Another day, but the same track. The weather was getting warmer. Clouds on the horizon continued to grow and form, as they tended too near mid spring. Bring showers and cold rain, that will eventually bring life to the summer plants.

Grabbing on one of the tree branches Neal proceeded to pull himself up, before lowering himself again. Up and down. His goal today was 50 without losing wind. The numbers in his counted upwards as his attention was focused on the process, but he was not so engrossed he couldn’t hear the two sets of foot steps behind him.

Dropping down, Neal was once more surprised at who was there. Though, perhaps by this point he shouldn’t have been. Mith always seemed to be late and was not present, just like he used to be when he first started in the guard not that long ago.

In front of him, two people greeted him with silence. Teuta glared at Neal with his dark eyes, while next to him Hastam seemed to regard the human’s actions with a mixture of curiosity and tentative approval. The white wolf had seemingly taken the human up on his offer. It was strange. Neal never really considered any of his fellow guards to be friends but seeing them out here with him was comforting somehow. Like finding companions on the road of life.

“So what’s the point of that?” Teuta asked.

“What the pull ups?” Neal retorted with a cocky smile that Teuta didn’t appreciate nearly as much as the human did. He continued, “It’s just general strength training. I noticed when the bats fly up the tree, they use their arms almost as much as their legs. I figure that’s how they’re so fast. They can’t fly, but they still have a lot of those flight muscles still.”

Hastam nodded and smiled at the human’s efforts. “We used to do something similar in my village. To impress our mates, we’d have them cling to our backs and climb the tallest trees in the village. ‘The taller the tree the greater your love.’ It’s also tradition if a wolf can carry two mates up at once he ‘s allowed to bed both!” The wolf grinned an unusually wolfy smile.

Suddenly, Hasam’s body and physique made much more sense to Neal as he thought about.

“Hah, I guess I can see why you like to work out so much. What happens if a girl carries you up a tree, does she get to have her way with you too?” Neal joked and laughed sarcastically.

However, the wolf nodded enthusiastically, “Yes. But the women of our village tend to be bigger and stronger than the guys so it’s not much of a challenge. In fact, that’s a common way for a girl to say she’s interested in you, by picking you up usually in front of everyone.”

Neal laugh had turned into a slightly embarrassed smile and nod “Oh, kind of like saying ‘This one’s mine?’”

“Yes! Exactly.” Hastam grinned back even wider. The two different species, both still men, shared a knowing smile for a moment longer.

That was, until the feeling of two strong arms grabbed Neal and lifted him from the ground. “What are you idiots talking about.” Mith spoke with her usual boisterous tone.

Dropping him back to the ground, she smirked at him with a subtle smile and blush, that he had become accustomed to, not noticing anything behind it, beyond the friendly nature of it. “Nothing much. Just how Hastam’s village handles courting, I guess.”

“Oh? Sounds interesting.” She leaned in a little closer to the human, who seemed almost puzzled by her proximity to him.

The wolf and dark elf looked between each other. Their expressions communicating the same thought, “Is the human really that dense?”

Teuta coughed, bringing their attention back to more pressing matters, why the four of them were out there in the first place.

“Oh, right!” Neal clapped and jogged over to the track. A sigh from the minotaur was met with a look of almost pity from Hastam. While he wasn’t particularly a fan of either of the two, he did seem to at least understand the nature of unrequited love.

Standing at the track head, Neal gave his quick set of instructions to his small and growing cohort. Mith was already well into the stretching having gotten a feel for it before, and Teuta was doing his best to practice from memory. His legs still bothered him but weren’t as sore as they were yesterday. He knew he could do this, because he already had.

The wolf on the other hand was confused as he looked between them all, the sudden head tilted as he stared at Neal nearly broke the human. It took all of Neal’s effort to not run over and pet Hastam on the head and praise him for being such a good boy.

With much effort and great force of will, Neal turned away from his fluffy companion and signaled for them to start running. Hastam took off, quickly passing all of them in a near sprint, ignoring all the instructions he had given him. Sadly, Neal had expected as much, but the wolf would learn. The other two worked to maintain their pace with him.

In the end, it didn’t take long to catch up with the panting wolf who was not able to keep up his sprint any long.

“How much further?” Hastam looked over the three and saw the almost evil smirk on the human’s face. A cold chill ran over his over heated body.

“At least six laps today. Come-on! When were done I’m thinking of climbing the trees a few times!” Neal almost laughed, as he saw the wolf go wide eyed as he slowed down.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Hastam could barely speak the words as he ran out of breath and began to quickly fall behind. Why was he doing this? The wolf watched the three of them overtake him, and a fire grew inside. He wasn’t about to let just anyone be a pack leader, his legs burned but he pushed through it, trying desperately not to keep up but overtake. That was the wrong thing to do.

