by Justin Wayne
***
“I have a plan.” Outsider said after his nap, striding over to Thom and Merlon. He crouched low and checked the dwarf’s faint heartbeat on the side of his neck. The hobbit stirred from his sleep and rolled over.
“What?” he yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
“I’m going to Briggand Sails to find my cleric friend and bring him back.” the elf replied at once, sure, completely decided. “It’ll be faster this way with only me on the road.”
“And what are we to do?” Thom asked exasperated. “Am I to just sit here to twiddle my thumbs and hope no one finds us? And what if he takes a turn for the worse?” He looked to the prone form of Merlon. “I don’t know how to help him at all!”
Outsider stared hard at him beneath his hood and the hobbit fell silent, instantly afraid. He remembered his place in the group as he was, and technically still is, a prisoner. He held his tongue and listened respectfully.
“Merlon isn’t going to make it without his help. And I can’t bring either of you because it would take far too long.” He cleared away a patch of grass and drew a small diagram in the soil. “This is us, on the pass.” He drew a long, by ratio at least, winding line from the square representing them that ended in a circle. “That’s Cain Sander, and this,” he drew another circle a little further away, “Is Briggand Sails.
“If you were to accompany me, it would take several tendays at the least. He would never survive that. It’s perilous enough just to move him, let alone ride. And if he did, the pace would be a crawl.”
Thom nodded as he saw the undeniable logic.
“I can be there and back within a single tenday, weather permitting.” the elf finished and leaned back from the patch of dirt. Thom still watched him reluctantly. The hobbit opened his mouth to argue but Outsider cut him short. “You know, if you were to go. I could always just stop by Cain Sander on the way and turn you in for that bounty.”
Thom shut his mouth, rolled over, and promptly went back to sleep.