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n~ HARTH ~

nDawn was just creeping up over the distant mountains when Harth crept out of the encampment. Although the hunters and cooks would be up, the landscape of this strange land offered a great deal of cover. Once she got out of the tent town it was never difficult to avoid the eyes of her brothers and sisters.

nIt was, in part, why she’d gotten away with her subterfuge for so long. Still, Kyelle wouldn’t be pleased. Harth’s stomach tingled with nerves at the thought of what might happen if she was caught travelling again. Kyelle had nearly shifted last time—

nher talons were razor sharp, and that hooked beak! n𝑜𝓋-𝓮𝓛𝑢-𝔰𝔟-𝐂

/0.𝑀

nHarth knew she shouldn’t be leaving. Had resolved the night before that she wouldn’t! Then she’d once again woken with that undeniable knot in her stomach.

nSomething was wrong, but she couldn’t know what.

nIt was the most terrifying and frustrating feeling of her existence.

nShe had endured the separation from her people. She’d lived through experimentation, and the threat of being harvested like a crop for the good of a human population that didn’t even know she existed.

nSasha-don and Zev-dan had found this perfect place for them, and though it was strange, it was full of life—and more importantly, empty of humans.

nShe should have been ecstatic. And yet, from the moment she’d arrived, something within her was driven forward. Always forward. Always away.

nMae had spoken up for her the first time they’d discovered her running through the forest, far beyond the boundaries that only hunters were allowed to cross, and with great caution.

nShe’d heard Kyelle-don’s concerns, and agreed.

nThey still didn’t know this world. Still hadn’t found all the creatures who’d come through the Gateway first. Still didn’t know if there were other inhabitants of this land. And Harth, having spent most of her adult life in the “sanctuary” of the humans, was not the Chimera to find out.

nShe was supposed to stay within the three-mile territory they had claimed around the encampment. Never out of earshot of one of the guards, just in case.

nNone of the others seemed to have struggled with that.

nBut Harth felt as if a piece of her was missing. As if a chunk had been torn out of her heart, but was still connected by a steel thread that dragged her out of this place.

nShe could hunt—certainly the smaller mammals here. She could drink the streams, and sleep under the leaves… she could keep herself alive. Perhaps… Perhaps this time she wouldn’t return until she’d found whatever it was that her heart sought?

nShe blinked, huffing.

nThose thoughts were desperately near treason. Kyelle had been very clear. None of them were to explore on their own. As they settled and strengthened, the leaders among them would begin to reach out and discover the land. But while they were still finding their feet in this place, they would take the blessing of the bounty and stick close to each other.

nBut Harth ran on, and as she did, her resolve strengthened.

nWhatever drove her forward refused to be denied. And so… she would pursue it. She would follow this scent-trail until she found its source, or it died on the wind. But she would not spend another night in that tent, aching from her soul.

n*****

nShe’d been running for hours, stopping only for water and to quickly swallow a small rodent. The sun was high now, and despite that clawing drive in her chest to keep going, something within her was more at peace now that she’d decided she wouldn’t return.

nThe wind rose around her, a strange scent on it—dry, cracked earth, dust. Something much more barren than any of this land that she’d seen before.

nLooking ahead between the trees, she saw the light growing as they thinned. Had she finally reached the end of the forest? She didn’t think so. Lars had seen this land from the air. He’d told the tale countless times of viewing it before they all went through the gateway. The forest was days-travel across, he was certain of it. The mountains curling around a massive swathe of land peppered by meadows and canyons, but still forest.

nSo what could she smell that seemed so… dead in this place so full of life?

nAnd then, a bare breath… the smallest hint on the wind of a scent that had every hair on Harth’s wolf standing tall. It was there, then gone, but it called to her. Sang in her bones.

nThis was what she sought!

nNose high to meet the wind, Harth pushed for greater speed, her heart pounding.

nGo.

nGo.

nGo!

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