“Come on Hastam, you have to go at a slower pace like us!” Neal called out from the front.

Hastam swallowed his exhaustion and pushed forward anyway. It tore up his legs, and he could feel them stretch and burn with lactic acid as his body cried out to slow down. He had no choice but to listen as he fell behind one more, keeping up a tailing pace for as long as he could.

Two laps later, and Neal grew impressed with his new running group. It had only been a few weeks, but Mith’s pace had improved noticeably. Even Teuta was keeping up better than Neal would have expected. Perhaps, the dark elf was just good at hiding his pain, like his emotions.

Hastam on the other hand. Drifting between the tracks, his tongue dangled from his mouth, and he tried to pant fast than he could breath. “Void. Take. All. Of. You.” He whimpered and collapsed into that same grassy pile as the others had days earlier.

The white wolf panted from the side lines and watched the three lap him several times. Each lap had Neal wave him up, calling out either begging or mocking him to re-join them. “Void take me too…” He whimpered and stood up to finish the last lap with them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

When all was said and done, he didn’t have the leg strength to climb the trees like the others did. From the ground he watched the human maneuver in ways he had never seen before. It was slower and more deliberate. No chance of earning an excellent time, still it was measurably faster than he’d ever seen scurry up before. Even Mith, notoriously slow at this activity, seemed to move faster and with some purpose. But again, she’d never get even a bad score at her speed. Hastam had origonally come out more to laugh at the human than anything else. Yet, he found himself more impressed than anything. Maybe, he had a point? Maybe this was the right way to do it?

A smile crept over his muzzle, as he still tried to catch his breath. A redness spread under his fur, as a thought crossed his mind. Technically, there was no limit to how many trips a male could take up a tree. He laughed at the thought before picking himself up. His legs burned and wobbled under him. There was no chance of him climbing, but what was it that human had done earlier, pull ups? That seemed like a good thing to try.

Again he laughed to himself. He had never really met a human before, only in passing but Neal, seemed like an interesting example of one. A ‘good boy’ as he called it.

Once more night had fallen, and the court room was again empty.

Mithril stood tall, her legs ached slightly, but unlike recent nights, it was bearable. Something about her felt different. She felt good, like she had already drunk a tankard or two, even though she hadn’t. The human had mentioned something about a runner’s high, maybe this is what he meant she thought.

At the front of the line, Teuta flinched a few times, but his stance was stable, and his legs did not shake like before. The pain was manageable, though he looked forward to sitting in a few minutes. He wondered if the human wasn’t wiser than he appeared.

“Guardsman Hastam, are you alright?” Sable asked his fellow wolf who seemed to have trouble standing. The white wolf leaned on his pike, doing his best to balance and keep himself up.

“Yes sir. Just sore legs.” The white wolf whimpered in place.

“Sore?” The darker wolf’s amber eyes squinted. Closer to a glare, he looked between a few of the guards. “Have you been running too?”

Hastam’s body straightened up slightly. His legs steadied just a bit, and his back curved upwards in pride as he forced himself back into attention. “Yes sir. Just trying to get stronger.”

Sabel nodded in tentative approval and looked between them all, “I’m proud of any guard that takes it upon themselves to improve. You should all see the example Hastam has made.” His glare returned to his fellow wolf once more, “That said, do make sure you aren’t injuring yourself.”

“Yes sir.” Hastam nodded and forced a faint smile.

As usual, Sable wandered between the guards and gave out the normal assignments he so often did. Including, Neal’s special assignment.

“Recruit, Neal. You’ll be mucking out the dungeon tonight.” Sable’s sadistic smile came through, only to be flattened as Teuta whispered some in Sabel’s ear. For a moment, the dark wolf flashed his teeth in something between a grimace and a frown. It was only for a moment.

The two seemed to argue in whispers for a few moments until Sabel seemed to give in and surrender to whatever argument they had.

“Recruit wait. You need to help Teuta again. He needs help with the storerooms on the upper floors.” The captain looked between his squad one last time, “All of you are dismissed.”

At the end of the line, Teuta seemed to glare at Neal for a moment. The human could have sworn the dark elf was smiling, but it was probably just a trick of the moon light.

Another night and another set of crates. It was menial work, boring and hard. Yet, unlike scrubbing bathrooms and floors or mucking out the dungeon this work had purpose behind it. There was a real reason he was doing this and it made the castle a better or at least well-stocked place. It might have seemed strange to say, but Neal, almost enjoyed it.

