Waiting for it to move

Kal looked around his surroundings, waiting for one of those goblin bastards to come back. It was unlikely, but complacency kills. He was also waiting for someone to comment about Kal's looks. Even a half-wit would realize he's half-orc. Still, most of them seemed too shell-shocked to make a comment, and that suited him just fine.

When it finally came time to move, Kal made sure to get a good seat, tired from the previous battle and the abilities he'd used. He found himself seated with three others. Two were younger women, one dwarven and one orcish. Their distant stares and the circumstances he'd found them told him enough of what they've been through. The other was a mutilated halfling, his eyes removed and his skin bearing the scars of multiple whip lashes.

The orc rubbed her wrists as the dwarf said "Did they bound you?"

"Yes..."

"At least we're gone now."

"That's true."

"Do you know where you came from?" Kal asked, hoping to be spared the details of what the two had been through.

"I don't know." The orc replies.

"They just showed up." The dwarf adds.

"We've been traveling for a while." The halfling interjects.

"How long?"

"Could be months for all I know. Before then they kept me somewhere else. Hot, but rather damp."

"For how long?"

"Years."

Kal nodded. "Do you know why they're moving?"

"They're always moving. Once a place has been used up, they leave to find somewhere else."

"What about the last place you were at?"

"Can't tell you much, although I think it was beginning to dry up."

"Was it a cave?"

"No. It was marshy sometimes and rained just about every day."

"Right. Thanks."

The caravan continues to Southmarch, and as it does so, the orc asked "So what's your name?"

"Kal."

"I'm Triz."

"And I'm Yennen." The dwarf added.

Kal merely nodded.

"Where did you learn to fight?" Triz asked.

After a sigh, Kal said "Around."

"You're very good at it."

Kal doesn't offer any answer.

"Are you a fighter?" The dwarf asked.

"When I need to."

The two continue to prattle on as Kal did his best to figure them out. Despite what had happened to them, they seemed rather talkative and even upbeat. They seemed to talk of him as if he was one of the heroes he'd read about. Maybe he had just been in the right place at the right time, but then again, many tales he'd read begun in such ways. Maybe he was destined for more than being a hangman. Maybe he could one day become a legend worth writing about.