CANELIS FRACHDAL's promotion comes with a price and that is to investigate a supply issue in the army. Upon arrival, she is greeted with a renegade camp underneath the Army's nose, a magical anomaly creeping inward from the ocean, and warring sides...
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2407 Rab 3, Reshpe
"Do we really need to share?" Canelis clicked her tongue and crossed her arms, staring the dagrine up and down. Its honey-gold coat was a poor consolation for her current situation.
They were currently in what the renegades treat as the stable. It was still well under the ground, surrounded by rough stone walls and darkness but judging from how the corridor sloped earlier, they were in a higher level. How the renegades kept track of these tunnels was a mystery Canelis didn't have the energy to think or care about.
The stable was just another dingy cave, filled with low quality straw, stale water, and the putrid smell of manure. Someone could light a fire in this place and the air would combust. Still, having spent all her time scrubbing stables back in Yin-Alora, she could take the sight and the smell in stride.
Beside her, Cailen raised his yellow scarf to his nose, tightening its coil around his neck. Canelis rolled her eyes. Amateur.
Inside, past the rotting planks of wood nailed together to form some sort of partition to give the animals their own cubicles, only two dagrinis were present. Each had their heads stuck into a bucket of grains, barely sensing Canelis and Cailen's movements. Canelis moved to the one to her left while Cailen moved to the other.
She was about to grab the saddle hanging on a nail by the dagrine's stable when Cailen cleared his throat. "What are you doing?" he said.
Canelis paused, her fingers mere inches from the saddle. She turned to the boy with a frown. "I'm saddling the dagrine," she snapped. "Isn't that obvious?"
"Yeah, we're not doing that..." Cailen circled a finger in the air, no doubt referring to her face. "Sarcasm thing."
Finally, he shook his head. "That's Tarmis's steed," he jerked his chin to the dagrine he's saddling. The buckles clinked and clanked against the peeling leather as he moved his fingers in a familiar and quite expert manner. "He wouldn't let any of us touch it without his explicit permission. We couldn't even lead it out of his sight for five seconds. You can't ride it out of here."
Canelis strode out of the dagrine's stable, kicking a few isolated strands of dried straw. "Fine. I'll ask him," she said. "There's no way we're taking only one dagrine out of here. I refuse."
The boy clicked his tongue. Now that Canelis was thinking about it, he might very well not be a boy anymore. She turned and studied the frown etched in his face. Well, he certainly looked like a child now. "It will take longer that way," he matched her stance, crossing his arms over his chest as well. "Tarmis is off in his duties this morning. You won't be able to catch him."
Canelis narrowed her eyes. "So it's morning?" she said. "How long have I been here?"
"Nice try. I'm not revealing anything more than that," Cailen turned back to the dagrine and continued his work. The straps snapped into place and the animal barely stopped eating its grains. "We'll lead Ludio out of the ruins. We'll only start riding until we're well into the middle of Xai-Ren, after we emerge from the tunnels."
