My Second Chance Mate is a Barbarian (Sera and Fenris) novel Chapter 87

Sera

We didn't take the main stairs. Yvara led us down a narrow, dark servant’s stairwell that bypassed the Great Hall and the main barracks entirely. The stone walls were freezing. We moved in complete silence. Fenris carried the dead weight effortlessly, his boots making almost no sound on the stairs.

We reached the heavy iron door at the base of the keep. Yvara pushed it open.

We stepped out into the deep, frozen woods behind the fortress.

The wind howled aggressively, biting directly into my exposed skin. The snow was knee-deep. The darkness under the thick pine trees was absolute. We walked for two miles, moving far beyond the perimeter of the regular hunting patrols. The cold seeped directly into my bones, but I kept my pace steady. I matched Fenris's long strides.

We reached a deep, natural ravine hidden between two sheer rock walls.

Fenris dropped the canvas-wrapped body into the snow. It hit the ground with a heavy, muffled thud.

Yvara didn't waste time. She started gathering dead, dry pine branches from under the thick canopy. Fenris walked to a massive, fallen deadwood tree. He didn't use an axe. He drove his heavy boot directly into the center of the rotting trunk, shattering the wood into massive, splintered chunks.

We piled the wood high in the center of the ravine. Fenris lifted the body and threw it directly onto the top of the pile.

Yvara pulled a small flask of highly flammable pine oil from her belt. She poured it over the canvas and the dry wood. She struck a piece of flint against her steel dagger.

The spark caught instantly. The fire roared to life.

The flames chewed rapidly through the dry wood and the oil-soaked canvas. The heat pushed the freezing wind back. Within minutes, the pyre was a towering inferno. The smell of burning pine violently mixed with the sickening, sweet stench of roasting meat and singed hair.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify