NightEye

Intertwined

The days pass quickly. 

    The day that Sam came to training in human form, we only trained for a couple hours. Rie finally ended training, and told us to break camp with the rest of the soldiers. It was hard work, but I welcomed it, especially with Sam beside me.

    Marcus is more distant, lately. I asked Sam about it one night while we camped out under the stars. I still didn’t want to go into the tent, and Sam stayed to protect and talk to me. I think he also hated the tent, as well as most of the people in it. 

    Sam looked at me like I was mad. He shook his head, and threw a stick into the fields. His green eyes reflected the light of the moon, making him look like a night-seeing creature.

    I waited for him to answer. He finally said, “He doesn’t like me, Pux. And I don’t like him.” I tried to wrap my head around why that would be, but I couldn't. At my confused look, Sam smiled, though his lips were edged in sadness. 

    “I’ll tell you later,” he said, leaning back on his elbows to sleep. I snorted, but curled up next to him, thankful for his warmth.

    Now, days and days later, I still wonder about his answer. I watch both boys for any clue, but they don’t reveal anything. It’s frustrating. Just like hiking through the mountains with a bunch of human males. 

    I’m a scout, sent ahead by General Thur to watch for any enemies. All I’ve seen so far is birds and the occasional wildcat, though they stay away from me. I think they sense that I’m something not human, something even more dangerous. Or they’re scared by my armor.

    I’ve lived and breathed in this thing ever since Onyx made it. It feels like my own skin, and I’ve only taken it off once to see if I truly could. Sam jokes that I wouldn’t even take it off to bathe. I had to agree with him. For some reason, I love my armor.

    Onyx still hasn’t made Sam’s armor. He keeps grumbling about moving all over the place, and not setting up a full camp where he can work. No one but us three know about Sam’s armor. Not even Marcus.

    I glance back the way I came, looking for the struggling army. There. The glint of iron and metal. 

    The Mara legion doesn’t do well in the mountains. Rie cursed the peaks and slow dredging, saying that it was Yaerian magic at work. From the tales around the dinner campfire, I knew that Yaerians were said to have power over the earth, similar to Onyx and Sam. 

    I sigh, looking up at the sky. It’s clear and cloudless, a stunningly bright blue like General Thur’s eyes. Behind me, I hear shuffling, so I turn and grin at Sam, who grins back.

    Sam’s skinny frame is dwarfed by the huge pack he’s carrying. Stuffed with heavens knows what, he carries it without complaint. I know he aches to shift into his wolf form, to prowl the mountains and hunt. I know I do.

    “Nothing yet?” he asks, looking out across the peaks spread endlessly before us. I shake my head, muttering Tilvani curses as I look back at the Mara legion. Sam sighs, “Damn. I never thought the Spirak Mountains would be so wide. I know that they’re the longest on the continent, but I didn’t know about the width.”

    I shake my head again, and look up at the sun. By my calculations, it’s about three in the sunlit hours. To humans, the sunlit hours are known as morning and afternoon. The moonlit hours of my tribe are known as dusk and night. I hate their weird terms.

    Sam drops his bag to the ground, and inside I hear clanking metal. He shrugs at my look, and says, “Onyx wanted me to carry it. Said that my Lupa genes make me stronger than normal humans.” I nod, already guessing as much, and look back across the mountains.