7 Chapter 7

“I’m your brother-in-law. Or, I will be,” he corrected her.

“If you care about the child, you would join me instead. Use that giant ax of yours to protect us. The journey isn’t far, but there is more than one camp of bandits within these woods. I would appreciate the aid.”

Tuxtax’s brow knit in confusion. “What journey? Where would we go? What is your plan—or rather, what was your plan, before I found you?”

“I am going to take him to the Cerven.”

“Whatever price they will pay you for him, I will double it,” he growled.

She laughed. “Cerven have no money! They’re deer centaurs.”

“Deer centaurs?”

“There are no Cerven in the land of the vanths?” she asked.

Tuxtax shook his head. “And what next? What would the Cerven do to the child?”

“They will help me find a mentor, who can help me raise him right. So he can be among his own kind in health and safety and peace. And…”

“What else?”

“The Cerven’s territory borders on Arnath’s lake.”