The Heartwood do you remember, how it felt when we were young

The adventure to the coast had not amounted to much, but he also had not made it all the way. There had been many packs clustered in the north of the valley and when he had thought his work was complete (that he had mapped them and found among them Rusalka, when in fact he had barely graced their borders for a night) he turned around. Best not to waste time and energy; his sister had taught him well.

Yet the scent of the Nightwalkers had fallen away from him. Revui carried the musk of the wilderness; ash, pine, blood, but not the mark of Vengeance that would have outed him as a soldier among his once-captors. Being out on his own gave him a newfound sense of freedom - stronger than when he had emerged from the pit, even. The boy was loathe to return despite the dark promises he made.

When he neared the heartwood he knew he was close. Here there came familiar scents and they derailed his plans further, overwhelming his senses, luring him through the ruined woodland until he affixed his glower upon two shadowcast beasts.