Sure enough I found out exactly why the knight looked as if he dreaded this meal. I couldn’t discern anything in it whatsoever. It also had very little substance in the fact that there was little to no meat. Many of the men ripped apart their stale bread and threw it in to give it some but the stale, possibly maggoty bread didn’t help anyone to feed off it. All it did was make it harder to discern whether it was bad or not.

I did my best to eat it but like many others I was on the verge of vomiting. A few of the men did vomit after eating some of it but most kept it down. Medea couldn’t do anything accept stare at it as if she was waiting for it to move. Though she ended up taking a bite of it after I had nearly eaten all of mine. Upon taking her first bite though she instantly began hacking it up before even swallowing. Chunks of God knows what shot out of her nose and she looked like she was going to be sick. Despite that she ate the entire thing whilst forcing herself not to gag.

“Who the hell made this soup?” I asked once I was done.

“We all take turns making it but the pot hasn’t run out since we started it four years ago.” one of the knights said as he set his bowl to the side.

“Four years ago?” I exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah, it started with one person making a bunch of soup and every day someone new has added what they could to it to try making it better or at the very least, edible. It was good for the first year though and has gone downhill since.” the knight explained.

“Is that a common thing to do?” I asked.

“Of course. Most households have a single pot of soup that they continually add meat, milk, and vegetables to until they have no more left. They just leave it by the fire to keep warm. Though it’s usually something that is only kept through the winter and it never tastes this bad.” the knight explained further.

“So are you just trying not to waste it?” I asked with a bit of concern in my voice.

“That and no one is willing to start a new pot because that would mean cleaning that one.” he said, gesturing at the thick layer of burnt crud on the side of the pot.

“How have none of you died from that?” I asked even more worried than before.

“You get used to it.” he said before walking away.

I looked back over at Medea who looked as if she was sorry that she reacted to the taste of stew in such a bad way. Though I couldn’t blame her. If it wasn’t for the fact that everyone else was eating it I would have given mine to someone else. Though when I looked around many of the others probably had the same mindset. Even Gwaine, who had no problem with the jerky and salted fish was troubled by the stew and looked as if he was rethinking his life as he stared into the abominable stew.

Since we had eaten though many were trying to find a dry spot to sleep as there were only enough beds for a good two hundred knights in the fort so the other three hundred had to scramble for whatever spot they could get. Never had I seen twenty grown men climb into a giant cuddle pile on top of the hay laid out on the stables. Others were laying around the stew pot for warmth while also holding their nose as they slept and the rest were scattered around like seeds being thrown in different directions. Since my coat was drenched it was hung up inside to dry. Which meant that I had nothing to keep me warm while I slept. Thankfully, Medea had packed a robe which we both used to keep warm.

Also unlike the rest of the knights, Medea had saved the bed she had used earlier so we didn’t have to find a strange spot to sleep. I was very glad that she came along because I would never have thought to do that. Though I also felt bad that she was here since it was probably very hard for her. The stew and the lack of people her age were probably going to take a toll on her.

After falling asleep I felt as if someone was trying to wake me up. Sure enough, someone was. Opening my eyes, I saw Elysif knelt down beside my bed and gaving me the worst glare she may have ever given me. I was shocked but couldn’t move due to Medea laying in the small bed with me.

“So you decided to make the moves on my mother?” she whispered threateningly. I was both concerned for what she was thinking about doing to me but also about why she came to that conclusion. I slowly shifted my weight and got out of the bed to avoid waking up Medea.

“What is it?” I whispered to Elysif.

“You need to come with me.” she said as she grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me out the barrack door. I hoped that none of the knights in there were awake to see me being dragged off by Elysif.

The rain had stopped and only a little bit of water was dropping off of the thatch roof of the fort. Because of the rain a thick fog had rolled in and covered the land around us. The only sounds I heard were those of the busy night life and the snoring of the knights as we passed through the fort. A few guards stood atop the fort to watch for anything that may be a threat but the fog was too thick for them to see anything anyways. Once she dragged me to a spot within the fort that was somewhat secluded and there weren’t any knights sleeping. Elysif stopped dragging me and turned to face me.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a very threatening tone.