“We have made it past the dregs, female. We will be within Bathyr lands by nightfall.” He lowered her to the ground. She held onto him as she found her bearings.
“Will your clan accept me?”
“There is nothing to accept. You have mated with me and could even now be carrying a Bathyr in your womb. They will guard the clan’s future with their lives.” Vedikus led her away from the water. The strum of his heart lessened now that mud no longer sucked at his hooves.
“Are there... are there other humans?” Excitement colored her voice.
“No.”
“Oh.”
He tugged her hair. “You are the first and will not be the last. Astegur, my brother, is out in the wilds seeking out his own prizes and knowledge to bring back to the tribe. He may well return with a human if you seek to find comfort with your own kind.”
“Astegur... Is he anything like you?” Aldora asked at his side, keeping pace. Vedikus had last seen his younger brother when they left the mountain together. Astegur was the weakest among them but rarely lost a battle when it came to wit. What his brother lacked in brutality, he compensated with craftiness.
“He likes a puzzle. Astegur was born third to my mother and is closest in age to me. We were reared together in my parent’s stable and there is... competition between us. He will not like that I have found a mate before him, let alone a human one at that. No, we are not entirely alike but we are kin, and we were born with power, and so, overall yes, we are similar. The Bathyr all are.”
“I have two younger sisters. We are alike but not, I understand.”
“Then you understand loyalty.”
“I would know what loyalty is regardless of my siblings. Loyalty is why I know I could never go back home because if I did, I would endanger them—put a target on their backs—and if that happened... I could never live with myself. I only hope they are okay and do not suffer for my actions.”
His eyes sharpened on her. “I have not seen you cry for them.”
She briefly met his gaze before turning away. “I did the first night.”
Vedikus nodded. “And your loyalty, are you loyal to me?”
“I am.”
He stopped and watched her as she took a couple steps forward before looking back to face him again. He had not expected her admission so easily and it helped soothe his displeasure. Aldora hugged herself against a chilly breeze at her back which sent her hair flying across her face. Vedikus closed the distance and burrowed his nose and mouth into the crook of her neck, breathing her in. She reached up and grabbed his horns as he licked her shoulder and neck. His body stirred, and he pulled back.
“You have my loyalty as well, human.”
Aldora smiled softly and he puffed out his chest. They lingered in the moment for as long as possible, staring wordlessly at each other, and he tried to tell her everything and more with his eyes.Home.They would build one together. She took his hand and they continued with enough energy to renew their steps.
The ground changed as they began to ascend from the plains back to the rocky and uneven terrain of the highlands. There was no steep cliff this time, but a gradual climb, and they turned direction to follow the crags. He scanned the clearing for the signs of his clan.
Daylight still brightened the mist, but he could no longer see the tiny dot of the sun, and it wasn’t until the faded orange haze of evening that they came upon the first marker. A gust of cold mountain air met them as they approached.
“A warning of the lands we are about to enter,” he said. “Let me see your dagger.” Vedikus waited as Aldora handed him the weapon and he pulled taut a small lock of her hair. “This will be a warning for all those who dare test us.” He cut her hair and tied it to the post.
“To be afraid of me?”
“To know that this clan has braved the barrier lands and returned victorious, but yes, if it pleases you, all creatures in this place should fear your power as well.”
She laughed softly, and he liked the sound. “I won’t go down without a fight. I knew that before in Thetras, but I know that more than ever, now.”
“I have taught you bad habits,” he teased back. A small smile curled on her lips and he found his own lowering toward them. The breeze blew her shift back, plastering it against her body, outlining what he enjoyed so much underneath.
“Will you teach me to fight? To wield my dagger and possibly even your axes to protect myself and to... protect us?”
Vedikus grasped her hand, finding her skin cool to the touch. “I will teach you more than that; you’ll learn how to kill. You’ll help make the Bathyr lands dangerous and our children will be feared throughout the world. They will need a mother who can meet them on the field.”
Her smile grew. “Did your mother fight?”
“Yes, and wielded the small amount of magic she was given, but she was better with potions and medicines. There wasn’t an ailment she could not treat, and she has passed down that knowledge to her children.” He slid his hand up her arm, discovering the rest of her equally as cold.
