4

They camped for the night. Ianto's man Rhys and the two guards were very adept at getting a fire going and helping the other men while Ianto calmly put up his own tent like he was just one of them. No fanfare. No demanding or fussing. Owen noted this too. This man was used to doing his own things and not grandstanding about it. Yeah. Jack was gonna like him for sure.

The huge Fire Mount moved closer to the flames and stood with her huge head lowered like she was about to drink from the fire pit, the flames reflected in her huge black eyes. She looked so fucking scary. Of course, the man who exited his tent to throw his arm around her neck affectedly sort of broke that illusion as he spoke to her in baby-talk, asking if she needed to go potty by the trees before beddy-byes.

Her soft snort of affection as she blew hot air over him showing their bond.

The first two guards started to patrol the camping area as everyone else settled in their respective tents and Owen noted that Rhys settled outside Ianto's tent flap in his bedroll like it was no big deal. Loyal. Good.

Ianto listened to the world outside his tent and he tried to settle, to find some slumber but he knew he would sleep lightly out here in the wild. He did not like wide open spaces. Things can come at you with speed out here.

He should know.

The scar on his lower back from the claws of a Hephertol testimony to the dangers of the valley they were moving through. No more than a small child when it happened. Three good men killed trying to protect him, one of them his mother's man. She never forgave him for that. He sometimes wished he had died instead. At least then she could have put on a show of pretend love, mourning and gnashing her teeth with her bed warmer to soothe her.

No.

Ianto knew his mother would never truly love him. Not once did she visit while he was healing. Not once did she care. When he finally limped painfully to the dining table she had not even paused her conversion to acknowledge his return after weeks of healing.

He tried to stop thinking of her. Tried to tell himself to empty his mind and drift, see where the winds take the embers. Drift… fly. Flip and twirl… be free and…. What was that sound?

Ianto sat up in his bedding and listened intently to the world outside the canvas of his tent. Myfanwy was silent and he canted his head, closing his eyes to 'see' what she could see with those freakishly huge black pits of intelligence.

The long grass form the tree line to the clearing of dirt and soft grass they had chosen seemed to be moving like a breeze was controlling it. Waves, undulating and shifting as if a turbulent sea. Ianto sat and opened his eyes as he reached for his sword he had tucked into his bedroll.

He knew what was coming… even if they didn't.

Ianto exploded from the tent, leaping over the slobbering Rhys who grunting as he sat up with surprise. Ianto ran to the edge of the firelight and looked around with the stance of a man waiting for a fight to appear. Myfanwy nickered softly as Rhys clambered to his feet, now on alert as well.

Ianto was turning slowly as Rhys ran to stoke the fire, making the light extend. Owen emerged from his tent and called out "What is it?"

"Threshers. In the long grass… a herd of them coming fast." Ianto replied without turning from his scan of the grass "They are about eight heartbeats from …"

Ianto's voice died as something exploded from the grass and the small black creatures came at him with little snarls of rage. Teeth… claws… spikes… it was like a vicious little land shark or something and Owen yelled with alarm as he shot back towards the fire pit.

"Stay in the light" Ianto ordered authoritively "They can't move in light… stoke the fires!"

Ianto took a fighter's stance and then swung. The sword swished through the air and into the creature as it lunged at him, his left foot rising to kick at it as the front half continued to spin towards him even as the back half bounced along the ground.

Owen stood transfixed as Ianto swing the sword again, working alongside the guards to clear the grass. He worked as one of them An equal. A warrior.

Owen was impressed.

Once the silence fell and Ianto turned in a slow circle then he nodded, the men started to clear the bodies away.

"Are we safe?"

"Yes. If there were any more out there, the sound of the fighting would have drawn them in. We are safe for now but we will build some secondary fires on the boundaries of the camp… just to be safe." Ianto nodded.

Owen did not sleep the rest of the night, comforted as Ianto sat next to him and fed the fire. Like he was watching over him.

It was with the first morning light's soft glow that the thought came to Owen that he was making a friend.

A rare thing.

.

.

They finally reached their destination in the evening, everyone tired, dirty and relieved to have a bed waiting. Ianto rode his Fire Mount to the stables where several things happened at once.

Several stable hands ran for their feckin lives. The Stable Master came roaring out if his office to have a go... saw the horse and his mouth fell open as he rushed to open a stall for her and then plastered himself against a wall as she passed.

"Thank you" Ianto said softly as he slid from her back and faced the man.

For a large man, he was suddenly sort of… average as the handsome man stood eyeballing him, the Fire Mount now smelling the stall. It was solid stone, not a skirick of straw.

"I am Kellog."

"I am Ianto. Nice to meet you, thank you for the stall. She is a little feisty... I will bed her down meself, don't worry. She doesn't bite."

And that was how Ianto met the men that wound learn the hard way not to piss off such a man.