Silvertip Mountain Trespass

Tonravik · just southeast of the mountain

Goldry followed her scent through the lonely pass in the Sunspire Mountains and over the flat valley beyond them, until he stood in the shadow of a jagged peak that jutted into the sky like a broken tooth. Her smell was stronger than ever, yet his courage wavered.

He glanced back to the dark valley and distant mountains, whose tips were wreathed in the golden light of late evening. Ookaan territory was back there, empty and desolate. He felt a stab for leaving it behind, although he assured himself he would return. But the promise felt as empty as his home, and in his heart of hearts he did not wish to return.

But he struggled to move forward, too, and instead found himself pacing a narrow goat path in the foothills. His face was brooding and intense. Their meeting had been amicable, but his time with Aguta hardly gave him an excuse to follow her without her knowledge or permission—and Goldry wasn't predisposed to stalking. How would he explain himself if she caught him meandering about her homeland after he'd made it clear he lived nowhere near it?

The better question was: how could he explain it to himself? Truth be told, Goldry felt let down and more alone than ever before; Ookaan held his loyalty, but for how much longer? They were a collection of drifters without faces or names—nothing to attach his affections to. If the hunting was any less good in the meadow, he might have left it long ago.

He came onto a small hill, where two towering larches bordered the path on either side. Here he stopped, sighed loudly, and glanced up at the forbidding Silvertip Mountain with a frown, feeling defeated and annoyed.