Since Madeleine had inadvertently clamined Urien"s bed for herself, Jack and Rose spread their bedrolls out onto the wood floor. It took Jack several minutes of struggling to figure out how to take his new armor off before Rose stepped in and offered to help. With her a.s.sistance, he was able to shed the leather plates and laid them out to the side of his bedroll, alongside his boots and other effects. He took a pillow from Urien"s bed, and laid down. Sleep took him almost instantly.An unknown amount of time later, Jack awoke to Farien shaking him awake.
"Jack! Get up! The camp"s under attack! There"s dozens of them!" Farien said when Jack"s eyes shot open. He looked fl.u.s.tered and pale, and held one of his blades in his left hand.
"What?" Jack said, jolting upwards. "Who"s attacking?"
"Gnolls. And some of their goblin friends, most likely. Hurry and get suited. We need all the help we can get!" Farien said, before turning and hurrying for the exit. He stopped momentarily in the doorway to add "get outside as soon as you"re ready. Anything not human is an enemy."
By this point Rose and Madeleine were awake as well. Rose blinked in confusion as Madeleine groggily rubbed her eyes.
"What"s going on?" Rose asked.
"The camp"s under attack. We"ve got to help them." Jack said, sliding on his boots.
"What?" Rose said, sliding out of her bedroll. "Who is it?"
"Farien says it"s gnolls. Might be a raid party from the tribe we"re on our way to." Jack replied, snapped the last clasp on his leather bracers. He slid the chestplate over his head before fastening the clips at the side, and set about fastening the rounded leather pauldrons to each shoulder.
"They"re attacking the same night we arrive? How does that even happen?" Rose said, pulling a second tunic over her head before setting about strapping on her own armor.
"I don"t know." Jack said, fastening his belt. "They"re probably thinking the same thing."
"I wouldn"t blame them." Madeleine said, sliding off of Urien"s bed and walking over to her pack. "It does seem suspiciously convenient."
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"You don"t think Frumpkin did this, do you?" Rose asked, cinching her sword to her belt.
" What? No. Of course not. It"s just horrible luck. That, or the gnolls had scouts follow us or one of their people to the camp." Jack said, clasping his cloak around his shoulders. He picked up his axe from beside his pack and spent a moment re-acclimating himself to its heft before swinging it up onto his shoulder and walking for the exit of the room. "What else is new, right?"
As he stepped out of the room and made his way out of the cave, the din of combat with its sounds of slamming metal and screams of pain grew louder. From the narrow window of the outside he could see through the entrance of the cave, he could see several members of the Green Company, including Farien, hard pressed in tense melee with several armored dogmen.
Jack felt his heart racing in his chest and his stomach flying into a frenzy as he walked for the exit. This would be his first real battle. Not just a skirmish. The chances of him catching a blade to the back while he fought something else was exponentially higher, and he very nearly lost his nerve, until he leaned against one of the cave"s walls and steadied himself. As he did so, and tried to slow his heart rate with his breathing, the thought of Eleanor popped into his head.
He had more to fight for than his own life. He had someone he cared about he needed to save, and dying here wasn"t going to be part of that plan.
He leaned away from the cave wall, and gripped the haft of his axe until his knuckles turned white to stop his hands from shaking.
You"re the hero of G.o.dd.a.m.n legend, Jack.
It"s time you fought like it.