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“I am already regretting taking you with me,” Karniel hissed, crouched by the stone fence outside a farm. He was trying to hide, but his large triangular ears poked over the thing. Not that there was much sneaking to be had, it was a clear night and the moon had been full only two days prior.

Mathus said, “I’m here to make sure you do not get into trouble.”

“What do you think a burglary is?” “We are going to repay these folk.”

Karniel shook his head, “Oh sweet Mathus.”

“What?”

“You really think we will return with coin? That they will accept it from me?” The bat flashed his fangs. “Despite my impeccable bedside manner, rural folk tend not to see my charms like you do.”

“That is what I am here for,” Mathus reiterated.

The bat rolled his eyes and peeked over the fence. “The lights just went out in the house, let’s go over things again.”

Mathus nodded. “I will go to the henhouse and root around for eggs.”

“Hens, Mathus.”

“I do not want to—”

“For the love of—you’re quickly becoming skin and bone! We’ve been on the road a week and all you’ve eaten the last three days is berries and roots.”

Mathus’ stomach rolled over itself in his belly. He was hungry, had been for the last two days. They were in a tricky spot: Karniel could not hunt for Mathus because the bat’s curse kept him from even harming animals without repercussions, and Mathus could not hunt at all. He used his experience as an apothecary to scavenge, but they had traveled south so quickly he already found himself in terrain so alien it made foraging difficult.

“Okay, I’ll take one hen.”

“Fine, we will take another hen from the next farm.”

“Karniel we are not foxes!”

“No! We are much better looking,” the bat shot back. “But everything eats, and as someone who has made a reputation out of my eating habits, I can tell you sometimes its others’ displeasure or starvation.”

Mathus sighed, “Fine.”

“Let’s go.”

Karniel hopped over the fence in a single smooth motion before watching Mathus struggle, the bat eventually grumbling and helping the human to the other side. Once there, Karniel quickly stole away to the barn. While the bat looked for supplies for their journey, Mathus walked at a crouch toward the chicken coop. He did not want to be doing this, but Karniel was right. In Morgen’s Rest, Mathus had a steady source of income his entire adult life. The forest had been replete with curatives, and the village took great care of him for his work and knowledge. Now all that knowledge seemed worthless as the three books Mathus brought with him on the road. Karniel had grabbed the satchel before bursting through his home, but it had only been packed a few meager rations and three books. The books were all they had now, but Karniel refused to let Mathus try to trade them for some kind of coinage. He had just completely forgotten to pack what little he had saved under his mattress.

Three books, and now Mathus stood before a coop about to commit a crime and disrupt the lives of others just because he had not prepared well enough. There was no stirring in the hen house or in the house two dozen paces away. He unlocked the slat and pulled it to the side. It took only a moment to reach in and grab one of the chickens. She, of course, started squawking and the rest of the pen came alive. Something pecked his hand and, cursing, Mathus yanked out the struggling hen. It kicked and flailed in his hand while he cringed away from it. He knew he needed to snap her neck and just be done with it. But he just remained frozen there till he heard someone shouting behind him, “I’ll rip your throat out you touch my chickens thief!”

Mathus dropped the hen with a squeak. He spun to see an older man charging him with a makeshift club. The farmer came to a stop when a mass of hulking, furred flesh and muscle appeared in front of Mathus. Karniel had been feeding well, and he looked resplendent in the moonlight now: standing more than seven feet tall, shoulders broad and refined with muscle. Over one he carried a rucksack with a few bedrolls tied to it. Karniel waved grandly at himself and said, “Behold humble bumpkin! Your family tonight was robbed by none other than Karniel the Great!”

The grand proclamation stunned the farmer a moment. He waved the club and said,

“The Scourge was killed years ago.”

Karniel scoffed. “Killed? My dear boy—”

“You drop what you have and get off my property you oversized fox!”

“Are you blind? How dare you—”

“Now, son!”

A teenage boy from the second floor window of the house shot a bow. Karniel had been so busy trying to tell off the farmer he did not notice until the arrow pierced his chest. The bat gasped, but only fell back a step as the arrow pushed out between his ribs. “Really now, you cannot count on the manners of rural folk.”

“Karniel you’re—”

The bat ripped the arrow from his chest with a grunt, a small flick of blood arcing out with the arrow. “I would think by now you would trust me when I said things like this cannot kill me, Mathus.” Karniel turned to the window and waved, “Nice shot lad! We will call your rudeness even and be leaving with what we have now.”

“You’re not—”

“Do you really want to test my patience, mortal?” Karniel snapped, and it cowed the farmer immediately. The bat grinned and said, “There, now, we will be on our way. We bid you goodnight.” Karniel faced his helpless companion and said, “Grab a chicken from the coop, will you?”

The one Mathus had dropped had long since fled into the fields.

“I… I…”

“Oh for the—we will have a talk about your burglary skill later,” Karniel said, and hand barely fitting into the coop, reached inside it. Panicked squawking, Karniel pulled out one of the birds, careful not to hurt it. They started walking towards the farm’s gates.

As they did, Karniel said, “Not bad, all told.”

“Karniel, that boy shot you in the heart.”

“No, Mathus, for some strange reason you are the only one to succeed at that feat.”

Blushing, Mathus admitted, “I am amazed sometimes that that is the case.”

“Me as well, darling.”

***

“Well?” Karniel asked. Both of them camped at the bottom of a small ravine where a creek ran. Between them, tucked in the rucksack so it might not run off, was the hen they caught the night before. Karniel sat across from Mathus, the hen between them and a fire burning to their left. “Go on.”

Mathus held a frying pan Karniel stole the night before. He stared wide-eyed at the hen, who remained fairly calm in the rucksack.

Mathus shook his head. “Can’t we keep her, Karniel? Just feed her and take her eggs?”

“Mathus!” Karniel asked incredulously, “Why is this so hard? I know you are not opposed to eating meat.”

“I just never had to kill something before.”

“What about rodents or insects?”

“I always tried to just drive them from my home,” Mathus admitted.

Karniel groaned, falling onto his back in exasperation. He asked from the ground,

“Why do I love you?”

Mathus grimaced. “I do not like being a burden, either, you know.”

Karniel sat up and sighed. “Darling I may not understand your squeamishness when it comes to harming others, but I know it is what made you insist on feeding me when I tried to run you off. You are not a burden, you are just…”

“A glorified pet?”

