"Oh! Why, Valik, I didn't see you there! Well... If you're with him, I suppose it's alright. Mind you don't spook the animals, though!" Hadrod shoots a final dark glare at Dashki and returns to his tent.
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Hadrod, alerted to your presence by the torch, comes out of his tent. "Hello, who-- Dashki! You... Get away from there! What do you think you're doing snooping around the animals at night?"
Hadrod nods and smiles wistfully. "Aye, that's kind of you Valik. I hope the Lady sees fit to answer your prayers." He sits down near the fire with his own bowl of stew.
"--and Fiends! Aye, he was an odd one. But our Lady Almah trusted him, so he must have been a good sort. Even if he couldn't foretell his own wagon catching on fire." The couple nod at each other resolutely. "Well, here we are, at a delicious pot of Hadrah's finest spiced stew. Mmm, mmm, smells delicious as always, dear."
Hadrod takes up the story with hardly a heartbeat of a pause, "Well, it's just as Hadrah says,you know everyone was running about with buckets of water, and I was about to go and help, when lo and behold, I saw that the gate was open, and the animals were all streaming out. Spooked by the fire and the shouting, no doubt, but I'm certain I didn't leave the gate unlatched. When I looked at it after getting the animals back in, it appears to have broken. Just rotten luck, I guess. And now poor Rombard is all alone..." He shakes his head sadly.
"--and it seems he does--" Hadrod sniffles.
"--and he has never run off before. And look at the thorny brush--" Hadrod gestures at the brush, which is indeed quite formiddable.
"Oh, I am Hadrod, a humble camel drover, and this is my wife Hadrah, who is also the camp cook."
Hadrod looks close to tears. "Rombard was my favorite baby goat. It's getting dark now, we'll never find him." He sniffles. "Poor Rombard."
The man looks around in the pen, silently counting on his fingers. "Camels all here... Goats all... Wait!" he turns to the woman in alarm, "Hadrah, where's Rombard?"
The middle-aged man who is attempting to calm the animals sees Travis's attempt, and the results, and yells irritably, "No, no, not like that! You'll just scare 'em more, a stranger going after 'em like that! Go help somewhere where you can be useful!" He gestures broadly in the direction of the burning wagon. |