‘Still,’ Elric mused, ‘you ought to name your companion.’
Nymeria nodded and signed something with graceful hands, her expression unreadable but firm in agreement.
Kage rolled his eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that morning. ‘Fine. Snow.’
Arden made a noise of protest. ‘You can’t name it that.’
‘Why not?’
‘It’s too… too obvious.’
‘I can name it whatever I like,’ Kage said, voice calm and flat as slate. ‘It’s Snow.’
‘It needs a warrior’s name,’ Arden insisted, giving the wolf an affectionate pat. The creature sat proudly, tail thudding once on the grass. ‘What about Ghost?’
‘Fine.’
Arden tilted his head. ‘You don’t sound convinced.’
‘I am.’
‘Are you, though?’
Kage had already started walking again, brushing past them as their laughter chased after him. Hisshoulders, tense with annoyance, loosened the moment the wolf padded beside him once more, its side brushing his fingers like a secret they both understood.
‘You liked Snow better, didn’t you?’ he muttered under his breath.
The wolf gave a low, unimpressed huff.
Kage grimaced. ‘Fine,’ he sighed. ‘Ghost it is.’
…
They had pitched camp not long after stepping into the rainforest’s humid embrace. Kage, for one, found little to like about the place. The air clung to his skin like a second, unwanted layer, and each step sank his boots deeper into the thick, reluctant mud. A bead of sweat traced a slow, deliberate path down the curve of his cheek, stinging slightly as it passed.
The Fae, infuriatingly, seemed untouched by the discomforts of their surroundings. Not a hair out of place, not a crease of sweat upon their brows. Kage suspected subtle magic at work. A glamour, perhaps, woven not just to preserve appearances but to make them seem as though they were on a leisurely stroll through paradise, rather than trudging through a sodden inferno. They had spent the day crossing meadows veiled in golden light, only to enter this lush green labyrinth, where the heat lay thick as a blanket and the very air seemed to shimmer with damp.
Still, Kage reminded himself, he was wyverian. Bred of endurance, trained from youth in both mind and body. He may not possess the brute strength of his brother Kai, nor the whip-fast agility of Mal, but his stamina was carved from stone. He could endure.
Nymeria had vanished into the undergrowth, soundless as shadow, to gather firewood, while Elric busied himself withsetting up camp. Kage took his place beneath a twisted tree whose roots bulged like knotted veins through the earth. He sat in silence, ever watchful. Above him, Spirox perched in the branches, his spectral eyes gleaming like two tiny moons, cool and calculating.
At his side, Ghost let out a disgruntled huff and shifted his weight with a low, gravelly growl, ears twitching at the unfamiliar sounds of the rainforest.
‘You’re uncomfortable too?’ Kage asked softly, a dry smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. There was some solace in the shared misery.
Arden approached in silence, dropping into a crouch beside Kage, his hand falling idly to the wolf’s fur, stroking it as though the motion steadied his thoughts. He cast a quick glance over his shoulder at Elric, then leaned in, his voice little more than breath.
‘I don’t want them growing suspicious,’ he murmured, so quietly it barely stirred the air between them.
Kage tensed, every instinct on edge.
‘In the night,’ Arden went on, his lips barely moving, his fingers continuing their lazy rhythm over Ghost’s thick coat, ‘we make our move.’
A fractional shake of Kage’s head was all the protest he gave.
‘We need to lose them,’ Arden insisted, undeterred, his tone a blade wrapped in silk.
‘I thought you were going to show them how to leave the Black Lotus,’ Kage said, his voice low, laced with warning.