“Psh, hardly. You never obey my orders and you’re not nearly chipper enough.” “You’re assuming I’m a dog,” Mathus said.

Karniel shrugged. “With the way your face lights up when you see me one cannot blame for thinking as much.”

Mathus grabbed a twig and threw it at him. “Hush, you adore being adored.”

Karniel wryly nodded. “You are still avoiding our current predicament.”

Mathus leaned over and set the pan next to Karniel. “I do not think I can do it Karniel.”

Karniel sighed. “How is it you are fearless when it comes to everything else. Very well.” Karniel turned over the rucksack, grabbed the woke and flailing hen, and snapped its neck between two large fingers.

And immediately doubled over in pain. He knew it coming, but preparation did not help. From his brainstem down, it felt as though Karniel’s whole nervous system burned. Pain made his muscles seize, made all thought incoherent. By now it had happened so often he should have been used to it, but each time hurt as much as the first. Karniel barely noticed Mathus holding the bat in his lap while he groaned and waited for this torment to end.

It was all he could do.

That and spit and curse and howl. Though, Karniel never dwelled on that. Best to just return to the façade that his composure was impeccable as always.

When he came to, Mathus was kissing his brow, whispering, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,

I’m so sorry.”

“Nnngh,” Karniel gasped, “Are you crying?”

“Karniel!” Mathus hugged him tight and Karniel felt the man’s tears rub against his cheek. “Thank goodness you’re alright.”

“Of course I am alright.” Karniel sat up and saw the streaks of tears on his love’s face.

“Why were you apologizing?”

“Because I’m the reason you just felt all that pain,” Mathus said.

Karniel rolled his eyes. “Can you please stop being a martyr, darling? You still have wounds healing on your hands and arms where I fed from you. You did that for me, I can do this for you.”

Mathus chewed his lip a moment before admitting, “It still seems unfair.”

“Well, till we find someone else to prepare food for you, it is the best we can manage,” Karniel said and reached for the bird. He grabbed knife he stole from the barn and fixed it against the hen’s neck. He folded the bird into a lopsided V and yanked it across the knife, beheading it in an instant. He tossed the head over his shoulder and said, “I will prepare this for you, and today we will rest here before heading further upriver to Leday.”

Mathus sighed and went to sit against a tree. He sat at an angle so he would not have to watch Karniel butcher the bird. Even that made Mathus a little ill. He asked to keep them from silence, “Have you ever tried finding a way to break the curse?”

“For the first year, yes,” Karniel admitted. “But, helpless as I was, I eventually had to flee north to avoid hunters and being hunted. I had planned to head so far away no one would be able to bother me as I died.”

“So you never found anything?”

“I searched through libraries, exhausted every contact I knew and was still loyal to me.”

“What happened exactly, Karniel?” The bat paused, and Mathus quickly added, “You do not need to tell me anything if it is too painful for you—”

“It is fine, Mathus,” Karniel said with a defeated sigh. “It is only fair you should know.”

“At the time I had been ruling a keep on the southern tip of Gavalon. I had a territory there and was keeping to my business when an army mustered from the lands north of mine—the Emerald Cities, the Kingdom of Melvolo, a few others—came with their soldiers dotting out the horizon. It was a battle I knew I would lose, but some spell cast on my lands kept me from fleeing. The battle lasted twenty days. I fed on prisoners every night to keep up my strength, but each day the number of my men dwindled till eventually our defenses were breached. I, however, could not be killed, only pinned and restrained. When I came to I had been bound, wings shorn, and they, some wizard and prophet, performed a ritual, and pressed the brand you see on the back of my neck.” “Prophet?”

Karniel growled, “Just another demagogue if you ask me. He united the Emerald Cities under some god he represented. First time someone managed such a feat since I ruled them a thousand years prior. His identity matters little.”

Mathus turned and faced the bat. “But what if your curse is some kind holy magic?”

“Magic is magic,” Karniel said to the hen as he plucked it clean of feathers. “It all draws from the same source.”

“Can you use it?”

“Anyone can when you have a conduit,” Karniel said. “The trouble is, I did not recognize the runes or language spoken when I was cursed, and could find no accounts of such a curse ever described. It is likely the people who crafted it invented the curse for me and only they can break it.”

Mathus frowned. “Could we convince them to?”

Karniel laughed. “Mathus! Hah! What a joke, convince two men who threw away the lives of thousands of soldiers just to see me starve, convince those men to just make that sacrifice for naught?” The bat chuckled and shook his head, “No, I am sorry Mathus but I do not think my salvation will come from them.”

The apothecary sighed and went back to sitting against the tree. He considered their predicament, and admitted, “I wish I might have a way to end the curse for you.”

“Really?” Karniel asked. “You are not worried I would go back to my old ways the second I got the chance?”

“I believe you are changed, Karniel.”

“Heh, for better or worse.”

“Better,” Mathus told him. “Even when we break this curse, you won’t kill again.”

“Mmm, tell that to the chickens.”

“You know what I mean!”

***

It was towards afternoon when Korlyon found his quarry. He tracked their scent nearly a hundred meandering miles south of Morgen’s Rest, to the farmlands along the Ledayan River. He left his horse tied to a tree at the edge of a small wood along the southern edge of a farmer’s property. There he crept to a ravine where below he discovered their campsite. Karniel and the human again. The bat looked fully restored, which gave Korlyon pause, but he took courage in the fact the bat would not be able to harm him. Hand on the hilt of his sword, he rose from the brush and said from the top of the ravine, “Rise and face me, Scourge.”

Mathus started and scrambled to put out the fire but Karniel stopped him with a hand. “You again,” Karniel shouted, “Can’t you see we are on our honeymoon?”

“If you will not face me, I will face you.”

Mathus called up, “We mean you no harm, please leave us in peace.”

The wolf ignored him and found a narrow trail down. The pair packed up their belongings. They were not frantic in their flight, however, which told Korlyon they expected to talk. The wolf could use that to his advantage. But as he approached their camp, the human stood firmly in front of the bat. Any other attacker and he would have made a pathetic shield, but Mathus did make Korlyon hesitate. The wolf drew one of his swords and said, “Stand aside human.” “No,” Mathus said defiantly.

“Come Mathus, there is no reasoning with—”

“No Karniel,” Mathus snapped, “You said yourself he will not stop following us, and I will not spend the rest of our lives hunted.”

“You are not hunted at all, little human,” Korlyon said. He pointed his sword at

Karniel’s blunt muzzle. “He is my quarry.”

