Pretending

Kimal had been on the road for months now. He did not know how many exactly, he hadn’t kept track of all the days that had passed, but he had noticed the change in the season. It had been late winter when he had left the Temple, the snow almost completely gone but there had still been a chill in the air. Then, as he traveled, he had watched the trees grow new leaves and little flowers bud along the edge of the road. If he was to take a guess he’d say it was at the beginning of summer, or thereabouts. It was a bit hard to tell this far up in the mountains. Everything was always delayed up here. Despite of that, there were green leaves and blue skies as far as the eye could see. So yes, early summer seemed about right.

Hn… It was so pretty it was sickening. It was probably all of Caliende’s doing too. She was always obsessed with pretty things.

The halfdemon grunted and reigned in his horse. His body ached from being in the saddle for too long, but that kind of pain he was used to. It was the dull ache from the left side of his ribcage that bothered him. He had run into some bandits a few days before and he had been in a particularly nasty mood on that afternoon. The confrontation itself had ended within minutes but one of the stupid little humans had managed to land a blow to Kimal’s side, effectively cracking one of his ribs. Lucky bastard. And now, the halfdemon had to be extra careful while he healed. Which meant traveling at a snail’s pace while surrounded by colorful flowers and chirping birds. By the Gods, he was not in the mood for this.

The halfdemon’s chest heaved with a heavy sigh and he dismounted. At least his new armor did not agitate his injured ribs. It had been several months since it had been given to him but it still felt as comfortable as ever. Caliende had done a good job, Kimal was forced to admit to himself… Not that he’d ever tell the Goddess that, of course. In fact, he probably should have never accepted the suit of leather armor in the first place but that day he had wanted everything to run smoothly… for Solque’s sake. Not that the boy mattered much now. Another sigh. At any rate, had gotten used to the feeling of the leather, despite himself, and he had found himself reluctant to give it up. At least he had managed to pry off the Goddess’ seal from the cuirass and now could pretend that he had no more ties to Caliende and her High Priest.

Hn… pretending had never worked for him.