Page 120 of A Soul to Guide

“Me first!”one of them snarled, just as a deafening roar bellowed from the side.

Their orb flashes turned white, the glowing trail moving towards the sound. Heavy footsteps pounded against the ground, frighteningly fast and bolting in their direction.

“It’s Merikh.”

“He has returned.”

Then, at the same time they said,“And he is angry with us.”

Hanging from one shoulder was a bag filled with more food for Raewyn he hadn’t been able to carry before. The other had a satchel of clothing for her, since he’d noticed she only had two dresses and one was filthy from their travels.

Humans liked to regularly change their outfits and had different kinds. He imagined it would be the same for her, especially since she bathed more regularly in comparison to them. She didn’t have anything to sleep in, something she’d whined about.

When he hadn’t managed to find the last tools and the kind of flowers she needed, he’d gone to a different village that wasn’t too far from the first. Thankfully, he found them.

In his right hand, he held a decent-sized pot with multiple yellow tulips dancing in it.

Although he’d sprinted on all fours to both villages, he’d walked back to minimise damage to the flowers. Other than Raewyn, he didn’t think he’d ever held something so delicate before.

His ward was in place, so he thought all would be well. No Demons could get inside, and the chance of another Duskwalker entering his territory was low – especially since most of them lived on the north-west side of the Veil, whereas he was south-east.

He’d been wrong, so very wrong.

Merikh hadn’t taken into consideration the twins, who had no home and ventured everywhere within it, leaving destruction in their path. They weren’t inherently violent, but their version of playful was aggressive, and their curiosity often got the better of them.

As soon as he saw them in the yard, within the protective dome of his ward, panic struck him. He couldn’t smell blood, so Raewyn hadn’t been eaten, but they’d been blocking his view of her.

The moment she screamed, and he saw her lying on the ground between them, his panic turned into rage.

Merikh was in motion, dropping his bags and the pot to the ground as he darted forward and roared. Thechinkof ceramic breaking barely registered as he swiftly crossed the distance.

Of all fucking days, these two had to show up?!

Merikh and Raewyn had been here for days, and he’d only left briefly for two of them to get supplies. Today, he’d been gone the longest, and they had decided to come now?

The twins often came to his lands when he wasn’t here. Since he rarely occupied his home but had a ward in place, they found it a safe haven to truly rest. They had nowhere else to go, so they came here occasionally.

When Merikh had first discovered them on his lands, he’d been angered by their annoying, playful presence. Over time, they’d worn him down, refusing to leave him alone despite how much he fought with them.

They were persistent.

He’d eventually given up and told them they could come here, so long as they left him alone, and as long as they didn’t touch his things or enter his cave.

This moment was the first time he’d considered Raewyn to be ‘his’, although not in a truly deep sense. She was more someone he was supposed to be protecting, someone they couldn’t touch, because they could destroy her within seconds.

“Run!”the twins shouted in unison.

It was too late. They were too slow to turn around and bolt in opposite directions.

He grabbed the bat-skulled one, who usually had pink orbs, by the base of one of his useless feathered wings. Merikh could tell he’d never used them, since the muscles around the base hadn’t finished forming.

Then, he grabbed the lizard tail of the raven-skulled Mavka who usually had purple orbs. He didn’t have wings like his fraternal brother.

At the same time, he yanked to grab some part of their heads. The short-nosed, fruit-bat-skulled Mavka had goat horns that curled up and back over his head. It was easy to grab one. The other had smaller horns that pointed upwards, too little to be grabbed, so he just curled his hand around his beak.

Raewyn was between his feet as he put himself into a protective stance above her. She crawled from underneath him as his orbs flared a crimson red, causing the other two to go white in fear.

He lifted them to their feet, and neither were able to hold the position comfortably in their monstrous forms. They were always like that, and Merikh had once wondered if they knew they could turn more humanoid.

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