My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 363

Fenris

The sun sank fast in these parts, going from sky to darkness in a blink. I called the stop at the edge of a clearing where a creek ran through, and the men were off their horses and moving in a second. I'd made ride like this a hundred times, and there was no need to tell them what to do.

The smell of pine and sweat hung heavy in the cold air as we worked. Ossian and Fenn hauled up a fallen tree to make firewood, cursing as they dropped the heavy trunk and sawed through the branches. Jace and a few others made short work of the tents, but the Southerner was moving a little slower than the rest, hands numb from the cold and the long ride.

"You good?" I asked him as I unsaddled my horse.

"Yeah, just need to warm up." He nodded at the others. "How long before they're done?"

I shrugged. "Depends how much they want to eat."

Ossian and Fenn dragged a deer carcass through the trees, gutted and hanging by its legs from a pole, and the argument started as soon as they dropped it near the fire. "I cut it down, that means I get the better cut!"

"I got the heart out, asshole, I call the tenderloin!"

Yvara moved through the camp with silent efficiency, adjusting a tent pole, telling Ossian to bring more water. No one questioned her, and the work went on. I'd fought her as a girl, and I'd seen her kill men for the fun of it. Now she was my second and my sister.

Ossian and Fenn were still at it. A pair of bruisers, each as big as I was, and about as thick in the skull. The two of them had been circling each other for days now during our travel, trading shoves as we moved, kicking at each other's shins. I'd told Yvara to give it time — they were going to fight.

They argued over the liver of the deer they're had dragged down, and it got loud fast, a pair of dogs snarling over a bone. They were a good twenty feet from me, but the sound of it carried through the camp, and it drew a crowd.

I saw Jace watching me out the corner of his eye, waiting to see what I'd do, but I stayed where I was, near the fire, and kept my mouth shut.

Fenn shoved Ossian in the chest, and the bigger man staggered back a step, then snarled and shoved back, hard enough to knock Fenn to his knees. Fenn came up swinging, and Ossian caught him in a headlock and dropped him hard on his back.

"Silver on Fenn!" someone yelled.

Coins clinked as they hit a tin hat.

"Ossian!"

"Ten silvers on Ossian to break his neck!" they shouted.

"Too late," I said. I stood up.

I didn't need to say another word. The circle of warriors shifted, a dozen faces turning my way. Ossian and Fenn stopped fighting, Fenn wiping the blood from his mouth as they stared at me.

The man passing the hat brought the hat to us.

"My money's on Fenn."

He nods with a smile, and then he moves to Jace.

Jace gave me a glance first, then sighed.

"My gold's on Fenn," Jace said quietly, dropping his coin into the hat, "and may the gods of war have mercy on his soul."

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