Warfire | Broken Time Series: Book Two

Chapter 26

"I'd say you boys have done enough for the day," the hostess' husband said, wiping his brow with the back of his hand. "There's not much left to do since everything is put away for the winter, but thank you for helping with the animals."

The teens had long since ditched their cloaks in favor of keeping them clean. The pieces of leather armor they wore beneath were sufficient enough to keep them warm as they stored away hay bales and washed stalls.

"No problem! It reminds me of some of the things I did back at home," Gath chirped. "Well, until I was accepted into Gunford. And then Carvolier."

"Yes, speaking of your dragons—" The husband looked back into the barren fields where the teens' dragons roosted, basking in the sun. "—They did a good job in giving the cattle a day off. How did you train them? Don't you only use them for flying?"

"Dragons are highly intelligent, actually," Carthadeus said. "They understand you as well as we do, even if they're young dragons. It sometimes takes them a while to get used to a saddle or harness, but they're much more than animals."

The husband grunted in response. "Never got a close look at a dragon before. Never wanted to, either. But that explains why the purple one seems to have an attitude like a stubborn mule."

Nagan sighed at that.

"Anyway, go ahead and enjoy the rest of your day." The husband gave them a mock salute before shooing them. "I'm sure they don't even let younguns like you have much of a break in the army, do they."

A few more pleasantries and goodbyes were said before the teens moved away from their hosts' small farm, not even bothering to collect their cloaks. It was a bit too humid for them, anyway. There was still a chill in the air, but the further south they went, the less it was apparent.

"Everyone's acting like we're overworked, but I don't know about you guys, but this is better than back in Carvolier," Gath began as they all walked around the village.

"I'm sure Professor Fai has something to do with that," said Az. "He's always been against the idea of us being here in the first place."

Nagan was about to say something when Aitor bumped him with his elbow, nodding in a certain direction when Nagan turned to see what he wanted. A few hundred feet away from them was Blaine carrying a basket of clothes. Georgivus' clothes to be exact, judging by the shining materials. However, the little brat was nowhere to be seen. The teens glanced at each other, silently asking the same question before Carthadeus shrugged and began walking up to the older young man. The others followed suit.

"Blaine!"

Blaine jumped when Gath shouted his name—as did the other teens for that matter—but gave them a friendly smile when he saw it was just them.

"Ah, the bodyguards have arrived," he said as they approached.

"W-What ar—re you d-d-doing?"

An obvious answer, but Blaine told them, nonetheless, readjusting the basket in his arms before continuing down the path, signaling for the teen to follow him as they continued the conversation.

"I'm catching up on laundry for his Highness. We all don't exactly have the luxury to do any real cleaning, but so far he hasn't noticed if I've done it properly or not when I spray some rose water on everything afterwards." Blaine grinned over his shoulder. "He's still a child and can't tell the difference."

Recognizing that they were heading to the stream that ran near the village, Carthadeus said, "Wouldn't the water be murky from the storm?"

"If the storm came from upstream, yes, but I was told the storm came from the west and went south downstream. It may be a little muddy, so that's why I left the whites for another day."