Ereshk was breathing very heavily as he hobbled down the road out of town. The bags were wobbling dangerously in his shaking arms, and came very close to spilling more than a couple times. 
[i]In, out. In, out. In, out.[/i] He could ignore the pain in his arms if he focused on his breathing, but it also cost him his perception of everything but the road in front of him. Consequently, it came as a bit of a shock when a pegasus landed right in front of the mage. Ereshk jumped a little when it appeared the pegasus could talk; and it knew his name to boot! Pegasi weren't supposed to talk, right? They were smart, and had a sort of magic of their own, but Ereshk was sure they weren't supposed to talk. 

As the mage's senses fully returned to reality he realized that there was a man on the back of the pegasus, and it was the man who was talking, not the steed. Ereshk thought the stranger looked somewhat familiar. The man knew his name, so he was probably one of the other mercenaries from camp. Right? Did that make sense? How late was Ereshk, anyway? Was this man sent to find him? The mage looked up at the sky. The sun was a lot further along than he had hoped. 

"Oh! Um. I'm sorry," Ereshk replied, setting the bags down on the road in front of him. He quickly shook out his arms, trying to get feeling back. "Some help would be appreciated, yes."