Bear Coast

by Sven Grams

  Finally noticing that Carrion had nodded towards her, she smiled at the young Anthro, the tiniest hint of awkwardness noticeable.

  Carrion did notice, pausing for a moment questioningly. He then simply ignored the odd occurrence and bowed slightly in Anthro lion fashion before turning to leave.

  Captain Felx looked over at the Mayor after retaking his seat.

  “What’s the matter with you?”

  “What?” asked Petrice, a little uneasy.

  “I’ve never seen you so nervous around anyone before,” Felx said, giving her a disarming smile.

  “In fact, I can’t remember you ever being nervous.”

  Petrice seemed to notice that she had been letting her emotions slip.

  “I’m just exhausted,” she said dismissively, quickly regaining her composure.

  Felx seemed to accept this a moment later, it being the honest truth.

  Captain Felx then smiled, leaning forward to the steaming pot near the fire.

  “Something more to drink?” he asked.

  “Sure,” said Mayor Petrice with a kind smile.

  Back with Carrion, he was making his way by another fire on his way back to the settlers. Looking over, the young adult recognised Sara and Trex nearby.

  The two youths were sitting with Patt, Fera, Zea, Karthen and Brekiz.

  The adult halfling stopped, turned, and then walked over to the group.

  He nodded collectively at the group of seated Anthros, their conversation fading at his appearance.

  He knelt down next to Karthen who had Zea in his lap.

  The young halfling Zea looking up at him with large eyes.

  “You must be Trex’s cousin,” he said with a kind smile, “what is your name?”

  Zea was unsure of herself, but reacted once Karthen stroked her arm kindly as encouragement.

  “Zea,” she said eventually.

  “I’m Carrion,” he said with a smile, “I’m very glad to meet you.”

  Zea looked on with large eyes, unsure of how to respond.

  “And we are very glad to meet you,” said Karthen honestly.

  “You must be Trex’s Uncle,” Carrion said calmly.

  “Karthen Tristfull,” Karthen introduced himself.

  “A pleasure,” Carrion said, getting back up. “You should know what a brave thing Trex did out there.”

  He turned to Sara and the wolf he assumed to be her father.

  “Sara as well, I am very grateful to you both.”

  Karthen smiled at the gesture, as did most of the others, Patt was more reserved however.

  “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other soon,” said Karthen eventually.

  Carrion smiled.

  “I’ll be looking forward to it,” he replied.

  “A good evening to you all,” he said to the group, he then turning to leave again.

  Trex, Sara and the others watched the halfling return to his own fire. He took a seat by his wife and the other families. The bear Pettana was also clearly visible.

  “So, coming back with a boatload of halflings was not exotic enough for you?” said Brekiz to Sara and Trex nearby, his tone a little detached.

  Trex turned towards his friend.

  “Did you bring the bear to deflect attention or something” Brekiz continued, his tone clinical.

  “She’s nice once you get to know her,” said Trex on instinct, dismissing his friends comment. Trex gave the lion youth a disapproving glare, not appreciating his clinical tone.

  Sara looked over at Trex’s interaction with his friend and noticed that her father’s expression seemed to place him in agreement with the young curly haired lion.

  “Just saying,” said Brekiz, dismissing his friend’s glare, “news of this will get around quickly, as if it wasn’t interesting enough around here as it is.”

  “That’s a good thing,” Karthen said confidently nearby, happy that things were being forced to change.

  Patt glanced over at Karthen, obviously not of the same mind, but holding his tongue for now.

  Relative silence returned as the sounds of the surrounding festivities mixed with the crackling of the fire.

  Patt took another drink from his cup. It seemed to mellow him a bit. He had been hard pressed to keep up superficial chitchat with Karthen.

  As he honestly did not know how the first meeting between his wife and her sister would go, he didn’t want it to get to personal, or indeed to close, in case it all turned sour. Luckily, Trex and Sara had had plenty to talk about.

  The two families finally spotted Sallice and Sharlee as they made their way back through the other groups towards them. They shuffled to make room for the two as it became obvious that they would sit down together in the centre between the two families.

  Making themselves comfortable, the two straitened out their dresses.

  “Can you pass me my cup?” asked Sharlee in her normal tone, as if nothing was the matter.

  “Sure,” said Trex after a moment’s hesitation, passing the cup along after being handed it from Karthen.

  Sharlee took a drink as her sister looked into the fire, both of their expressions and emotional states neutral.

  An air of expectation hung over the group as everyone tried not to make eye contact with the two sisters.

  Sharlee and Sallice had headed off a few hours ago, almost as soon as the families had come together. It had been an awkward few moments, and everyone was naturally wondering how it had turned out.

  Patt coughed, taking another drink from his cup.

  Brekiz gazed around him, a little less affected by the suspense then the members of the family.

  “I think I’ll go back and see how my grandparents are doing,” he said, getting up, the suspense was unnecessarily burdensome.

  No sooner had the young Anthro lion left then the awkward silence returned.

  Karthen gave the two an expectant smile, generating a smirk from his wife.

  Sallice finally cracked.

  “Would you lot talk already,” she said finally.

  “We were expecting something from you actually,” said Patt calmly, leaning forward. He had had a lot to drink this evening already.

  “What’s to expect, I haven’t seen my sister in a very long time,” said Sallice, slightly defensively, “we had plenty to catch up on.”

