Nass never did manage to fall asleep.
He tried to. For hours, he lay perfectly still on the soft little pile of moss he'd gathered and bunched up, sharing his body heat with Niss and lazily counting stars. With all the dirt and lichen he had surrounded them with, his butt wasn't even all that cold or uncomfortable –and granted, the way Niss kept softly exhaling into the side of his neck made him tickle, but apart from that, he couldn't complain.
Still … he wasn't tired. There were hundreds of things that he couldn't stop thinking about. There were so many problems to solve and so little time to solve them … and yet his twin sister did need to sleep, so they'd all have to wait.
Perhaps I don't, though, he thought.
He slowly sat up, then, for a while, remained perfectly still, listening to Niss's breathing and making sure he hadn't woken her. Afterward, he extricated himself from their mossy bed and got to his feet.
The forest was quiet, but surprisingly, it wasn't very dark. There was a full moon in the sky, shining its blue light through the gaps in the foliage.
"The sun set over there," he murmured to himself, "so north must be … that way."
He looked down at Niss again, then began to cautiously walk away from her. He was being so careful, trying not to make a sound, that he missed the small shadow of a tree branch directly in front of him.
The branch ended up scratching his face, and he suppressed a yelp, but after swatting it aside, he managed to make his way towards the nearby road unimpeded.
The stony path cut through the forest in a nearly straight line, illuminated by moonlight. It was unfamiliar – he still couldn't tell if he had traversed it on the slavers' wagon or if he'd never seen it before. There were no landmarks with which he could have oriented himself.
For a while, he shuffled along the road, looking for any sort of waypost or sign of civilization. He found nothing.
After what felt like an hour, instead of becoming tired, he only became more awake. For some reason, he found himself flinching at every sound, as though something might jump out of the darkness and eat him. It was unnerving. He'd never been afraid of the dark before, but now, he found himself shaking.
Swallowing hard, he turned around and quickly began walking back in the direction of the little spot where he'd left Niss, before he could wander too far and get lost. Once he neared the spot, he went around and started gathering sticks. He found a bunch of them soon enough, and after that, he started picking at rocks along the road until he found a flintstone. Then, just as he was getting up, his hair suddenly started standing on end as a couple of pine needles rustled at the side of the road, and a pair of tall, human-looking silhouettes stepped into the moonlight.
He heard some unintelligible whispering, then abrupt silence. The two humans stopped in front of him.
"Good … evening?" asked the one to the Nass's right. He was taller than the other and, judging by his voice, male. "Vifafey's blessings to you, traveler."
Nass cringed, trying to discern the humans' features in the dim moonlight, but it was too dark, and the moon was behind them. He turned his head to the side and spat on the ground.
"Your god of bigots can go to hell," he replied. "Good evening."
He heard their voices catch in their throats. A moment passed in silence.
"Right … um, respectfully, hello, then!" said the man to the right. He bowed his head slightly … clearly, he didn't know that Nass was a goblin.
"Calm yourself, Kelyn," said a woman's voice, coming from the second dark silhouette, the one to Nass's left. "I feel we are in no danger. We are among friends. Aren't we?"
"Of course," Nass said. "I've no plans to rob you … After all, you're going to freely give me what I need."
"Is that so? And what exactly do you expect to gain from two clerics traveling backroads by night?"
Nass snorted. Apart from the 'cleric' part, the woman had just described the perfect targets for a robbery. Only those with riches took steps in order to hide them. But … he currently had more important concerns. This time, the 'cleric' part was the very one that was crucial.
"I need clean bandages, honey, and salt," he said.
"You have wounded?" the woman asked.
"Yes. And her wound is infected—so give me what I need, and I'll tell my other friends to let you pass without knives at your throats."
The woman breathed a deep sigh. "Unfortunately, we don't have any of the basic healing supplies. All we can offer is the god Vifafey's blessing."
Nass frowned. "You expect me to believe that?"
"By my lord god, what I say is the truth. We are not merchants looking to sell our wares in Lyerateh, merely acolytes on a mission of divine importance."
Nass rolled his eyes at the nonsense, then thought for a couple of moments, wondering what would be the best next step. The woman seemed remarkably calm. She didn't even see him as a threat. If only he had a weapon … but he didn't.
"You shouldn't discount the value of Vifafey's blessing," said the taller silhouette, the man. "It's worth much more than most people think. My mistress is devout, she has been given favor—"
"Hush, Kelyn!" the woman said. "Do not speak out of turn tonight."
Nass shook his head. Pink-skins ... He knew that certain priests held real power, but he could only wonder if a blessing from Vifafey would work on a half-goblin. Would it turn into a curse instead? He did so truly despise dealing with pink-skins … but perhaps if they believed that he and Niss were pink-skins themselves, he could count on a measure of camaraderie … If he changed his tune.
"How far is it to Lyerateh?" he asked.
"To Lyerateh? Two days' walking," the woman said.
Nass sighed. Gods were fickle, evil things—except for Gromph, of course—but he likely had no choice but to put his faith in them, given how poorly Niss was doing. Healers didn't often willingly work for free … would he and Niss truly have to run down south to Ryzayah and beg for help from Father?
A couple of wolves howled in the distance. Instantly, Nass's whole body was shaking, covered with goosebumps. Suddenly, he almost panicked, his vision blurring, though he had no idea why. He shook his head … and just like that, the feeling was gone. There was nothing but silence.
Silence and pink-skins.
He grimaced, then shamefully made his choice and bowed deeply in front of the two clerics. He was already shorter than them, so he practically descended down to the level of their knees.
"I'm sorry for the way I've treated you just now, honored clerics," he said. "I beg you, please, spare a blessing for my sister."
Looking up, he saw the two silhouettes turning their heads and looking at each other. The dim moonlight revealed pink skin, just as he'd expected.
"This is highly unusual," the woman said after a few moments of pause. "But by the way this day has gone, I cannot help that our god Vifafey himself has led us to meet each other. Lead the way."