Blood Ward by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2020-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Teer took the first watch, keeping an eye in the direction of both the nearby wardtown and the bridge over the Irigo. He took the time to check over his guns, something he didn’t do as often as he probably should.

The long hunter needed a bit of polish, but it hadn’t been fired in over a tenday, not since he’d gone hunting to feed the prisoners they’d taken from Boulder’s gang. He carefully went over the barrel and mechanisms, but everything in the breech-loading rifle was still solid.

His quickshooter had some build-up from being used against the wolfen. Disassembling it by the light of the three moons, he grimaced as he looked over the parts. The gun was still entirely functional, but there was more wear on the parts than he’d expected.

Part of that, he suspected, was that he could see it better than he once had, and the gun was old. It had also suffered from the use he’d put it to against the wolfen. The revolver wasn’t intended to fire as fast as he’d emptied it that day, and Teer knew the gun was, bluntly, cheap.

The metal of its parts was inferior steel compared to the quality of the hunter, and the wear was showing in ways he hadn’t expected. It had been a secondhand gun, passed down to a boy of fourteen turnings when he’d first gone riding the ranch.

There weren’t going to be any opportunities for him to replace it, but he realized he needed to be cautious. Another attempt to empty the gun like he’d done with the unnatural predators hunting Lora could easily wreck the weapon.

For now, he cleaned the parts and reassembled the gun. It would hold up for his purposes for long enough, he figured. They’d be in a wardtown soon enough. He didn’t know how long they’d be spending with the Kota after they delivered Lora to safety, but it wouldn’t be forever.

Then they’d leave the young woman with Doka’s people and ride on. That thought bothered him a bit, but he didn’t see much choice to it. He went where Kard went, and he didn’t think the El-Spehari was going to settle down anywhere.

If Teer was reading his partner and master as well as he thought, Kard figured anywhere he settled was a target.

His gear was cleaned and put away by the time his watch ended, and he roused the older bounty hunter.

“Thirdmoon is going down,” he murmured once Kard was awake. “We won’t get many more bright nights like earlier tonight.”

“Better that way,” Kard told him. “Worst comes to pass, you and I can guide the horses in the dark. Few others can.”

“True.” Teer knew he could, anyway. He wasn’t so sure about Kard—the El-Spehari had better senses than most Arani, but they weren’t as good as Teer’s newly awoken eyes.

“Go rest, Teer,” Kard ordered. “More long days riding ahead. We all need all the sleep we can get.”

Teer chuckled and obeyed—and was somehow unsurprised to discover that his bedroll was no longer on its own in the shade of the tree he’d set it up under.

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