The Steele Wolf

“But how come you trust him…and not—.”

Bearen interrupted me, “He also made an oath. He would bring you back safely or he would come and forfeit his life to me.”

“Why would he do that?”

“You will have to ask him, not I. Now go before I change my mind.” He was firm. But he was letting me go. I heard it with my own ears.  Bearen turned and I ran into his arms and hugged him, knowing that this could be the last time I ever saw him.

“But you will take Hemi with you. I know this Kael is a strong warrior, but I will also send one of mine.” He stared me down as if daring me to argue. I did the only thing I could think of doing, rolled my eyes and hugged him again.

***

We’d been on the road for over a fortnight. I was surprised how far Skyfell was from the Ioden Valley. We had been delayed by days of cold rain that made the roads muddy and hard to travel. We weren’t making the speed that we needed to and it added one more thing to worry about. Closing my eyes, I grasped my family ring on the chain around my neck and sent a quick prayer to the heavens to grant us speedy travel and fair weather the rest of the way. Kael rode us at a hard speed but argued with Joss more than necessary over directions. Kael was trying to lead but Joss was the one who knew how to reach Skyfell.

“I’m telling you, we need to keep going.  We’ve got another hour of daylight.” Kael was like a hound on the scent, frantic to chase after the prey.  In his case, the closer we came to finding the Septori the closer we would come to breaking the bond between us and he would then be free to return home.

“And I’m telling you that you aren’t going to find a better place to camp.  There’s shelter off the trail a bit. Another storm is coming in and we have better coverage there. If we keep going, we are going to be caught in the middle of it with no place to seek shelter.” Joss threw his pack on the ground and stood firm, his blonde hair blowing in the wind, green eyes blazing.

Kael’s muscle in his cheek twitched, a sign that he was holding his temper in check. His eyes flicked to me briefly and then back to Joss before nodding in consent. He pulled his pack off of his horse and grabbed the reins and started to lead his horse into the woods towards a dense stand of trees.

Joss cleared his throat. “Um, it’s that way.” He pointed left across the road in the other direction than. Kael froze midstep and waited ten whole seconds before turning his horse around and charging in the other direction, showing the bushes and twigs no mercy as he stomped them to pieces.

Hemi, the ever-quiet one, just gave me a look, shrugged his large shoulders and followed after Kael into the woods. Joss walked up to me, irritated. “What’s his problem? He’s been acting weird since we left the Ioden Valley.”

I hadn’t told Joss about Kael’s unfortunate bond, and how much Kael resented being tied to me. But they were both irritating me this trip. They’d been snapping and challenging each other’s authority. I was so glad that my father sent my clansmen Hemi with us. His solid, quiet presence was a relief and I would oftentimes sit with him and let the peacefulness that surrounded him calm my nerves.

“What’s your problem, Joss? You keep goading him on! He is the one that’s risking his neck to help find your sister. I thought you would be pleased to have a SwordBrother on our side.” I needed to remind Joss how important Kael was to our quest. Having Kael was like having an extra ten fighting men.

“I am pleased to have a SwordBrother helping me locate my sister.” He said loudly, before dropping his voice to vent under his breath. “I just wish it were a different SwordBrother.”

“And what is the likelihood of that ever happening? How many SwordBrothers do you know?” I challenged Joss playfully as I dismounted Faraway in preparing to lead him down the same path Kael went.

“Well, let’s see.” Joss pondered moment. “Excluding Kael, that would be… none.” He smiled at me and reached for my hand and placed a kiss upon it, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb where he had just kissed it. My heart soared at the gesture and beat even louder when Joss leaned in to follow his peck on my hand with a full kiss. I wanted to prolong the kiss but a crack of thunder made us jump and grab our horses and start to head towards camp. I went to move away but Joss held firmly onto my hand and that’s how we approached the shelter.

Kael was unsaddling the horses and moving them into the stable that was built into the side of the small but cozy shelter. It looked like an old way station that hadn’t been used in a while. Kael covered his horse with a blanket and stepped out of the stable and froze as he stared at our hands clasped together. He paused for three heartbeats, glancing between Joss and me before continuing on into the shelter, the door slamming loudly behind him.

My cheeks burned in embarrassment even though I knew that Kael knew that Joss and I had feelings for each other. It was obvious that Kael disapproved of Joss and I being together. And so did my father, because he was a Denai. Maybe it was because I felt like Kael was the eyes and ears of my father now. The two had become fast friends, whereas I had thought that my father would be angry towards Kael for entering the Kragh Aru tournament and happy that Joss had saved me from going over the waterfall. But it was the opposite. My father liked and even respected Kael and had an intense and ingrained dislike of Joss. So maybe I was feeling guilty that I was letting myself start to have feelings for a Denai against my father’s wishes.

Sighing, I dropped Joss’ hand and followed him into the stable to get Faraway settled against the storm.

Are you going to be okay with the storm coming? I mentally asked my horse.

Of course. I’m well sheltered and have fine company, he snickered good-naturedly.

My horse happened to be very vain and found himself in the company of two mares on this trip. So he would pride himself on being the strong, courageous stallion if they were frightened.

Why did I even bother asking? I thought at him sarcastically as I ran my fingers through his mane pressing my forehead against his.

Because you care for me and worry about me. It’s all right, I worry about you too.

I know. Turning away from Faraway, I saw Joss watching me quietly. I had told him that my horse and I could speak to each other and it never fazed him; he was very observant and never interrupted when he saw me withdraw and become still, a sign, he said of when I was speaking to Faraway.

“You ready to go in?” he asked politely.

“No.” I walked over to Joss and wrapped my arms around him and leaned my head into his chest. He smelled wonderful, of earth, spice and faint horse. “Joss, I’m scared. I want to help find your sister but I’m terrified.”

“Thalia, you’re only human. I expect you to be scared. I would be worried about you if you weren’t. After all, you have a reason to be scared.” He hugged me tighter and kissed the top of my head. Another crack of thunder hit and we both jumped as a torrential downpour started. Even though the stable was next to the way station shelter, we still had to run outside to get to the front door. It didn’t matter, a few seconds in the rain and our clothes were soaked clean through.

Entering the one-room way station, I realized what my delay in coming inside cost me. There was no place to change. Joss and I took off our soaking boots and placed them by the fire. He stripped off his wet shirt and hung it to dry. My eyes drew to his abs and I felt myself blush and look away, only to find Kael’s stormy blue eyes and my blush deepened. Refusing to take off any clothes, I just scooted closer to the fire and did my best to wring them out, pulling the wet material away from my body.