The Journeys of dead men

Chapter One (2nd part)

Hours had passed, until Grye woke again. He was back by the fire, warming up. Outside the sky was dark, the storm still well alive though. His head was still hurting and when he reached for it with his bandaged arm, he could feel a big bump. Grye had a big blob of thick spit in his mouth and spat it out loudly. When one of the crew members seen him move, he yelled out, "He's awake!".

"Water," Grye croaked, "...need water!". His throat and mouth were so dry he could hardly speak. When Jack brought him the water skin, he chucked it down eagerly and begged for another one. While Jack was rushing to get more water, one of the armed men stepped close.

"We came looking for you, after you didn't return for too long, and found you laying on the floor unconscious.", the man explained. Then he changed to a slightly more concerned voice, "We... also found two dead snow bats next to you, both a head short," he went on, "Could you tell us what happened down there?"

Grye was still confused. But after drinking the second serving of water, his thoughts collected.

"The bats," he replied weakly, "They attacked me. One scratched open my hand."

"Attacked you?!" Jack blurted out surprised, "They didn't attack us."

"That's because they were asleep when we saw them, Jack." one of the armed men said, annoyed. "Please, go on. What happened next?"

What happened next? Grye tried his best to recall, but he couldn't remember, so all he could do was shake his dizzy head. Overly exhausted and tired, Grye slowly fell into a deep sleep. The last thing he hear was the faint voice of Sawyer, "Let him rest, we will ask again later."

Grye woke again at first light. The morning sun was shining warmly through the entrance of the cavern, giving everything inside colour. It was a relief for him to be the first one to wake, to have some time to find answers before the questions came again. Having studied healing, Grye decided to have a look at the wound on his arm. He slowly pulled off the bandage, painfully tearing off the dried blood and the scab, that was sticking to it. Grye held his arm up in front of his face and studied it. The snow bat's crawl cut deep into the flesh of his arm, from the back of his hand all the way to the elbow. He had to cringe when he saw that the skin around the wound had turned all yellow and wrinkly. It was only when he seen a thick, yellow, spit-like liquid ooze out of his wound, when he understood what it was. Venom. The snow bats must have venom on their claws. He knew it had to be treated as soon as possible, so he stood up, head still dizzy, and made for the leeches.

Grye was done leeching, when the first man woke up. It was Dorrhen, who quickly after waking put on a thick fur and went outside to take a piss. The storm outside had calmed down a little since to yesterday, but was still too strong for them to move on, Grye guessed. He just finished bandaging up his hand when Dorrhen returned, shivering. When he spotted Grye, he walked over to him, tying his breeches.

"Feeling better?", he asked Grye.

"Still dizzy, but I just tended my wound."

"Might be some food will help." Dorrhen walked towards where the fire had burned last night, kneeled down and started to make a new fire. When the flames rose about two feet high, he started to put on the meat. The smell of food woke the crew one by one and before long they were all awake, warming up by the fire, waiting to eat. Fortunately, they only asked Grye how he felt today, without mentioning the dead bats. He couldn't seem to recall what happened. Surely, I must have gotten them down, trying to defend myself, Grye tried to assure himself, but the fact that their heads were torn off disquieted him more than he could say.