110: SAVAGES

SAVAGES

"Are you okay?" Cane asked when he saw her struggling to stand on her own feet.

"Yes, I am fine," Iris replied. She tried to stand up straight, but her butt was in pain and her thighs were so sore, she actually needed something to support her when she stood up.

Seeing that, Redmond immediately dismounted his horse and helped Iris. He took her into his arms. "Come, I will help you to lay down."

He supported her body, as they walked into the cave that they found. It was already dark and the other people lit up the fire inside after they checked whether the cave was safe or not.

"Tsk," Redmond clicked his tongue. "I told you that this journey is too much for you, why didn't you reject it?" He said in a low voice, but it was loud enough for Cane to listen. Actually, that was his aim because Iris right now was not even looking in his direction. Moreover, the warrior actually glanced briefly at the alpha after saying that.

Unfortunately, Cane didn't give a shit about that, he knew that Redmond wanted to get under his skin and he could try as much as he wanted.

Truth be told, Cane's ignorance was way more annoying than anything else, even his empty bickering with the gamma.

"Stay there, don't go anywhere," he said, as he helped her to sit down, leaning her back against the stone wall.

"Okay." Of course, she wouldn't go anywhere, where would she go with her butt on fire? Even sitting was not comfortable for her, yet she endured it.

She watched while all of them delegated tasks to each other. The two warriors would go to find some game for their dinner while Will and the alpha would scour this area to see just in case there was a monster lair nearby and the two bickering buddies stayed behind, as they kept bickering on how to make a bonfire, because they wanted to use different methods.

In the end, Ethan stayed to make the bonfire, while Redmond checked inside the cave. Apparently, it was so deep.

"Come here, Iris." Ethan waved his hand to call Iris over, so she could sit in front of the bonfire.

Grimacing, Iris moved her body and walked toward the bonfire, she sat down next to Ethan and felt the warmth of the fire.

"Here, you can eat this before they return with the game." Ethan gave a jerky to her, which she accepted and munched on.

And after that, awkward silence stretched between them. If Ethan had a lot of things to say when he was arguing with Redmond, he had nothing for her. He didn't even know how to start a conversation with her.

"Hm…" he mumbled and glanced at the entrance of the cave, but from the looks of it, none of them would return any time soon, while Redmond seemed to neglect his duty as immersed himself in exploring the cave on his own. He was a lost cause.

"Is this the first time you rode a horse?" Ethan asked, after he tapped her shoulder.

"Yes." Iris was munching on the hard jerky.

And after that, the conversation died down again. This awkwardness was so uncomfortable for Ethan, thus he tried to find another interesting topic.

"Why didn't you learn? Why don't you learn now? Are you afraid of horses?"

"No." Iris shook her head. "I loved horses before and played around the stables often when I was a child."

"Oh, I love horses too!" Ethan was relieved when he could finally find a topic that they could talk about while waiting for the others to arrive. "Why didn't you learn how to ride then?"

"Because I stopped going to the stables."

"Why?"

"My father killed the stable boy, because I befriended him."

"…" Ethan felt the atmosphere became depressing all of a sudden and Iris noticed it too. She just answered him truthfully since he asked. "Well… that's sad."

And ensued another stretch of awkward silence.

Thankfully, it didn't last long because not long after that, the two warriors returned with the game and they started to skin the rabbits. There were five rabbits and two snakes.

"What do you want? Do you want a rabbit or a snake?" Ethan asked Iris happily, as he raised the animals in his hands.

Iris was startled, and took two steps back, as her eyes zeroed in on the dead rabbits and the still struggling snake.

"I- I am full…"2

"How can you be full when you only ate a jerky?"

"It's enough… you can eat my portion."

"No, that won't do. You will faint tomorrow if you don't eat anything. We will ride for the whole day."

Honestly, Iris was so hungry, but she couldn't stomach eating that!

"Okay, you will eat rabbit, because the snake will be too intimidating for you," Ethan decided. His happy go lucky nature was something that Iris admired, but sometimes he took things too simply and lightly.

She was not intimidated by those animals! She really wanted to cry.

In the end, Iris sat down at the far end of the cave as they skinned the game and started to roast the meat after they coated it with some spices.

They didn't even cut it into small pieces, as they roasted each rabbit and snake as a whole, right after cleaning it up. This was a nightmare for Iris.

She would choose to eat her cold porridge when she was still a slave over swallowing this.

Not long after that, Cane and Will returned. He told them that there was a group of savages not so far from them, as they took shelter in a cave nearby as well.

"We need to leave before sunrise." Cane didn't want them to bump into that group. Savages were unpredictable and they didn't need another meaningless battle, especially when they were with Iris now.

All of them nodded and the mood turned more somber. None of them had a good experience with savages. Gerald and Mason used to use them for torturing them or sexual pleasure.

However, rage flitted across Ethan's eyes.

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