A slowly growing group

While Sybill kept standing next to the loading area under the canopy and stared at it, Jay had walked around and asked the others to lay the still wounded soldiers on it. It took the female Archer some time to come back to her senses.

Jay was talking with Kylie and Patric Saldema to the side of the carriage, while Sally had taken over looking for the survivors.

"Is it alright with you transporting the wounded to Sentinel?" J.

"'Course it is. Lad, at times like dis, we need ta help each others!" P.S.

"Thank you all so much. I'll give word of you when I reach my new post in the city!" K.

"No need... Wait, new post? In Sentinel?" J.

"Oh my, I didn't introduce myself properly. I am the new Head Priestess in Sentinel, representing the Church of Holy Light there..." K.

"So that's the reason for your big entourage. Rest a bit here, I'll go and fetch whats left of your belongings and everything else." J.

"I'll come with you." K.

"No, please stay with the wounded men and treat them. Patric will store the things on his carriage, right?" J.

"Sure thing!" P.S.

"Sybill, you take care of the lookout, okay?" J.

"Y-yeah..." S.

Afterwards, Jay went back on the field and checked the carriage. It had only one big crate loaded on the back and a few satchels. Latter seemed to belong to the fallen soldiers.

Taking everything into his inventory except the crate, Jay pulled it back to its owner.

On his second tour he fetched the defeated Rocs as well as the corpse of Vultros when nobody was watching.

The last thing to do was the most tiresome though.

Jay had borrowed a shovel from Saldema and dug out eight holes. It was the number of victims to the group of vultures that had attacked them. A single grave for each of them was the least he could do.

When the sun was slowly beginning to set, Jay had finished the graves and everything was stored on the carriage.

Myres had regained some strength and insisted on helping Jay carrying the dead to their graves. Kylie gave a small prayer to each of them and even the Saldemas and Sybill attended to the makeshift funeral.

Back to the carriage waiting on the main road, everyone climbed onto it except Jay. He had decided to ride from then on as the carriage was already cramped with one man lying down and the Priestess tending to him with the help of Sally Saldema.

Myres took the last seat to watch their back and Sybill found her place next to Patric.

This way they traveled on, but on top of the next hill Jay halted his horse. Even with his way over the norm eye sight, he barely could see the hill Sentinel was built on.

It was nothing more than a tiny spot at the horizon and from what he had heard, that hill was really a big one.

Looking over his shoulder he addressed Farmer Saldema and Sybill at the same time.

"It's quite a distance left to Sentinel and the sun is setting. We have to make a decision whether to look for a place to camp tonight or travel on.

But I'm pretty sure we'll have to travel in the darkness then." J.

"Though I was hoping for a real bed, traveling would be quite risky. Even more so if we consider the latest occurences..." S.

"If both of you think so... I trust your decisions and a day more on the road is something we can easily live with." P.S.

"Food shouldn't be a problem as well, as I took some meat from the Rocs. All that's left is to do, is find a suitable campsite." J.

From then on Patric Saldema took the lead and looked for a place at the roadside where they could stop by. Sybill jumped in twice as he found a nice spot, stating it was easy to ambush or that it was way to visible.

This way, they really only found a place as they got a good bit closer to Sentinel and the sun was already more than halfway gone.

A bit to the side from the road, atop a small hill and next to a big tree, they halted and sat up two small tents they had taken from the Priestess's carriage.

While the two women were setting up the tents and the Saldemas tended to the still unconcious survivor, Myres and Jay went to fetch some wood at the nearby treeline of a small forrest.

As it was already pretty dark when they returned with some wood, Myres hurriedly dug out a fireplace. Thanks to Jay's fire magic it was incinerated in no time and all except the wounded found a place near the fire.

Glad he had been able to take out one of the Rocs as nobody watched, Jay sat down near the fire and started to pluck it.

It took only some tries from him for Sybill to notice he had never done it before, so she walked over and demanded to switch places with him. Five minutes later the vulture was plucked clean, dismantled and ready to roast.

With the help of some spices and his cooking skill, Jay roasted the giant bird hole over the open fire. He used one of the died soldiers spears he had looted near the carriage to skewer the Roc and his abundant strength to hold the whole thing.

Another ten minutes later, they all sat around the fire and, while they all munched their portions, no one had the time to utter a single word. All they did was gobbling down their portions just to take seconds.

If anybody would have passed the encampment without seeing them, he would have thought pigs were devouring their food from the noises.

"Who would have thought you can cook?" S.

"That was a feast man... no joke" P.S.

"Thanks a lot guys..." J.

"No, thank you. That really was delicious." M.

A little proud of the compliments, Jay stored the pitiful leftovers away, again without someone noticing as he took it and walked behind the Carriage.

It was then when he heard Sybill arriving behind him. She had followed him and arrived exactly when he had peeled off the Roc from the spear and stored it away.

"Glad you really took my advice to be careful." S.

"Yeah, well..., though I doubt anyone here would sell us out, you were right to be careful. How can I help you?" J.

"I just wanted to ask how you thought to distribute on the tents? Oh, and thank you for the meal again!" S.

"Oh, your welcome... it was just really good meat.

For the tents, I was thinking to give one to the Saldemas as they still are our main clients. The wounded should stay in the carriage, probably together with Myres. The last goes to you and the Priestess..." J.

"I thought you'd say that. Myres asked me to get a shift as well and this time I'll take the first shift. Get yourself some rest!" S.

"...Yes ma'am!" J.

After a slight blush on the small Archers face, they both started to snicker.

Their atmosphere had changed over the short time they had spent together to something like real companions.

