The next several days were a grueling hell for Alex, letting him know exactly what type of impossible bet he'd gotten himself into. The days were long, lasting from first to last light possible, and the conditions were generally unbearable for his poor nobby self. The sun cooked his bare back, turning it red and swollen quickly in the open air of the sky.
The dry and harsh ground rubbed and irritated Alex's soft, intimate skin, making his nipples feel as if they'd been dragged across sandpaper at the end of each day. His fingers were crisscrossed with dozens of tiny little razor lacerations from where he kept accidentally brushing against the almost invisible stands of silversilk grass. His lips were dried out and parched from the constant, unbearable amount of sweating he was doing from being exposed to both the raw sun and the extreme pressure of the working environment.
"One day was hard," Alex croaked softly to himself, completely isolated from the others, "but I'd never imagined what type of hell they'd turn into one after another. Working here isn't just a simple case of one plus one equals two," Alex muttered moodily to himself.
"It's one plus one equals three, and then times six more, thanks to those two every night!" Glaring daggers back at where Thorn and Roselyn was laughing and joking freely together while carving out an ever deepening hole in the side of the nearby cliff, Alex couldn't help but admit that *THEY* were one of his biggest problems!!
"OH! OH! OOOHHHH! All night long," Alex muttered moodily to himself. "HARDER! FASTER! LIKE THAT! OH GODS, YEEEAAHHH!! Who the hell knew Rose was a screamer?! Who the hell knew Thorn was such a damn stud either! It's not like he's ever shown any attention to *me*!"
"Not like I'd want him to, or anything," Alex quickly corrected himself. "I've already got a beautiful, sexy, top-tier, grade-A++, princess waiting to be my brid…"
"YEOUCH!" Jerking his hand back suddenly, Alex quickly rolled away from the field of grass and staggered upright. Gripping his right wrist tightly with his left hand, Alex had no idea exactly what had happened, but he'd just sliced a gaping wound in his hand this time! Staggering back as quick as possible towards his tent, Alex knew this wasn't some little nick from the grass — this time, it was almost as if they grass had deliberately lurched forward to bite him!!
"RAT!!" Yelling from the distance, Thorn pointed behind Alex. Moving almost faster than Alex's eyes could follow, Thorn quickly flung a rock from somewhere, shooting it like a meteor across the open flatlands.
"Azarath! Metrion! Zinthos!" Yelling several words of power, Roselyn showed off her abilities as a copper ranked expert, causing a whirl of dark energy to gather in her hand. Once the dark globe of whirling energy grew to the size of her fist, it launched lightning fast, zapping past Alex by no more than a few inches.
"SQUEEKKK!" A harsh animal screech echoed from mere feet behind him, causing Alex to quicken his steps as much as nobbily possible away. Seeing Thorn running to close the distance from his left, Alex instinctively turned and ran to the right to keep as much distance as possible between them. A rat might be after him, but he was still completely toxic to his brother!
"NOOOO! Thorn, stop!" Screeching at Thorn, Roselyn blasted another bolt of black eldritch energy across the field.
"SQUUUU!" Another loud squeal pealed behind Alex, as Roselyn exorbitantly proclaimed, "Got it!"
Completely ignoring the pitiful squeaks as they slowly died down, Alex rushed into the tent he'd been using. Quickly grabbing a the fancy dress which he'd wore out from the city, Alex unceremoniously ripped several inches from the hem of it, using the torn cloth as a makeshift tourniquet for his wrist. It wasn't until he poured water on his wound so he could see exactly how bad it was, before his heartbeat began to slow and he calmed down.
"It's not as bad as I'd imagined," Alex sighed with relief. "A couple of stitches should fix me up!" Heading back out of the tent, Alex couldn't help but chuckle at the sight that awaited him.
Strutting around like a bantam rooster, Thorn was half dancing and poking at the corpse of what looked mostly like a silver-skinned, furless, giant mole. Nearly the size of a small breed dog — comparable in size to a poodle or pekinese — the sight of a giant muscleman poking at the corpse and then jumping back from it in fright, was truly comical to behold!
"Are… Are you okay, my lord?" Panting exhaustedly, Roselyn had an obviously worried look as she stared over at Alex.
"I'll be fine," Alex assured her, holding up his hand lightly. "I'll need you to toss me your first aid kit though. I'm going to have to put a few stitches in it."
"Can you stitch yourself," Roselyn asked, biting her lip with worry.
"Is there anyone else to do it for me?" Shrugging his shoulders helplessly, Alex knew that wasn't an option. After several days harvesting the silversilk grass, there wasn't anyone who'd dare get near him without him taking a dozen baths first, or them wearing a full alchemy protection suit!
Frowning heavily, Roselyn ignored Thorn, who was still entertaining himself making certain the beast was truly dead and not playing possum. Turning, she quickly hurried into the small cave they'd dug out, before coming back out with a small healer's kit. "Is there anything at all I can do to help?" She asked softly, sitting the healer's bag down near Alex, and then backing away.
"You're going to have to head in town for us this evening," Alex told her, as he eased over to sit and open the bag with his left hand. "Take some of the coin you got from the weapon sales you did, and fetch me a whole jar of the high-grade healing paste. I can't afford to wait days for this to heal, and I'm right handed. I can't afford the loss of movement with an injured hand right now."
"That'll be simple enough," Roselyn assured him. "Anything else?"
"Some fresh food while you're in there," Alex told her, wincing heavily as he slowly eased the curved stitching needle close to the gash in his palm.
"Got it!" Roselyn assured him, turning to go.
"And bring back a nice thick muzzle," Alex yelled at her, causing Roselyn to stop and turn back to look at him curiously.
"A muzzle," she asked, looking completely puzzled. "For you? In case you get bit and have to stitch yourself again?"
"No," Alex grunted, forcing the needle through his skin, pulling the corner of the gash shut, "It's for you at night," he told her, as sweat dripped down his head. "So I can finally get some sleep for a change."
Blushing brightly, Roselyn said nothing as she turned and hurriedly ran off into the distance.