Eliona's War 2: Veiled Healer

Chapter 12

It was more than two hours later when Severance teleported into the Veiled courtyard once more.

He was dusty and tired and in a very poor mood. Mountain Sheep were now on his list of the Most Hated Wildlife of Eliona list. It wasn't that they were particularly dangerous or hard to find; in fact, they were quite populous.

However, they were the most horrendous things to hunt. They ran from him the second he showed up, bounding up sheer walls of rock that were nearly impossible for him to scale. He'd spent a long time chasing them down, trying to get close enough so he could at least cast a Flare on them. Yet they magically seemed to know just how far they had to be to stay out of his range.

So, he ended up chasing them all through the mountain range, stumbling up and down impossibly steep paths, climbing sheer rock faces with poor success, and even sacrificing most of his health once to try to dive-tackle a sheep from off a cliff's edge. That last one wasn't his best idea, but desperation did strange things to a man.

In the end, he finally managed to get all five sheep, their meat, their hides and a single point in Agility. Both Tayci and Olen better be grateful.

The second he pushed through the heavy doors of the Clan House, a tiny ball of silver fur slammed into his legs. Happy yips filled the air, doing little to improve Severance's mood. He paused, glanced down, and frowned.

Can't they teach it to sit or something?

"Sev's back!!" Tayci came barrelling out of one of the side rooms, a wide grin on her round little face. "Did you get it?"

Mirren came soon after, though the small boy was much calmer. He smiled shyly when he saw Severance, a fact which made Severance feel oddly warm and anxious at the same time. Why is the kid smiling? What does that mean? Is he happy? Or does he think something's funny? Do I have dirt on my face?

While he was trying to figure that out, Tayci grabbed his arm and tugged. "Hey!" She shouted, not happy with being ignored. "Did you get it?!"

Startled, he shifted his attention, his gaze meeting a pair of bright ebony pools. "Yes, I got it."

She promptly let go, holding out both hands. "Then give it here! I'll feed it to Vast! He's really hungry."

"Vast?" He repeated, and was rewarded with a cheery huff from the silver ball of fur now sitting on his foot. Why did it keep doing that, anyway?

"Yup!" Tayci beamed. "That's his name! It's short for Vastel—Vastly—what Olen said."

Well, it was as good a name as any, Severance supposed. Now that he was actually looking for it, he was able to see the new name, Vast, floating above its head. It had been hard to spot earlier, since the gray text blended in with the color of its fur. The little pup rose up on its hind legs, jumping as if he wanted to climb up Severance. Vast failed to reach Severance's knees, no matter how energetically he jumped.

Heh. Good luck. Severance decided to ignore it for now. Maybe Vast would tire out eventually. "Hey, do you have a place to store meat or something? There's a lot of it."

"Hmm," Tayci tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Oh! I know, the kitchen!"

Several minutes later, Severance, two kids, a Veiled clanswoman and a tiny furball all crowded into a large room lined with stone-topped counters and plenty of barrels and cold storage. The place was surprisingly compact, but it was easy to see it was a community kitchen designed to prepare food for a large amount of people at once.

"Here, there's plenty of room here," said Chaaya, pulling over a heavy wooden box. She lifted the lid, showing the box was double walled, with a layer of surprisingly cold green rock in between them. The innermost section of the box was lined with what appeared to be smooth leather.