Lance was staring out at the far horizon, trying to mark the just-emerging stars so he might better track their route. He'd offered to take the position at the beginning of the trip, and he was unpleasantly surprised for the true amount of work it had been. But he was never one to shy away from a difficult task, and so he held his horse in place with his heels while he scribbled coordinates and directions down in his small notebook.
He heard someone come up behind him, and angled his head so he might hear better. From the shortened stride of the horse, he presumed it was Chris; and he was right. "How are you doing?" Chris asked him, trying to peer over his shoulder to look at the characters and abbreviations he didn't understand anyway.
Lance shoved at him slightly. "Fine, thank you. We've gone a bit farther west than we ought've, but it's easily corrected." He looked back at the small cluster of J's and nodded towards them. "Is Justin holding up?"
Chris looked at him. "I think you'd know better than anyone else what he's going through."
Lance smiled tightly. "As long as he eats well the next few days, and doesn't stay too far from touching distance from any one of us, he'll be fine."
"They never mentioned how inconvenient this was," Chris remarked, adjusting his seat. "The Elders go on and on about how a group of bonded tribesmen can protect the community from anything, defeat any enemy, become the core upon which the community grows from, but they never seem to mention how difficult it is to take a piss when you can't go much farther than ten feet to take a piss."
Lance smiled despite himself. "I think the Elders believe we should be above such trivialities," he said, unable to hide his humour. "The sons of noble lines and the greatest warriors and the wisest fools all together, and one can't get over his desire for privacy? I think not."
Chris's eyes narrowed. "I am no fool."
Lance turned a full grin on him. "And yet that is the word you touched on first."
Chris grumbled at him as Lance turned his horse around to turn to their party, but followed. "Are we going still?" Lance called out, and Joey turned to look at him. "I think so," he replied. "Justin is regaining his strength, and between Chris and JC supporting him we ought to make Penzance by dawn."
Lance nodded. "It is a sound plan. We are still four days from the City. I can get us there without issue, but I still wonder how on earth we're going to get *in* the damned place. Our papers are outdated, our letters of intent drowned in the river, and none of us are good enough at forging to slip past the City Guard." He smiled, slightly lopsidedly. "I hope we come up with a plan soon."
He could hear Chris mumble behind him, "So do I."
words © SA. characters, show, and people not mine. no infringement is intended.