he was told, albeit a bit slowly. I guess he was feeling shy about being carried by a woman. Once Leana and Turek were set, Leana turned around and said "Let's get going. I guess we can go faster than before now right?"

"Yeah. Ren, don't worry about being tired and keep pace with us. Once you are tired, let me know. I will carry you. Turek will then get down and walk on his own. We will try to maintain this throughout the trip. If this doesn't work, we will think about what else we can come up with."

I nodded and started walking. Our pace could have been faster but we had entered the forest and we had to slow down so as to not trip over something. Cleo was leading and found the best way for us so we were able to avoid any problems.

I had higher agility compared to Turek and could walk for longer duration. During our last mission, we took frequent breaks and Cleo made sure we were well rested. This time, we had Leana. We could minimize our breaks by having one of the women carry one of the guys at all times.

We maintained a reasonably fast speed for 20 to 30 minutes. I was starting to get really tired of walking at our current pace while also making sure not to trip on something. I looked at Turek with envy. He was just lying there on Leana's back comfortably without any worries! I was starting to wonder how long I can maintain this pace when Cleo suddenly stopped. She had been keeping an eye on me and seemed to have realized that I was already tired.

Leana saw that Cleo had stopped and stopped as well. Cleo walked towards me and without saying anything wrapped her left arm around my buttock and picked me up. She then placed me on her hip. She looked at my astonished face and asked "Is this good?"

"Uh… yeah, its not bad. But why don't you just carry me on you back like Leana did?"

"Well… I am used to carrying kids like this in my village."

I almost said that I am not a kid but stopped myself. I thought for a bit and finally sighed and said "Alright. I am good in this position. Let me know if you want to change it later."

"Sure." Cleo started walking again.

Leana saw that Cleo had picked me up and put Turek down. Both of them started walking once Cleo started carrying me. Turek was well rested and kept pace with Cleo and Leana. I was really tired and decided to take a nap. I wanted to make full use of this time since Turek will switch placed with me once he is tired. I leaned my head on Cleo's shoulder and relaxed.

Just like me Turek couldn't really continue the fast pace for very long. Even when he had such a long rest, he woke me up in only 30 minutes. Cleo put me down on my feet and took a short break. It seems Leana didn't walk to carry Turek on her hip. He was probably too tall for that. Once Leana had Turek on her back, she started walking. I walked with Cleo a bit sleepily but at least I was well rested.

After walking for another 20 minutes or so we finally decided to take a longer break. According to Cleo we had walked for 10 miles in the last 1 hour itself thanks to the fast pace we had set. We should be getting close to the river now. It was only around noon, so thought it likely that we would make it to the mountain.

So far we hadn't seen many wild animals. Most ran away when we approached them. Since we had brought food, we were not really worried about having to hunt. If we ran out, we could hunt. Our water was running low, so we planned to fill it up at the river.

After finishing our lunch, we decided to start walking again. Since the carry method was working well, we decided to continue it. But this time, we switched partners. Leana was going to carry me.

I went to stand in front of Leana and waited for her to turn around. I thought she would be carrying me the same way she carried Turek. But I was wrong. I looked up at Leana and wondered what she was waiting for. She was almost two heads taller than me, so I had to stretch my neck up quite a bit when I was so close to her. I saw her thinking as if deciding what to do about me.

Finally she gave me a mischievous smile and bent down to grab me under my armpits. The she proceeded pick me straight up! I panicked at being so high up I was just about to ask her to put me down when she slowly brought me lower and put me on her hip just like Cleo had. I relaxed and wrapped my legs around her waist. I fully appreciated the difference in Cleo and Leana's sizes from this position. Leana was quite a bit larger than Cleo, not just taller. I really felt like a kid when being carried in this position. I guessed Cleo and Leana really were just teasing me and not trying to hurt my feelings, so I didn't mind all that much. I just thought about how I couldn't wait to get taller. If not taller, at least I wanted to gain some muscles and look manlier!

Leana asked me to put my arms around her. I did as I was told and leaned on her. It was a really comfortable position, even more than when Cleo was carrying me. Leana turned to look at Cleo and said, "I don't think there is any need to put Ren down. I think he is light enough that I could carry him all day!"

"Yeah he is quite small after all" said Cleo while giggling. I felt embarrassed but didn't say anything.

We started walking again. I hoped that we could get to the river soon, so that I could get down and walk like a real man!