Chapter 35: Hunger
Despite having eaten in an inn the night before, Irene and the other apprentices found their stomachs fuller than they had been in a long time as they tucked themselves into their blanket rolls from where they slept around the fire.
Sir Phillip agreed to keep watch for the first half of the night while Sir Gunnar slept. They would soon trade places so that they were both running on about the same amount of sleep. With the threat of monsters or beasts at all times, at least one person always needed to be awake.
Irene settled down with her blankets pulled to her chin and her eyes were focused on the sky as she listened to the waning fire crackle and let off smoke. Since it wasn't a cold season yet, they needed the fire only to cook and let it die out on its own since someone was awake to make sure it didn't catch anything else on fire.
Having never slept outdoors before, the girl found the environment serene. On the way to the Duke's Tower the first time, she and her father slept in an inn on the way over so she never had to subject herself to a camp.
Although she wondered if it could be that she kept spending so much energy those days that sleep came to her quite easily.
She thought she would be more fearful having to sleep out in the open but her eyes drifted shut and she knew that the dagger and bow lying just beside her were ready to go in case something unpredictable happened in the night.
Luckily for all of them, it was mostly uneventful except for deer in the early morning eating dewy grass and enjoying the sunrise.
Since Sir Gunnar sat quietly as he watched over the campers, the deer nearly didn't see him if it weren't for him standing and making sure they didn't get too close. Only when the deer scrambled to get away did the traveling party wake up.
With the sun barely breaching the horizon, Irene was surprised to find herself easy to wake up. She never realized it would be possible to get such sound sleep outdoors. Perhaps it would be a different story if she wasn't in such a big traveling party.