Page 45 of Hexes & Heartstrings (Shifters of Bastion Keep #2)
Bruin looked over at where Sergiy was patrolling the camp, not sure how to answer.
"Sergiy and his ma are cut from the same cloth," the priest continued after a moment.
"Both of 'em are dedicated warlords, and aye, they do their thankless job with nary a complaint, but listen, Bruin.
I love my boy, and I know he's head over heels for our lord, and I couldn't love him any more.
And while I'm on it, word of wisdom. Love ain't a competition, got it?
Don't be dwelling on who loves who more, it'll only bring you grief. "
"Sure," Bruin asid agreeably. "Like how one flower might smell nicer, and another look more fetching, but I can appreciate both for being in my life. But you were saying something about Russell loving Sergiy?"
"I was. My boy loves our lord, and he can hear all the Umbral stories during the celebratory feasts, but he won't ever get to see this side of Sergiy, the side that's coolly in charge when lives are on the line.
Aye, the lord can be a right arse sometimes, but he does good, thankless work, and I'm glad he's now got a mate that can see it. Ahem, finished with my ward."
Looking at the ground carefully, Bruin saw that they were back to where they'd started, and he nodded.
Kneeling down, Bruin spoke the final words as he touched his first glass bead with a finger tip.
It wasn't the most powerful warding Bruin could perform, but he'd still poured most of himself into its half-hour casting, not having had much else to do up until now.
Roland said he was good to head to bed and sleep, since he wasn't tasked with any watches, and Bruin tried to find himself a flat patch of ground to lie on. With his rucksack, witch's bag, and lantern set beside him, he pulled out the thin blanket from his pack and wrapped it around his shoulders.
Bruin found himself dozing fitfully while he waited for Sergiy to finish making his rounds, but he did jerk awake when the large tree spirit strode through the camp, its footfalls shaking the ground as it was led away by several guardians, chattering its lamentful refrain as it went.
The second time he awoke was to Sergiy nudging him with his paw. As Bruin lifted his head, he saw several inches of not-cold snow fall off of him, dislodged from his movement.
"Huh?" he asked, perplexed.
"One of the wonders of the Umbral," Sergiy said, setting down his spear and undoing the small bag he kept around his thigh.
"That doesn't explain anything."
Still, Bruin lifted his arms up out of his blanket, making grabbing gestures. He saw an easy smile on his mate's snout, but he had to wait for Sergiy to position his equipment just so beside himself, and then pull out a bag of dried cranberries.
"Did you eat?" Sergiy asked him instead, accepting being brought underneath the shared blanket.
"No, Roland's talisman seems to be taking care of that. I'm not hungry or thirsty at all."
"Eat anyways," he said, holding out his bag of fruit and giving it a shake.
Bruin took a few between his fingers and put them into his mouth.
Sweeter than he would have thought cranberries would be, though he shouldn't be surprised since Sergiy had brought them.
"If you rely completely on the talisman, it can start affecting your senses.
You'll find yourself losing track of time, sleeping more, and misunderstanding normal social cues. "
"Sounds a bit like being light-addled," Bruin said, but waved off more fruit. "Okay, now talk. Why am I covered in snow? Or… I was covered? Now it's gone."
He saw Sergiy grin. "You got distracted, and forgot about it."
"Sergiy—"
"It's this place," he said, relenting at last as he wrapped a bare arm around Bruin, pulling him in closer.
"On the surface levels of the Umbral, a lot of the spirits are based on human concepts, like Monetary Wealth and Existential Dread.
But the lower you go, the older and more nebulous the concepts become, and sometimes even the land will be a spirit.
Right now, I'd say we've settled in A Serene Land Where Snow Covers the Dying. Or something like that."
"So when I dozed off…"
Sergiy chirped his agreement. "You fit the scenery, and it reacted. Now that you're awake again, no more snow."
Bruin checked, confirming that there were no more flakes gathered on his body, then looked out, seeing every third guardian blanketed, making it easy to tell if someone were sleeping or not.
"To tell you the truth, Bruin, I really love places like this," Sergiy admitted quietly.
