“A good night’s rest is both an important and often luxurious thing for us mercenaries. As such, most anyone worth their salt in this profession had long mastered the art of falling asleep at the drop of a hat, anytime, anywhere, whenever and for however long they had time to spare.” - Josuk Ulowinta, retired veteran mercenary.

“Everything’s set up, lil’ boss,” said Malika as she came to report. It had rained all evening that day, and since their assigned location was one of the furthest away, it would have taken them at least another half day to reach Fort Kazka, where the mercenaries would gather after the mission. Since it was expected for their trip to take another day, the platoon had camped for the night, at a clearing beside the road intended to be used as a camp spot for travelers.

The clearing was large enough to accommodate the entire platoon, their captives, and the horses they caught. It was also located right next to a wide but languid stream, which made things easier for them. The mercenaries immediately took the opportunity to clean up their armor and weapons after the traveling they had been through, a quarter of the group at a time taking the chance to bathe in the river while they cleaned their gear.

As for the rest of the mercenaries, another quarter were on guard duty, others kept an eye on their captives and horses, while the last quarter set up the tents and gathered ingredients. The rotation of the groups were done randomly, each group of seventeen to eighteen young mercenaries also allotted in a similarly random manner, in an exercise to help them get used to working with each other no matter who their partners happen to be. It also helped ensure that everyone knew whatever needed to be done.

Erycea’s group happened to be the third to bathe, while Malika’s were the third to set up the tents and gather food and firewood from the surroundings. Most of what they gathered were firewood, with only things like wild onions and other herbs that could be used as seasoning, as well as a few wild fruits in the mix as edibles, since they had plenty of meat to cook with, given all the dead horses from the ambush earlier.

“That’s good. Are the captives behaving themselves?” asked Erycea as she stepped out from the stream onto the shore and shook her body furiously, sending droplets of water everywhere. The groups had just bathed together regardless of gender, as the rigors of the battlefield rarely had the luxury of observing modesty, and they were all used to it by then. Ery shrugged on a set of dry tunics over her still slightly damp fur before she gave the other woman her attention once more. “And any good things from the gathering?”

“Ayrie found a couple nests of wild bird eggs, and we got a good amount of wild onions and basil growing nearby, plenty to spice the food with,” reported Malika while Erycea slipped her legs into her pants. Erycea’s digitigrade legs meant that she needed her pants to be tailored for her, rather than just using any random set of the right size like the humans did. “Also should we feed the captives as well?”

“Eh, it’s just a day to go. They wouldn’t starve to death just because they didn’t eat for a day. Just give them some water to drink,” said Erycea all too nonchalantly while she laid out her armor - a custom set that’s still slightly too large for her made out of multiple layers of smooth fabric reinforced by a metal mesh in between the layers - to dry on a rack by one of the fires they started.

“Just tell ‘em shitbags to graze like the horses if they’re complaining,” added Rhiannon as she also climbed out from the stream and dried herself as best she could with a towel. The young girl inherited her looks and personality mostly from her mother Karenina, and growing up amongst uncouth mercenaries had done little to soften her language.

“Good timing, Rhia,” said Ery as she turned to face her longtime friend. Rhiannon happened to be one of the better cooks in the platoon, so whichever group she was allotted to generally let her do the cooking when it was their turn to do so. “I’ll set things up since you’re still changing. What’re you planning to make with all those horses?”

“Horses… hmm… We won’t need too many, just carve me the hind legs and rump off a couple of them. Mince the legs roughly and cut the rump into thin strips,” replied Rhiannon after a moment of thought. “Mix the minced meat with some salt, pepper, minced wild onions, and beaten eggs. As for the rump slices, just lightly salt and pepper them. Also can you get some large stewpots started? Could use the bones and marrow to flavor it.”

“Consider it done,” said Ery with a nod as she turned towards the rest of her group, most of which had also left the river and dried themselves, some of whom already shuffled themselves into a set of dry clothes. “Well, you guys heard the chef! Rory, you get some of the boys to help you carve and prepare the meat? I’ll get the pots going.”

“Sure thing,” said Aurora as she nodded. The petite girl was one of the better butchers amongst the group, since her father Arne had once been a butcher before he was a thug turned mercenary. After Erycea brought out a couple of the dead horses which were in better condition, Aurora quickly chopped off their hind legs and rump meat with the help of some of the boys in the group to carry the hefty chunks.

Then she swiftly separated the flesh from the bone and tossed the bones over to Erycea, who had several pots of water and herbs simmering over the campfire already. The platoon had skinned, bled and disemboweled the dead horses which were still in salvageable condition before they placed them into storage, so all they had to do was to prepare them at the moment.