Between Worlds

Chapter 3

Malyn and Tyla had been riding together for a few months now, so Tyla probably could have managed to put his motorcycle helmet on by himself at this point, but Malyn still helped him with it every time. It felt almost ritualistic. He helped him zip the leather riding jacket up, too, which he definitely could have done on his own, but whatever. Tyla had never complained.

Tyla had insisted he didn't need the jacket at first, that he threw shielding spells up practically on reflex whenever anything startled him too bad. Which was true. Malyn had seen him do it. Malyn had still insisted on the jacket, though, just in case. Besides, he'd already bought the damn thing, and it was too small for anyone else who might be riding with him to wear.

Malyn used to think long rides alone were his favourite thing, but long rides with Tyla were even better. It brought him the same kind of peace as a long, hot shower. It gave his mind space to wander in a way that lacked any element of boredom because it kept the parts of it not dedicated to conscious thought occupied. And the whole time, Tyla had his arms wrapped around him like an extended hug.

Maybe that was a weird way to think about it. They'd never actually hugged. Malyn would have liked to, but he'd tried flirting with Tyla before, and every single time Tyla had just stonewalled him, so that wasn't happening. He didn't feel too bad about enjoying the ride, but that was as far as he'd take things.

It was late afternoon by the time they made it to the area Adin had sent to Malyn's GPS, though the dense trees that filled the forest and blocked out light made it feel later. The first few of these dogs they'd dealt with had been in the city, and if Malyn had to hazard a guess, he'd say this was closer to their natural habitat.

But in a way, it was his, too. Malyn collected his bow from the saddlebags on his motorcycle and they headed off into the forest.

"How are we going to find this thing?" Tyla asked as they walked.

"I'm hoping it'll find us, honestly. They're aggressive enough. I could try to track it, but..." Malyn made a face. "It's a lot of forest to comb through and they're fast moving creatures. Tracking something doesn't get you very far if you're following slower than it's moving."

"Okay. How shall we draw it in?"

"I think talking is a good start. We could scream and shout, but most predatory animals aren't stupid. If it thinks we want its attention, it might be more cautious."

"I don't know much about animals, but that sounds logical. What shall we talk about?"

"Well, I—Ah, perfect." Malyn pointed to a small wooden platform up in a tree. "Deer stand. We can sit up there so that it can't sneak up on us while we're talking. Good vantage to shoot from, too."

"Oh, interesting," Tyla said. "You used to hunt, didn't you? Is that how you know what that is?"

Malyn let out a bark of laughter as he began to climb the ladder up to the platform. "Nah. I hunted growing up, before I came to this world. We didn't have these."

"How old were you? When you came here, I mean. If that's okay to ask."

Malyn offered Tyla a hand up as Tyla neared the top of the ladder and helped him onto the platform. It was a tight fit, but they could sit side by side and not fall off.

"Twelve," Malyn said. "And yeah, it's fine. I know house rules are that we don't ask about things that happened before we came here, but that's mostly for Finch and Adin. That was what I was going to suggest we talk about, actually. It's been ten years to the day since I arrived in this world."

"Oh, wow. Ah... should I have bought you a gift? My people don't really give gifts, so I'm always worried I'll disappoint someone by not getting them something when one is expected."