Life Bonds (Binding Words Book 2)

by Daniel Schinhofen

  “I’ve been wondering,” Fiona asked, “why have you kept Dark Cutter in that form?”

  “Just haven’t had a reason to change it,” Sean said, using the butt of the naginata as a walking stick. “Besides, it’s basically a sword with a lot of reach, which is nice.”

  “Oh. I was wondering if it had significance to you,” Fiona said.

  “Not especially,” Sean replied. “Though it was a common weapon in a lot of games that I used to play. It was one of my favorites for reach weapons.”

  “Games?” Fiona asked.

  Myna slowed her pace, after glancing back and seeing them trailing her, hand in hand. “I would be interested in knowing more as well, Sean.”

  Sean did his best to explain video games, which was eventually equated to a noble’s game where miniature figures could be animated and used to attack each other. The game was often used as a way for nobles to settle small squabbles without resorting to violence.

  “We should pause soon,” Myna finally said, her voice sounding unsteady.

  “Here looks good,” Sean said as they came to one of the many small clearings they had run across.

  Myna immediately took a seat, and closed her eyes, “Thank you.” A moment later, she fell to the side with a groan. “That was very draining.”

  Fiona nodded, taking a seat herself. “It was a bit taxing.” Wobbling in place, Fiona used both arms to keep herself upright. “Draining is a good word,” she said, her voice going faint.

  Dropping his Mage Sight, Sean gave them each a bit of energy. His vision blurred for a fraction of a second, but a single blink restored it. “Are you both going to be okay?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Fiona said, feeling the energy trickle into her. “Thank you for giving it to us more slowly. It makes it easier to handle.”

  “I’ll be fine in a moment,” Myna said, still sprawled on the ground. “I don’t think I’ve used this much energy in a year, much less a single day.”

  Sean pulled the cups and kettle out of the pack and took a seat. He began preparing some orange tea for them all from the leaves Fiona had brought. “I’m curious. Fiona appears green in my Mage Sight, brighter now than before, with bands of white at her wrists. Myna, you’re a mixture of deep black and vibrant white swirls, with bright spots of white at wrists and neck. What do I look like to both of you?”

  “Your energy is white, pure, and brilliant,” Fiona replied.

  “I see it the same,” Myna replied.

  “Hmm,” Sean said as he handed a cup to Fiona, getting a kiss in return. Inching over to Myna, he gave her ears a gentle rub, “Tea, Myna. You need to sit up.”

  A deep content rumble came from Myna as she rubbed her head into his hand. “So nice to your Life Bonded,” Myna murmured.

  “Sit up and take the cup,” Fiona huffed.

  Myna’s one eye cracked open, so she saw Sean frown at Fiona. A small smile crossed her face as she slowly sat up. “Sorry. I was enjoying the attention. It’s not like I get kisses,” Myna said blithely as she took the cup with a smile, “Thank you, Sean.”

  “Ladies,” Sean said, stepping between the two of them. “I don’t like this small sniping. James would not have tolerated it, and I’m not going to either. Fiona, Myna is a friend and she is going to be with us, so you need to overlook the small things. Myna, Fiona is the woman I love, and you need to stop poking at her.”

  “I’m sorry, Master,” Myna said, bowing her head to him.

  “Stop calling me Master when it’s just us three,” Sean said firmly.

  “I’m sorry, Sean,” Fiona sighed slightly. “I know better, but she’s playing into you and I find it bothers me.”

  “Why?” Sean asked gently.

  “I know you’ll be with her for the rest of your life. She’ll have plenty of time with you, but she is deliberately trying to take away some of my time with you,” Fiona said, her gaze focused on her cup.

  “Fiona,” Myna said, “I’m sorry. Truly I am, we’ve never had issues before. Like you, I felt drawn to him the first day I spoke with him. I can’t help but want to be with him, especially now. I’ll try to temper my urges, but you know how hard that can be for my kind.”

  Pausing, Fiona nodded. “I see. I hadn’t even considered that, but it would explain a lot. I’m sorry for my reactions, but at the same time, I want the time I can have with him.”

  “I’ll try harder,” Myna said, giving Fiona a small bow of her head. “I wonder if you will consider an idea of mine?”

  Fiona paused mid sip, before lowering the cup, “We’ll talk when we move on. I think I know what you’re going to suggest.”

  Sean glanced at the women as he dug out some bread and cheese, which would go bad long before the jerky, handing some to both women. “After we finish our snack.”

  Both sets of eyes went to him, two heads nodded in agreement at his words. Focusing on his own meal, Sean wondered if he had maybe gotten them to reevaluate the situation. He missed them exchanging a glance over his head.

  Once they were ready, the women asked him to give them some space so they could talk. Feeling a sudden sense of dread in his gut, he did as they asked. Pulling his Mage Sight back up, he watched them get a hundred yards ahead of him. Their whispers were too soft to reach his ears at that distance.

  They didn’t motion him to join them until they were about ready to make camp for the night. Finally joining them, Sean raised his brows at them. “Everything okay?”