“But why? You know he cannot hurt anyone,” Mathus insisted.

“He still must pay for the crimes he has committed, and the crimes he might should the curse ever be broken. Karniel is an ancient evil—”

“Well I wouldn’t say that I’m ancient—”

“That must be vanquished,” Korlyon snarled. “Do not interrupt me, Scourge.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot I am supposed to be polite even to my assassins.”

“Would you two stop provoking each other?” Mathus demanded. He took a step towards the wolf. “Korlyon, Karniel will not kill so long as I am here beside him. I swear it.”

“And what do you swear upon?” Korlyon asked.

Mathus fumbled for words, trying to come up with something both honest and important.

The wolf said, “It matters not. You could give up your whole life to the task, and he will live on and on. The only way to guarantee an end to his evil is an end to him.”

Mathus took another step to the wolf. “There has to be another way.”

Korlyon felt his hackles raise a little. He wondered if this was some kind of trick by the human. “Stand down Mathus of Morgen’s Rest.”

“I won’t let you hurt him,” Mathus said. He took another step. “Why? What does this beast matter to you?”

Mathus took another step. Korlyon’s blade now hovered, just below the human’s chin—at a gesture Korlyon could slit open his throat. “I love him,” the human said, eyes locked with the wolf’s. “And you will have to kill me before I let you hurt him.”

“Mathus, darling, that was a wonderful show of bravado but I do not believe you are going to convince this fool of anything.”

But Mathus kept his eyes locked with the wolf. Blue to amber. Korlyon saw a resolve just as sharp, if not more than, his own. Korlyon sheathed his weapon and said, “A vow of love is a double-edged sword, human. To keep it with a monster such as this… do you really think he is capable of returning it?”

“Well now I’m just insulted,” Karniel said. “You do realize I still have feelings, don’t you?”

“I know he does,” Mathus said and finally broke his gaze. He returned to Karniel’s side and pulled the bat into a kiss before whispering, “Let’s go Karniel.”

“This is not over,” Korlyon said. “I will keep pursuing you both.”

“Yes, follow behind us all you like. I am quite used to it,” Karniel said as the two began to climb up the other side of the ravine.

***

“Do you think he is alright?” Mathus asked, peeking over his shoulder. Korlyon followed them on a horse about a hundred paces down a dirt road.

“He is hardly our concern, darling,” Karniel said. The bat carried their belongings in the rucksack on his back. Mathus carried the satchel with his books, which he had not opened in nearly a week. “Honestly, you cannot go about adopting every traveler you meet on the road.”

“Jealous?” Mathus asked.

“Tsk, hardly. If there is one thing I can be certain of, it is that my company is far better than that self-serious—”

“Karniel.”

“Bah! Why must we be nice?”

“For a being as old as you are, you do not seem to hold much patience for others,” Mathus pointed out.

“It is because I am exceptional and have lived so long. I am a genius with two thousand years of learning to bolster my mental acuity. I do not have time to wait on others to come to the correct conclusions.”

Mathus shoved the bat. “Uh huh, sure.”

Karniel scoffed, “It is true. Where would you be without me?” “In Morgen’s Rest, reading right now judging the time of day.” Karniel went silent for a moment.

Mathus glanced up at the bat and noticed his brow furrowed. “Are you alright,

Karniel?”

“Do you miss your home, Mathus?”

Mathus considered this a moment. They walked along a stretch of field where a flock of sheep watched them wide-eyed. The human quietly admitted, “I do, sometimes. When I wake in the morning stiff from sleeping on the ground or when I’m hungry and we don’t know when or what exactly we will find for food.” Mathus took the bat’s hand in his, fingers lacing together and disappearing in Karniel’s as they held each other’s hand. “But I always found Morgen’s Rest boring and hostile. I hoarded all those books to escape from it, and now I get to see the world. With you no less. And when I think of that, it makes all the little discomforts worth it.”

“Gods,” Karniel shook his head. “How did I get to be so lucky to have someone so deranged at my side?”

“Hehe, I love you Karniel.”

“And I love you, Mathus. I will try my best to show you every wonder this world has to offer. I can think of nothing I would like more than to share that with you.”

Mathus giggled and squeezed the hand he held. “Some scourge.”

“Hush,” Karniel whispered before changing the subject. “We should reach Leday tomorrow morning. When we get there, I am not sure exactly how we will be received.”

“I am more concerned about securing us some coin.”

Karniel shrugged. “There will be ample enough fools to steal and swindle.” “Karniel, no!” Mathus gave his lover an exasperated look.

“What do you suggest, then? Begging on the street?”

“Hmm… aha!” Mathus snapped his fingers, “You surely know dozens of ballads and songs. What if you actually did pass yourself off as a bard?”

“Mathus bards are just beggars who ply their craft in bars to drunkards.”

“Well, you are strong and fast. We could always see if there is some physical labor you could do.”

“I hardly think people will pay me to replace their ox.”

Mathus sighed. “We need to think of some way to secure provisions.”

“I’m telling you the simplest thing to do would be—”

“No Karniel!” Mathus glanced over his shoulder again. “Especially not with Korlyon dogging our every footstep.”

The bat snickered. “That is what dogs do.”

“You know what I mean.”

***

That night, as the two of them made camp along the road, Korlyon approached them again. Mathus quickly got in front of Karniel, but the wolf announced, “I come in peace.”

Karniel snorted derisively, but Mathus noticed Korlyon holding the limp form of a rabbit in his paw. The wolf walked till he was only few paces away and held out the carcass. “I hunted this while the two of you scavenged for food this morning.” Both Karniel and Mathus stared at the wolf in shock.

Karniel asked, “Is this some sort of trick? Does your order not count poison as a form of violence?”

Korlyon shook his head. “There is no trick. You may not understand this, Scourge, but some of us in the world cannot suffer to see another soul go hungry. I hunted this for Mathus.”

Mathus felt himself blush and hoped the dwindling light hid the color coming to his face. He said, “Um, that is very kind of you. Would you like to eat with us?”

Now it was Korlyon’s turn to be surprised. The wolf said, “Why?”

“Yes, Mathus, why would we—”

The apothecary shrugged. “It just seems the right thing to do.”

“Darling need I remind you this wolf nearly got you killed in your home—”

“I would have saved him had the villagers harmed him,” Korlyon interjected, fixing Karniel with a glare.

