Page 16 of Condemned

Takk raised a glove, gave him the knowing eye, and Zo nodded back. Yes, he could try something.

After years of soldiering, they could read each other’s thoughts, or close enough.

“Sir!” he called to the clerk, Benelo, who shared his belief in zendokai philosophy. Zo leveraged that yet again by casually brushing away hair from over his eye. On his temple he wore the scarlet-and-black zendokai tattoo of interlocked circles and stars. “I believe I left a talisman given to me by my sister at the grave. It may have fallen into the dirt.”

He raised his eyebrows in obvious hope.

“Oh! I see.” The clerk, a small, lightweight mauleon, looked startled, shifted sideways. The paleness of face he’d suffered on seeing the blood running down Avalon had reverted to a healthy pink. “It cannot wait?”

“I’d prefer to retrieve it. My brother soldiers can sign for me. I trust them not to steal my bonus.” Zo smiled. “May I?”

“Of course. Yes. You can do that. I know your honesty, sir.”

And at that blessing, Zo turned his mount and rode back to the buried girl. Only Kondio’s scythefox, Gia, paused in mid-lope and sat watching after him, her red ears twitching. The rest of the troop trotted onward and after a few seconds Gia turned swiftly to follow them.

All up to him.

He’d get there on time. Surely he would? Strange how much he needed that to be true.

Was it just that they’d devoted so much effort to this, he wondered as the hooves drummed on the track.

No.

He thought not.

Avalon had become a sort of mission for them, a project. A way to dismiss the insanity of war?

As of this moment, he felt unsure of his own reasons. Which was very unlike him.

Fate had something in mind.

He touched his zendokai tattoo and did the little genuflection to the heavens.

Fate trumped the endeavors of both mauleon and mankind.

Once they were around the bend and out of sight, he touched his heels to his dark-haired mount, spurring it. The florse surged, leaving the road completely for a microsecond, the semi-useless wings flapping as they took off at full gallop.