  “We’re working out an arrangement,” Fiona said simply. “It will take a bit more until we’re both in a place that we can agree on it. Myna raised a few good points I had not considered.”

  “Fiona reminded me of a couple of things I was overlooking,” Myna added. “We’re both sorry that we’ve made things more difficult than they should be.”

  Fiona nodded, “Yes. If you would like to go hunting with Myna, I will get the camp ready.”

  Lips pursed, Sean eyed both of them, before giving Fiona a quick kiss. “Okay,” Sean’s tone was doubtful as he waited for the shoe to drop.

  “Camo, as best you can,” Myna said as she started away from where they had stopped. “I will lead. If you see anything, touch me on the right shoulder.”

  Sean pulled his energy around him and followed after Myna, his mind whirling with all the ways something could go wrong.

  Chapter Five

  Sean had trouble following Myna, as she used all her skill in Camo to evade him. Managing to stay just a couple of feet behind her was the only reason he even had a chance at seeing her blur. Myna came to a sudden halt, forcing Sean to stop short, his chest a fraction of an inch from her back.

  Myna pointed into the nearby bushes. A Shadowlope was just visible amongst the shadows there, nibbling the leaves. Myna picked up a piece of bark and tossed it at the bush. The Shadowlope startled at the sound, leaping into a shadow and vanishing.

  “That is what a Shadowlope can do,” Myna said softly. “From its size, it probably didn’t go far, but without a ranged weapon they are near impossible to reliably bring down. We’ll continue the hunt, but I thought you should see one.”

  “Surprise is the only way to take one down?”

  “Or being in the right place when they jump,” Myna replied, “but that also means you’re close to whatever startled it.”

  “Good to know. Shall we keep going?”

  “I want to ask you a question,” Myna said, not moving. “Do you think I am attractive?”

  Sean felt a pit open up before him, leaving him precariously balanced on the edge. “I’m with Fiona, Myna.”

  “I know, but I need the answer to the question. I’m not asking if you want to… do anything, just… do you think of me as attractive, even with my ears?” Dropping her Camo, Myna turned slowly, her ears twitching. “Please.”

  The conversation was going to go one of two ways, Sean knew. He just didn’t know what would happen if he answered or tried to evade. Remembering his pep talk from the previous
day, he looked her in the eyes and let go of his Camo. “You are attractive, and the ears only make you even more so, Myna. I’m with Fiona, though, so I won’t be acting on any impulses.”

  Cheeks heating, Myna bowed her head. “Thank you, Sean. That was all I was interested in knowing right now.” Covering herself with Camo again, Myna moved off.

  Bringing his Camo back up, Sean followed Myna, confused by the random question. It took them an hour to find something that they might be able to bring down, a Fawntin that was grazing on a shrub.

  The animal looked like a deer, but its eyes glowed pale green and it kept raising its head to look around. Myna motioned Sean to the right and moved off to the left. Being careful to make as little noise as possible, Sean did as Myna had bid him, circling to the rear of the Fawntin.

  Once he was behind it, Sean tried to find Myna across the way but couldn’t see any sign of her. Wondering if he was supposed to start the encounter, Sean chewed his lip briefly. The Fawntin’s head snapped up and it let out a huff as it backed toward Sean. He thought it might be sensitive to Camo, since he knew Myna was nearby, but still couldn’t spot her. He dropped his own Camo and waited.

  With a loud snort, the Fawntin turned to run, bringing it into Sean’s reach. As its head came around, Sean’s naginata whipped out and sliced cleanly through the creature’s neck, severing the head in a single cut. Stepping aside from the body that went tumbling bonelessly, Sean found Myna blinking at him.

  “Good work,” Myna said, coming forward. “We should gut it here to stop other animals wanting to follow us back to camp.”

  “It’s been a very long time since I helped my dad dress out game,” Sean said, thinking back over the almost two decades since he had field dressed a deer.

  Myna nodded as she laid the Fawntin out and started working on it. Watching her work, Sean remembered the steps. She paused when she got to the breastbone. “Sean, can you please resize Dark Cutter for this?”

  Sean did as requested and took over the process. It didn’t take long, and when he was done, Sean looked over and found Myna with some rope and a decent sized tree limb. “Carry back?”

  “We’ll finish bleeding it tonight, but yes,” Myna said as she began to lash the Fawntin’s legs to the wood.

  Sean joined in, tying the other legs so they could get going. The sun was setting quickly, and they wanted to get back to their camp before dark. They were able to move at a quick pace carrying the Fawntin since they weren’t stealthing. Fiona was sitting by the fire, waiting patiently for them when they arrived.

  “I see the hunt went well,” Fiona said, pulling the pot off the fire. “I have dinner ready. I wasn’t sure if you would bring things back, so it made sense to start food. Let me grab the smoking rack from the bag.”

  Myna thanked Fiona and got the Fawntin laid out so she could butcher it to be smoked. “I was thinking of bleeding it out, but this will work.”

