Page 17

Chapter

Thirteen

G ehj dropped from the sky, landing in front of the large storage building some distance outside the village walls.

Although the building itself was nearly a ruin, the true purpose of his presence rested just before him, barely visible between the doors hanging at odd angles from their hinges.

He pushed between them, a trill of excitement vibrating within him.

This was exactly what they needed! A massive box frame with four wheels…

it was perfect! He circled around it, examining it for any damage.

Luckily, it seemed to have escaped the sort of damage from the woods that was overcoming the storage building itself.

It was clearly made to be pulled by some manner of beast, but that was unimportant.

He could pull it easily with Agrel’s help.

His ears pricked, and his crests rose slightly at the sound of impact just outside the door.

Footsteps followed and Gehj’s mouth parted instinctively to draw in the scent of the person outside the door.

Naturally, he knew who it was as there was only his ahaku and himself scouting outside the village.

And who else would just casually drop from the sky?

“Gehj, are you in here?” his ahaku called, as if summoned by his thoughts. “I could have sworn that I saw you land near here.”

“Yes, I am here,” Gehj replied as he circled back around the box to greet him. “I thought I saw something of interest when we initially passed this way and so came back to investigate.” He gestured toward the wheeled box. “It seems that it was fruitful.”

Agrel stepped closer, his head cocking one way and then the other as he studied it curiously. “It does not look like anything an Atlavan would have… but then it is not well suited for moving within the mountains.”

“It just needs to get our females and all of their belongings over land,” Gehj reminded him. “For that, at least, it is well suited. We could even fit one of the mattresses across the back to provide a place to sleep for us.”

His ahaku nodded. “There will not be any shade from the sun, though. With the way Delilah and Lily are covered, I believe they must burn far easier in the sun.”

That was true. Gehj studied it thoughtfully. “We can cut and bend some branches and lash them to the sides, and tie down a couple large hides to it. It may get a little hot, though,” He scratched his neck. “I do not believe we should have any problem pulling it. What do you think?”

“Let us find out!” Agrel grinned with excitement, his wings flicking and tail bobbing and fanning almost playfully as he approached the box.

Tucking one of the long poles beneath his arm, he waited patiently, his crests and tailfeathers dancing ridiculously until Gehj had the other one.

Adjusting his grip on his own pole, Gehj studied his ahaku and shook his head. “You just cannot help yourself. We are no longer juveniles.”

“We are not elders either,” Agrel replied. “There is no reason not to make things fun. Lily at least appreciates that.”

“Lily has only seen ten summers,” Gehj reminded him flatly as he made an effort to control his urge to smile at his ahaku’s silliness.

“But she still possesses great discernment. Besides, Delilah likes it, too.”

“Of course, she is accustomed to bestowing affection on fledglings,” he teased, but Agrel did not puff up with insult as he so often did in the past. Instead, he smirked, completely unruffled by the comment.

“She was not giving me the affection she would give a fledgling when I was making her scream last night!” A taunting smile crossed Agrel’s face, but Gehj just shook his head, the corners of his mouth curling with amusement.

“Of course not. We were both there, and I was leading.”

An amused snort of disgust escaped the other male, his eyes glittering with laughter as he rocked back on his heels to regard him. “Are you saying that I am lacking when it comes to pleasing our mate?”

“Not at all,” Gehj replied. “I am just saying that you need me.”

Agrel grinned back, not the least bit ruffled.

“Fair. But then you need me as well. We balance each other well. We both know this. I keep you from just retreating into the shadows of a life fixated on duty, whereas, for me, knowing that you are sensible enough for both of us allows me to enjoy amusing myself.”

Gehj snorted and rolled his eyes with silent laughter.

That was a fair assessment. He likely would easily become an obscure and half-forgotten member of their clan, with nothing in his life except the next duty handed to him if it weren’t for Agrel.

In retrospect, he could not imagine any other as his ahaku.

The male managed to repeatedly drag him out into the world since they became ahaku, and he could not thank him enough for it.

Certainly not now, and the male would not likely let him forget it.

He might have never even met Delilah if he had insisted that they stay on route when Agrel got the foolish notion of exploring the woods a bit for supplies.

That “inadvisable” impulse was their greatest blessing.

“Come on. Help me pull this into the village,” he replied around his quiet laughter. “Delilah should be pleased to see it if it does not come apart in the process.”

Agrel grinned good-naturedly as they adjusted their respective grips on the poles and pulled.

At first the wagon resisted, perhaps due to it sitting for so long, but eventually the wheels began to turn, and the box rolled with them.

It moved in a jarring fashion, but it was at least something.

Gehj just had to ignore the terrible smell rising from the wood as well.

Such things were expected, even if it was unpleasant.

Working together, they pulled the box through the village’s gates and down the road.

It was not difficult beyond the tedium of striking a synchronized pace with Agrel.

As they had often flown together in tight formation in their youth, it came back to them quickly enough and Gehj felt his spirits lift the closer they came to their destination.

He could not wait to see the expression on her face—the happiness that would come with knowing that she would be able to travel with some comforts.

The moment Delilah’s dwelling came into view; however, he suffered a momentary pang of doubt.

The box was rickety. Even with the two of them pulling together, it did not roll smoothly.

