Chapter 8: Camping

They had made it back to the cliff and all his things were still here, ohh there is a god, he had thought as he hugged his precious little quad bike. This meant food and shelter too, which was nice, since the Dragonettes seemingly had neither, besides some snacks. Perhaps they hadn't been planning on sleeping out, that at least meant, their home was less than a day away, well, flying at least.

He got out some fresh clothes and used some of the water from the little barrel to finally get washed off somewhat. They had at least had the decency to pretend like looking away while he put on his fresh clothes. Even if he was certain they were trying to get a glance out the corner of their eyes. Well, he was probably as alien to them as they to him if not more. He wondered if they had stories about humans here like there were stories of dragons back home?

After he had begun handing out the containers with the deer he had shot the day before and the tent he had brought along with other camping supplies. Dakota got the gist and started ordering the others about. Sapphire was taken up to the top of the cliff, it seemed they still wanted to sleep up on the top. Well, there wasn’t much he could do to stop them. Besides, they knew more about this place than he did, so there was probably a good reason.

It was a little difficult setting the tent up on the clifftop with no dirt and all, but he had managed it with a little help and some big rocks. It would be a bit cramped with 6 people in it but not too bad. everything he had taken out was meticulously inspected after he was done using it, the tent and food boxes seemed especially interesting. They had probably never seen plastic or nylon, and yet could still relate to it. His fire steel had caused quite the stir too, wood for the fire having been brought by Fengi. He had to confiscate the steel from Jackolope after she kept making sparks with it, he couldn’t have her wearing it out already.

The meal he made had gone over very well to it seemed, he had taken the opportunity to test some of his different spices on them, chili hadn't been a hit, but almost everything else had gone over well. When he had brought out a box of hard candy for dessert there he honestly thought they were gonna eat his hand! So he had hastily given them another when they were done with the first. Sweet tooth well and truly confirmed!

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Sapphire was starting to wonder if this day was stranger to her or the guy they had rescued when Tom had started pulling out boxes and bags of things. It was clear he was prepared to camp out for quite a while, he had freshly hunted meat, some sort of magic fire starter, a tent made of silk, spices of many kinds, and the best thing Sapphire had ever tasted. He had called it candy, it was like a hard solid chunk of pure sweetness and fruity too! Apparently, you just sucked on it rather than crushing it, probably to make it last longer. Even Jackolope did as she was told and didn’t break it. It had been heaven and he had given them two! Each! How rich was this guy?

When it had been time for bed he had given her a kind of sleeping bag, it was made out of the same dark green and black silk as the tent. This pattern must mean something it was on nearly everything he owned?

She had gotten in it very carefully as not to scratch it with her claws, it was so warm, and comfortable, she had felt as if she was sleeping in the middle of the day in summertime. As she curled up inside, sleep came quickly. She was excused from guard duty for her injuries, and Dakota had thought it more than fair that Tom, being kind of their host now and being injured too, be excused as well.

The next morning Sapphire was up first, the nice sleeping bag warming her up much faster than any of the others lying around the tent, but Tom was already up it seemed? She couldn’t get out without help though so she just laid there thinking for a while, how had he gotten here? And how was he so well prepared, rich, and yet seemed to have no clue what he was doing? It was a very contradictory conundrum.

When Esmeralda had finally started to stir, she punched at the chance to get some fresh air, it was warm in the tent, but it wasn’t very large and the air was getting quite… stale.

“Hey you up yet Esy”

“Yeahhh I guess so what is it?”

“Think you can help me get out of this thing?”

“Sure hang on” Esmeralda was clearly still not quite up to temperature yet, but she got up and helped her out of the delicate prison cell. With her friend helping she hobbled outside, it was a cool morning outside, the sun was barely up yet. She almost wanted to go back in the warm tent, to be honest. Tom was sitting on a rock writing in a book it seemed, perhaps taking notes on what was going on.

“Morning” She tried he looked up seemingly not having noticed them come out “Godmorgen” he answered, what a weird language. She guessed he had returned the gesture, or perhaps asked how she was doing, she couldn’t tell. But he seemed happy enough when she and Esmeralda had walked over to the fire and sat down she winced. The pain was even worse today when she moved, it was getting unbearable!

