Descent Into Darkness (Book 2)

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Authors: James R. Vernon
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Azalea the couple of steps to their tent. Getting her down and inside was a bit more trouble, as she offered absolutely no help. Even with a cool breeze blowing through the campsite, Ean was sweating from the effort by the time he stood back up and tied the tent loosely closed. Looking around, Ean realized he would be on his own for a time while Azalea slept off her...feeding.

 
     
     
     
     
    TAKING ONE LAST LOOK at the now snoring Azalea, Ean left the tent and walked out of the inner ring between the wagons. He was shocked to see how fast the workers had gotten fires going and were enjoying the evening. Some fires had one or two people gathered around them, those in the smaller groups focused on smoking a pipe or carving a chunk of wood. Others contained larger groups, with men singing, already deep into drink, or playing at some kind of dice game. All of the fires had cooking pots over them, creating a mixture of smells around the camp that made Ean's stomach growl.
    Not accustomed to meeting new people, Ean tried the smaller fires first. He hoped they would be a bit more inviting then the larger groups. Instead, all he found were people that either gave him a cold stare as he approached or flat out ignored him until he left. One even went as far as to take out a knife and start to sharpen it while glaring at him until he walked away.
    Ean found just as little friendliness at the first couple of larger groups he tried. The men playing at dice were quick to welcome him, until they found out he had no money. Then they laughed at him and sent him on his way. Those purely drinking usually had mixed reactions, with none of them being pleasant. Most grumbled at him and told him to find his own stuff to drink. Not wanting to have a repeat of his one bad night in Rensen, Ean tried to explain he wasn't interested in their drinks, but this only brought about more laughter and some choice words about his age and what he could be doing instead.
    The whole experience was embarrassing, especially when a group would watch him go off to a different campfire and then laugh loudly as they saw him being turned away again. This continued until the sun had completely disappeared behind the mountains and the first moon was covering the camp with its green light. Ean was about to give up for the night when he noticed a man with a mug in one hand wave him over with the other one. Ean watched the man a few moments, not sure whether he was being genuine or wanted to join in the fun of messing with him, until the man started to frown. Not wanting to insult the only person that had shown him anything but a cold shoulder or ridicule, Ean hastily moved over to the man's campfire.
    There were four other men sitting around the camp fire as Ean approached, and the man that had waved him over pointed to an open spot on the ground as he took a swig from his mug. Two of the men give him curt but friendly nods as he sat between them, while a third man offered him a drink. Ean was about to refuse until he saw that all that the mug contained was water.
    "Thanks," he said, taking the mug and immediately draining half of it. As soon as the water touched his lips he realized how thirsty he had been.
    "Not a problem." The man that spoke wasn't the one that had given him the mug but was instead the one that had waved him over. "We can spare a little food as well if you're hungry."
    "Yes, thank you. I would appreciate it." Ean took a closer look at the man as he took another drink and saw nothing but openness on his clean, shaven face. For some reason, Ean found the positive attitude as slightly off putting. He knew it was just his own insecurities, but after a night of being ridiculed, he was finding it hard to accept someone being nice to him.
    "Well," the friendly man said. "I guess introductions are in order. My name is Wil Asbury. The two on each side of ya are my brothers; the one sitting on your right is Lyde while the one on your left is Phil. This one,"

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