Broken Boulder Drumbeat

"A threat to what?" queried Prophet, who was still unable to grasp the idea that nearness was, in and of itself, threatening. His birth pack had been directly next to two others, and aside from the occasional spat where the claims overlapped, there was never blood shed over such a trivial matter as space. So long as they were careful, the wolves could even cross unimpeded over another's territory when the pack was on the opposite side of the claim, something he intuitively knew would not be possible with Thuringwethil.

"Your wolves in combat? Your lands?" He gnawed his tongue momentarily, then teased, "your pride?" But he expected no clear answer to this, though, for it was within a pack wolf's best interest to keep their truths close at heart. "I am merely passing through," he explained in answer to her own question, and added, "I was propositioned by a strange fellow in the woods there, seemed to think I would want to follow a man I've never so much as met. Perhaps you should seek him out. He may know something about who haunts this area."