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@evelyn, oooh, nice! I’m dying to know what’s in that pouch!

@j-a-penrose, here’s mine! It’s 499 words 😛 It’s sooort of from my WIP, but I probably won’t get to a book with these characters in it for like…ten years. *sniffs* Thanks for giving me an excuse to write about them.

Peridot’s hooves crashed on the other side of the ravine and Tepin slipped from his back, his boots slamming on the rocky ground. He scrambled down the hillside.

“Dagwir!” he cried, flinging the door open.

“Weesht, young one, I’m trying to count the highmelon seeds,” Dagwir replied, hunched over several piles of tiny black balls. When he noticed Tepin’s face he sprang to his feet, unintentionally dumping the counted pile into the uncounted pile.

“Tep! What’s happened?”

“A Yeultzer, down by the outcropping on the riverbank,” Tepin whispered hoarsely.

“What! Here? No. You must be mistaken.”

Tepin shook his head, holding out his hand. Dagwir gently uncurled his fingers and revealed a nasty red stripe from the tip of his middle finger to his wrist. Several other burns crossed his palm.

“Oh, Tep,” he murmered, “that looks bad.”

Nodding, Tepin cringed as Dagwir pumped water over his hand. Hot tears squeezed out of his pinched eyelids.

Dagwir glanced up from the pump and peered into Tepin’s face. “An old one, I reckon?”

“Must have been.” Tepin bit his lip to keep from screaming.

“I don’t get it. Yeultzers can’t travel over the Lodwil Mountains.”

“Well, this one did,” Tepin answered, leaning heavily on the edge of the sink.

“I don’t like it,” Dagwir muttered. “You’d better leave today.”

“Right now?” Tepin sank into a chair, his head pounding.

“No, no, after dark.”

“You’re coming, then?”

Dagwir frowned at the table, then shook his head. “You wouldn’t reach the first shelter before dawn. I can’t risk it. You’ll be fine with Peridot.”

Tepin’s face fell. “What’s the point in going at night, then? I can’t go traipsing through the mountains without a light, even on a unicorn.”

“Two reasons. First, by then I’ll know whether that snake bird did you any serious harm. Second, you will have a light, and they won’t be able to see it.”

“Yendor?” Tepin cried. “You have it?”

“Weesht!” Dagwir hissed, glancing at the gaping door. “There’s a Yeultzer around here, don’t you know?”

“Sorry,” Tepin sighed, rising to shut it. “Who am I to give the amethyst to?”

“I don’t know exactly.”

“Dagwir!” Tepin groaned. “By the time I examine every wolf and cuma in the Dahop territory, the Loklabs—or worse, him—are likely to have caught wind of it!”

“Tep—”

“They might not even be in Dahop. They could be in hiding in any other territory, or living in the Striplands like I am! I won’t do it!”

 

“Lotepin of Dahop! Don’t you remember a Beta’s calling?”

Tepin slumped against the table, burying his throbbing head in his elbow. “Yes…but…I just can’t. I’ll mess up everything if I try. I’m…I’m too young to be a Beta.”

“Tep, Yevlo doesn’t make mistakes,” Dagwir said gently. “The amethyst isn’t safe here. If the enemy gets it…”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Wincing, Tepin traced the burns on his hand. “I’ll find the Beta if it means tangling with all the Yeultzers in the world.”

 

(By the way, I looked at the link you gave me and I think I write a combination of series fantasy and high fantasy :D)