Sineater

I barely slept.

The princess had fallen asleep just a few feet away and while we wanted to keep the illusion intact there was no way that Starna was letting me get that close to the princess at night. She placed herself in between us, though I’m not sure she slept much either.

Krav had placed an anti-intruder spell around the camp. Anything that tried to enter would get shocked and he’d be alerted. He also had a detection ring further out and more defensive spells at the center of camp. To be honest, we were probably safer in our tent than we could have been if we’d camped in a bank vault.

As soon as I heard him moving around, I got up. He was putting skewered fish over the fire.

“Bluefin or whitefin?” The Grim was digging around in a bag that should have barely held a canteen.

“You have a dimensional pocket?” My heart was thumping in my ears. From what I could remember, that was something only master level mages could do, and not all of them could.

“It saves my back.” The Grim laughed, which was hollow and jovial at the same time. He held up a silver fish with a yellow stripe down the center. “I’ve got a yellowfin too, but most people think they’re sour.”

The way he was acting like he was doing nothing put me on edge. The fact that he was acting like he was going about his everyday routine was what was weirding me out. Also knowing that if he chose to fight, there would be nothing that any of us could do to stop him didn’t help. I found myself missing my brother, though I doubted we’d have received such a warm welcome.

“Blue is fine.” I sat down next to the fire.

“How about your wife?”

“Who?”

“Lesa. Your wife.” He motioned at the tent.

“Oh…” I tried to think, but I hadn’t really seen the princess that much to know what she might prefer.

“She and I will both take white.” Starna came out of the tent

The Grim threaded sticks through the fish and put them over the fire. “Sectum, I know that you’re supposed to be roughing it out here, but I’d feel a lot better if I went with your group to Bollilundr.” He held up a hand as I started to protest. “I won’t be much further from Hepool than I am right now and I can afford a day to travel with new friends.”

“We’d be delighted to have your company.” Starna accepted his offer as she sat down next to the fire. She was still wearing the mask and had her hair down over her ears, hiding them completely.

“Excellent!” The Grim nodded at the tent. “As soon as the lady is up, I can start breaking down camp. We should be able to leave as soon as you finish eating.”

I still wasn’t completely at ease with having the Grim around, or how quickly Starna was to trust him while it seemed like she was hiding who she was from him. But I didn’t want to try to get out of agreeing for him to come with us.

Our host was slowly turning the fish over the fire and added another stick to the pyre. “They’re almost done.”

“Something smells good.” The princess stretched as she got out of the tent.

“Whitefin.” Starna gestured at the fish. “Reaper Krav has agreed to accompany us to Bollilundr, isn’t that great?”

“Are you sure that it won’t set you back?” The princess looked a little worried. “I wouldn’t want you to miss the royal wedding on our behalf.”

“It’s still a few days away.” The Grim gave a very boney smile that was a lot more creepy than it was supposed to be. “I’ll just have to rent a mount, which will be fine.” He took the bluefin off the fire and offered it to me.

“Thanks…” I took the meal and watched Starna do the same. The tanned Elf tore off pieces and put them under the mask to eat. This whole encounter was confusing, but it was working out. I was just going to have to stay alert. Nothing went well for long.