"Now you two listen up and listen good," Zander rumbles, his gruff voice taking on a unmistakably somber timbre. "What we got here between the three of us...it's more'n just idle camaraderie or sardonic back-and-forth, you hear?"
The medic pauses, grizzled features hardening into an inscrutable mask as he seems to struggle inwardly with whatever weighty notions are spinning through that craggy head of his. Greg and I watch him with rapt attention, the lighthearted mirth of moments ago utterly dispelled by the solemn weight of Zander's manner.
At last, the cantankerous elder heaves a sigh that seems to emanate from the very marrow of his bones. "We're warriors, all three of us...but not just any warriors. Ours is a different breed altogether."
Zander's piercing stare finds me first, hold
