Two hours.

Two hours of trudging through this forest were all they could endure; Kelvin's already porcelain skin had turned ghostly white as he stumbled and fell forwards, whilst the goblin's tiny feet seemed unable to carry him on any further as he occasionally collapsed, breath ragged and cheeks flushed.

Even he could feel it, Kor'Ak's body ached, his wounds had closed into new scars; but they still sent shocks of pain, followed by numbness across his body. The djaal knew for a fact that he could press on when the other two couldn't; he could fight through the feeling of his body shutting down as his muscles threatened to snap.

But he was a soldier.

Was.

Not anymore.

He shook that thought from his mind as he let his hand rise, taking a ragged breath of his own.

"We rest here; five minutes." They weren't soldiers, they had never been. They needed rest.

His bare ass hit the dirt the second he stopped and told them to rest; his head lay back as his body screamed and roared for food and water, any sustenance that would keep it going.

Of course, they had no food, no water. They had rushed off the second they tied up the elven girl.

Their only hope of survival was her telling the other's they had gone west; Kor'Ak had seen the tents and the buildings, all the food, weapons and beds strewn about the place haphazardly. They were far too many to fight. and the Kitt certainly knew that; if he and the other two were spotted by even one of them, they'd all come, and the exhausted trio would die in a second.

All these thoughts and worries passed through Kor'Ak's head as he lay there, the back of his head resting on a damp, mossy log.

If it came to it, he'd start sucking on the moss for moisture.

He took in another breath, sharp pain cutting itself down his bone-dry throat.

Screw it.

The Djaal span around, lips pressed against the moss now as he sucked thirstily on it; just a few drops, just a little. He felt the wetness roll down his throat and he traced his mouth across the moss, sucking out more of the moisture.

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Now it was his stomach that roared in protest. He pulled his head back, brought his calloused fingers to grip on the bark of this tree; found a grip, pulled hard. With a too-satisfying crunch, the bark peeled away; countless beetles and other insects scurried below along the wood, worms writhed and something chittered and clicked. He picked one of the worms out carefully, pressed the thumb and his forefinger against its body and dragged his hand across its length; pushing a thick black sludge out one end.

He opened his mouth wide, eyes shut as he grimaced at the idea of what he was doing.

He let the worm drop, felt it writhe on his tongue, then felt its blood fill his mouth as his teeth closed around it.

CHOMP CHOMP

GNASH GNASH

Kor'Ak turned to see Kelvin and Steal tearing through chunks of smoked meats; leather water canteens at their feet. Kelvin's bag lay open beside the wizard, and the blonde-moustached man spoke, eyes a little wide in shock and confusion as he looked at Kor'Ak. "What the fuck are you doing?"

He spat the worm out on the floor, it's body was split in half, but it still wriggled away along the grass amongst his saliva and spit, Kor'Ak turned on Kelvin with a scowl "Didn't think to tell me you had food and water on you?"

"You never asked"

"Why would I ask for something I didn't know you had?"

"I thought you knew, really. I've taken the water out a few times for me and the goblin a bunch of times."

Kor'Ak sat back, wiped the sweat off of his brow, and then wiped away the droplets of rancid water on his lips. He didn't offer Kelvin a response as he continued to spit onto the floor, trying to get the taste of dirt and worm out of his mouth.

"Would you like some meat?"

Kor'Ak scowled, then nodded, catching the hunk of red flesh that Kelvin threw towards him.

And the wizard didn't stop speaking, pausing only once to take a deep drink from the canteen and his feet before he carried on. "Sorry, I know it doesn't taste of dirt and isn't wriggling, I know you'd prefer something that did."

Kor'Ak's eyes narrowed on the rows of white teeth that filled the wizard's wide smile, and wondered how many he could knock loose with a headbutt.

The food was unbearably dry, even his rations were leagues above this meat in taste. But he wolfed it down nonetheless, his stomach still unsatisfied, even as he picked the last strings of meat from his teeth and swallowed them.

He opened his mouth, tried to speak, but his breath was too hoarse to say anything without causing him pain. Instead, Kelvin kept on speaking as he pulled the canteen away from his green companion, who had nearly drunk the entire thing at once. "Water?"

Kor'Ak nodded and caught the nearly empty canteen that the blonde man tossed towards him. He let the lukewarm water gush down his throat as he swallowed hard, and he didn't stop till the canteen was as dry as the deserts of Djaal.

He tossed the canteen back to Kelvin, they might find a chance to refill it somewhere later.

Another deep breath, Kor'Ak rose to his feet "We gotta go now."

The wizard wined, of course. "My legs hurt though"

"Your leg's will stop hurting when a hundred elves come, slit your throat and use your desiccated corpse as decoration."

Kelvin swallowed hard, looked at the ground below him and stood up; he seemed disheartened by Kor'Ak's words for a moment, but when he looked up, Kor'Ak saw that same too-wide smile.

In truth, Kor'Ak wanted to rest more as well, though the shadows he caught in the corner of his eye meant they had to get moving.

They were being followed.

They had to hurry.