Mathus considered that. He knew Korlyon responsible for his expulsion, but the apothecary did not have it in him to hold a grudge. Aside from being worried and defensive for Karniel’s sake, Mathus held no ill will towards the wolf. He saw his offer to break bread together as a step towards peace between them.

Karniel still insisted into the silence, “Mathus that wolf is likely to try and slit my throat in our sleep—”

“He’s not tried yet, has he?” Mathus said, turning on the bat and taking his hand. “He knows where we’ve slept every night and he has not tried once to hurt us.” Still holding Karniel’s hand, Mathus faced the hunter again. “I trust him, Karniel.”

Korlyon’s leather facemask hid his expression, but Mathus could see in the wolf’s eyes he reassessed them both a moment. Eventually, Korlyon shook his head, “I do not wish to intrude.” He set the rabbit down and added for Karniel, “Please, there is nothing wrong with the rabbit. Just see that the human is fed.” “Thank you, Korlyon,” Mathus said.

“It was nothing,” the wolf muttered before turning about and trotting off.

“Have a goodnight!” Mathus called, waving at the wolf, who opted not to turn back or respond.

Karniel studied the wolf a moment longer. He honestly did not believe Korlyon attempted some trick, but he had never encountered a hunter from the Faceless Order so… caring? Was that the word? However, Karniel certainly knew the same hospitality would not have been extended to him. He asked Mathus, “Do you really trust him?”

Mathus continued watching the wolf’s retreat. “So long as I’m with you, dear, I do not think he will try to hurt either of us.”

Karniel grunted. “Regardless, him hunting for us is rather convenient. I thought I might have to steel myself to snap another chicken’s neck soon,” he walked over and grabbed the rabbit, “But this will do nicely for the time being.”

***

Leday was an inland port made prosperous by a set of canals further west that connected the Ledayan River to the sea. In the course of a century it had gone from dusty village to a trade hub that managed most goods heading into the northlands. Most traders Mathus met in Morgen’s Rest came from Leday, but Mathus hearsay about the city did not compare to the real thing for him.

Leday spanned two miles in an ellipses centered on the river. A complex network of canals dug through the city made travel by ferry more convenient than by road. Most of the buildings in the city were constructed of a grey-blue river stone excavated from a local quarry and brought into the city on ships. It was a city so sprawling there were no walls along its perimeters. One moment they simply walked among farmland and the next they passed through a market. Traders on this side of the city hawked goods from the south: colorful birds, complex trinkets cut from jade or amethyst, street food that wafted towards them and made Mathus’ stomach growl.

Wagons and carriages and travelers aplenty passed through the streets. Mathus and Karniel walked behind a wagon train headed into the city, with flocks of children haranguing the caravan until they noticed the strange pair thirty paces or so behind.

Mathus noted most around them went silent when they caught sight of Karniel.

Mathus asked, “Happy to finally be recognized?”

Karniel grunted. “It is good to see my reputation has been sustained all these years.” “Do you think anyone will attack us?”

“Hardly. You remember what that farmer had said? They likely thought I was dead.”

“And here you come, walking out from the north with a human beside you.”

“Yes, rather confusing for them, I imagine.”

Mathus hooked his arm around Karniel’s. “Let’s confuse them more, shall we.”

Karniel chuckled and reached down to pinch Mathus’ butt. The apothecary blushed, but continued holding onto his bat.

Mathus glanced over his shoulder. “I cannot see Korlyon in the crowd.”

“I looked back a saw him a few minutes ago. He follows us still. What, were you worried he would not enter the city without asking someone for permission?”

“I know he is not that foolish,” Mathus said. “I just like to know he is still with us.”

Karniel sighed. “You’ve grown fond of him, hmm?”

Mathus considered the question a moment. On their right, they passed by a construction site. A large building of some sort was being erected next to the river. Men worked noisily on top of scaffolding, hauling up timber beams, a wall three stories high only finished on one side. Mathus studied it a moment longer before he answered, “Though I don’t care for why he is following us, it is nice to have someone else to talk to now again.”

“Mmm.” Mathus half expected Karniel to make some comment about the bat’s superb company being the only thing anyone needed. But instead Karniel said, “I understand what you mean. I suppose, while I find his whole vendetta against me tiresome, he does not seem the bad sort.”

“Think he knows anything about poetry?”

“One would hope there has been more to his life than swinging a sword,” Karniel said. “Sadly most hunters I encountered were terrible bores.”

From behind them both they heard a loud snap! like a tree coming down but the crash that followed came with a chorus of screams. Mathus saw a dust-cloud already covering the construction site as something had crumbled and the stone wall collapsed. Mathus took a step toward the disaster and Karniel grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”

Mathus wrenched himself free. “We have to help them.”

“Ugh, fine,” Karniel assented and pursued Mathus as they ran back to the site. Things had been dug into the ground to put in a basement. The half-built wall had toppled over and now the whole site was a mess of strewn timber and rock. Mathus saw a man with his leg trapped trying to dig himself out with the help of another.

Mathus took another step and Karniel stopped him again. “Stay here. I will bring people to you and you can finally ply your trade.”

Karniel leapt down into the mess next to the trapped man. He lifted a chunk of mortar and stone off him with one arm and pulled the hapless human out. His large ears swiveled around as he heard more muffled screaming beneath a section of wall ten by ten feet. He jogged over to it and, grunting, crouched down and lifted up the entire thing. Three humans, one certainly near death, stared up at Karniel. The bat growled, “Well don’t just stand there.” The two healthy ones pulled the third out, and Karniel dropped the wall back into place before going to the next set of cries he heard.

Mathus meanwhile was tending to the first man brought up from the site. While the other worker went back down, the apothecary tied a splint using some wood scattered from the accident and leather straps he cut off from his satchel. As he worked, ignoring the man’s fussing, he felt a pawed hand press down on his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Korlyon asked. The wolf knelt right beside Mathus, genuine concern clear in his amber eyes.

Mathus nodded and said, “Yes, go help Karniel.”

Korlyon glanced down into the construction site. “You both are helping?”

“Of course we are,” Mathus said as he finished fastening the splint. More workers came over the side carrying another person. Their jaw had been smashed and blood covered the man’s front. Mathus got up and, ignoring Korlyon, started trying to see if there was anything he could do to ease the soul’s suffering.

