Out of Evenfall (BOOK 1)

Chapter 3

YUVEN

I wonder how many 'lost pets' Ineha has in that pile of hers. Tell people to put up simple rune fences at the cardinal points of their lands, and they act like you shit in their rose gardens. He scowled, able to hear a mismatch of voices from previous jobs that could've been avoided had they followed instructions. Rune fences? How dare you suggest to me a solution to a persistent 'pest' problem. You're a Storm Warden, he switched the voice to a shrill one. Do your job. We don't need rune fences. We already have stone fences. Gods, Fenrer has way too much patience with those types. What I wouldn't give to shove my fist down their—

Fenrer turned to him as they headed for the stables at the exits of the Fallholt. "You're buzzing."

"You think I can tell people to buzz off?" he questioned. "I hate repeating myself."

Deep in the throes of the months of sunfire, the horses roamed freely in the safety of the paddock. With the handy invention of rune fences to protect them on the off chance Derelicts made their way through the wards around the city. Amazing. Yuven snorted, while the hostler cleaned out the stable before switching their attention to Fenrer, and the two got into a conversation he had no interest in being a part of. I prefer hippogryphs over horses, personally... Though hippogryphs rarely got moved out to postings. Storm Wardens had to rely on horses and other sorts of carrier creatures. He milled about the rounded gate, where a few Storm Wardens sat in the guideposts. Playing cards, from their distractible expressions.

Ugh... Ice swirled around his palm, but he stopped at the clop of hooves against stone. Fenrer wrapped the reins around his knuckles as he came to a stop in front of him.

"I won't be too long," he said as he moved around the side of the Dyrin horse to haul himself into the saddle.

Yuven eyed the long stretch of road, past the paddy fields against the water-soaked hills from the distant rivers and nearby wells, irrigated into better places. Aspen forests rose behind some of the knolls. Closer to civilization, but never out of reach from Derelicts. "I thought you'd wait to hear how roads are."

"The outpost isn't too far out," Fenrer said as his horse tapped at the ground. Another being who hated wasted time. Yuven reached out to pat the horse's muzzle, but shook his head.

"Few days ago they found a corpse on the way to Azahama," Yuven argued. "Chunks of flesh missing. Bloody piles..." He gripped the reins. "Don't forget we neighbour a gorge of Derelicts, Fenrer. Only reason they haven't gotten out is due to ancient storm spires."

"How good of you to worry, but I'm not heading in the direction of Azahama, and a patrol recently came from the outpost." Fenrer grinned down at him, but it echoed with a hollowness. Nothing out of the ordinary, but he forgot the last time Fenrer smiled with the sun behind his green eyes, where the irides swirled to take in the flow of the echoes.

"Worry? You have a crescent blade, no need to worry," Yuven grumbled, hating every minute of the way Common webbed in his throat. "I am not Neven." Gods... he's a mother-hen if I've ever seen one. What else do I expect? He'd probably make sure Fenrer has all his food packed and feeling well, so I have to do it for him when he's not here. Fenrer doesn't take care of himself otherwise. Too busy stressing himself out over idiots.

Without the fondness their Guardian had for them, he doubted they'd have made it very far as children. It made it hard to not be grateful to him. Too bad his hatred for their home country combatted Neven's absolute love for it.

Fenrer tipped his head forward while the horse came closer to the gate. "Neven would probably be proud of fussing," their Guardian's name came out of Fenrer's mouth with a rolled r after the v, slight as a small wave. "You can say you're worried, I won't tell anyone."