Arrdun met with the cook and they started to exchange information.
"Commander," the cook said, "I wasn't expecting to see you."
"Surprise, surprise," he said.
"And how do you feel?" the cook asked.
"Marvellous," he said. "I'm here about yesterday and supplies."
"Well, as you were rushed, I didn't have time to write down what you took," the cook said.
"No worries, understood," he said, "tell me, what do we have?"
"I will," the cook said sadly, "but first, tell me what you need: pure survival, which will make the crew powerless, or survival with some power?"
"The enemy may return, so the second one," he said.
"All right. I was thinking about this matter when you left, let's say an emergency plan," the cook said. "As you were absent or busy, I was the one who took charge of feeding, as we already talked, and..."
"I know, I know. Time is short," he said, interrupting gently. "If you don't say it from the start, that means we are in trouble."
"I guess so. Anyway, here is the situation. We have in stock," the cook said, "about one kilogram of uncooked barley grains, with some vegetables like cabbage, onions, peas, and beans. From the greenery, we have a small amount of garden sorrel and herbs. We have about 30 apples."
"Understood, and we are in big trouble," he said. "What's the plan?"
"Well, today is almost finished. We can hold for a day," the cook said. "Tomorrow they will have two meals a day, but the quantity will be reduced. The food will be served as porridge with lots of stock."
"Porridge? No bread? Hmmm," he asked.
"Exactly. I won't make any bread," the cook said, "because producing flour from grains will make us lose grains."
"What about the food portion?" he said. "We are 13."
"Around 70 grams uncooked for each," the cook said.
"Uncooked? Will that work? Will that, hmm," he said.
"I hope so," the cook said. "Commander, here is the key moment. 70 grams uncooked, when cooked, becomes between 175 grams to 210 grams. Then I will divide them in two parts," the cook continued. "Lunch and dinner, and for supper we can have an apple with some herbal tea. For supper we can have that for two days."
"Understood. Have a special order for you," he said seriously.
"Yee, yeh, yes, I'm listening," the cook said, confused. "Did I say something wrong, Commander?"
"No, nothing is wrong. It's fine. Do as you said, but we have two injured, who helped me and took heavy hits to protect me. One protected, the other helped me reach the camp," he continued. "I'm standing here now because of them. Keep my order in private and don't tell anybody under any circumstances. Understood?" he raised his voice as he spoke.
"Yes, Commander, I will," the cook said.
"My portions, give them to those two injured. I will try to hold onto the apples and tea," he said.
"Commander, may I say something?" the cook asked, surprised, raising his eyebrows.
"Yes, I am listening," he said.
"I, I, hmm, how may I address this? So, you," the cook said gently, "you, Commander, you are injured too, and the recovery, the food, you know, you may..."
"I know what I am doing," he interrupted.
"Understood. I will do it," the cook said.
"Good," he said and left him.
He went to meet with the armorer. Messenger, messenger, where are you? I hope you are doing well. Messenger, messenger, come back quickly. We need you. I thought my death would be connected with the monsters or with the battlefield, but starving? Yeah, least favorite and painful.
"Greetings, armorer," Arrdun said.
"Oh, Commander on his feet," he said. "Glad to see that recovery helped. I thought you wouldn't survive."
"Doubting is normal, but hope should never die. Anyway," Arrdun said, "what is the current situation? Is there anything for me?"
"Give me a minute, please," he said while walking. He went to search for something and came back.
"Understood. I will wait," Arrdun said.
"Please, just don't be angry, all right?" he said gently.
"I will not. I am listening," Arrdun said.
"Look, yesterday when you went, we had losses. And when you were wounded, they preferred to save you instead of the equipment," he continued. "Sadly, the equipment was abandoned."
"I understand," Arrdun said gently. He closed his eyes and began to shake his head from side to side. "Bloody darkness!" he shouted.
"Please, Commander, please," the armorer said gently.
"All right. What is lost is already lost," Arrdun said.
"Maybe it is not lost, just taken by the enemy," he said. "Maybe, with some luck and a small chance, we can bring it back."
"I like your optimism," Arrdun said, smiling. "According to your rank, I suppose you already spoke with the cook while I was out, and you know about the food situation," he added. "And now you know, I just learned that we lost our best equipment," he continued. "With no food, low manpower, and poor equipment, I don't see how we can bring it back."
The armorer looked down, sadness settling over his face.
"Whatever," Arrdun said. "Keep your optimism. And about luck, I spoke with him two days ago. He said he wouldn't help us."
The armorer looked at him and smiled.
"Should I stay here until tomorrow?" Arrdun asked. "Do you have anything for me?"