Soon enough, others who witnessed the disaster began helping get the remaining workers out of the site. Three men died, but Karniel managed to uncover and dig out twelve more in record time before Korlyon helped sniff out two more corpses. They recovered the bodies, and while Mathus worked with two other surgeons called to the scene, Karniel sat across the street on the cleared out porch of a tavern. He wiped sweat from his brow, muscles aching from the sudden inhuman exertion he put himself through.

With a grunt, Korlyon sat beside Karniel.

Karniel spared him a glace. “Not going to take your chance to run me through?” “I will spare you today, for saving the lives of those men,” Korlyon said. “Hmmph, then why are you here?”

“I want to know more about Mathus.”

“Oh, find him fetching, do you?”

Korlyon growled and threatened, “I may not kill you but I will still beat you bloody.”

“Heh, sure thing, hunter. What do you want to know?”

“What is he to you?”

Karniel gave the wolf an exasperated look. Korlyon stared impassively back. “Are you going to make me say it?”

“Say what?”

“That I love him? That for the first time in my long long life I have found someone for whom I would put before myself?”

Korlyon studied him a moment longer. “You really do love him, then?”

“Of course, I do,” Karniel snapped. He looked back into the crowd, catching glimpses of Mathus. “He makes life worth living, even when I must suffer this curse.”

“Hmm,” the wolf grunted. “He must be something special then.”

Karniel side-eyed the wolf and realization sprung forward as he caught the hunter watching Mathus. Karniel faced the lupine and leaned close to make sure he caught every ounce of Korlyon’s reaction when he accused, “You’re jealous of me, aren’t you?” The wolf’s eyes flashed wide only a moment. Karniel grinned.

Korlyon stood and said, “I do not understand how someone as good as him can love and care for someone as evil as you, that is all. And despite what Mathus may say, I do not think you can change. I will be keeping my eyes on you Scourge.”

Karniel snickered and called out as Korlyon stormed away, “Whatever you say, oh fearless hunter.”

Though, Korlyon’s words did bother him. Since the moment they met, Mathus had been showing Karniel another way to live. But he had lived for so long that… if the curse ended would Karniel really just accept the path Mathus and him currently walked? Would Mathus accept him if he tried to change their circumstance? Mathus had said Karniel made worthwhile the discomforts of their current life, but what if they never needed to live with those discomforts again? Karniel set to brooding all this till a group of men approached him, hailing the once-scourge a hero.

***

Word of Karniel’s arrival and subsequent heroism spread through Leday by the evening. At first, they found lodgings when one of the workmen they rescued invited them both to a tavern, but a few hours later city guards showed up. They brought an invitation to stay as guest at the Governor’s Manor in the city’s Garden District. Given the armed invitation, Karniel and Mathus knew better than to refuse.

The Garden District was where the wealthy of the city retired to their manors after work. Cobblestone streets wove between immaculately planted gardens, fountains, parks, and manors crafted with gaudy additions of color and shows of wealth to their rooves and faces. Windows of stained glass, chimneys capped with silver, mosaics or cheap columns and brightly painted façades adorned dozens of otherwise similarly built blue-grey mansions.

Mathus asked as they walked, “Should we be nervous?”

Karniel said, “We will be fine. Though I do not know if we can really trust whoever governs this city, we can be certain that the wealthy despise messes in their own homes.”

“Forgive me if I don’t find that very reassuring.”

Karniel chuckled. “You forget, darling, my reputation for causing messes. It is likely we are being invited so they may keep an eye on us.”

“They are concerned about the trouble we might cause.”

“Exactly, really we are being babysat.”

“That does not bother you?”

“If it means sleeping in an actual bed with you, some food for you, and wine for us both, I will gladly play along with them.”

They reached a large two-story manor with a cottage connected to it by a breezeway. This home refrained from the more gaudy attachments, though the double doors were flanked by busts that Mathus quickly learned were of the governor himself. A feline met them at the door. He wore a waistcoat cinched tight round his somewhat chubby middle. He resembled a cougar, with glowing green eyes that brought their attention entirely to Karniel.

“Karniel the Great!” the cougar proclaimed before bowing deeply, “I am Governor

Gilian Leneaus, thank you so much for responding to my invitation.”

Karniel returned his bow and said, “It is an honor Governor, thank you for the escort.”

“But of course,” Gilian said. The cougar motioned to the soldiers, “You four are dismissed. Return to whatever posts you were pulled from.”

The soldiers scattered. Leaving Mathus and Karniel at the foot of the porch with a cougar standing between two busts of himself. Gilian motioned to Mathus and asked,

“And who is your companion?”

“I am Mathus of Morgen’s Rest.” Mathus bowed awkwardly and added, “It is an honor to be invited to your home, milord.”

“Morgen’s Rest, eh? Why that’s right on the edge of all our maps. What were you doing so far north, Lord Karniel?”

“Vacationing,” Karniel said with a flash of teeth.

“And are you finished vacationing? No one has heard or seen Karniel the Great in some time. I admit, when I heard a being such as yourself had appeared in our city, saving the lives of a crew of workmen no less, I hardly believed it.”

He was fishing, Mathus realized. The apothecary glanced over his shoulder as if he might catch sight of Korlyon still following them. Mathus, of course, had not seen the wolf since the accident at the construction site. He hoped Korlyon was alright…

Karniel said, “It is a tale worth telling over drinks.” The bat touched the small of Mathus’ back. “May we come in?”

“But of course,” Gilian said. He opened the door and rang a bell. A house butler came from one of the rooms and Gilian ordered, “Bryn, take our guests’ things to their rooms and prepare baths for them both.”

Mathus blushed, knowing both Karniel and Mathus wore rags and had not a proper bath since leaving Morgen’s Rest. Karniel said, “We are eternally grateful.”

“Of course, Bryn will show you both your rooms and when your baths are prepared you can wash and then have dinner with my family.”

“Sounds like a lovely evening, doesn’t it Mathus?”

“Yes, thank you,” Mathus said, bowing a little before following Karniel inside.

The rest of the day passed in a confusing blur of tension and relaxation. The manor’s basement had some contraption that pumped fresh, hot water into a tub large enough for Karniel and Mathus both to sit in. After cleaning off the filth of the road, both were given fresh clothes (Karniel’s straining at the seams without something properly tailored to a person his size) and shown to the kitchen. Karniel’s impeccable charisma carried the evening as they ate with the mayor and his family. They had prepared a spring roast with two fruit pies split between Mathus, Karniel, and Gilian’s family of four. This served with more wine than Mathus ever had at any one time and he found himself properly drunk by the time Gilian called both Karniel and Mathus to a sun room to retire to for the evening. There they took seats in a lavishly furnished room with a screen wall that looked out into a brightly blooming garden surrounding a small pond full of colorful fish.

