They progressed fast across the land that despite having a distinct mountainous feel looked in some aspects similar to Elvenshire, in others to Dwarfland-- wide stretches of lush forest gave way to meadows and fields interspersed with villages-- until late afternoon, when Peregrine agreed to stop for a meal in a copse of trees growing on the shore of a great lake.
"From here, we will tread carefully, I want you two ride close behind me. As we approach Goon Brenn, the ground becomes increasingly waterlogged. I have no intention of pulling you out of the peat bog, elf," Peregrine admonished.
"It doesn't look all that dangerous to me, dragon," Leodhais muttered, observing the sandy path leading from the copse towards the lake where long grasses whispered, shivering in the cold wind that substituted the mild breeze which had followed them across Goblinica.
"You are welcome to try, of course," Peregrine said, standing up, nodding towards the place where the path, leaving the lake's shallows, grew darker, the sand turning into damp soil, before it vanished in a grove of young trees. "I'm simply saying that I might not notice your disappearance in time to rescue you."
In reply, Leodhais muttered a couple of words under his breath in a voice so low that not even Gilderoy caught them. The dwarf sighed as he followed Peregrine's example, got to his feet, and mounted his pony, wishing that the two would behave more civilly to each other. He had tried to defend and explain both of them to the other; he had tried to sow the seeds of friendship between them. But it had been to no avail, and now he gave up; the elf and the dragon shifter seemed to find each other instinctively disagreeable.
"How far is The Gate Inn?" Gilderoy asked after a long while of silence filled with the eolian tones descending like rain from above their heads to entwine with the sucking sounds of their horses' hooves disappearing in the thick, sticky mud as they progressed along the path at a walking pace.
"It's not too far, but we won't reach it before nightfall, considering our velocity."
Gilderoy nodded, then let his horse fall back in his place between Peregrine and Leodhais, who allowed his steed to follow the other two without his interference and dozed off in the saddle.
The wind grew stronger as the travellers rode through the grove, which morphed into forest only to reverse into another lake's treacherous shore; thick, squishy mud never entirely disappearing from beneath their horses' hooves.
Feeling the gelid wind running through his clothes and skin to his very bones, and seeing all the murky water without ever meeting another living soul, made Gilderoy feel dismal and cold, and he dropped off his horse with chattering teeth when they finally arrived at the walled courtyard of The Gate many hours later, the large inn being the only human settlement they found along their way that day.
Loud music and bright lights spilt through the small windows of the vast stone house, banishing the night into the shadowy corners of the cobbled courtyard.
"We'll take the horses into the stables and look after them before we go in," Peregrine instructed, observing Leodhais who just let himself slip off his horse and stood watching him, shivering, with his moss green eyes still unfocused by sleep.
"Why do we have to do this ourselves? Won't the innkeeper send someone to look after the animals?" the elf asked.
Taking Shadow by the bridle, Peregrine approached the elf and stood very close, frowning down at him.
"This is my family you are talking about, elf, and they are not your servants; you are their guest."
"Oh?" Leodhais muttered, intrigued, as he and Gilderoy led their horses towards the stables. "Family, you say? Now you must tell us more, of course."
Both Leodhais and Gilderoy stared at Peregrine with eager, curious eyes. The elusive dragon shifter who had told them next to nothing about himself throughout their journey would finally have to reveal something now...
"No, I don't," Peregrine growled in reply, taking their horses from them and entering the dark stable alone. "Wait."
He was out in the wind-swept courtyard minutes later, passing them their luggage, before preceding the two towards the door of the inn.
The heat redolent of burning wood and roasting meat spilling from the open door felt so intense after the coldness of the night that both the dwarf and the elf shuddered as they blinked against the bright, moving lights of several fires lit within the spacious room.
"Go find a place to sit. I'll join you soon," Peregrine muttered.
He left them standing in the doorway and made his way across the sea of creatures crowding the place towards the long wooden top, which Leodhais could glimpse at the other side of the room. Gilderoy, seeing nothing but bodies moving all around him, talking, and even singing loudly, pulled at his friend's sleeve and nodded to his left, leading him towards the closest free, only just vacated table.
To their delight, the table offered them a good view of Peregrine. Leodhais' mouth dropped open when he processed what he was seeing-- the awful man was just embracing the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and she seemed perfectly happy about it. Just who was she, what was she to him? A beauty like her deserved someone... someone like him rather than His Darkness, this brooding, never smiling, impolite entity Alaric cursed them with.
"Oh no. No, no, no, Leodhais," Gilderoy muttered, recalling Aryana and Peregrine's feelings of responsibility and brotherly love for her. "If this woman is important for Peregrine, you'll keep your distance from her. You mustn't cross him..."