"Oh, sorry. Yes, here, take a look," he said. "As your commander, I will give you the best of what we have right now," he continued. "If you are still recovering, you can wear it later if you prefer."
"I will wear it now and see how it fits, how it feels. You never know when the enemy will attack," Arrdun said and wore it. "I have a meeting. After that, I will come back and take it off."
Some time passed. He spoke with the armorer, changed some weapons, then thanked the armorer and left.
He was wearing shoulderless leather armor reinforced with bone, which covered his upper body. For his head, he took a wooden helmet with an arming cap inside, which was already connected with the helmet. He was carrying it with his left hand.
For weapons, his primary weapon was about 2.5 meters long. It was a wooden melee spear with a stone head. For his secondary weapon, he was wearing a handaxe with a stone head under his belt, which was 25 centimeters in length.
He also was carrying a quiver at his side, made from furs. Inside, he had four wooden throwing spears with bone heads. Each spear was about 100 centimeters long.
As he was feeling weak, he was using his melee spear as a walking stick with his right hand.
A dark green cloak that he was wearing had a few symbols near his chest which indicated his title, rank, and authority. He was going to meet the crew. Bloody darkness. It's not that heavy, but my muscles... it's painful. It's very bad. In addition, if they attack, we can't hold them. No weapons, no food. What are we going to do? What should I tell them? 'Greetings, crew members, ready to die?' Think, think. What to do? Hope my appearance will keep their morale. I can't do anything more to impress. But the problem is still there. How to deal with it? I don't know. Need reinforcements and supplies. Need help.
He approached and entered the place where the meeting was supposed to happen.
"Greetings, crew members. I am here," Arrdun said while he was putting his helmet on the table. "We can start. I am asking for your attention."
"Greetings, Commander!" the crew said in unison. "Understood."
"Good," Arrdun said. "I will do a recap. I will try to be short and comprehensible," he said. "So, hold your horses."
"Understood, Commander!" the crew said.
"We were twenty people in the camp," Arrdun said. "As you know, two days ago, or on the first day of the week, our enemy found our secret camp and, in a rush, attacked us. We were more prepared. We had manpower, resources, and equipment. We deflected their attack." Arrdun clenched his fist. "The enemy retreated."
"Sorry for interrupting," someone said from the crew. "But without you," he looked at Arrdun,
"and our Dark Cloak," the crew cheered, "we wouldn't have survived," he said. "Just, thank you, Commander."
"He is right," another one said from the crew. "Before I die, I just want to say thank you."
"Commander," said another one, "what reason did the Elders have to separate you and the Dark Cloak?"
"With all due respect," another one said, "that was a dumb decision."
"Me and Bardy," Arrdun said, "well, it's complicated. Maybe one day I will tell you," he said. "We are separated, but when I found out that he was here, I came also." The crew cheered.
"Best friends forever?" another crew member asked.
"Exactly, anyway, when the enemy retreated, I used that moment and sent two scouts to gather information. They came back and told us bad news." Arrdun took a deep breath and waited before speaking. "The enemy blocked our main path. We couldn't run or go back."
"Bad scouts," someone said.
"Don't blame them," Arrdun said. "As we were blocked, I wanted to send a messenger to other camps to get some help. For this reason, the next day, or yesterday, I took eight fighters and one messenger and left the camp."
"You should have taken us also," someone said.
"Really?" Arrdun said, surprised. "I came to help the camp and protect the crew, not the other way around."
"Commander, maybe we are less prepared," someone said, "but with more members we could have had more chances."
"More chances for what?" Arrdun said boldly. "For instant death? Being captured? Or surviving and being crippled for life?"
The crew remained silent.
"Something unexpected happened," Arrdun said sadly, closing his eyes. "Somehow, the enemy had a monster we had never fought or seen before."
The members' faces turned worried and fearful. Arrdun opened his eyes and said strongly, "Our messenger got through. I was the one who protected him. I saw him escape, and because of that, the others and I were seriously injured."
When the crew heard that the messenger had passed through, they started to regain their hope.
"However, we had huge losses," Arrdun said. "When we left, we were ten and only three came back. I am standing here, and the other two are still injured," Arrdun said sadly.
"A monster?" someone said fearfully. "No thanks, I will stay inside."
"Wait a minute," another one said. "How did the scouts miss the monster?"
"Because it wasn't there," a scout said tensely. "When we were observing."
"That means you were observing the wrong way," someone said.
"That means I'm going to slap you now," a scout said.
"Wow, oh, calm down," Arrdun said. "Keep your anger for your enemies, not for your allies."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to," he said while looking at the scout.
