Page 126 of A Sanctuary from Shadow
The moon was full and bright in the sky when I awoke again, a wet nose against my neck. I giggled up at Sionna, scratching behind her floppy ears as Pete towered into view. “Up and at ’em,” he said. “The market has opened.”
Despite being warm and semi-cozy in Pete’s bedroll, I sprang to my feet, ready for bargain hunting.
“No, Sionna,” Pete gently scolded his hound, who seemed as excited for shopping as I was, when she made to follow us into the wheat. He stroked her head. “I told you—you stay here with Bob, keep watch of our camp and our belongings. We’ll return in several hours, maybe with a treat.”
That seemed to mitigate her disappointment, though she harrumphed as she curled into Pete’s bedroll, staring after us as we left.
“Why couldn’t she come?” I asked Pete as we forged into the wheat together. “She wouldn’t cause any trouble.”
“Aye, but the Goblins may.” Pete took the lead, tromping down fronds, so I could walk unhindered.
How gentlemanly, I thought.And unexpected.
“Goblins have a taste for dog,” Pete said. “While I’d wager most have sense enough not to steal their supper from a harbinger, I’d best not tempt fate.”
I grimaced, picturing Sionna rotating on a spit. “Yeah, that’s probably wise.”
“She’s sore with me now, but we’ll be fast friends again when I return with a hearty slab of bacon.”
I smiled at his fondness for her. “How did you find her?”
“I didn’t.” Pete glanced back at me. “She was given to me. By Gentian.”
I shook my head. “Handing out puppies—doesn’t seem like his thing.”
“It’s not. Customarily, harbingers select their hounds from Gentian’s fighting kennels—mostly gigantic war hounds called pawlers, who’ve already seen a few matches themselves.”
I hated that thought.
“But upon me—the harbinger he most detested—he foisted what he considered the weakest, feeblest, most skittish mutt in his collection. I suppose he thought it a fantastic joke. My overseer snickered like a jester when he dropped Sionna in my arms—said she was hopelessly immune to training and bid me a sarcastic good luck before he left me to the task of making her a snuff hound.”
Pete smirked. “Little did they know, but he’d handed me the best hound I could’ve asked for.”
His words warmed my soul.
“At first, I was beside myself. Sionna was skinny, mangy, and fair afraid of me, shivering in the darkest corner of my bunk. She wouldn’t let me touch her for a full week and would only eat the food I offered her when she knew she was alone. Couldn’t rightly blame her, of course. The way the masters train Gentian’s hounds—it’s a good deal of screaming and beating.”
How could anyone treat a sweetheart like Sionna so cruelly? “Let me guess—Sionna responded more to positive reinforcement.”
“If you mean she preferred a gentle hand and a kind voice, then aye.”
“Exactly what I mean.”
“Once we’d become friendly enough to attempt training, I realized Sionna had a mind quicker than a minnow can swim a dipper. I’d repeat a command two, maybe three times, and she’d master it. Against other snuffs, she’s always the smartest, the fastest, and her nose isuncanny. She’s indispensable to me now. She still quails at her own shadow, and bigger hounds easily bully her, but she does her job, and I wouldn’t change her for anything. It’s taboo to say so among fellow harbingers, but she’s my family—or the closest thing to it I’ve found in this world.”
Goddess save me, I loved the way he loved her.
“Anyhow, after we left those hellhole barracks and established camp, Sionna popped right out of her shell. Mostly.”
Hadn’t Briar said I’d done something similar after moving to college? “Sometimes a change of environment makes all the difference.”
Pete nodded. “Aye.”
“Then I was right,” I said more to myself than to Pete. “You do live at the camp with Olea and everyone. That wagon I stayed in that night—it was yours.”
“Indeed it was, Shorty. How’d you like your sleep?” He winked. “I’ve a soft bed, don’t I?”
For once, I was glad for darkness. He couldn’t see me blush.
