Grandma had turned her head.
In the dark corner of the cave, where the three women were huddled together, the old woman stared directly at him.
Her eyes gleamed in the dim light. Small, narrow, but alert. Very alert, like a nocturnal predator.
She said nothing. Made no move. Just stood there, staring.
Studying and assessing.
'Shit. She noticed. She noticed the expression on my face. She noticed what I was thinking.'
Hawke looked away instantly. His face burned with embarrassment, the heat rising to his neck, to his ears.
She couldn't know. She couldn't even imagine. But the old woman kept staring, for seconds that felt like hours… or maybe she was asleep.
Finally, she turned her head back, settled more comfortably; that was it, she was asleep.
Hawke released the breath he didn't even know he was holding.
'Scary old woman, how can she sleep like that, with her eyes open?'
He ran a hand over his face, trying to compose himself.
'Stay focused. Try to get some sleep. Put it out of your mind.'
He closed his eyes. He rested his head against the cold stone wall.
The rock on his back seemed to suck all the heat from his body. His arms were covered in goosebumps. His tense legs were already beginning to tremble.
A minute passed. Five. Ten.
He couldn't sleep.
The cold wouldn't let him.
Sounds of footsteps came from the entrance. Hawke opened his eyes.
He saw the silhouettes of Kaira and Yuka against the moonlight, forcing the rock. Their arms tense, their legs planted on the ground, pulling a large stone sideways with all their might, as if closing a gate..
The stone must weigh… how much?
The giant stone that served as a door was moving. Slowly, with effort, being pulled from the outside in so that it sealed the cave.
one hundred kilos?
two hundred?
And they were pulling.
The noise was loud. Stone scraping against stone, a deep sound that echoed through the cave, vibrated on the ground, filled the space.
The men didn't even move; they didn't seem bothered by the loud sound, their sleep as heavy as the stone itself.
Duggi continued snoring. Kuggi didn't open his eyes. Tairo remained motionless. Completely knocked out by exhaustion and full bellies.
The stone finally snapped into place with a final THUD. The sound of rock hitting rock, sealing the entrance.
Kaira and Yuka turned, wiping their hands on each other.
And Hawke stood there, processing.
They had just moved a stone weighing several kilograms.
They were together but still impressive. They seemed like ordinary young women, and Yuka, in particular, lacked robust musculature.
They were exceptionally strong, possessing an incredible amount of strength. More than expected. More than... normal?
'Normal compared to what?? My world?'
Fragments of knowledge floated through his mind. Vague, hazy memories that could be real or they could be inventions. Humans should be weaker. At least the humans he knew. Or thought he knew.
'But I'm stronger too.'
The thought came clearly.
'I knocked that brute out with a kick. I killed five giant insects. I jumped off a cliff and survived. This isn't… normal.'
Whatever "normal" meant.
This world is different. The rules are different. Is the physics different? The biology?
Or maybe he just didn't quite remember how things worked where he came from.
Night had completely fallen.
Absolute darkness filled the cave. No moon, no stars visible through the holes in the ceiling, no fire. Just total black, dense as solid matter, and a cold that grew with each passing minute.
Hawke shivered.
He had spread a thin animal skin, which he had received from the old woman, on the stone floor, trying to create some barrier between himself and the icy rock. It didn't work very well. The fur helped a little, an improvised cushion, but the floor was still very hard and uncomfortable, hurting his back, his hips, and whatever else was in contact with it. Each bone seemed to find a different protrusion on the uneven stone.
And to make matters worse, it was very cold; Hawke could swear he was lying on ice instead of stones.
He should have made the fire. To hell with the possibility of sleeping with the girls. To hell with having to be the new sorcerer. He just didn't want to be freezing until morning came.
His teeth chattered slightly. A thin, constant tremor ran through his body. He rubbed his arms again, curled up in a fetal position, trying to retain as much body heat as possible. Legs bent, arms crossed, breathing shallow to avoid losing warm air.
It didn't help much.
The cold came from the stone. It rose up his back, seemed to seep into his bones. He uncomfortably shifted his position.
That's when he heard it.
Whispers.
Loose, muffled, coming from the other side of the cave where the women had settled. Almost imperceptible sounds, muffled by his hands, traveling through the darkness.
Then giggles. Soft, almost inaudible, but they were indeed giggles. The kind of laugh someone lets out when they try not to laugh and end up laughing more.
'What... what are they doing?'
He tried to see in the darkness. It was impossible. He couldn't see absolutely anything. No shapes, no silhouettes, no outlines. Just black. He regretted not having a torch or campfire to illuminate the scene, to see what was happening.
More whispers. More muffled laughter. Now they seemed to be getting closer.
'They must be tickling each other. Or telling jokes. Or… I don't know. Girl stuff.' He became more curious about what kind of girl stuff they were doing.
Even in a primitive world full of dinosaurs, girls were girls, apparently.
The sounds were getting closer. Clearly closer.
'Wait. Are they… coming this way?'
His heart raced. The cold was forgotten for a moment.
Then he felt a hand.
Delicate. Small. Warm. Lightly touching his cold foot.
Hawke almost jumped in fright, but he controlled himself. His whole body shivered, not from the cold now. His skin became electric, every hair standing on end.
The hand began to move upwards.
Slowly.
Up his ankle. Up his calf. Up his thigh.
'What… WHAT THE FUCK…'
The hand moved upward, tracing the thigh delicately. The fingers, light as feathers, followed a gentle path across the skin.
And then it found something.
Something that shouldn't have been found but it was.
The hand stopped. Retracted quickly.
More muffled giggles. Now louder, less controlled.
'SHIT. SHE FELT IT. OF COURSE SHE FELT IT. God, I'm such an idiot!!'