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Revel stood up. As he unfolded to his full height, it was impossible not to hold my breath. He was massive. He was magnificent. “Gonna find some more wood.” He left the circle and disappeared into the trees.

I settled next to Lyric. The flames illuminated her pretty face. “You look weary, my friend,” I said.

“I’m so tired.” A big snore interrupted our conversation. Austri was laid out flat on his back. His belly rose up and down with his snores. “Austri, too. We haven’t moved in eleven years. My muscles are just getting used to it.” She yawned and pulled off her cloak. She rolled it up. “I’m going to take a nap while the food cooks.” Seconds later, Lyric’s soft snores joined in chorus with Austri’s loud ones.

Madigan opened the burlap sack Osco delivered. She pulled out a large tin can, pried off the lid and reached in to pull out a ball of dough. She placed the lid of the tin can on the fire, flattened the ball of dough and dropped it on the lid.

I walked over to join her. She handed me a ball of dough, and I followed her lead on flattening it and dropping it into the flames. The first dough had already puffed up and a honey sweet fragrance wafted out of the fire.

“Hmm, that smells good. I’m starved.”

“Fry bread is a staple in Norvale. We eat it with every meal.” She dropped another one on the lid and reached in barehanded to pull the cooked one free. She took a square of linen from the sack and placed the bread on it. “Go on. Give it a try.” She reached into the sack and pulled out a chunk of something that had a salty, vinegary scent. It was wrapped in burlap and twine. “Well done, Osco.” She opened the burlap, and I realized the waxy, aromatic hunk was cheese. She broke off a chunk and gave it to me. “Eat this with the bread.”

I tore off a piece of the hot fried bread and folded it around the cheese. It was strong cheese, almost strong enough to make my eyes water, but the mellow, sweet flavor of the bread was the perfect compliment. “That’s delicious.”

She pulled out a few flasks. “Water or ale? I’m sure the ale is flat, but, even flat, it goes well with that cheese.”

“I’ll stick with water.” It might have been my hunger or thirst but everything, including the water, tasted extra delicious. Madigan used a stick to push the hunks of meat over on the spit. Then she plucked a bread from the fire and broke off a piece of cheese for herself.

“Why do people call Revel ‘vamp trash’?” I asked between enthusiastic bites. “I’m sure I heard that man, Gunnar, the one who attacked me, call him that, too.”

Madigan poked at the fire to keep it going. Glowing sparks danced around the dark clearing like red fireflies. “Revel is pure Valian. The Valian descended from Norse tribes.”

“That explains why he looks like he just stepped off a Viking longship.” I pushed another mouthwatering bite into my mouth.

“Revel is many generations parted from the true Viking culture. There’s a long history of the Valian people. It was said that Odin, the king of the Aesir gods, welcomed brave warriors into Valhalla, but one of the tribes was too bloodthirsty, too ruthless for Odin’s taste. It’s believed they descended from berserkers, warriors who fought without conscience and with unbridled fury. It was believed that an ancient coven of vampires from another land infiltrated the tribe, giving this particular group of berserkers vampiric tendencies. They thrived on fresh blood. Odin viewed them as too dangerous and banished the tribe from Valhalla. They wandered in the ancient forests for years, killing for blood and leaving a trail of destruction. Eventually, they tired of the brutal nomad life. It was no life for raising a family. They eventually shed their vampiric tendencies, but the warrior skills were still needed for survival. The Valian are formidable in any battle, but at home they live a simple life, hunting and farming. They have no desire or need for riches and finery and so …”

“So, they earned the name ‘vamp trash.’ Seems like people here in Troikana are no different than the people in my world. I mean the human world.”

I looked over at her. The light from the fire illuminated her incredible, refined beauty, her golden-brown skin. “And you? You’re Valian, too?”

“On my father’s side. That’s where I get my warrior skills.” She leaned back and wiped a few beads of sweat from her forehead. “My mother is a Solamite, but she lives in Norvale with my father and six brothers.”

“Six? Wow. No sisters?”

She smiled and winked at me. “Just you and Lyric.”

Her words went straight to my heart. “I feel the same way. So, if I’m a tri-mix, then you’re a duo-mix?”

“A double-blood.”

“Hmm, seems like my label is better.”

One of Austri’s snores sent a strange little mouse-like creature scurrying out from the fire. “Uh, did that thing just run out of the flames?”

“Phoenix mites. They lay dormant in dead wood until a fire brings them back to life. That one has probably been dormant for years.”

Austri growled sleepily and rolled to his side. Lyric was still asleep, too.

“And Austri? Physically, he is quite different than Revel.”

Madigan had a thin dimple in her cheek. “Understatement. Austri’s mother was Valian, but his father was from Lowengate, a land across the Blackforge Sea. They’re little people but smart and industrious. His parents died young, and he came to Norvale to be raised by Nonny, his maternal grandmother. Lyric, like Revel, is pure Valian.”

The trees parted, and Madigan reached instinctively for her bow but relaxed when Revel stepped through the branches. He had enough wood to keep an entire village warm and dry, and he held it in just one arm.

I took a moment to collect myself. He’d only been gone a few minutes but seeing him again took some adjustment. “I just realized something,” I said quietly to Madigan before Revel reached us.

“What’s that?”