Mathus kept running his fingers along the upholstered seat. Karniel and he sat in chairs set next to each other, Gilian a few paces to their left in another seat, was preparing a pipe while Karniel sipped a brandy supplied by the butler.

As they relaxed for the night, Gilian asked, “So tell me, Lord Karniel, how did you find yourself so far north?”

Karniel sipped from his tumbler and said, “This is excellent, Governor. Are you sure you do not want some Mathus?”

“I am quite full, thank you, though,” Mathus said. The chair he sat in was warm, and if he was not careful, with a full belly he might very well doze off in it.

“Fair enough,” Karniel said. He said to the cougar, “Tell me, what news of me is there?”

“Mostly hearsay. I admit, I almost considered you a myth, seeing as how you typically stay in the southern hemisphere.”

“Hmm, I was content to stay there, but three years ago I was driven out.”

“That is what they say,” Gilian took a hit off his pipe. The smell of tobacco began to fill the room. “It was said you were defeated in battle, and that was the last anyone knew for certain. Some said you were sealed away, others that you had finally been killed, and others cursed.”

“Cursed?” Karniel asked innocently.

“I do not know the details of it. Just one more explanation for how you disappeared.” The cougar gestured outside. “Yet here you are in my city. When word gets out that Karniel the Great lives…” he chuckled, “I imagine there will be quite a stirring south of here.”

“I would disappointed if there was not.”

Gilian and Karniel both laughed, but Mathus could tell Karniel’s was not sincere. Mathus was not quite sure what exchange passed between these two men, but he knew to stay quiet as they sparred.

“And do you plan to return there?”

Karniel reached over and put a hand on Mathus’ thigh. “We do not know where we are headed to yet.”

Mathus sat up straight and swallowed, “Right now we are just trying to get our bearings.”

“Oh?” Gilian asked.

Karniel squeezed his thigh in warning.

The governor puffed his pipe before he said, “I must admit, I find it curious why you would be dressed in rags, I assume penniless, and on the road with a human from an isolated village along the northern borders of the world.”

Karniel set down his glass tumbler on the end table next to him and asked Gilian,

“What is it you really want to know, governor?”

Gilian continued to look out into his gardens. “You, Lord Karniel, are supposed to be a terror, a scourge, a monster who uses his powers to prey on places like this and lord over them. If you wanted, you could kill and kill until we were so cowed by you we handed you every key this city has. Am I wrong?”

Mathus fought back to urge to protest and let Karniel answer, “You are not… but such things do not interest me anymore. Since I was brought low by defeat, I have changed how I approach living. I have no wish to rule over others as I had in the past.” “But you do wish to rule,” Gilian pointed out.

Karniel shrugged, “What monarch doesn’t miss their throne when deposed? Though, less you have some title you wish to reward me, I have accepted it is not something I shall have again for some time.”

“Because you have changed.”

“Indeed.”

“And this human, is he the reason?”

Mathus squirmed a little in his seat, blushing.

“Hard though it may be to believe, Mathus and I are in love.”

“Is that so?”

“It is,” Mathus spoke up finally. “And as far as I have known Karniel, he has never harmed another creature, milord. He even helps those in need.”

“Mmm, I would not have believed it had there not been dozens of witnesses to such a deed,” the governor crossed his legs and leaned towards Mathus. “Tell me, what is

Karniel the Great to you? How did you two lovers meet?”

Mathus, wishing those sharp green eyes looked elsewhere, said, “I found him lost in the woods, if you can believe it. I took him with me to Morgen’s Rest, and well, he lived with me for a month before he felt the need to leave. I did not want to leave him, and saw Karniel as a chance to see more of this world.” “So you left with him,” Gilian finished.

Mathus nodded, and added, “Your caution is certainly warranted milord. But I swear we mean no one in this city harm. And if you still wish it, we will gladly leave if you feel our presence disturbs the peace.”

“Though if we leave might we take a bottle of this brandy with us?” Karniel joked.

This time when the bat and Gilian laughed, it felt more earnest.

The governor tapped ash from his pipe and said, “No, you are staying. I would be honored to keep you both as my guest. So long as you do not eat me out of house and home. Or eat anyone in the house.”

Karniel laughed again and said, “Governor Gilian, what stories have you heard about me? Do I look like the sort to eat people?”

Gilian chuckled. “We will keep you well fed just in case.”

***

“I do not trust Gilian,” Mathus said as they entered their rooms that night.

Karniel said as he carefully unbuttoned his shirt in front of a standing mirror, “Of course you should not trust him. He does not trust us. That’s exactly why he is keeping us here.”

“We’re his prisoners?”

Karniel scoffed. “Hardly, darling. But if we are to be in his city he wishes to have an eye on us at all times.”

“I see,” Mathus said, watching Karniel remove the shirt wore.

The bat held out the apparel and studied it a moment. “I do so hope our governor does plan on tailoring some clothes to my size like he said he would at dinner. I worried all night one wrong move would make this thing’s buttons burst.”

Karniel in the light of a few oil lanterns, looked good from behind. Large, firm butt pushed out against poorly fitted trousers. The light clearly defining the bat’s back dimples even under the fine, now immaculate, chocolate fur. Mathus approached him, forgetting about their troubles a moment to hug Karniel from behind. Mathus’ face did not even meet Karniel’s shoulder-blades. His hands reached around to test the firm, lean muscles of his abdomen, fingers running through that delicate fur coat. Even after the bath, Karniel still smelled of sage and musk—a scent Mathus now associated with home. He took a deep breath of it and sighed. “Heh, can I help you?”

Mathus peeked around Karniel’s waist to look in the mirror with him. “Just admiring the view.” Karniel’s torso cut into a broad V, shoulders twice as wide as Mathus’ were. The muscles of his pecs, arms, abdomen were all clearly visible under their fur, though not so large that Karniel lost any sleekness to his form. The bat’s dark eyes locked with Mathus’ and he flashed the human a fanged smirk.

“I’ve heard it is said to be one of the finest views in the world,” Karniel teased.

