Tivi's Dagger by Alex Douglas

Author:Alex Douglas [Douglas, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dragon, fantasy romance, mm, gay romance, glbt romance, pilgrimage, gods of love
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

***

The next morning we were again awakened by another clattering at the door. Thankfully our visitor was not the risen dead but the new Keeper with an over-laden donkey and about twenty silver-clad warriors in tow. He was a man of middle age with a toothy scowl that he flashed at us as he looked about his new accommodation. As I scrambled to pack my bags once more, I listened to Kari engage the man in conversation. The Keeper’s voice was gruff and he did not seem overly joyous about his new station in life. The fresh-looking lines of misery on his face led me to speculate that his was a position often occupied by the newly single.

He looked at us as if we were something unpleasant on the soles of his boots, but nodded a greeting of sorts. Kari was clearly explaining where things were about the hut and what had happened the previous night. As the new occupant listened, his scowl deepened but he gave me a nod of acknowledgement all the same. I felt some sympathy for the man, given the grisly fate of his predecessor.

We did not eat breakfast, feeling uncomfortable about using up the few remaining foodstuffs right under the nose of the man they now belonged to. The warriors outside were no more friendly. Faces hidden behind swathes of silver, their eyes narrowed and they turned away as we led the donkey past them. Two of them broke from their ranks and accompanied us to the mouth of the cave, talking to Kari as the rest of us lagged behind. Only Brin seemed unfazed about the prospect of facing giant spiders in the dark. He had donned his armor once more and appeared much more like himself. In his hand he carried a branch with oiled strips of material wound round the tip: the torch which would light our way. I hoped he did not expect me to provide the flame.

Flexing my hand — which was still blistered and stinging despite another application of Kari’s healing cream — I nudged Lana and pointed at the warriors, all of whom carried a dagger at one side of their belt and wooden tube at the other, presumably for shooting out their famed poison-tipped darts.

“You would think these believers in love would be more open to the chance of it,” I said in a low voice. “Apart from Kari and the monks we first met, they have been a thoroughly unpleasant and unwelcoming people.”

Lana laughed. “You’re right, Ned. I have not felt in engaging in any love with a single man we have met so far. Brindar’s Protector gear does us no favors either, and I wish he would stop wearing it. Perhaps they think him likely to commence some wearisome sermon at any moment. In any case, there seem to be few visitors so far into the country. It is an all too common thing, to dislike that which is unknown.”

“If we were neighbors to the un-named lands,” Kel said, falling into step beside us, “we would likely be just as suspicious.

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