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chapter four. sowing doubt
"How long does he expect us to wait? We never should have listened to him." Marth muttered, his tone edged in frustration.
They had waited for the better half of an hour in the dark, met with little more than the hum of insects and the odd rustle in the undergrowth. Dalaia had taken to picking up some of the fruit that had strewn from the upturned cart, tossing bruised tomatoes to break in bursts of pulp and seed against a large rock. On the low stone wall that had dealt the cart its demise, Orikas sat watch over the patch of trees from which they had emerged.
Fallon leaned with her hands pressed against the cart, leaning at an angle. Her head throbbed repulsively, and though not visible beneath the thick of her hair, she could feel the steady swelling of a great lump. She cleaned her jaw against the dull throb of pain, made all the worse by Marth's steady pacing, each footstep crunching the earth. She asked herself the same thing as she shot a glare at her brother. He was seemed too at ease, a far call from the glower that often shrouded him. Fallon sighed bitterly.
"If he doesn't come soon, I'm going back to the camp and throwing the rest of these tomatoes at those rotten goblins. Show 'em a thing or two."
"Mm, and what would you do when they spotted you, alone, without your halberd to guard you?" Marth countered.
"Throw another."
"Right."
"You can have a go too if you want."
"I've had more than enough action for one night, but thank you for asking."
Dalaia turned to the siblings, attempting to prompt some interjection from either of them. When she was ignored, she let out a loud huff.
"I can handle one of you sulking, but two?"
"I'm not sulking." Orikas replied with a shrug. "Just thinking."
"Thinking that you made the wrong call?" Fallon countered. "By all means, elaborate."
"Someone had to make a decision."
She let out a huff of exasperation, pushing back from the wood of the cart and crossing her arms against her chest. Fallon ignored the throb that rung through her skull, almost as a warning.
"I did make a decision. Marth could have shaped into a spider and gotten us out just fine."
"And stolen the key from the only one in that camp with any sense? Hmm."
