Laying a hand on his shoulder, Jade smiled softly at him. “No, that’s how I was lucky enough to get a veteran with lots of experience on my team.” He nodded at her, and she looked down at her bowl, realizing she’d finished the first bit of meat she’d been given. Looking up at Garrik, she grinned and held her bowl out with both hands. “Please sir, I want some more.” She affected her best doe eyes as she did so, which had the group chuckling again.
Garrik took the bowl, shaking his head as he grinned. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll get you more.”
He proceeded to start cutting another slice for her as she murmured under her breath, “It’s always yes, never yeah.” She grinned innocently at him as he raised a brow, seeming to be asking what she mumbled. She made innocent eyes at him and he sighed, handing her bowl back. It had twice the amount of meat in it than before, and she chirped happily, “Thanks!” He shook his head ruefully and went back to grilling the meat. Turning back to the group, she gestured to the man next to Harrison. “So, what’s your story? How’d you end up with this group?”
She quickly popped another piece of meat into her mouth, savoring it as she waited for his answer. He was studying his meat, so she took the moment to try and figure out why he looked so familiar. His standard brown military buzz cut was something many of the guards sported. He looked to be in his late twenties, but it wasn’t until he met her gaze and she got a clear look at his dark green eyes that she made the connection.
He confirmed her suspicions when he spoke. “My name is Daniel Whitaker. You’ve also met some of my family as well: my cousin Glen and my grandfather, Ammon.” When he realized she was nodding in easy acceptance, he smiled a little grimly. “They both speak very highly of you. Glen tried to volunteer, but he was rejected because he’s still in the academy. Grandpa tried to convince Marcelle to let him take her place as well, but she was adamant about coming herself, and they couldn’t send both commanders. Since neither of them could come, I volunteered in their place. You saved my grandfather, and our family always repays a debt. After today, though...I can see why they had confidence that you could succeed where we’ve failed over the years.”
The mood turned a bit more somber with that statement, and she replied morosely, “We haven’t exactly succeeded yet.”
The man to her right chuckled darkly, and she looked at him curiously. “What do you mean, ‘we haven’t succeeded’? We’ve figured out how to find their nests and eliminated sixteen of them without losing a single one of us. Do you have any idea how amazing that is?” When she stared at him, he smiled self-consciously, running a hand through slightly longer dark brown hair. He had a rather prominent nose and full lips, but his hazel eyes were filled with an intensity while he spoke.
“My name is Sir Ashton Ross, and this is the fourth mesmer hunt I’ve been on. My little sister was taken nearly seven years ago, and I’ve volunteered for every hunt I could since then. I’ll probably never find her remains, but at least I can have my revenge. On two of the last hunts, we never found them. We were beset with creatures and had to turn back before we even came close. On the third, we found one of their hunting parties. We managed to kill the six of them, but at the loss of eight of our own.” He looked at his hands as he finished with a whisper, “So yes, to me, this is a success.”
“Oh.” The word slipped out as she looked down, quickly putting more meat in her mouth so she didn’t have to think of another response. She wasn’t quite sure what else to say. Her own motives for being out here seemed so selfish in comparison to these men. She didn’t want to be hunted...well no, that wasn’t entirely it. She wanted to save Frank, Tisha, Hayden, Hunter, and the others that were taken. So she had one selfish and one altruistic motive.
She was drawn out of her contemplations by the last man speaking. “I’m Sir Zachary Caron.” When she looked up at him, he continued with a smile. “My family has a long history of serving the church, and the travelers. As an emissary of the heavens, it is our duty to help you in your quests. I’ve always believed this, so when I heard that you called for a hunt, I naturally volunteered with my cousins, though only I was selected. It is an honor to serve with you, Lady Jade.” The thin man gave a sweeping bow from where he was sitting, making Jade rather uncomfortable.
Having a zealot in the group was probably something she should have expected, given what she’d heard in the church. Actually, given the nature of the church, she should probably be grateful that he was the only religious zealot she knew of in the group so far. Marcelle and Ashton were both here for revenge, Daniel for duty and to repay a life debt, Harrison was here to guard his son–she wasn’t sure why his son volunteered–and then Zachary the zealot. Had a nice ring to it, at least.
As the awkward moment went on, she realized he was waiting for a response before he’d get up from his bow. She spoke hastily, “Thank you for your service, but please, get up. I’m just a normal person. Please, call me Jade. I’m not really one for formality.” The man nodded slightly as he rose to a normal position, and Jade realized she’d cleaned out her bowl a second time. In order to try and lighten the mood a little once more, she turned to Garrik again. “More, please!”
He shook his head, placing some of the meat he’d already carved off into her bowl. “I didn’t think it was really possible. With meat this mana-rich, most people would be uncomfortably full by now.”
Grinning impishly at him, she shook her head. “I normally eat a good five full plates at most mealtimes just to maintain myself, and still have to absorb light after to fully recharge.” Everyone from the group was staring blankly at her, and she tilted her head slightly, asking, “What?”
“And you claim to be a normal girl.” Harrison guffawed at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, and he shook his head. “My daughter or granddaughters would die of fright if they even considered eating that much.”
She laughed and shrugged. “I like food, and for some reason, I seem to be able to eat almost endlessly and convert it into energy. It’s been a struggle though. I have to carry large quantities around with me to make sure I can replenish when needed, and trying to eat a huge amount of food in the middle of a fight seems like a bad idea.”
With that said, she grinned and went back to eating her meat. Harrison and the others finished theirs off, and Harrison stood, straightening his clothes. When Jade sent him a questioning look, he grinned. “You put the beithiche in your cold room, right?” When she nodded, he grinned. “I’m going to go skin and prepare it. It has a higher mana content than the oreithers, so I’ll make sure you have plenty in case of emergencies.”
“I’ll help. There were two of them, after all.” Daniel stood up, grinning at her as she moved to stand with them. He motioned her to stay. “Sit, sit. You did most of the heavy lifting today. You still look a bit like you’re going to drop from exhaustion. Finish eating and then get some sleep. We’re here to help, so please, let us do at least this much.”
She smiled at him, settling back down as the four of them headed towards the cold room in unison, the others apparently having decided to help as well. She munched on her meat, looking up at Garrik as he turned the spit. Feeling her gaze on him, he met her eyes, smiling down at her. He’d obviously been listening to their conversation, though he hadn’t said much.