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gave Travis an odd flutter in his stomach. His love of dogs had extended
itself to the lycans; a perception that gave him a twinge of discomfort over
the fact that his lover, and first real relationship, was with a lycan.
"At least I've stopped trying to pet them, he muttered.
Gordain lurked near Nevin's tent, staring at the flap as if waiting to pounce,
and that made him curious. The scout seemed to be hanging about Nevin's tent
with suspicious frequency since the day they hit Linder's Meadow. An idle
thought ran through Travis head, and he tried to remember if he had ever seen
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Gordain come out of the Scarlet Tent. However, Travis decided not to
investigate. He wanted to reach the blood-slaves compound and walk his lover,
Darianna Donahue, to their tent as he did most days.
'Daree was one of only three bitches serving with their lycan scouts. She
also did guard duty at the blood slaves compound on a regular rotation. Most
lycans did not approve of his relationship with Daree. They tolerated it
because he had saved the life of their chieftain, Nevin Igguiden, and nearly
lost his own doing it.
The next section of the camp belonged to the Ymraudes. The all-female vampires
of Ishla the Tinkerer had a green banner with a bold black squiggle that was
the rune of their god. The five Lemyari camped beside them with no banner of
their own.
An enclosed wagon like a house on wheels and painted green with the
distinctive squiggly rune of Dynanna on the side drew Travis attention.
Beside it spread a large tent dyed the same colors and marked in the same way
as the wagon. The weather prevented the bio-alchemists from cooking potions,
so the usual sight of boiling cauldrons was absent. Disharyl Scathwick stood
in the doorway of the tent. Anksha allowed only a few of her blood-slaves to
move freely to any degree, and Disharyl was one of them because she had been
Liuthan Loosestrife's principal bio-alchemist and Amiri used her skills a lot.
Travis cornflower eyes narrowed in his square-jawed face. That one gave him
the creeps; yet he could not put his finger upon why. Iuf emerged from the
tent, pushing past Disharyl. Travis gaze flinched away from Iuf. The mon was
in his units, but had been released from duty due to illness. Iuf's face had
become gaunt to the point of skeletal, dark circles beneath his eyes, and a
blue tinge to his lower lip.
"He's dying ... has to be. Travis quickened his stride, unable to deal with
the knowledge.
All that remained to do was pass the nibari herd and the big Scarlet Tent. The
nibari quarters were marked off by green tents and a blank green banner. A
single Scarlet Tent stood at the edge of the nibari section. The tent had an
entrance on both the non-humans side where Travis stood at that moment and
another entrance on the far side that opened on the humans tents beyond it.
Travis could never resist passing close to the Scarlet Tent. The sounds of sex
coming from it reminded him of the brothels he had frequented before becoming
involved with Darianna. Guilt flickered through him, although he knew that
neither the lycans nor Isranon regarded sex with nibari to be equivalent to
adultery.
The black tents of the blood-slaves came into view. Their compound was roped
off and heavily patrolled. The four guards nodded to Travis as he passed them.
Travis still had nightmares about the day when Anksha rampaged through
Ocealay, the night after Isranon had been taken captive by Captain Tamric. She
had acquired fifty sa'necari blood-slaves as she uncovered Liuthan's planned
coup against the city-state. As much as Travis hated sa'necari, with the
exception of Isranon, Anksha's ferocity against them had unsettled Travis; and
left him uncomfortable in her presence ever since.
Two had died before they left Ocealay, one of them Stygean's mother Chinisi,
and three more had perished in the first weeks of their march. Chinisi had
been too weakened by the ferocity of Anksha's initial attack to survive the
march. So the demon-eater had put her down like an injured horse; which
further disturbed Travis. Only a rare mon could kill in cold blood and Travis
was not one of them.
Six foot and brown-haired, his tanned and weathered skin the texture of smooth
saddle leather; the only thing imposing about Travis was his height. His hands
were broad and heavy, calloused and hard, but his touch was gentle.
He found Darianna standing by the central fire. She had haired over, but not
gone snouted, to better deal with the cold. The lycans were a passionate race,
freely expressing their emotions. At first that had made Travis a mite
uncomfortable. Then Darianna had explained that her people preferred to let
their emotions out, because when repressed feelings built up it could throw
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them into the change hard and fast especially rage. Darianna tended to hair
over at the first touch of anger, as instinct drove her into the hybrid state
that her people fought best in. In her hybrid form, Darianna could lift Travis
off his feet despite his far larger size.
Their hair color frequently reflected the color of their coats. Darianna's
hair was silver with a red streak.
"Thought I'd walk to the tent, Daree."
Darianna slipped her arm around his waist and put her head on his shoulder.
Travis loins hardened the moment she touched him. His cheeks brightened.
"You still taking those herbs? Travis whispered as they walked through the
camp.
"You still have some eelskins?"
Travis inhaled sharply and shook his head. I ran out."
"I won't be dishonest with you. Doing this the human way is getting annoying.
She tilted her head in annoyance. I'm taking care of this matter tonight the
way my own people do it. Then you can stop asking me about herbs."
Travis sucked in another deep breath. What's that?"
"I'm trysting with Olin tonight in wolf form."
Travis stopped in his tracks and stared at her. What have I done wrong?"
"You've annoyed me."
"You're throwing me over for Olin?"
Daree flicked a long strand of hair back. Throwing you over?"
"You're gonna let him wag his staff into you. What the hell am I supposed to
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