Page 40 of Shadows of Winter

Hand shaking, Kaylina rubbed her face. If she didn’t step carefully, she could be caught in the middle of a budding war and killed. She didn’t even want to be involved. All she wanted was to start a successful mead-making business.

After sniffing the air repeatedly, the taybarri turned and ambled toward the back of the castle.

“I think that’s Crenoch,” Frayvar whispered. “We might be in trouble.”

“We haven’t done anything wrong.” Kaylina had almost blathered what might be considered intelligence, but she’d caught herself.

“That hasn’t kept trouble from finding us so far.”

11

With respect and food, the deadly beast is won.

~ Ranger Saruk

Instead of walking through the keep, Kaylina and Frayvar followed the taybarri through the courtyard and around the outside. Along the way, she expected to find Vlerion leaning against the wall with a stern expression on his face. But Crenoch ambled to the door between the kitchen and the well room, and there was no sign of his rider. The hinges on the rusty back gate stuck, so Kaylina wasn’t surprised that it stood open and had allowed the taybarri to enter that way.

Their furred visitor butted the door with his nose, then looked expectantly at her.

“Are you sure that’s Crenoch?” she murmured.

“No,” Frayvar said.

The taybarri let out three whuffs like laughs, then butted the door with his snout again.

“But I think it is,” Frayvar added.

The long-bodied furry creature was too tall and broad to enter the keep, but Kaylina risked stepping closer and gesturing that she would open the door. Crenoch wanted something inside. The rations they’d nibbled during the day? Frayvar’s apples? That might be it.

The taybarri sniffed Kaylina when she got close, and she hoped he wasn’t thinking of having her for dinner.

“I’m going to open the door for you.” She pointed at it, but she also stood still to let Crenoch sniff her. His large nostrils created enough of a draft to stir her hair. “Are taybarri carnivorous?” she asked her brother.

“Omnivores, I think.” He’d stopped by the gate. To watch for rangers? Or so he could flee easily if she angered the taybarri, and he shifted into battle mode?

“So fruits, vegetables, and humans are all in equal danger from those teeth?”

At the moment, Crenoch's fangs weren’t visible, but she’d seen them and remembered their length and sharpness.

“I don’t know enough about their eating habits to rank their favorite foods.”

Crenoch finished sniffing her and butted the door again.

“Right.” Kaylina pushed it open and stepped back.

The taybarri padded forward, sticking his long neck through, much as he had when they’d first met. It had been a window that time, and he’d been interested in her pack.

With a jolt, she realized it was on a counter near the door. There was honey in it, as well as a couple of her favorite books. The thought of the taybarri shredding the pages to satisfy his sweet tooth filled her with alarm.

She lifted a hand but hesitated to touch his furry shoulder without Vlerion along to make sure his mount behaved.

Crenoch withdrew his head, fangs now visible because they were clamped around her pack.

“That’s mine, friend,” Kaylina said.

The taybarri backed up, his broad tail stirring pebbles and bits of broken mortar on the ground. He dropped the pack but only so he could sniff it thoroughly. His broad tongue slid out between his fangs to prod it.

“Is there honey in there?” Frayvar asked.

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