“No. Don’t waste your mana unnecessarily.” Riftan continued to strike the flint in silence. After several attempts, faint smoke began to rise from the cloth. He blew gently on the glowing fire to grow the flame, and piled on fast-burning pinecones from his saddlebag.
“I will go look for some tinder to get us through the night. You stay right here.”
Maxi did not know where she would go in such a state anyway. With the blanket wrapped tightly around her, she hugged her knees and watched as he stepped into the dark forest. He never left her field of vision and soon returned with an armful of broken branches.
“They are wet…w-will they catch?”
“They are not soaked through. Once I scrape off the bark, they should be usable.”
He crouched at one side of the cave and skillfully peeledoff the bark with his dagger. The tinder now looked white. He broke them into short logs and stacked them around the pinecone flame, poking it here and there until it was a blaze that lit up the cave.
“Pass me your wet clothes,” he said.
Maxi handed him the crumpled pile of clothes she had discarded on the ground. After wringing the garments, Riftan gave them a brisk flap and placed them near the heat to dry. He then propped her boots upside down.
Maxi rummaged in the saddlebag for something to eat. Riftan nudged her aside so he could fish out a small bundle. He unwrapped a loaf of stale bread and a cured sausage. “I was in a hurry, so I was unable to bring anything else.”
Maxi thought she could manage the bread with enough chewing, but the sausage looked rock hard. She was so hungry that it still looked appetizing, and she gazed at it wistfully. As if reading his wife’s mind, Riftan began slicing the sausage into small pieces. He tossed them into an empty canteen. The next thing Maxi knew, Riftan had constructed a cooking rig over the fire, and soon the cave filled with the sound of sizzling oil.
“Hand me the herb pouch.”
Maxi jumped to give it to him. After placing the herbs, mandrago root, and breadcrumbs into the canteen, Riftan shook the container to mix the ingredients with the oil that oozed from the sausage. He poured some water in and let it boil into a soup. The savory smell made Maxi’s mouth water.
He filled the cap of the canteen and handed it to her. “We don’t have spoons, so use the bread to scoop up the chunks.”
Maxi blew on the steam and carefully took a sip. The salt from the sausage gave the meager meal flavor. Using the flatpiece of bread as a spoon, Maxi scooped up the steeped sausages. With the hot soup warming her stomach, Maxi quickly finished off the big loaf of bread. It did not compare to the dishes she had enjoyed at the castle, but Maxi was amazed that they could enjoy a decent meal in the middle of the mountains.
“I did not know…th-that you knew how to cook, Riftan.”
“I would not call it cooking. Just making something edible from what I have. I only know a few dishes from when I was a mercenary.”
Maxi looked at him quizzically. “How old were you when you joined the mercenary group?”
Riftan arched an eyebrow as if to ask her why she was inquiring about such a thing.
“You told me…that you j-joined the mercenary group when you were young…b-but you never told m-me your exact age.”
“I was twelve.”
“T-Twelve?” said Maxi, surprised.
Riftan shoved a piece of bread into his mouth and silently nodded. Studying his face, it was clear that this was not a topic he wished to discuss in detail, but Maxi was itching to know how a twelve-year-old boy had become a mercenary, and her curiosity won out.
“A-And before then?”
Riftan said nothing as he poked the fire with a twig.
Maxi resolutely pressed him. “I-If I recall, you told me that…you moved to Livadon once you joined the mercenary group. Where did you live…before then?”
“In Wedon.”
Maxi furrowed her brow at his terse response. “Where in Wedon?”
“In the eastern part of the kingdom,” he answered after a while.
Although Maxi wanted to keep prying, he looked visibly uncomfortable talking about his childhood. Cold silence briefly fell over them, but she could not hold back her desire to know everything about the man she had married.
“Wh-What…did your parents do?”