"Snowy places? Yeah, and I especially like how it's pretty without actually being cold."
"That too, but more of how unique and wondrous this place is.
Look around! It's a new sky, a new earth, there's new beings and creatures.
I wish we could explore the deeper layers more often, but most of my job is up on the penumbra.
Still, sometimes I'm lucky enough to encounter unique shadows even there. "
Listening to the wonder in his boyfriend's voice, Bruin tried to see the place through his eyes. It helped that the ground currently felt more real than what he'd encountered so far, thanks to the tree spirit's lingering effects.
"Drink a bit of water, and then let's lay down for bed," Sergiy told him.
"Not yet," Bruin said, keeping an arm wrapped around Sergiy's waist as he tried to adjust positions. "Let's stay like this just a bit longer."
He felt Sergiy rumble, and then his mate made himself more comfortable beneath the small blanket with Bruin, wrapping an arm and tail around him and bringing him in close.
And for a short time, as Bruin stared out at the falling snow, watching as it either failed to stack up, or piled up instantly when someone dozed off, he managed to put aside his worries.
But only for a short time.
◆◆◆
"We're deep enough now, my lord," Roland said as Sergiy came in for a landing, trotting over in his large drake form.
"I agree. There's almost a physical stink of our fallen lord in this area. Are we ready?"
Bruin finished chanting a final healing, rubbing some ointment into a patient's resulting sprain from a skirmish with a mole-like spirit of Disapproval, then watched as Roland held up the watchman's lantern.
Its silver flame seemed to occasionally shift ever so slightly yellow, as it had been for the last hour.
"Aye, lord. Alright, Bruin. Your turn."
Bruin took off his backpack and witch's bag, retrieving a few items before he set everything else aside.He made a thrice-drawn circle on the ground—once with the edge of a river stone, once more with a vial of spring water, and once again with white tulips—and then took the lantern from Roland.
He first looked to Sergiy for confirmation, receiving a firm nod in return, then took the clay vial that was chained to the lantern.
Setting the lantern on the ground in the middle of the circle, he very carefully opened its reserve, pouring the shadowy oil into it.
Immediately the lantern's flame brightened, turning a faint blue.
"Shouldn't be too long, now," Bruin said, and even as he watched, one of the pearlescent stones brightened.
That would be Lux, indicating that he was ready.
He took a deep breath, then spoke.
"I, Bruin, Green witch of my coven, beseech the light. Heed my will, the will of Rosemary, the will of Arthur McCorvin, and the will of Lux Manus, who crafted you."
Within his circle, Bruin channeled his white light into himself, and then out through the lantern.
Above his head, the sky shifted and cleared, and within its dark, roiling mass, stars became visible, bright constellations that rotated slowly.
By the time that Bruin had fully centered himself within the ritual, he felt it as Rosemary's light joined his, and soon after, Arthur's.
Anchored by four witches in three places—Bruin in the deep Umbral, Rosemary and Arthur within Bastion Keep, and Lux bordering the two realms at the obelisk—he held the lantern up, casting its light out.
There was a shifting outside of their camp, and it was almost as if an endless tide were coming in.
It was working! The nearby shifters made approving growls before Bruin even said a word, probably smelling his satisfaction
"Are we good?" Sergiy asked him, lowering his muzzle to speak over his shoulder from outside his circle.
Bruin grunted an affirmative, and then Sergiy stepped past him.
"As we planned, guardians! Pass in front of the light, and then fan out in small groups.
Check in with the camp every half-hour at most, in case plans change. Now move!"
Bruin watched as several dozen guardians lined up in front of him, each one waiting for him to repeat the gestures of a charm before bounding off.
"It's dizzying to watch," Roland said gruffly, staring out at the shifting Umbral fields.
"It's dizzying to feel," Sergiy added, tapping his chest. "I can see some of the warband, but my alpha senses tell me they're already a mile away. Others I can't see at all, but they feel like they're just outside the camp."
"It's working as intended, then," Bruin said distractedly. Once all the immediate guardians had set out, he sat down cross-legged on the ground, focusing on maintaining a low, steady flow of white light through the lantern while avoiding being swept away by his own channeling.