That arrogance. On any other person Mathus might find it repulsive, but with Karniel it was attractive somehow.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, though, believe it or not, it gets better,” Karniel said. He undid the buttons of the trousers he wore and peeled them down. Karniel’s cock, even soft, was eight inches long and thicker than Mathus hard. The bat always had a permanent and obvious bulge, and this one only looked better as those pants came undone. The dark shaft revealed to a beet-red head wrapped almost entirely in foreskin, with a set of balls heavier than an horses, covered in more of that fine dark fur. The bat’s dark eyes caught the light, a flash of cockiness as he noticed Mathus staring.

“See what I mean?” the bat said with a soft laugh.

Karniel turned around, and it only took a hand on the human’s shoulder to get him down on his knees. There Mathus came face to face with that magnificent cock. Karniel’s scent became potently male. Heady but no longer with the dirt and grime of the road. Mathus placed a hand on Karniel’s thick, muscular thigh and leaned in. He nuzzled his face underneath the dark cock, dragging his tongue along the salty flesh. He moaned a little from the taste, and rubbed his nose in the crux of flesh under Karniel’s cock and above his balls before kissing down to those heavy, virile nuts. Mathus let the orbs smother him, his toes curling a little. Karniel placed a familiar hand on the back of Mathus’ head to hold him there. He kissed the scrotum, soft fur tickling his chin as he wrapped his lips around the side of one nut (the whole teste too large to fit in the man’s mouth) and suckled gently. He dragged tongue along the potent orb before grazing the scrotum with his teeth, teasing it just a little before sucking on the lower hanging left nut. Karniel sighed and gyrated his hips a little, being sure to rub the slightly sweaty balls across Mathus’ face. The apothecary could barely breath with how much those nuts smothered him, but he completely lost himself in this simple act of worship. Panting more and more, face growing redder and redder. His brow beaded with sweat from the heat of Karniel’s virility. Still he licked, sucked, kissed the bat’s heavily loaded balls till Karniel pulled the human away.

The bat scooped Mathus into his arms and carried the human over to their bed. It was a lavish thing, a mattress tucked with royal blue sheets made of silk and big enough to fit both Karniel and Mathus comfortably. Karniel set Mathus on the bed and leaned down to kiss his lover. Mathus cupped Karniel’s face, his lips teasing against the bats. Karniel smelled his musk on Mathus’ face, tasted it on the human when his tongue pushed inside the man’s mouth. Mathus moaned as his clothes came undone. Karniel’s big, soft hands brushed across his chest. Teased his nipples, stroked Mathus’ neck. The apothecary became hotter and hotter. He submitted entirely to Karniel’s touch, moaning happily into the bat’s mouth. Their tongues met in a wet exchange—Karniel’s tasted of the brandy he had been drinking. The bat’s smooth, perfect fangs rubbed up against Mathus’ jaw. So dangerous yet so gentle.

Karniel tugged off Mathus’ pants and his hand closed around the human’s turgid cock. Mathus bucked into Karniel’s palm, and the bat considered standing beside the bedside and milking him like this, but he gently pushed out of their kiss. Mathus, face flushed, said, “I want to suck your cock.”

“Hehe, do you now?” Karniel said while stroking Mathus. The apothecary shuddered, Karniel’s fingers becoming slick with precum.

“Karniel… please,” Mathus whined.

“Mmm,” Karniel leaned in and teased a fang along Mathus’ earlobe. It made the human’s cock twitch in his palm. “What if I’m hungry, though?”

“We… we can take care of both at once,” Mathus gasped. “Please Karniel…”

“Heh, slut,” Karniel accused with a squeeze of Mathus’ dick. The human’s bucked into the hand. “I suppose I can give you what you want.”

Karniel, his now foot of hard cock bobbing as he moved around, got onto the bed in a sixty-nine position. Because of his size, they eventually opted for the big bat to lie on his back while Mathus lay across him. When the apothecary finally had his lover’s dick in front of him, he did not lunge on it. Instead Mathus squeezed beneath the head and admired Karniel’s throbbing heat. Slowly, Mathus pulled back the bat’s foreskin, revealing the meaty, maroon head. It was slick with precum that oozed down the tip after freed from the foreskin. A strong smell of precum, masculinity, and musk struck Mathus as the man revealed the urethra. It made Mathus quake and moan as a pair of hands grabbed his butt.

Karniel sighed when he felt Mathus rub his cheek into Karniel’s cock. Precum quickly smeared into the human’s blushing face while the bat squeezed and kneaded Mathus’ butt. He pulled the cheeks apart and revealed the bright, pink pucker. It was puffy from regular use. If Karniel was a proud hedonist, Mathus quietly met him as his equal. They had not gone a single night without fucking each other into exhaustion. Honestly, Karniel wouldn’t mind spending a month in a manor like this, exploring just how depraved Mathus was willing to be with the bat.

Karniel certainly had ideas.

Mathus’ hands jerked and massaged the base of Karniel’s massive shaft. He dragged his tongue around the edge of the bat’s mushroom head, gathering up the salty flavor trapped there. Mathus’ fingers dug into the firm flesh, amazed at how soft and hard Karniel’s cock could be. How the veins along the dark shaft thrummed with life, and how more and more precum spilled from that urethra. Mathus’ bath quickly was becoming a moot thing as he rubbed more and more of the bat’s musky scent into his skin. Whimpering, moaning, as he worshipped the cock of his lover. He dragged his tongue across the urethra and his dick shot pre across Karniel’s furry chest. Mathus sealed his lips around the cock-slit and tongued it eagerly, lapping up and down on that spot, making Karniel huff and groan. The bat tried to force his hips upwards, but Mathus held the bat’s cock firm to keep more from being shoved into his mouth. Instead he kept lapping, teasing, stimulating that tip and letting his mouth fill and fill with precum. He did not stop till the salty ejaculate nearly filled his entire mouth. Only then did he release Karniel’s dick, swishing that flavor through his mouth a moment before he swallowed.

Cursing, dick aching across this stomach, Karniel decided to stop letting Mathus have his way. He leaned in and pushed his face into the human’s taint. His blunt nose ran along the sensitive flesh of Mathus’ perineum, taking in the apothecary’s earthier musk. His blunt, bat nose twitched a little before he dragged his tongue out across the human’s balls. Mathus huffed, and Karniel felt the apothecary’s tight little mouth finally sink down around his cock. Warm, wet suckling on his tip made the bat groan. He resisted fucking into Mathus face and instead focused on kissing up to the human’s pucker. The bat swirled his tongue against that puffy, well-used hole. That earthy musk greeted him like an old friend as he made out hard with that hole. Mathus’ backside squirmed, but Karniel held him firm until his tongue finally penetrated the human.

