She actually growled at him. “Why are you here?”
“I need you to summon the Outlaws.”
Chrys lifted her rather large black head to pin him with an eerie stare. Outlaw was a slur that unicorns used for those who were unmanageable, vicious or bastards. Or someone who’d survived a traumatic event.
In this case, it was a specific group of friends who’d come through hell together and barely survived. They were vicious, unmanageable and bastards…
The name they’d embraced was more than apropos.
“Are you out of your mind? Dash will kill you after what happened the last time they were all together.” Again, they were a vicious lot who didn’t bend to the will of anyone else.
“Dash will thank me.”
She scoffed. “Don’t know about that. I seem to recall a whole lot of damage. Angry villagers. Missing livestock. Fire.Lotsof fire and swearing. I’m not sure if Mischief ever learned to walk straight again.”
Ryper stifled a smile. She wasn’t wrong. Mischief was more than aptly named, too. That woman was forever getting herself into all kinds of trouble.
Chrys tucked her wings down. “May I ask why you wish to anger your High King?”
He wanted to tell her about Renata but couldn’t risk it. “Safer this way. We need to protect Dash and I need backup. There’s something really wrong here.”
She made an odd choking sound. “You’re an assassin. You always think something’s wrong.”
That was true.
However…
“This time I’m right.” He pulled a handful of seeds from his pocket and piled them on the post beside her nest. “Brought you breakfast.”
“And a problem. Food doesn’t make that better.”
“Not what you told me last time.”
She pecked at the seed. “Last time I was an idiot and don’t think that handsome smile gets you out of trouble.”
It normally did, especially with women. “Get flapping, crow. I need you. Dash needs you more.”
She made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a raspberry. “You want all of the Outlaws or just a few?”
That was a loaded question. Especially if he was wrong. They’d probably hang him with his entrails for dragging them here if they weren’t needed.
But if he was right…
I’m always right.Which meant Dash needed his only friends at his back. No one else could be trusted.
“All of them.” It might cause an interkingdom war to bring them all together, but it could also avert one.
Speaking of problems… “On second thought, let’s leave Xaydin out of this, for now. And I’ll go after Dove.” As a half-elfin bastard, Dove was a handful. No tolerance for much of anything, especially being summoned from the home Dove loathed.
Yeah, that was an errand Ryper wouldn’t ask anyone else to undertake. He’d grab Dove himself.
Chrys nodded. “Good. I’m not in the mood to dodge any arrows or daggers.”
Dove did have a bit of a temper, but that wasn’t why Ryper wanted to seek him out. Dove was the only one Ryper knew who had access to a higher magick that might be able to find Renata’s horn, and if he was lucky, that was where Dash was heading.
He turned his attention back to Chrys. “Have them meet me here at the lodge. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She took one last bite of food before she flew off.