It was rhythmic, and lighter crates tonight made it past fast. Day fell upon the castle, lifting the night into light. The last crate had been stacked on the shelf, less than neatly, but well enough.

“Recruit, thank you for your help. This would have taken me till Friday.” Teuta’s voice was flat and monotone as always, but again, his face. That had to be a smile, subtle though it was.

Neal could only turn and grin in response as he nodded his head.

The sound of hoof steps overtook the silent contentment the two men felt, Mith had come seeking her drinking partner. “Come-on human! Booze awaits!” Despite his protest, she picked him up once more and carried him out of the castle, laughing all the while at his protests.

Teuta’s smile turned into a slight chuckle as he listened to the human’s empty words. It was strange, but the dark elf almost felt like he was beginning to enjoy that human’s company. Absurd though it might sound. Shaking his head, he went back to work. If he hurried, he could file away this paperwork and still get to the sleeping pig in time for a glass or tankard of something.

Down in the lower city, the minotaur woman barged into the nearly full bar and dropped her human companion on the ground. “Lyaeus! Two rockales!”

“Eh, wait a minute! Lyaeus I’ll take a tankard of Fern’s Beer.” He interrupted his overly eager friend.

“Hah, coward.” Mith laughed.

“I don’t want to end up sleeping on your floor again, it’s not exactly comfortable.”

“Hah! You can always sleep in my bed again. Or hey, maybe I’ll drink too much and I can crash on your floor. Never sleep in a palace. I bet you have carpeted floors and everything!” Mith laughed at her own jabs and less than subtle implications.

Neal on the other hand found himself slightly embarrassed. Were carpeted floors that rare here? He wondered.

Standing at the bar, Neal nursed his drink. He wasn’t planning on having too much tonight. Maybe just the one. His eyes scanned the bar, making notes of the various patrons in the space. A few seemed to take note of him in return, mostly in a negative fashion with a grimace or eye roll. He did notice a conspicuous lack of someone over the past few nights.

“Hey Mith, you notice Sabel isn’t here?” Neal asked.

The minotaur paused her drinking to look around and nodded at the observation. “Yeah. Hasn’t really been here the past month, now that I think about it.”

For a moment, Neal chewed on that thought as he considered his own place in the bar. By now, it was no secret that the captain didn’t like him, perhaps his presence was what was keeping the wolf at bay. A shake of his head and he took a sip of his beer. ‘His loss’, Neal thought to himself. His eyes settled on the other wolf he knew, who was moaning and whimpering ever so slighting at the end of the bar head on the bar top.

Perhaps it was instinct, but the white wolf twitched his ears and picked up his head. His eyes locked onto Neals and his muzzle turned up into a slight snarl.

Not understanding why, the wolf was angry Neal averted his gaze and went back to drinking his beer. Only, Hastam didn’t stay at the end of the bar. Instead, he hobbled his way over to the human and minotaur, allowing Mith to stand between the two as he took a seat.

“It all your fault human!” He spoke between twisted wolf lips.

Neal had no idea what his fault was, but a reasonable response was to say “I’m sorry?” and go back to drinking.

“You should be. Gods take this pain. Do you know how much my leg burn?” Hastam bent down to rub at his legs, which seemed to twitch on their own, even as he was seated. The wolf continued to glare at the human, as if awaiting some kind of response or acknowledgment of his agony.

Sipping his beer, Neal had no idea what to say or do beside say “I’m… sorry?” again.

“Bah!” The wolf barked before taking a swig of whatever he was drinking. “How in the void does this make you stronger?”

“Well, it’s repetition, and it’s not raw strength, but stamina. The ability to do something for long periods of time.” Neal wobbled his head, trying to think of a better way to explain it. “You aren’t going to notice changes over night, it can take, honestly weeks.”

Mith dropped her tankard on the bar top and flagged down the overweight elf for another, “Human’s right Hastam. I couldn’t do 4 laps before, now, I can keep up with him for whatever distance he runs!” She smirked.

On the other hand, Neal could only stare at her with a blank expression. It was true she had gotten better, but still, not that good. Yet, anyway.

“What?” She stammered half.

Shaking his head, Neal continued. “Anyway, it will take a while, but you should keep at it. I like having running pals.”

Hastam didn’t seem convinced by his words.

Neal continued, “Look, take a hot bath or shower tonight. It will help with your leg pain. Then come back out. I’m telling you; you will get stronger.”

The slight clink of a light water glass interrupted their conversation. “What’s this about getting stronger?” The frail elf Debilis had heard their conversation and decided to join. Any talk of strength would always bring the elf out.

Neal’s face pulled up into a rather dumb yet wicked smile as he was preparing to welcome his own new recruit.