Mathus whimpered around the cock in his mouth and tried to focus on it. Its meaty flavor and smell coated his entire palette. He sucked hard, running tongue all over it. Mathus held Karniel’s base still and began to bob his head. He felt Karniel’s dick pulse and throb inside his mouth; jaw stretched to the limit to accommodate the bat’s massive girth. But at this point Mathus was well practiced. Precum shot to the back of his throat and he swallowed with ease. He worked more and more of that shaft down his lips, working his spit over warm cock flesh, slicking the shaft and making it easier to take with each bob. All while Karniel’s tongue lapped in and out of his ass. The teasing to his rim left his walls fluttering. They squeezed down on the invading oral muscle to feel more stimulation. Karniel hungrily ate him out. Spit and drool dripped down Mathus’ taint to his balls. The human’s whole body heated up more and more. He wished he might have two Karniel’s with him, one to fuck his face while the other took his ass.

Karniel was right, Mathus had become a complete slut.

Mathus ground his hips back into Karniel’s face. The bat could tell his lover was getting desperate for more, and Karniel was all too happy to oblige. The bat pulled away with a happy sigh, licking his lips before he sucked on two of his fingers. Mathus froze, muscles tensing, when Karniel’s long fingers forced themselves inside the man’s dripping asshole. The digits slowly teased out, those soft walls clenching against them; when they pumped back in Mathus moaned again. Each finger was roughly half a foot long, and two were thick enough to be as good as any normal man’s cock. Karniel chuckled, watching his slut start to roll his hips backwards into the fingering. Karniel curled the fingers down and found Mathus’ prostate. The man quaked. Seeing, feeling, hearing Mathus get so worked up just made Karniel so hot.

For a time, Mathus thought he might just remained fixed on Karniel’s shaft while the bat fingered him to completion, but he recovered his senses. Even as his entrance tingled, ass hot and slick from the penetration. His shaft and balls tight with pleasure and pressure as Karniel stimulated his nut. Still, Mathus managed, more for his love of cock sucking than pleasing Karniel, to start bobbing along the bat’s shaft again. That mushroom head teased and threatened the back of Mathus’ throat. The apothecary needed, best he could while Karniel pummeled his prostate, to relax his throat. He liked swallowing around the organ—to have that meat filling, sealing his throat. Karniel’s hips shuddered then bucked and several inches of cock filled Mathus. A bulge lined the pale, flushed throat as the human swallowed and gagged a little around the tool.

Gods, Karniel could count on one hand the number of lovers able to deepthroat him. He loved that tight seal on his cock. He took a moment to savor it, his balls tense. He would not last much longer, and if he was going to cum he wanted to extract as much pleasure as possible. With his free hand he grabbed Mathus’ cock, pulling it down between the human’s thighs so Karniel could fit it in his mouth. Mathus started trembling. Precum spurted into Karniel’s maw, and the pleasure of feeding mixed with everything else they had done. Karniel started pumping his hips at the same rate of his fingers. Mathus went a little limp, fingers balling into fists against the sheets. Karniel sucked and swirled his long tongue around the human’s dick. It throbbed, and Mathus finally burst.

Karniel felt the human go over the edge when his asshole clasped down on his fingers. He rubbed that prostate, and a moment later Karniel got to see the apothecary’s balls jump before his mouth filled with spunk. That first rope of seed made Karniel see white. His dick tried to flex inside Mathus mouth before a flood of cum began spilling down the human’s throat. Mathus moaned and swallowed while Karniel’s hips squirmed, his left leg curling inward, toes clenching, body shuddering as he filled Mathus’ belly. The human suckled happily as a babe, his cock and prostate incredibly sensitive as thick wads of sperm filled Karniel’s mouth. Mathus managed to shove himself backward so Karniel’s tip only filled his mouth. Soon as he had, a fresh gout of cum blew into him. It flooded his sinuses, made the blushing human’s lips and nose leak cum. He swallowed the load and accepted another before finally releasing Karniel’s cock. Mathus pumped the shaft and got several more ropes of cum to shoot across his face and chin, dripping down his neck and onto Karniel’s belly.

Eventually, Mathus fell over onto the bed beside Karniel—both lovers panting, the room smelling of the bat’s messy, potent spunk. Mathus said, “Fuck, Karniel.” The bat laughed. “Hehehe, enjoy yourself, darling?”

“If we stay here too long this whole manor is going to smell like a brothel.”

“You heard the governor, Mathus, he said he wanted to keep me well fed.”

“Hehe,” Mathus giggled and kissed Karniel’s thigh. “I’m all too happy to oblige.”

***

“What is the status on your quarry?” Bale asked.

The human mage wore a face-mask and similar leather armor to Korlyon’s. Though it was dyed a steel grey to Korlyon’s rust-colored leather. They met in a basement under a small Church of Mortel.

Korlyon said, “The hunt has left me troubled, Master Bale.”

“Troubled?”

“There is a human who is accompanying Karniel.” Bale cocked his head.

Korlyon added, “They are lovers. And the human stays by Karniel’s side at every turn, defends him.”

“He is not quarry so you hesitate.” Korlyon nodded.

“Hmm, you were selected for this hunt because of your abilities as a tracker, were you not?”

Korlyon said, “Yes, Master Bale. I have been tracking Karniel for two years now.”

“Mmm, I do not doubt your resolve, Korlyon, but I begin to doubt your ability.”

Korlyon’s ears folded backwards and he mumbled, “I do not wish to bring shame on the order.”

“You have not, not yet,” Bale said. The human studied a sigil cut into the stone wall. It was Mortel, the seven-tailed fox with his tails fanned out bright and shining like a sunrise. Bale said, “I will help you. The human cannot shield the bat from two sides.

Mortel preserve us, we will have the scourge finally killed by the end of this week.”

Korlyon, gut pinched with a guilt he wished he could crush, nodded and echoed,

“Mortel preserve us.” His tail twitched a little before the wolf could not help to ask, “But Master Bale, what of the human?”

“What of him?”

Korlyon’s pawed hands balled into a fist at his side. “I am responsible for why the human was exiled from his home. When Karniel is killed, he will have nothing and no one.”

“Oh Korlyon,” Bale patted his shoulder, “You forget, he will have Mortel to guide him.” Bale left the room, letting Korlyon’s guilt sizzle and dry out into a raw dread he could not shake.