Bastion checked the horse for injuries and found none.Finn bobbed his head indignantly, as if to say,you were a fool to think I’d left you.
“Perhaps you’re worth the trouble after all.”Bastion grinned.Finn lifted his upper lip and nosed him.
Once he made sure the camp was truly deserted, Bastion retrieved Ulla and Rowan.They walked in wide-eyed.
From beneath the debris, he found cloaks for all of them and cocooned Rowan in the driest one.Then, he left the boy in Ulla’s care while he caught and saddled a stray patrol horse.
Finn waited patiently with ears pricked for Bastion to check his gear.With some relief, Bastion noted that their bags were still secured behind the saddle.
There were things inside he didn’t want to lose.
He turned to Ulla.The wind tangled her black hair around her face and over the curve of her horns.She clutched Rowan, her shoulders and jaw tense.Slitted eyes raked over the horses.She looked so tired.
“Ulla,” Bastion said softly.Her sharp gaze caught on the movement of his mouth.“Finn can’t carry three.I’ll take Rowan.”
She clutched the boy tighter, lips curling to reveal fangs.Then she dropped one hand, opening her palm for Bastion to see the healing light playing across the surface.For a moment, he lost himself in the blue-white glow, remembering the euphoria that had followed the excruciating pain when she healed him.
His eyes drifted to Rowan.Even wrapped in the cloak, he trembled.His toes curled and uncurled in the dirt.
Bastion sighed.“Fine, but don’t exhaust yourself.”
He cupped his palms beside the patrol horse.Ulla patted Rowan’s chest, released him, and stepped into Bastion’s hands.He boosted her up.She closed her eyes and swallowed as she settled into the saddle.
Bastion fit her foot into the stirrups and looked up at her.“Ball of your foot on the stirrup, heels down, knees slightly straightened.That’s how you stay in the saddle.”
She nodded.Then he gathered up Rowan and lifted him in front of her.
“Hang onto his mane.”Bastion grabbed a fistful of hair just in front of the saddle.“I’ll have the reins.We’re going to ride hard and fast.Just focus on staying astride.”He patted Ulla’s thigh.“You can do this.”
She held his gaze a little too long, a myriad of thoughts dancing behind her eyes.She could have gone with the other Yvri.He wouldn’t blame her if she had considering all the trouble Bastion had brought on her.The words of the Yvri male wormed their way to the forefront of his mind:You need us.You needme.
He took the patrol horse's reins and vaulted onto Finn’s back.
Bastion turned his head and asked, “Ready?”Ulla white-knuckled her mount’s mane, Rowan fitted securely between her arms, and nodded.
Finn only needed a kiss of Bastion’s heels, and they were off.
__________
It was almost midnight when they clattered up to the closed drawbridge with the storm at their backs and the taste of lightning in the air.Finn huffed and danced sideways before a gaping chasm that echoed with the hungry roar of the sea.Bastion straightened, his muscles aching and cold.
“Who goes there?”a voice called from above the struggling torchlight.
“Bastion of the Royal Guard,” he called back.He would be known here, but he’d spent the ride thinking over his mistake with the guard at the garrison.More than ever, seeing Lord Kyrith was critical, even if it meant he had to lie.“Prince Endre sent me with an urgent and confidential message for Lord Kyrith!”
Lightning cut across the sky in a jagged arc.Silence followed.
Finn continued to huff, and the patrol horse shuddered as thunder boomed.Bastion tightened his hold on the reins, anxiety thrumming through his veins as they waited, and waited.
Then, a voice he recognized yelled down.“Bastion?”
“Nesrin!”Relief swelled within him.“Thank the goddesses!”
“Bellona’s tits!”she swore.“What are you doing here?Never mind–”
Nesrin barked a series of commands, and the drawbridge yawned open.The moment it touched the ground, Finn leapt forwards.His hooves beat an urgent staccato across the thick planks.The patrol horse lagged, pulling at Bastion’s still sore shoulders.
More lightning ignited the courtyard, white-hot and raw over the warm glow of torches.Ulla slid off her mount as soon as he stopped.She wobbled away to lean against a beam, her spine stiff and chest heaving.Bastion followed, handing the reins of both horses to a wide-eyed stable boy.
