Rider Displaced

Chapter 11

"Wake up my loved one," Walker felt something wet and fleshy brushed itself over his face. "It's time we get ready to move on."

The rider stirred in his tired state as he tried waking himself up, in desperate need of coffee or something filled with caffeine.

"Drink this," He felt something hot and smelled with a bitter aroma put up near his face. "Your dragon told me you weren't a morning person. This'll help wake you up."

Unconsciously, he reached over and took what he felt to be a cup in his hands and drank the content. The taste was bitter, but as he drank he felt his body suddenly spike with energy, and he woke up almost immediately. Everything from yesterday started coming back to him as he recognized the voice as Vunora, and remembered where he was and looked around to see the surrounding plains. Looking down to see what he drank, it was a tea with an uncomfortable looking blue color. Tasted as bitter as it smelled too.

"What did I just drink?" He asked and handed the half empty cup back to the magician who accepted it and dumped the remaining contents out.

"Just a concoction of my own to give you a boost of energy. Looked like you needed it since you're a heavy sleeper.".

"We've been up for the past half an hour." Amber said as she was eating up another animal she had caught for breakfast. "You need to see someone to fix your sleeping habits."

"I don't think there's anyone who CAN fix my sleeping habits." Walker responded. "Besides, you're no better on certain occasions."

"If you're up for it, food is ready." Vunora informed as she gestured over to the relit campfire Frollo and Dante were sitting around with a steaming pot hanging over the fire. They were eating a roll of bread, a chunk of cheese, and cut pieces of dried meat. Meanwhile tea, actual tea, was being boiled over the fire.

While he didn't have a problem with tea, Walker preferred coffee overall. It's been awhile since he last had a warm cup of coffee, with the only known source to him being his MRE packs, which he didn't want to break open unless he absolutely needed to. Today he would be having tea to get his daily dose of caffeine. The tea tasted better than whatever Vunora gave him to drink, and helped remove the bitter taste off his tongue. The bread rolls were and tasted like sourdough, which would go well if he had butter to spread. The cheese was alright, but tasted warm. Not like these people had any access to a cooler or refrigeration yet. The meat was actually alright, tasting like jerky so he had no room to complain about it.

"So, what's the plan going forward?"

"The dungeon is about a half a day out from here." Frollo informed. "If we head out within the next hour we should reach it by evening and be done with it before midnight. That is if we minimize the time we spend having lunch or taking brief rests."

"What about if we ride her?" Sir Dante asked and pointed at Amber, who just finished her meal and was waiting for the others to be done with theirs'. The ness cocked an eye open and started at the knight in question. "I've always been curious what it would be like to fly."

"Absolutely not!" The ness objected. "I will not become some beast of burden turned TAXI service! The only one who will ever ride me is sitting before me." She mentioned to Walker who looked back and rubbed the side of her muzzle.

"Why not? I see no problem with it." Sir Dante questioned. "Besides, you're literally wearing a saddle that can fit more than one person. Why not save us the time and allow us to wrap this up quickly?"

"Because they're lovers." Vunora suddenly said out of the blue, which took the other two adventures a few moments to contemplate what she she just said and react astounded. "I've seem the way they act and look at one another. They have feelings of loving affection for one another, if not already in an intimate relationship."