Coming up Short

"Get up Trezlan." Morley was standing over me, he had a look of contempt and blackness (well more like soot, the entire cave system was covered in it now).  I had decided to sleep off my being lost, cold, and alone (because nothing works for all of those problems like a good night of sleep, hey it worked in this case!) I can't say I was surprised to see Morley, and I'll have to admit seeing him covered in soot? Well it was hard not to laugh.

"Oh did you bring breakfast Morley? I'd love some eggs and bacon!" Doubling down on being a jerk got me kicked in the head (you ever hear "well that was better than a kick in the head" I've always used Morley kicking me in the head for reference).

"You're lucky I'm feeling charitable Trezlan, you almost killed me yesterday."

"Oh I almost killed you? Well that's good, you almost killed me by getting me lost in a tunnel system with some freakish being in it you dick!" Honestly, how can someone complain when its your fault they are in the bad situation to begin with (ignore my complaints when I drag other people on my foolish errands).

"Is it really my fault you failed to keep up?"

"Is it really my fault I used fire to kill something that happened to be highly flammable?"

"Ok clearly you see nothing wrong with what you did so lets move on." Of course ignore what he did wrong and blame me for it, thats typical Morley. I got up, because laying down next to someone who kicks heads is not a smart move.

"Moving on then, did you at least get the thingy you needed?" Technical terms are my specialty: thingys, whatachneeds, whateverthehellthatis, and of course the "bomination" sub heading.

"Of course when you distracted the guardian I managed to get it, now we just need to swing by a village near by, get the other idol and we'll be all set."

"Wait another idol? How many are there?"

"Just two, I think, I'll have to see the next one to be sure of course." Two idols now? I swear he was just making this up as we went along! I sighed heavily and gathered my things, Morley lead me out of the cave, noting all the priceless things I destroyed on the way out (he explained then the reason he wasn't using a torch, despite letting me keep mine the entire time, like I said man's an ass). We emerged and I was happy to see both our horses were still there (well Morley's necro horse probably wouldn't leave, but mine could have easily taken off after the explosion of fire.) We were just about to mount up and get going when I noticed something shining in a bush near us, I was halfway to opening my mouth when the shorties emerged.  Tribal looking vicious bastards they were, all covered in animal bones and teeth from something. They had nasty looking spears pointed at vital parts I'd rather keep unskewered.  I looked to Morley and he shook his head (the universal sign for don't make this worse than it already is).  Their leader wore a mask made out of the skull of something (or it could have been multiple skulls, it was all bone and spooky).

"You bring fire from the cave? You are bad men." Simplistic language was all the tribals ever managed when speaking with outsiders, I've read journals that claim they spoke much more fluidly to each other, I've never ever seen evidence of that.

"You are a wise man Chief, but we are not bad men, we seek to speak with your tribe, we have gifts." Morley took the lead here, he usually did when we were in mortal peril (with him its all the time). The chief seemed to think it over and then indicated for us to move away from our horses and follow him, a couple of the other shorties took the horses by the reins and followed after us (I was worried at the time they'd eat my horse, I should have been more worried they'd eat me, but that will come).  Honestly the most surprising thing about this capture was that Morley was so laid back about it, again a clue to how he was lying to me. I was about to have my final clue, but by the time I got it, it was a little late to do anything about it.  And that will be tommorrow's entry.  The thing you have to keep in mind, I'm still associated with Morley, we still talk, despite him continually screwing me over. I must be the most forgiving guy ever, or the biggest sucker.