Lori shot Lephas a knowing smile and squeezed his hand.
“Yeah... We may have goneoverthat cliff edge, rather than around it,” the commander replied, grinning when Raxx raised a brow.
“And you've been out here, all that time?” he asked curiously. “I didn't think you had packed that much equipment.”
“We didn't. It's been tough going. Do you know Haros got captured?”
“Faeries?” the shadow demon asked, his tone growing suddenly serious.
“The King's Guard were out here looking for Lori, as predicted,” Lephas replied, stroking his thumb against the hand he held tightly. “We got away, but Haros wasn't so lucky.”
“How did they manage to take him down?” Raxx enquired with a shake of his head.
“Lazuli had sent a whole troop – at least fifteen men. We managed to get a few down, but Haros had taken an arrow and they over-powered him.”
“Shit... Zelrus isn't going to be happy about that.”
“I, uh, don't think that's the only thing he's not going to be happy about,” Lephas said sheepishly. The shadow demon glanced over his shoulder, shooting him a knowing look.
The shadow demon glanced over his shoulder, shooting him a knowing look. “It hadn't gone unnoticed.”
“We'll talk about it later,” Lephas replied in a low tone. Raxx nodded and continued to stride forwards.
A comfortable silence fell between them and the commander turned his attention to Lori.
“How are you feeling? Are you too tired for this?”
“I'm doing alright so far. I'll let you know if I need help. Faye has apples – real apples – in her pack back at their camp. I had one before we set off and I'm feeling a little better for it.” Lori smiled.
“I'm glad to hear it.” Lephas looked across at Faye, unnerved to find her looking back at him. “So, Princess, how exactly did you get here? And more to the point, how did you meet Raxx?”
“Raxx and I ran into one another at a tavern I stopped in a few days ago. I'd foolishly stuck to the main road, not thinking for a second that my sister might have wandered off the beaten path into the forest.” Faye grinned playfully at Lori.
“In my defence, Iwason the road when these guys picked me up.” Lori laughed. “It's a miracle you weren't seen.”
“I think the weather has been so bad it's driven everyone into their homes. I didn't pass a single soul.” Faye shook her head. “When Raxx realised who I was and that we were looking for the same people, we decided toteam up.”
“That's very sporting of you, Raxx,” Lephas teased.
The shadow demon was notorious for his aloof, lone-wolf nature. It was wholly out of character for him to 'team up' with anyone.
“Two birds, one stone,” Raxx replied tightly. The commander grew curious, his friend was hiding something.
“We've been out here looking for you guys since then.” Faye smiled.
“And, I'm just going to remind you yet again, how utterly stupid you've been to follow me,” Lori snapped.
Lephas barely held back a smile. He wasn't used to seeing her so serious, ever the older sister.
“And as I'm going to remindyouthat it's no use telling me that now, is it?” Faye replied tartly. She seemed to glow brighter as her ire flared, scowling at her sister.
“You realise you can never go back now? Father has already disowned me, no doubt he's cast you onto the fire now as well!” Lori's face crumpled with sadness.
“I wasn't to know that, was I? If you hadn't run away in the first place then–”
“Hey – girls, girls...” Lephas stepped in. “Maybe we can argue later, hm? Let's just... Be grateful we're all here and safe now.”
Women...He would never understand them.