Leodhais laughed. "Why, I didn't say anything. And if I remember well, women in Alaric's kingdom have the right to choose their men, should she like me, no one will prevent her from..."
"You are forgetting, Leodhais, that you are as good as promised to Alaric's daughter," Gilderoy hissed, surprising the elf by his insistence and decisiveness. Gilderoy had never cared about his affairs before. This quest had changed him, made him grow annoyingly responsible and interfering.
"You are not my father, Gilderoy. I never had one, apart from Alaric, who looked after me almost like a father, and I definitely don't care for one now."
Gilderoy sighed, admitting that his friend was right, at the bottom of all things. They were both adults responsible for their own lives. "Sorry, Leodhais," he said.
The elf simply nodded, the dwarf's words forgiven and forgotten, his senses riveted by the young woman in Peregrine's arms.
She was tall, slim and gracious and as Peregrine spoke directly in her ear because of the noise reigning in the room, her eyes, the most beautiful pair for ice-blue irises, travelled towards them while her arms never left Peregrine's waist, hugging him to her fiercely, as if never to let go of him again.
The woman was as gorgeous as the most beautiful elven ladies, and yet her long black hair told Leodhais that she wasn't an elf. She was too tall for a werewolf and too rosy-cheeked for a vampire... The breathtaking creature was a mystery to solve.
His lips curled into his most alluring smile when Peregrine and the woman, her arm still wrapped around his waist from behind, made their way towards their table.
"Gilderoy, Leodhais, she's Annwyn," Peregrine announced simply as he sat down next to the dwarf.
"Welcome, travellers," Annwyn spoke, her eyes smiling from beneath her shiny black fringe as first Gilderoy, then Leodhais who kept her hand in his significantly longer than necessary, jumped to their feet and kissed her hand.
"Gilderoy, in your service, my lady," the dwarf muttered.
Leodhais was reduced to muteness as those bright blue, diamond-like irises poured into his, their owner's head tilted to the side in a silent question, the woman apparently as surprised by the attraction that flowed between them as the elf himself.
"What... are you?" Leodhais stammered when Gilderoy's hand pulling back down to his seat broke the spell between them. His eyes passed over the dragon shifter's ominous frown as he dropped back on the wooden bench even as the woman sat next to Peregrine, then waved her arm in the air even as she laughed, her eyes never leaving his.
"I'm something of Peregrine's younger sister. Half elf, half dragon. My parents took him in as an orphaned, wandering little boy before I was born. We grew up together until he put it in his head after my father's death that he was a danger for me and..."
"Annwyn, that's enough," Peregrine growled.
"No. You can't be, elves and dragons don't..." Leodhais muttered, so stunned by what she had said that he ignored Peregrine entirely.
She laughed. "Only a pure elf like yourself, Your Highnesses, could think that. My parents were the happiest couple."
"I apologise," Leodhais said, blushing. "I didn't mean that. And that's not my title."
"Well, it should be, as you are our king's chosen heir as the whole kingdom knows, related to him or not. And seeing that you are carrying one of his mysterious rings and were sent to find and marry his daughter..."
Leodhais scowled at Peregrine-- His Darkness had filled his 'something of a sister' in too well-- as he spoke to Annwyn, "Well, we haven't even met yet. She might not accept me..." He let his voice trail off as he realised, for the first time, that Alaric's daughter might indeed not accept him, and that he wouldn't really feel too sorry about her refusal, if it wasn't for the throne.
Annwyn's giggles pulled him from his reverie; the woman did nothing but laugh, and it was so refreshing that he felt the corners of his lips tugging upwards despite the fact that the joke was on him.
"It seems that you led a hard life at court. Well, whenever you wish for a holiday, you are welcome to come and spend some time with us, we always need help," Annwyn said, smiling at him even as a woman brought their dinner. "I'll leave to enjoy your food; we are very busy tonight. But I'll be back before you retire to your rooms," she added, standing up, making Leodhais notice only now that she was dressed in mens clothes and the black leather pants and white shirt, adjusted in such a way that they hugged her slim and elegant figure, suited her tremendously. He had never met a woman as stunning...
"Eat, elf, it's getting cold," Peregrine hissed, making him realise that he was staring at Annwyn, who was already serving customers at the opposite end of the room. "And then go to bed. We have to leave early tomorrow."
"But she said she would..."
"You'll keep your hands off her. You've been warned!" Peregrine added menacingly. He finished his meal in two bites, stood up, and walked away, thus putting an end to their conversation.