"As we left, I took the best equipment and most of the food supplies, especially for our messenger," Arrdun said. "We lost it all because of the monster's surprise attack," he continued. "Now, today is the third day, which is almost finished. In camp, we are eleven active people, two heavily injured. As you can guess from my look, we don't have good equipment."
"Food will be a problem," someone said.
"Because you eat a lot, big guy," another one said happily.
"Our manpower is low. Sadly, our food supplies are very low. This is why, from today, you will continue to eat two times a day but the quantity will be reduced," Arrdun said with a worried voice. "You know me, trying to be honest about the situation. I am not including here the monster, but in other words, if they attack, we can't hold. If we attack, that will be a mistake."
The crew became worried. The members started to look at each other, trying to find some support or comfort.
"These few days you have already been resting less, and with less food, we will be less strong or effective," Arrdun said. "And now, from here, imagine dealing with a monster also."
"Commander, what is the plan?" someone asked.
"Which plan?" Arrdun asked. "Plan of defense? Plan of survival? Plan to kill the monster?"
The crew became speechless.
"The only hope is our messenger," Arrdun said, "but the problem is I don't know how many days it will take. Our food is very low. We can't hold for a long time," he continued. "I am also afraid of the scary 'what if' in the situation."
"For the messenger!" someone shouted, interrupting Arrdun.
"Yeh!" someone yelled, and the crew started to make noises. "Go, messenger! Go!"
Their voices rose in a chant, a desperate effort to ward off the horrible situation.
"What if," someone said, "it can wait."
"All right then," Arrdun said. "Let's hope nothing bad happens and the messenger arrives at his destination." The crew started to talk with each other and discuss the situation.
"One more thing, about the food," Arrdun said. "Before starving, we have just one day, just tomorrow," he continued. "If necessary, speak with the cook for details."
A brief moment of silence passed.
"Commander, I am sad but will follow you to the end," a crew member said.
"Yes, me too," another one said.
"That's true. I am with you, Commander!" another one said.
The crew started to cheer up. Arrdun held his tears and put his left hand on his heart.
"Thank you, for your service," he continued. "Risking our lives, we give an opportunity to our brothers and sisters to build a better future."
"Commander, we don't know what the situation is in other camps. We were attacked, 'what if' others are also, which means maybe others can't help us," a scout said.
"After all, you like the 'what ifs,'" Arrdun said. "True, for other camps we have no information," he continued. "What if the enemy followed and captured the messenger? What if something bad happened in the forest? What if help comes, but it would be too late for us?"
"Commander," someone said, "what if we use the Dark Cloak's stupid smile?"
Everybody started to laugh loudly.
"Yeh, that's true," another one said.
"Commander," another one said, "I, me, I have a plan." Everybody started to look at him closely. He continued, "Here is the plan. It will definitely work. When the monster attacks, we will send the Dark Cloak and..."
Before he even finished, they started to laugh.
"He is right," another one said. "The monster will be confused when the Dark Cloak smiles."
"What would you do without me, helpless worms!" Bardy yelled.
"Wow, Dark Cloak, he is here, run!" someone said.
"Is he?" another one asked, confused.
"Let me choose," Bardy said. He looked at the crew and shouted, "Who will be my opponent?" He pointed his fingers at his cheeks and forced a smile.
"Run," the crew made noises. "He will destroy us."
"Behold, worms!" Bardy yelled, raising his hands.
"The monster definitely will die," another one said.
The crew started to laugh loudly.
"Commander," someone said, "I am glad that Bardy is with us."
"Me too," another one said.
"I don't like Bardy," another one said, "I like his smile."
"Bardy, Bardy, the best fighter among us," the crew chanted, "we didn't know at first which one he started to practice, fighting skills or smiling."
"Commander, I thought the crew hated me," Bardy said.
"Yes, we do, but as the Commander is here, we kinda compliment you," the crew chanted.
"I know, I know," Arrdun said, nodding. "When I die, guess who the next commander will be?" Arrdun asked loudly.
"No, no, Commander, don't do that," the crew shouted.
"He will force you and order you before, after training, eating, and sleeping to smile," Arrdun said and everybody started to laugh again.
"Anyway," Arrdun said seriously, taking back his helmet, "the path is blocked. We will send only a scout outside for potential threats or signs of enemy forces," he continued. "Others will stay inside with their daily tasks. Understood?"
"Understood!" the crew said.
"A defense keeper should make a noise trap. If someone approaches, we must hear," Arrdun looked at the specific scout. "For the monster, don't blame yourself. Hope we can save the second one." He left the meeting and everybody returned to their tasks.