Great Bear Wilderness a flock of birds

Charon didn't really feel like checking out the pit o' doom below them, but when Atreyu provoked him, of course he wouldn't say no. If anyone would end up in the pit of water below them dead, it probably wasn't going to be the fourlegged wolf, anyway. "Of course not!" Charon sharply retorted, his hackles rising momentarily in reflex to the provocation. Being called anything bad was Charon's achilles heel, and even moreso now that he was going to be an Alpha. He didn't want his subordinates — nor friends, of which Atreyu was considered both — to think he was a pushover nor a coward.

While Atreyu looked down, Charon's stiffened body relaxed again and he glanced about to find some sort of way down. He sniffed the ground, searching for traces of animal scents. If he followed those, maybe he could find a path that other animals took down the quarry. His efforts were rewarded, for although the scent he caught was a squirrel's — hardly the same weight as a wolf on these fragile rocks — it was worth a try to follow it.

"C'mon," Charon said as he started to follow the track, his nose to the ground and wiggling as he followed the squirrel's scent. It lead him around the dark pit and then away from it. Charon looked indecisive a moment, as though he wasn't sure following the trail further would lead him anywhere. He didn't see any paths down from where he stood though, so after exchanging a brief glance with Atreyu to see if he agreed on the decision Charon decided to follow the trail away from the pit, hoping that it'd lead him down eventually. "I didn't see any paths leading down. Maybe there's a tunnel somewhere," he said to Atreyu, sounding hopeful, though not entirely certain that he was right.