Interlude: Wake-up call (Patreon)

The last watch, when dawn was coming and the sun was slowly creeping across the horizon, lighting up the sky, was always the easiest. You weren’t tired from a long day of walking and hunting; you didn’t have to wake up in the middle of the night, only to go to sleep a few hours later; you just had to bed down as early in the evening as possible, sleep the sleep of the exhausted, and wake up a little early. It was, quite frankly, the most comfortable shift, and Nikolai would love to take it every night; though, the same was true for his four companions.

However, something about this particular night was strange. It had started shortly after Shani had woken him up for his shift, around the time her breathing had evened out, indicating that she had fallen asleep, and the strange sensation had never left him. He could swear that something was watching him, staring right into his soul, but there was nothing out there. No matter how much he stared into the darkness beyond the campfire, no matter how much he strained his ears and focused, nothing stood out to him. Sure, there was plenty of noise, everything from the crackling fire behind him, to the quiet rustling of cloth when one of his companions shifted, to the wind rustling leaves in the trees around them, the odd buzzing insect or some other small wildlife in the surrounding forest. And yet, all those noises were to be expected; they were passingly familiar and didn’t stand out. Nothing indicated that something was wrong, and yet, his gut was loudly insisting that he wasn’t alone in the night.

He could have sworn he saw movement in the darkness, higher up in the trees, but he never heard a corresponding noise, suggesting he might have seen a nocturnal bird, or maybe a squirrel or something like that. Similarly, on the few occasions he had heard something odd, he had never been able to make out the source of the noise, as if the strange sounds and the weird movement were completely independent of one another and, in addition, had nothing to do with the sensation of being watched. It made no sense, and that growing sense of confusion only added to his unease. Strange and unexplained events usually portended trouble, and never in a reasonable or expected fashion. Shit like that was never the kind of problem he could just kill with his spear, no matter how much he wanted to. 

On more than one occasion, he had been tempted to wake up the others, just to ask them if they were sensing the same thing, but he could readily imagine how that would go. Not well, as nobody liked being woken up in the middle of an already short rest, especially as the lingering chill made it difficult to sleep in the first place. If one of the others woke him up, just because they were feeling off, he might just smack them, or at least he’d seriously consider doing so. And even if he didn’t smack them one, he would be teasing the frightful person, unless, of course, there actually was an issue. But he wasn’t about to take that chance. 

He had no desire to receive a nickname along the lines of Scaredy Cat, or maybe something along the lines of Nightwatch, or some silly pun or inside joke. There were numerous options, and none of them sounded all that appealing to him. Just look at poor Rajani and his nickname of Sunshine, just because he had grumbled too much about the cold and had previously been nicknamed Ray. 

Just as he was putting some new wood on the fire, preparing to make some breakfast during the last stretch of his watch, he heard somebody clear their throat, far too close for comfort. While Nikolai’s reaction was completely manly, calm and collected, some strange, invisible creature he had never seen or heard gave off a surprised squeak and pushed the wood he had been carrying from his hands, causing it to scatter noisily. 

“Who are you?!” Nikolai demanded, his voice completely calm and collected, certainly not sounding as if his heart were racing a hundred miles a minute and his eyes were dilated with fear and surprise. Not that anyone would gainsay either reaction, certainly not the moment he was face to face with the oddity that had cleared their throat, or rather, her throat, earlier. Desperately trying to push down the panic he felt, Nikolai took in the intruder, who was looking at him with a completely passive, almost bored face. The first thing he realised, after recognising that he was looking at a person, was that she- and it was most certainly a female he was looking at- wasn’t human. Not unless humans came in shades of smurf now, a possibility he couldn’t completely deny, but he didn’t believe it. Certainly not with the pointy ears he spied a moment later, though the raven-black hair could be human. The pale blue skin, on the other hand, and the strange, sparkling lights scattered throughout the hair indicated otherwise. 

“You may call me Jade,” the woman introduced herself, her voice strangely accented but pleasing to the ear and unbothered by his excitement, or the panicked movement of those who had been sleeping until now. “And who might you be? It is usually polite to introduce oneself before asking for the name of their interlocutor,” the woman chided, her voice still completely calm and polite, as if they had run into one another in a supermarket parking lot or something like that.

“The fuck is going on?” Rita asked, her voice rough from sleep and completely confused as she struggled to unwrap herself from the blanket she had used to keep the cold away. Or maybe she had tried to create a chrysalis and had hoped to become a butterfly, but, if so, she had utterly failed, even if her hair was making a valiant attempt at turning into antennae. 

“You have a visitor,” the woman, Jade, announced, before Nikolai could come up with a reasonable explanation for the current events. Not that there was anything reasonable about any of this, but that was an entirely different issue. 

“Take your time to wake up,” the woman then added, gesturing with her hand and, somehow, creating an elaborate throne of gleaming ice, upon which she sat down, making herself visibly comfortable as she watched the suddenly chaotic camp as everyone was waking up and trying to figure out what was going on. 

Darrell had managed to get up by now, looking slightly odd in the thick, warm clothes he used to sleep in. The oddity was only enhanced by the contrast between him, frazzled, confused and looking utterly ridiculous compared to their intruder, who was sitting on that throne, now holding a dainty-looking, clear cup with some steaming liquid inside, as if she was having tea.

Darrell looked from the seated woman to their camp and back before simply shaking his head, clearly deciding he wouldn’t bother with the strange situation until he was fully awake and had breakfast.

“Nope, not dealing with this,” Shani grumbled, actively turning her back towards the seated woman, as if ignoring her would somehow make her disappear. 

Nikolai, who was still completely flabbergasted by the strange chain of events, had rallied enough to continue his work, taking a few clues from his friends and ignoring the interloper. If the woman was content to just sit there and sip the weird, steaming liquid from her dainty cup while watching them, he was willing to wait until the world made sense again. Or maybe until the others were awake enough to help him deal with this. The woman wasn’t hostile; that much was obvious. If she were, she would have attacked, not simply walked up, cleared her throat and introduced herself. 

With multiple people actively ignoring the strange woman and two who did the exact opposite, constantly keeping an eye on her just in case she actually did something aggressive, breakfast was prepared quickly. Their supplies were already portioned out, allowing for swift, easy work, and soon they were all sitting with some simple but hot food on their plates, around and finally looking at the weird woman. 

Well, everyone but Darrell; he seemed to believe that ignoring the woman hard enough would, eventually, make her go away. So far, he didn’t have any luck with that approach, and now, it looked like it was time to talk. 

“Okay, Jade or whatever your name is,” Shani spoke, her voice still tinged with annoyance from the sudden wake-up call, “What the fuck is going on? Why are you here, what are you doing, …” she petered off, letting out a sound of abject frustration. “Just what the fuck?” she finally snarled, causing their apparent guest to faintly smile, clearly amused by the whole situation, which only annoyed Shani more. 

“Why, I merely wanted to ask for directions,” the woman replied, her voice still utterly calm and unruffled, though her words made little sense to anyone other than her. Somehow, Nikolai was already getting a headache, and the day had just begun.