At first it was some gentle touch on her shoulder, and some whispering in the far corner of her sleepy mind. But then she felt a not so gentle kick in her back.

"Will you get up already?"

Mervella had already gone through her very short morning routine, and as tired as Rhojeka felt right now, she didn't take very long either and was finished when breakfast was ready. Mervella had lit up a campfire and fried some eggs that she had collected while her bardic friend had still been snoring in her bedroll. Though Rhojeka vehemently denied that she had been snoring. "Oh, really?" Mervella answered sarcastically. "Then we must have been making camp on top of a bear cave. Well, at least the wild animals don't dare to come closer and leave us in peace for the night."

The sun was just barely creeping over the horizon. There was a good reason for them to get up so early. Their journey had taken them close enough to a small town again, and they would be finally able to get some supplies again. Their bread had become stale and showed some green spots already, and they had run out of cheese and dried meat. Rhojeka didn't feel very hungry anyway. There were other things on her mind regarding the trip to the town.

It was still five miles from their camping spot. But Mervella drove them to a good pace, and so within less than two hours they had made it. "Khartuum!" Rhojeka uttered with relief when they had passed the town gate. She saw stores and taverns gathered around a big square in the middle, while on the other side of that square was a temple for one of the magic gods. The symbol on top of that large tower in the middle of the temple was visible from afar, it showed a green crystal. The symbol of Rhojeka's goddess Elstar.

The two women had to split here for a while, to get the things they needed and to sort other things out. After reminding her to not get into trouble again, Rhojeka left her warrior friend alone and headed straight for the temple. When there was an opportunity, she was obliged to visit it and pray to Elstar. And it would be better to just get it over with before attending to other matters.

The temple was empty, apart from the priest doing his duty. Rhojeka spoke to him first, exchanged some information, then she knelt in front of the altar and started whispering in the same mystic language that she used for her magic spells. It was not much she had to put in her prayer - just thanking Elstar for granting the power Rhojeka had used on her journey so far, telling her about the adventure, asking her for permission to use this magic in the future to a further extend. It was just a ritual, but one that Elstar seemed to appreciate and sometimes even expect from her followers.

The market was the next stop. Mervella was off to sample the stock of the local weapons and armor trader, so it was Rhojeka's task to look for the groceries. They always did it like that, since Rhojeka was the better negotiator and was generally better liked than the grim knight of the king. What Mervella didn't know however, or at least she never talked about it, was that Rhojeka also had a heart of gold and used to pay a little bit more for the goods than the merchants asked of her. Especially when she dealt with farmers who seemingly struggled to get along and were happy when she purchased their fruits and vegetables.

However, when her travel bags were filled with fresh food again, she started looking for her companion. She didn't have to search for long. The ruckus from the next tavern was loud enough to get her attention. As she approached it, the door burst open, and a man came flying out of it. He crashed onto the dirty road in front of the tavern, tried to get on his feet and was smacked down again by a footstool that was thrown right at his face. Rhojeka shook her head. Some things just never changed.

Soon Mervella herself emerged, being held by another patron of this tavern, but also holding onto him while they exchanged kicks and fist blows. In their struggle they rammed each other into the small fence surrounding the tavern grounds and demolished it completely. Her opponent grabbed one splintered piece of wood and raised it to strike her, but Mervella was quicker and punched him in the guts. He went down groaning and didn't seem in the mood to fight anymore.

Mervella looked up to her companion, a sour smile on her face. "I'm afraid we'll have to camp again tonight. We're not really welcome here."

"I can see that." Rhojeka tried to hide her disapproval, but her sarcasm gave it away. She could see the alarmed looks of the town guard who had noticed the fight. They had to leave now. She helped Mervella up, though her friend was still wearing her heavy armor. At least she still had all her gear. "Let's go."

Before the guards could stop and question them, the two women had already left the town through the other gate and now travelled south. After a mile they made sure that nobody was following them, then they decided to take a small rest. They shared a bit of the food that Rhojeka brought, and Mervella showed her that her trip to the town hadn't been in vain either. A small bag with coins was in her hands. "I won a contest," she explained. "Just those two men I had the fight with are sore losers. They wouldn't accept defeat."

Had anyone else told her that, Rhojeka would have been at least sceptic and would have asked if that had really happened. But she knew that Mervella was honest and true - she would never steal from someone, not even if she was starving. "Too bad," she replied. "I was looking forward to sleep in a real bed again."

They ended their short rest and went on their way. They marched until the sun went down and made camp for another night. This time Rhojeka made sure that they weren't resting on a bear cave.