Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 25 - Lance - No Time For Rest

It didn't take us long to get to the northern part of Cadorelin, buy horses, and then take off towards home. Of all the places, Fernweh should've been my first guess. Every sign had been pointing straight there and I should know my sister well enough to know that she'd never leave home. She's the predictable type once you get to know and understand her, and yet here we are, seven cycles later, just now realizing that there's still more for her to pull out of her pocket.

The wolf is still with us, running in between me and Darius while we're on horseback. Darius asked for his name after it changed back into his animal form. Turns out my sister still has a nick for coming up with fun names for people, or...water wolves.

Víđarr.

Forest Warrior.

If you ask me, it's rather plain for her sort but I'm not going to be the one to tell her that. Then again, it's not necessarily pronounced the way it's spelled. Víđarr. Vee-yarr. If it's got a plain meaning, then it has complicated spelling.

He led us through Wildflower Valley, somehow finding a trail through it, though flowers bloom wherever he stepped. It wasn't until we were halfway through the fields and I looked back that I realized he was covering our trail. There's no way in heathens anyone could possibly see our tracks when the soil is upturned by quickly sprouting Blanket Flowers, Lace Wildflower, Cardinal Flowers, and dozens more. After we come through the last of them and sprinted onto the open land, grass rose to do the same and hide the marks we left.

Nimue Lake marks our halfway point, and I never thought that I'd be so relieved to see it after a full day of riding. We have to switch out our second group of horses in Litchelle and plan to be on our way before our muscles can stiffen to the point of making it a challenge to get our feet in the stirrups. It's been years since I've been on horseback. I always preferred the on-foot journey compared to the sourness of riding, but right now I'll take speed and stiffness to burning lungs and too much land to cover on my own two feet.

I can already feel my muscles and back tightening up, which is why I'm bouncing on my toes while we wait for the stable hands to saddle and bridle up fourteen horses. They all nearly pissed themselves when they saw Víđarr, but the horses didn't do more than glance at him. I'm curious as to how he does that – keeping everyone but people at ease. I'll admit, I've gotten used to his presence, but every now and then it'll scare me to see his head pop over my shoulder. It's like one of his practical jokes. He just sneaks up behind people and scares them. What's even more alarming is the fact that he's currently playing with a few children, letting them climb on his back or run their fingers through his body like a pool, their hands coming away dry and their wide smiles marveling at the magic of it all. He even created three wolf pups from his own body to chase them around.

He reminds me so much of Fauna in the way that he acts with children. Friendly, kind, gentle, and stern when needed. One of them falls into a pile of mud while trying to keep away from one of the pups, and he just walks over, washes him up, and then leaves him dry and good as new.

"Seeing is easier than believing," Darius comments as he walks up next to me.

He's been rather calm about this whole thing, though I do still feel his power pulse every now and then. My nose will bleed if it gets too strong, but it hasn't happened yet so he must only be letting out the smallest of dampers that he can spare. If we're going to get her back, I have a feeling that we'll need everything he's got along with every ounce of strength the rest of us have. We lost her once, we're not losing her again.

"What do you know about him?" I ask.

"Víđarr? Not much more than you. Only that this-" he holds out his hand, a small flame dancing on his pointer finger "-seems to be drawn to it."