  “Let me go grab a bit more wood,” Sean said.

  About half an hour later, the animal was set up and smoking. Once that was done, they washed up, using cooling water from the kettle that Sean had filled after the tea had been poured.

  “This will give us meat for a while,” Fiona said. “I didn’t think you’d be bringing back something this size.” Handing out the soup, Fiona gave Myna a look and got a slight nod back.

  “Okay, what was that about?” Sean asked as he took his bowl.

  Fiona looked straight into his eyes. “You don’t need to know. Myna and I are coming to an understanding.”

  Raising a brow, Sean stayed silent and took a bite of the soup. It was bland; the veggies were soggy, and the jerky was tough, barely made better by being soaked for so long. Fiona sighed, knowing she hadn’t done as well as she had hoped with their meal.

  Gently touching her knee, Sean gave Fiona a smile. “It's good, considering the circumstances. I’m positive that, if we had a kitchen and time, you would make something wonderful.”

  Fiona blushed slightly. “Flatterer.”

  “I think he’s right,” Myna added. “The seasoning is light, but it is good. That makes me think that if we had the means to really make a proper meal, you would do very well.”

  Fiona blinked. “Thank you, Myna.”

  “Maybe tomorrow I should stay at camp while you two hunt, or at least go practice your Camo.”

  Sean nodded. “That’s a good idea, Myna. We can play Seek and Sneak, it’ll be good for both of us.”

  “I didn’t make beds,” Fiona said. “I think it will be fine to sleep on the ground. We haven’t seen anything to stop us from doing that, and it will be faster to make camp at night.”

  “I should practice some Shaping,” Myna said, “but maybe something not as intensive.”

  “I have a few ideas on that,” Fiona added. “I recall some of the training exercises from the academy.”

  “That would be helpful,” Myna smiled.

  Sean sat there eating quietly, leery of the sudden camaraderie the two women seemed to have. He didn’t want to break the moment they were having, so he waited for one of them to say something to him.

  “Sean, what are you planning on testing tonight?” Fiona asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Sean said, glad the conversation was back to normal.

  “Agility,” Myna suggested. “Mom used to have me train by using five points that were inset in a star.”

  “Hmm, a variation on the cone drill from my world, it sounds like,” Sean said as he finished off his food. “We can do that after we finish dinner. Fiona should join me.”

  “Yes, it would be good for her. I’ll work on Shaping while you two do that,” Myna said.

  “Sounds like we have a plan,” Sean chuckled.

  “Yes, I think we do,” Fiona said, looking at Myna, who gave a nod back.

  Myna set up the points for them, laying out a pentagram. “This is the route,” Myna said as she took off running the standard pattern of the pentagram being drawn. “Any questions?” she asked after finishing the run.

  “Nope,” Sean smiled. “Fiona, you want to get her started and then join me?”

  “Yes,” Fiona said, leading Myna away from Sean.

  Sean ran the course a couple of times while he waited, and it felt easy to him. When Fiona came over a few minutes later, he got hurriedly out of her way. “Give it a go.”

  Fiona took the starting spot and started her run. Watching her, Sean could see where she slowed to make the turns. His lips compressed; he knew he had been fluid through those points as he hadn’t needed to slow to make the turns crisply.

  When Fiona finished her run, she looked at Sean. “How did I do?”

  “You slowed through the turns,” Sean said, “which is natural. The problem is, I‘m not sure if you slowed more than necessary or not. Take it again, but this time, don’t slow. If that means the turns end up going wider, do that.”

  Lips pursed, Fiona nodded and got ready at the start. With a deep breath, she pushed off the line, running faster this time. Sean watched intently as she made her turns without slowing, noting how much wider they were. Once Fiona finished the course, she looked over at him.

  “You didn’t slow,” he told her, nodding approval. “Was that the tightest you could make the turns at that speed?”

  “I think so. If I try to take it tighter, I think I’ll wind up injured, and we can’t wait for me to heal,” Fiona said.

  “We won’t have to,” Sean said with a smirk. “I can heal you, or you can heal you.”

  “Oh, right,” Fiona coughed, looking away.

  “Try it again. This time, don’t worry about hurting yourself,” Sean suggested.

  “Okay,” Fiona nodded as she went back to the starting point.

  The third time through the course, her turns were tighter and she didn’t reduce speed going into them. After each turn, however, Sean could see that she slowed for a single step before speeding back up. When she crossed the finish line, she bent over, panti
ng. “That took more out of me.”

  “How bad was the injury?” Sean asked, walking over to rub her back.

  “Something in my knee didn’t like it,” Fiona said. “It healed up easily enough, but that took more out of me in a different way.”

  “But now we know you can do that, and if things get bad, a small injury is still better than being skewered,” Sean said, continuing to rub her back as she stood upright.

  “True,” Fiona said as she sighed, enjoying the back rub. “It’s your turn.”

  “Fair enough,” Sean said, and took his place at the starting point.