“So are we burning the body or digging a really big hole?”
A twinge of guilt went through him. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so rough, but given the fact that the centaur had almost gutted him…
“I can’t dig at the moment.” He lifted his shirt to show the nasty stab wound to Dove. “You missed the prelude to this.”
“Apparently. Damn. You still have any internal organs left inside you?”
It didn’t feel like it. “I’ll be fine.” He hoped.
Sighing, Dove used his powers to start a fire.
Ronan moved downwind. Ever since their childhood, he’d never been able to stomach the smell of burning flesh. It brought back too many years of their suffering.
But he was grateful that part of their past didn’t seem to faze Dove at all.
He moved over to the side to sit on a rock when he heard a hawk’s cry.
Dove paused to look up. “What’s that?”
Ronan called out to the bird.
The large brown hawk circled before it landed on the ground beside him.I have a message for you, my lord.
“From?”
Xaydin. He needs you.
Dove turned to watch them. “What’s going on?”
“He says that Xaydin needs me.”
That had the same effect on Dove that it had on him. Xaydin never asked for assistance. Not in all the years they’d known each other. It wasn’t in him.
So if he reached out, it wasn’t on a whim and it meant something dire.
“What’s happened?” Dove asked the hawk,
“He doesn’t know. He’s not the first messenger. All he knows is that Xaydin sent word to find me and go to him.”
“Dear gods…he’s dying.”
That was the most likely outcome for this. Ronan couldn’t think of any other reason for Xaydin to send such a message. It wasn’t like the beast needed help of any kind.
“Should we tell Dash?” Ronan asked.
“I’ll go tell him. You get to Xaydin. I’ll only slow you down.”
Dove was right about that. It’d be a lot faster for him to search as a hawk than have to worry about a land-based tagalong.
Ronan stroked the hawk’s back feathers. “I’ll send word as soon as I know something.”
“Rendezvous later.”
Ronan inclined his head before he switched forms and flew off with his messenger. This was a day none of them thought would ever come.
Xaydin asking for help.
Panicking, he headed off in the direction the hawk sent him, praying he wouldn’t be too late. For all he knew, this could be a trap.