He seemed to notice and came over with another of the small beads, he had given her yesterday and the water bottle. Maybe it was for the pain? That would make sense it hadn't hurt this bad yesterday.

She took the bead but politely drank from her own waterskin instead, she didn’t need to take everything he had after all. After that he had shown her the book he was writing in, it seemed to be some sort of map, the saddest map she had ever seen, but definitely a map. It had four locations scribbled on it with lines going between them with a weird script under them. One seemed to be the cliff…

“This guy is a moron Esy”

“What did he do now?”

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As morning broke Tom was up bright and early, the same couldn’t be said for his traveling companions though. Every last one of them had slept in. When he had gotten up he relieved Fengi as the guard. He had just sat down staring out over the horizon wondering just what he had gotten himself into. At least things seemed to be improving, if he was correct they were bringing him home, for what reason he did not know, though he hoped he had made a good enough impression, as to it not be some nefarious purpose. Besides, they seemed very friendly and even quite jovial, at least some of them.

He wouldn’t mind staying with them for a while, if he could, he had no doubt they would be exciting for quite a while. What kind of culture and architecture would people that can fly come up with? How technologically advanced were they, and what about magic. They clearly had some, but what could it do? Besides, it was hilarious to see how they reacted to some of the things he had brought with him, and if there were more where they came from he could carry on getting those reactions for some time to come. He chuckled at the idea of showing them their first movie, that was gonna be glorious.

As he got out his map book to note down what he could see from her to the best of his ability, “mel'nakit” coming from Sapphire who had apparently woken up along with Esmeralda, “good morning” he retorted assuming that was what she had said. As they walked over it was clear Sapphire was in quite a bit of pain. He got out the painkillers he had put in his pocket and handed her one, cursing himself, he had had three already, and he forgot to give her some, not cool.

After that, he showed her his map, to see if she could perhaps show where they were going. She turned her head and went “Nomeno sthyr ui vi malai” sounding as if she had just lost all hope for him.

Esmeralda had answered, “svabol tira jaci tir jaka” sounding a little perturbed. Tom would need to start practicing those sounds, he thought to himself, wondering if he could even produce them without wrecking his throat. Now was not the time though

Tom knew his map wasn’t great, but this seemed a little extreme, he then held out his compass to see if they knew what it was, no luck apparently. Well shit. He had resorted to just point in various directions hoping they would catch the meaning, after tilting her head a bit Esmeralda pointed nearly due west according to the current north at least. That was something at least.

The others had slowly joined the world of the waking, as the sun rose in the sky. Tom had made a quick breakfast and they packed up the camp in no time, being grabbed by shoulders Tom was flown back down again, he could get used to this kind of VIP treatment. As he was packing the quad bike, Fengi had even been kind enough to take down his rope for him, even if it was cut into two pieces now. The Dragonettes had gathered around as he finished packing seemingly waiting in anticipation to see how the thing was supposed to move. Oh, this was just the kind of moment, he wanted.

He had made a space on top of the big watertight chest and put down his roll-out mattress there and gestured for Sapphire to lay down. Then he got on and turned the key.

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With a very good breakfast done and the camp packed, they had all gathered around the strange cart. Tom had made a place for Sapphire to lay down, she reluctantly got onto the cart and waited. Tom had mounted the smaller front part of the cart, it was clearly some kind of seat with bars for one to hang onto. And the thing had started Purring loudly? or perhaps it was a snarl, she wasn’t quite sure. The others had taken a step back. And then it had started to move on its own?!

Tom made a short lap around showing off it seemed, he even straightened out for a short bit and the thing accelerated, as the snarling grew louder, before coming back round in front of the others.

They all stood there awestruck looking at it, this was the largest magical thing any of them had ever seen, only stories of legend told of enchanted items of this size! No wonder he had been happy to see it again. As she recovered from the shock primarily by watching all the dumb faces her friends were making, not to mention Tom laughing his ass off at their expense this time. She glared at them from her little throne grinning from ear to ear at their faces.

“seems there will be no need to switch carry today”