Elf Defence (Adventures in Aguillon #2) - Lisa Henry Page 0,28
burning down the world together again.
He ducked his head to hide his smile as they continued to trudge up the mountain.
They camped that night at the side of the track they were following, wrapped up together in the blanket as the temperature dropped overnight. Calarian had thought Benji might be all pointy elbows and snark, but somehow they’d both dropped off quickly into sleep. Must have been that mountain air. The next thing Calarian became aware of was a giant tongue swiping rudely across his face.
“Gah!” He sat bolt upright, pushing the massive, slobbering beast away from him, his heart beating faster and his brain trying to work out where he was and what the fuck was happening.
“Moo,” said the cow.
“Hey, now, Ethel,” a familiar voice said, and someone smacked the cow on the rump so that she wandered off again, her bell clanking. “We don’t kiss without asking.”
A hunk of gorgeousness stood silhouetted against the early morning light.
“Lars!” Calarian exclaimed. He leapt to his feet, wiping cow slobber away. Benji muttered and snuffled in his sleep, but Calarian ignored him. “You’re safe!”
Lars’s forehead wrinkled in adorable confusion. “Why wouldn’t I be safe?”
And looking at him, it was a fair question. It was hard to imagine anyone getting the jump on Lars. Calarian wanted to get the jump on him of course, but that was a completely different thing. “You disappeared, and we were worried,” Calarian said.
“We?” Lars looked sceptically down at Benji, who had now rolled over onto his back and was snoring loudly.
“We,” Calarian confirmed, giving Benji a sharp nudge with his boot. “Benji and I were all very concerned for your safety. We thought Gunther might have done something evil.”
Lars frowned and scratched his head. “Gunther doesn’t want me as duke, that’s true. He said I was a coward and that he bet I would let the monster kill us all in our beds.”
“But you are a cowherd,” Benji grumbled, finally sitting up.
“Coward, Benji. Keep up,” Calarian said. Benji always looked at his least murderous in the morning, and it was taking all of Calarian’s willpower not to ruffle his dishevelled hair and kiss the tip of his nose, but Lars was also right there, and Calarian wanted to ruffle his hair. It was all very confusing. In the end he didn’t ruffle anybody’s anything, settling for picking up Lars’s hat and handing it to him. He felt unaccountably disappointed in Lars. Maybe he really was just a cowherd. “So, you decided to run away?”
“What? No! I went to find the monster. I told Gunther that’s where I was going, and to let you know.” Lars’s gaze dropped to what must have been an incredibly interesting spot on the ground. “I was going to tell you myself, but you were still in bed and I didn’t want to interrupt anything if you were... busy.” His cheeks took on a delightful pinkish hue.
“Fucking, you mean?” Benji said, dragging himself to his feet and folding his arms across his chest and sticking his chin out. “Because we definitely were. Calarian and I fuck a lot. It’s amazing how much we fuck. I’ve never fucked anyone as much as I’ve fucked Calarian. Of course, he fucks me too, so we’re getting all the fucking we need, thanks for asking.”
Lars’s face was violently pink, and the tips of his ears were as red as cheese wax.
Calarian pursed his lips and threw Benji a glare. “Lars doesn’t want to hear about that,” he hissed.
Benji shrugged. “He brought it up.”
Calarian pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. Whatever. Lars, you say Gunther knew where you went? Because he’s telling everyone you ran away.”
Lars’s expression on hearing that Gunther had lied became one that wouldn't have been out of place on a sad puppy—and not just a regular puppy, but one of those giant breeds that has extra folds on skin on their face and still has to grow into their ears. That is to say, it was incredibly sad.
Calarian couldn’t help himself, and reached up and patted him on the shoulder. “It's okay. We’ll help you find the monster and then we’ll deal with Gunther when we get back.”
“We will?” Benji asked, scratching at his bollocks and yawning.
“Of course we will,” Calarian said.
“But who knows what Gunther will do while we’re away?” Lars said, bottom lip quivering. “He’ll ruin everything!”
“No he won’t because Gretchen the blacksmith is watching him,” Calarian said, and was rewarded by a blazingly bright smile from Lars.