The girls sat on a log off to the side, and didn’t move. Knox supervised the group, but kept an eye on the two sitting silently off to his right. Isaiah stood dutifully near them; his chest puffed with pride for being chosen for the job. He would be the first to protect them should something happen, and he knew the others were jealous.

Bernard made his way over to the two as soon as he had set up his tent. Knox recognized the excitement he had at the idea that he could learn new information from the women, whom Bernard had already decided were indigenous peoples of the forest.

“Well why not?” Bernard had asked Knox as they began setting up their camp. “We know that we are nowhere near the edge, and to think so is not only wishful thinking, but foolish. Therefore, they must be indigenous people here!”

“Alright, but a woman and her daughter just wandering around like that? And remember how we first met them? They were hiding by themselves. Isn’t that suspicious?”

“Some savages allow their women to go out and about and have them do dirty work for them. Or perhaps there are warring factions and those two are slaves. They could be lookouts or they might be on the run. The possibilities are endless!”

Knox just shook his head. “Whatever. If you can get information out of them, then great, but considering everything we do know about them, or more accurately, how we don’t know anything, I’ll be more surprised if you can get them to talk.”

“Not to mention assuming they’re friendly,” Jackson piped in, coming to stand next to Knox as he surveyed the camp.

“Well,” Bernard huffed, “we won’t know until we try, now will we?”

Knox just waved him off and tried not to look too interested as he watched Bernard make his way over to the two women sitting on their log.

Bernard bowed, and Knox assumed he introduced himself, but neither woman or girl responded. They simply looked at him. Bernard tried again, adding more gestures to his speech in an attempt to communicate. They blinked back at him for a moment before turning to each other with quizzical looks. After a few more attempts, Bernard came back to where Knox had sat down next to the fire pit and pretended to be watching two of his men try and light damp wood.

“I think that they don’t speak any of the more common languages, which confirms my idea that they have to be indigenous to this forest. I tried a greeting in every surrounding language.” Bernard sat down next to Knox and pulled out his notebook and began scribbling furiously. Knox assumed Bernard was detailing as much as he could about their new companions.

“Maybe,” was all Knox could offer.

Knox continued to peek at the two sitting at the edge of camp when he saw the woman nod, even though he hadn’t seen the little girl say a word, and she reached into a hole in the log. Judging by Isaiah’s expression, he hadn’t noticed the hole was even there, but his eyes grew wide as the woman pulled out a fish. She tossed it towards the fire pit. The men were still struggling because of the damp wood from the recent rain. At the sound of the fish hitting the ground near their feet, they turned and looked at where it came from. The woman was already pulling out another and she tossed it towards the men. She now had the attention of the entire group as she pulled out a third, and a fourth. They piled up next to the fire pit and she wiped her hands on her pants. The little girl patted her mother’s knee and Isaiah looked lost as to what to do.

Knox made the order to begin cooking the fish as soon as the fire was hot enough and then made his way over to the log. He nodded a dismissal to Isaiah, who quickly went to help his comrades build the fire. The woman tensed as he approached but she didn’t move.

“I just wanted to thank you,” Knox said once he was standing in front of them. He debated upon sitting on the grass, rather than standing over them, but he didn’t like the idea of looking up at them either, so he stayed where he was.

“How did you know about this place, and why did you have food already here?” Neither of them answered. The girl yawned, but the woman didn’t move. “I’m sorry, you and your daughter must be exhausted, it has been quite a day. I’ll leave you two be and let you know when dinner is ready.” Knox didn’t know what else to say. They hadn’t spoken a word to him, his men, or from what he could tell, between themselves. Normally, women would be groveling their thanks at being rescued, but these two seemed to be more annoyed at their encounter than anything.

The little girl snorted and burst out laughing. Knox was shocked at the sudden sound and show of emotion. He looked to her mother, but her face hadn’t changed, except for the barest hint of amusement in her eyes. He wasn’t sure what was so funny, but he quirked the corner of his mouth. Maybe it was their way of handling the stress? They didn’t know how to react, so they laughed? Knox could name a few people he knew that were like that, but he wasn’t sure they would be laughing if they were in the same situation. He turned away, puzzled, but he didn’t have time to be leisurely and entertain them. There was work to be done.

The sun was setting and it was growing dark. The men had taken turns going farther downstream to wash up, and they were getting hungry, but the fire wasn’t lighting. Knox didn’t want to serve raw fish to the girls, though he and his men would have probably torn into them already if they had been alone. The girls had yet to move or make another sound, and Knox had sent Isaiah back to keep an eye on them. He had given special instructions to see if he could get anything from them, but whenever Knox glanced over, Isaiah gave a slight shake of his head.

Knox was surprised when they both stood up and walked towards the fire pit. Isaiah quickly fell in line with them. They didn’t say anything, but the woman crouched next to the fire pit, her daughter standing closely behind her, and pulled something out of a pouch attached at her hip. Knox cleared his throat as a warning to his men, who were taking long glances at her position. Before he knew it, there was a small flame in her hand, and she reached into the center of the pit. She carefully laid it down and removed some of the logs that had been placed on top. She leaned forward and blew. The flame danced and grew. The men shifted in their discomfort, as well as their embarrassment. This woman had bested them in building a fire, and had been extremely provocative in the process.