Together they got back to the fireplace and sat down on some boulders and blankets, like the rest already did. Myres was sitting atop the carriage and watching the vicinity as suddenly Kylie rose up, walked over and sat besides Jay on his blanket.

"I wanted to thank you for the meal as well. Something like that was really new to me..." K.

"Was it the Roc-meat or the way to serve it that was new to you? But I'm glad it was to your palate." J.

"It was both, and stop the formal speech like I'm someone important please..." K.

"Are you not? Miss Head-priestess of Sentinel?" J.

"Oh stop it! I just got that post as nobody else wanted it and accepted in hopes to help some people." K.

"Ain't that what makes you someone special?" J.

"I don't think so at all." K.

"Well, I do." J.

"...I guess I should leave, your girlfriend is already watching us." K.

"Girlfriend? ...Oh, you're talking about Sybill? Nah, she's my friend, not my girl..." J.

With a nearly invisible smile, Kylie sat back down next to him after she had risen up to leave.

Even Sybill who was seated only two yards away blushed a bit to her being called friend as Jay guessed.

Over the next minutes they talked about how she got the post of a head priestess at her young age.

She got raised in Arathor's orphanage and because of her innate talent got enrolled by the church. She willingly shared her story and went on all the way to her travel to Sentinel and the recent attack.

Jay noticed how she shuddered and the words nearly got stuck on the last part so he tried to soothe her a bit.

As Kylie's story was finished that even Sybill listened to after a short bit of time, the young Archer started to explain the distribution of the tents and the plan for the night-shifts she made up together with Jay.

Latter would get the middle shift and she would take the first one. Myres got the last shift in the morning when the sight was best and the probability of an attack was the least.

For the Tents it was the smaller one for the Saldemas and the the slightly bigger one for Myres, Sybill and Jay who would switch for the night-watch.

The priestess got a simple bedding on the carriage as she still tended to the one armed soldier in between.

But it was Myres who protested stating she would need to directly be guarded so Kylie had to sleep in the tent as well while he shared the carriage with the other soldier.

They all went to bed nearly the same time, with Sybill taking a position atop the carriage, watching over the surrounding area.

It took no two minutes for Jay to close his eyes and have his mind wander off as he really was tired.

The warmth of his blanket seemed to be rising steadily for him, having him drift off to a deep sleep.

"For real? You're joking, right? Get up. It's your turn..." S.

That was all he heard for a wake up.

Sybill sounded surprisingly pissed off, but Jay had no idea as to why.

That changed the moment he opened his eyes and came to.

Kylie had rolled over as he had been asleep and cuddled on his side while leaning her small head on his shoulder. Jay still lay on his back as he had when drifting to sleep so he didn't even notice her.

"Huh, since when...? Hey, I didn't notice her for real." J.

"...Yeah, sure." S.

"Why are you so pissed? She probably got a nightmare or something..." J.

"Cuddling with the pretty boy helps for sure, huh?" S.

"Whatever... I didn't do anything wrong! Was there something of notice?" J.

"No, nothing. The sun will rise in about three hours, make sure Myres takes over then." S.

As Jay had peeled himself free while they were talking and placed the Priestess back on her own cushion, he left the tent to the end of Sybill's words.

The cold air of the night had his mind refreshed and jump back to action. After a short surrounding of their encampment, Jay sat at the same place Sybill had taken for her night-watch.

With nothing else to check and absolutely not the right time or place to look into his summoning skills, Jay rummaged through his inventory a bit and learned he could sort it. That and watching out was what filled the next two hours of his shift.

Until the first light shone over the treetops, Jay had encountered nothing but a wild boar as he fetched some more firewood and two kobolds that got curious about the encampment.

Climbing down and mounting the loading area, Jay slightly shook Myres awake to switch with him.

As the man was gone, Jay gave a great Heal to the wounded man who was still sleeping, easing his breathing by a lot.

Back in the tent he saw Sybill sleeping in the middle and slightly opening one eye as he crawled next to her.

Kylie had again started to cuddle in her sleep, this time with Sybill what wasn't to the young Archers liking.

With a slight smirk, Jay closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep again. That was something he could do even in his old life: sleeping the moment he closed his eyes when he was feeling safe.

Two hours later, the sweet sleep was over again. Glad his body complied to his way of living and sleeping, Jay left the tent first to give the two girls some room.

They hadn't asked for it, but he was sure they would be grateful for it.

Checking on Myres if anything happened and on the wounded soldier, Jay learned everything was good and the wounded regained his mind and speech.

After he thanked Jay a couple of times and the women left their tent at the same time as the Saldemas, the camp was cleared up in less then ten minutes.

A small situation arose as Jay summoned his horse to ride next to the Carriage again, as Kylie asked if she could ride with him on the horse.

Sybills eyes were scary and Jay swiftly declined, stating he would have to watch out and react the moment he spots a threat.

After they started their carriage and proceeded for a while, Sybill's expression eased up again.

She was back on the place next to the coaches seat and watching out, while the other two women tended to the soldiers again. Myres wounds had reopened a bit after his watch, so he had to lay down as well.

Three hours later, the walls of Sentinel came into view.

At least those that had already been constructed.

As they learned from Kylie, the fortified city on the hill was something planned over a decade ago. It was to function as a relay station and last bulwark if the war on the southern border ever went downhill.

Similar stations were erected close to all borders, or on routes towards them.

Because they went back on the road pretty early, it was not even noon as they reached the gate of the small city. There was not even a queue for entering, so they only halted the carriage when one of the guards gave the sign.