Straying beyond his borders wasn't something that he enjoyed; in fact, with every deliberate step there was an aching within his body to return. Ava was still bound to the small nook on the shore of the quiet cove, nursing and caring for the four cubs who grew stronger each day. There were others to patrol and secure the territory, but as a father and husband it was still his duty to be near. Still, Kade had slipped from the confines of Darkwater Rapids early this day, prowling through the tangled wood and toward a lightening night sky with a number of things on his mind. As he and his brood were new to the area, their hunting grounds had yet to be expanded very far. He and Maksim had canvased the Red Fern Forest, and had investigated far enough south to come across a number of scents that could denote the presence of a neighboring pack. It was to the east, then, that he would search for suitable grounds and prey.


The coal-coated man had yet to depart from the forest as dawn broke across the horizon. Its pale light filtered through the verdant canopy overhead, and though it seemed as though there was no end to the woods the smell of the air had shifted; it was drier here than it had been to the west, with less of an earthen quality. In the distance the forest appeared brighter and perhaps event a bit less vibrant. Raising his muzzle, the wolf tested the air with a mindful flick of his tongue. With only a quick glance over his shoulder, he pressed onward. Eventually the forest gave way to a most unexpected sight. The trees had faded into an open, hilly red-dirt expanse, and in the distance towered the peaks of weathered mountains. A crimson glow seemed to hang over them and their foothills, which were dotted with small shrubs that appeared as dry, grey dots from his position. Harsh, arid winds whipped across his face and sent thick clouds of dirt funneling across the desolate plain. This was not the Relic Lore he'd become used to, but there was something new and exciting, and dangerous, here at the end of the forest.



He'd not fully reached the foothills of the rounded red peaks a time later when the echo of a song rang out across the open expanse. There were others here? He could hardly imagine any pack making a home in such a sparse place, but then again...there was no answers to the lone call. Immediately the patriarch gathered his posture, holding himself as a warrior on the brink of battle might. Dark, rounded ears swiveled in every direction as the echo slowly faded to no sound but the wind, and his silvery eyes roved the hills that were in many places still cloaked in shadow. Tilting his muzzle to the sky, he released an answer of his own, the haunting tones of his call low and full.


I am here.