She sat back on her heels and watched as the flame caught and grew before she stood up and turned away. She and her daughter walked back to their log and sat down. The men wasted no time in getting the newly cleaned fish onto the logs and taking their seats around the fire. They laughed and joked loudly, but spoke in quite voices when they spoke of their new companions. Knox didn’t want to hear the profane comments that were sure to come out of their mouths and went to have a meeting with Jackson about their next course of action. They stood far enough away to have a private conversation, but close enough to keep an eye on everyone.

When the fish was ready, the men had a hushed argument on who would bring the food to the women. The argument was won by Tristen, who was a well-known womanizer among the ranks. Knox wasn’t surprised he had gotten to go. He was handsome, and had a way with words, and he had probably already convinced the rest of the group to place bets to see if he could get with the woman by the next morning. While the rest of the men were probably jealous of the chance they were giving him, they also recognized how unresponsive she was, so if anyone would get her to open up, it would probably be Tristen.

Knox had debated placing Tristen in charge of their care for that very reason, but he had chosen Isaiah instead, deciding that his quiet, amiable character would get farther with them than Tristen’s forward, predatory attitude.

Knox and Jackson watched as Tristen brought Isaiah and his charges their dinner. Tristen smiled as he leaned down and handed them their food. He didn’t say a word. Knox was surprised by the lack of comment from Tristen, but then when Tristen went to retrieve his own portion, he brought it back to the two, and sat down at their feet. He gestured for Isaiah to join him on the ground, and the second man took the offer. Tristen began to joke and talk about himself. He asked them their names and where they were from and kept the conversation light, but neither mother nor daughter spoke a word. The mother didn’t touch her food, which prompted Tristen to assure her that he hadn’t poisoned it, and then he laughed. She didn’t move. Her daughter dug in, however. It wasn’t until she had finished that the woman began to eat her share. Knox was positive that it had long since grown cold by that time, and Tristen was beginning to run out of things to say in his one-sided conversation. The daughter, who was clearly the more expressive one, wasn’t paying him any mind either, so Tristen wasn’t getting a read from his audience at all.

Knox almost felt bad for her; Tristen could be relentless, but Knox needed something to happen to be able to get any sort of information out of them, and at this point, if that was the woman agreeing to let Tristen fuck her, then so be it. But Tristen was getting nowhere with her, and it didn’t look even mildly hopeful. Knox wanted to laugh at how uncomfortable he looked as his conversation ran drier and drier. Jackson sat beside him and looked like he wanted to jump into the fire from second hand embarrassment.

“You should probably go rescue Tristen, he went from digging himself a hole, to climbing into his grave,” Jackson nudged Knox.

“You’re probably right, but it could honestly do him some good, getting rejected like this. Besides, I don’t think he registers the idea of rejection, it’s all a game to him. If and when I go rescue him, it’s only going to give him a chance to recuperate and think of a new tactic for later.” Knox took a swig from his private stash and screwed the cap back on the flask. He was careful to try and make it last as long as he possibly could.

“Yes, but isn’t that what you want? If he finds a new tactic, then maybe that’s a new angle into getting them to talk,” Jackson had hit it on the head, and Knox had no choice but to agree. It was getting late anyway, and Knox wanted to get to bed. Although, he doubted he’d be able to get any sleep.

“Tristen,” Knox approached the small group sitting at the edge of the fire’s light. “Go help clean up. Isaiah, how about you lead these two ladies to their tent so they can get some rest for the night?” Isaiah scrambled to his feet and nodded. He didn’t have to say anything to the women next to him, they had already stood and were waiting for him to lead the way. Knox watched them go and continued to watch as they entered the tent that had been brought for him, but he had yet to use himself, and close the flap. He turned away and set about getting himself ready for bed, unrolling his mat and settling down near the fire. He didn’t bother worrying about telling who to go on watch when. They all knew the rotation by heart.

When Knox woke, he rolled is mat and packed his things. He was an early riser, and so he always relieved the last watch since he was up anyway. He nodded to Derek who sat huddled near the cold embers of their fire. They had doused the fire out of habit more than anything. The only animals they had come across were the dead ones left at their campsites.

Knox went to the stream and splashed water on his face. The water was clear and not very deep. There wasn’t a sign of life in the water at all. He looked into the water at his reflection. He needed to shave, and he could use a bath with soap, not just a rinse downstream. There was a flash beside his reflection and the woman’s face appeared. Her eyes were clear and bright green, but she still looked angry. Knox whirled around so fast he almost dunked himself into the stream. She wasn’t there. Nothing had changed since he last saw the camp. No one else had woken up, and the last watchman had fallen asleep. Knox shook himself. He must be seeing things. Perhaps the stress was starting to get to him.

He wiped his face on his sleeve and made his way back to camp. Jackson was starting to stir, so it was time to begin waking the rest of the group. Knox nudged each man with the toe of his boot as he walked past. They were slow to get up, but as soon as they saw Knox head for the tent, they were alert. The realization that they had stumbled across a woman and her child had hit them and they waited to see what Knox would do. Knox cleared his throat; there was no door to knock on and he felt that shaking the whole tent would be too aggressive.

“It’s time to wake up ladies, we need to get moving,” Knox did his best to be respectful, but loud enough that he would wake them. There was no response. “Ladies!” he said a bit louder, “are you up?” Knox sighed. It would be a lot easier if he had known their names. He shook the tent slightly, but there was still no sound from within. Dread filled him. “I’m coming in,” he announced. Knox carefully lifted the edge of the tent flap, and when there was no reaction, he peaked inside.

His men watched as Knox stepped back and ripped the entire tent from the ground, flipping it over. There was no one inside. Knox turned to his men, who all sat frozen on the ground. Nobody moved.