|
Just before dawn . . .
It was the foul, irksome birds who woke him - that hour just before dawn when they felt compelled to caw and warble as if the very day depended on their noise to rouse the sun. Gromwakh pulled his rough blanket up about his ears in an effort to block out the disturbance, but to no avail. Peeling open one eye with an effort he considered what might happen if all the bothersome birds were to suddenly drop dead. Would the sun not rise? Would the easeful darkness stay constant? He gave an Orcish sigh, wishing it were so.
Snikdul was already up, or perhaps he had never gone to bed. Gromwakh could see him moving about their little camp poking their companions awake. It was their duty that morning to start the cook fire and make the captain his morning gruel. Nasty stuff, thought Gromwakh, pulling out a strip of dried rat from his pocket to chew on as he lay abed. Never mind that it was a bit linty from whatever had been shoved in there previously – tasted all the better in his mind.
Gâshronk was still sleeping, a consequence of the pinch of valerian root they’d put in his stew last night. Late sleep for the Captain meant a leisurely start for the group. Gromwakh could see the night watch still guarding the prisoners in the wagon. And good thing the Elves were tied tightly he thought, since three of the four Orc guards were sitting down, slouched in the dirt, their backs against the wagon’s wheels; asleep - their weapons idle at their side. The fourth Orc was no better. He’d wandered a little ways away and was warming his hands at a small fire he’d obviously kept going through the night. His back was to the wagon; his sword leaning against a rock several feet away from him.
His breakfast finished, Gromwakh threw back the blanket and heaved himself to his feet. He scratched himself across the chest, yawning widely – his usual morning ritual. Hurried steps brought him to the nearby shallow ravine, dotted thickly with low growing bushes, to answer nature’s early morning call. Behind him he could just hear several of his companions cracking a few of the thinner branches from one of the downed trees for the needed fire . . .
|