  “Catch up?” asked Fera from the side, eyebrow raised.

  “Yes… catch up,” said Sallice, her half smile indicating she recognised the absurdity of the situation.

  Sara smiled. It was just like her mother to brush things over. That was all they were going to get it seemed.

  But it was a start.

  “Well thank the spirits,” said Patt, “the tension was killing me.”

  The series of drinks had started to have their increased effect on the normally dry Anthro.

  The tension seemed to melt from the shoulders of the other family members. In particular Patt seemed to loosen up considerably, his conversation skills returning now that they were set free.

  “Sharlee, Karthen, who did you get to look after the farm while you’re away?” he asked his sister in law and her lion husband.

  The conversation quickly picked up as the family members began to catch up in earnest now that the green light had seemingly been given.

  Nearby, Brekiz smiled as he saw the Kelgorn and Tristfull families begin to talk. Soon they were as merry as those around them. Near him, his grandparents were talking with Sage Filfia, the three laughing and telling stories like old friends.

  Another fire away sat Sergeants Kirra and Brex. With them sat Lieutenant Rosso and a few other wolf and lion solders, including, surprisingly, Lieutenant Millan.

  Despite being physically there and listening, the raven haired Millan remained reserved and quiet, interacting only enough to be politically polite. Brex and Kirra were originally restrained by her presence, but after a few drinks they were their jovial selves, Lieutenant Rosso also showing a
complete other side to herself.

  Millan watched the Anthros around her carefully, sitting slightly back and away from the light. Her eyes scanned between the soldiers around her to the halflings, the bear girl, to Filfia and Brekiz’s grandparents, to Trex and Sara’s family and then finally to Captain Felx and Mayor Petrice. To be honest she had spent a lot of the time that night observing these two senior commanders more closely… Millan could easily see that the current situation she found herself in had proven to be much more complex then she had imagined. There was a lot that still needed to be resolved.

  She looked over as Captain Felx laughed again, the two older warriors were obviously enjoying each others company, at ease in each others presence… it was strange.

  Millan had noticed one thing as well, once in a while, when Captain Felx was not looking, the grey wolf would occasionally look between him and the halfling Carrion… there was indeed a lot more that needed to be sorted out.

  High above the celebrations below, on the walls of the inner city palace complex, Councillor Gerak looked down at the festive masses, no ounce of joy present as he stared from the solitude of darkness.

  Nearby, a cloaked figure slinked its way through the shadows, careful to avoid any undue light or exposure.

  “Yes?” said Gerak, not taking his eyes off the flickering lights below, the sound of music still audible in the distance.

  “We have found the Anthro you wanted,” the figure said simply.

  “Found who?” said Gerak impatiently, he had not sent any request to find anyone recently, and wasn’t in the mood to be fooled around.

  “The first one…”

  “The first one what?”

  “Our first objective…”

  Realization suddenly hit the distracted Councillor, his formally cluttered mind being swept free in one hit.

  “Are you sure…” he said in a warning tone, this was not the time for an underling to build up his expectations.

  “Without a doubt,” said the cloaked figure confidently.

  Gerak smiled, perhaps today was not a complete loss.

  “Set up a meeting immediately,” he stated flatly.

  “It will be done,” the cloaked figure stated simply before disappearing into the shadows again.

  Gerak smiled. Looking down at the flickering lights, he suddenly felt no ill will, they should enjoy their little victory while they could… it would all change soon enough. With renewed confidence and energy, Gerak turned away from the flickering lights, there was work to do.

  End of Book 2.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Having traveled extensively throughout the world, Sven Grams’ intrigue and fascination on the development and variety of the human condition has never diminished, in particular the influence of environment on personality and the influence of emotional intelligence on shaping our common humanity.

  Refuge Cross combines his passion for storytelling, history, social development and emotional intelligence through the creation of a fantastical world where contrasting groups of characters play out their individuality in a time filled with intrigue and adventure.

  “The challenge of writing an engaging, well-paced adventure story has proven to be rewarding and enjoyable experience. I only hope that even if the reader receives only a fraction of the joy that I did while writing it, they will have found the book to be a worthwhile experience. And I hope that they will be just as eager as I am to find out how the story continues for its colorful cast of detailed characters.” – Sven Grams.

  OTHER TITLES BY SVEN GRAMS

  Book 1

  REFUGE CROSS: THE EXILES

  Join Trex and Sara as they contend with their new emotional strengths and weaknesses brought on by their journey through young adulthood. Beliefs, morals and identity will be tested and shaped as they each try to come to terms with their very different cultures and positions in life. Wanted or not, both will help steer themselves and their families safely through a time which is filled with ever increasing danger and intrigue. Secret societies, betrayal, circumstance and loyalties will result in their separate paths being interwoven as they must outwit a dangerous band of exiles to achieve a single goal, but for two very different reasons.

  Book 3

  REFUGE CROSS: FIRE STARTER

  With snow falling in the borderlands all the way down to BridgeHead, the cold of winter has truly set in. But things are definitely heating up for our two young adventurers as they deal with old prejudices and new developments in the small mixed race town. Trex’s halfling cousin and the new arrivals from the colony are causing unrest. Trex must face the prejudices against his family head-on while Sara wrestles with her internal demons to come to peace with her new surroundings as well as her old connections and beliefs. And on top of all this the arsonist of long ago has returned... it will indeed be a warm winter.