The wood was rough and unpleasant… and then there was the smell.

He drew in a breath of the air and immediately gagged.

The smell wafting up from the wagon was intolerable and seemed to be getting worse, drawing his attention more acutely to it.

He gagged and wretched, drawing his ahaku’s curious gaze.

“What are you doing?” Agrel whispered.

Gehj shook his head, his crests flaring and flattening in distress as he tried not to hurl. She was going to be disgusted with it, and with them for even thinking about showing up with it at her door, much less expecting her to travel in something that smelled so foul.

“Do you not smell that?” he hissed at the other male and immediately gagged again.

Agrel sniffed the air and shook his head, his crests lifting very slightly as his expression grew more curious. “It smells the same as it did before. Why is it bothering you now?”

“Impossible,” Gehj countered with shock. He came to a complete stop and dropped his pole, forcing his ahaku to lower his as well. “We have to turn back and rethink this.”

Chuckling quietly to himself, Agrel stretched his wings for a moment before turning toward him with a patient smile, his arms crossing his chest. “And why is that?”

Why?

Gehj gaped at him. “It is revolting. We cannot present this thing to our mate. It will reflect badly on us and our ability to take care of her. I?—”

“—need to calm down,” Agrel interrupted. “Or else you are going to have another repeat of when you were asked to present your report to Chieftain Dengal. Do you not recall what happened?”

“It is not the same.” Gehj’s wings twitched with embarrassment.

He had wanted it perfect. He had gone over his report a dozen times and then went personally to see the producers and visit the storehouse managers to recalculate their numbers with them. It had been a lot of work that had not left him much time for sleeping and eating and he?—

“You dropped to the ground in exhaustion right in front of the chieftain,” Agrel reminded him drolly.

“I had to carry you back to our nest and was forced to take care of you for three days because you were as weak as little Nimh.” He hissed with quiet laughter.

“Not the same, you say, but it is exactly that. You are panicking now, just as you did then.”

Gehj grimaced, perhaps his ahaku was right, but it still didn’t hurt to—his train of thought was interrupted as Lily came sailing out of the house as if she had sprouted wings. She ran to them, her face lit up with excitement.

“A wagon! I can’t believe you found a wagon!” she shrieked as she stopped in front of them and bounced in place on her small feet. Spinning around, she shouted back to the house. “Momma, they brought a wagon!”

He groaned inwardly. So much for his attempt to abandon the smelly box…wagon… somewhere.

“A wagon?” Delilah’s head popped out the door curiously and she smiled as a look of relief swept over her face. “Oh, thank the Blessed Mother.” Her smile widened as she headed for them. “I thought for sure we would have to carry everything. That would have required us to abandon almost everything.”

He was so fixated on his mate as he tried to think of a way out of their current situation that he failed to see Lily scooting close to his side until she let out a loud giggle.

“It stinks,” she declared loudly and giggled again, her nose wrinkling.

Shamed filled him. He should have thought of that when he found it. He could not believe he brought something with such a foul smell for his mate.

“Don’t be silly, Lily,” Delilah countered in a light voice, startling him as she moved to the side of the wagon.

Her eyes gleamed happily as she looked it over.

“As the wood isn’t rotting and seems to be in good condition, it has probably sat in a barn somewhere.

That’s just the normal smell, since animals tend to hole up in there to get out of the weather.

We will sweep it out good and mop it down with vinegar.

Once it’s dry, we can tie down some herbal sachets in the corners.

It won’t be perfect, but it will do just fine.

” Turning to Gehj, she stood on her toes and pressed a kiss to his cheek, shocking him into silence, before doing the same to Agrel.

“Thank you, this must have taken you some effort to find.”

“It was Gehj. I helped pull it, but he is the one who found it and suggested that we bring it to you,” Agrel replied as he turned a smug smile on Gehj.

“I… it is nothing,” he stammered, caught off-guard.

“It is perfect,” his mate assured him as she drew his head down and placed her lips directly over his.

He froze, his crests rising and tail feathers fanning in response to the desire that shot through him with the meeting of their mouths.

His eyes slid shut, and he kissed her back.

The contact was brief, and her cheeks were red when she quickly pulled away from him again, but his heart still thudded in his chest, its pulse filling his ears.

Lily giggled from where she stood, her small hands pressed against her mouth, until her mother drew away with a quiet admonishment.

“Don’t gawk at adults, Lily. Staring is rude. Come on, let’s go get the vinegar. We may need all of it, but that’s okay, we won’t be taking it with us, anyway. Do you know where I have the lavender stored?”

“Yes, momma,” the nestling replied as she began to bounce in a skipping step at her mother’s side.

He watched the pair as they walked back to the dwelling, certain that the emotions filling his heart had to be visible on his face.

His ahaku clasped him roughly on the shoulder, his wing wrapping enthusiastically around him in a way that he knew was annoying, so that the bend of the wing thumped Gehj heavily on the chest.

“We should fetch the brooms and get the wagon ready, yes?” Agrel said.

Gehj nodded numbly, still stunned. Yes… they should do that so that the wagon would be ready by the time Delilah returned with the supplies. Gods knew that he would happily do that and more.

He would do anything for her.