Hearthwood River Rivers Guide You Home

Finding his way through Kingsfall would always be easy. Even now, long after the scent markers had faded and all the old paths were long overgrown, the river still shot through the underbrush like a silver marker, a rushing road that the woods could never reclaim, no matter how hard they tried. These were the waters where the newborn Captain had first dipped his rudder and learned the ways of life and adventure.   After swimming across Turtleback Lake, following the river was a breeze, a nice change of pace for a heartbeat, though soon, the pale rogue felt that familiar longing for thrill. He was wise enough to not try to swim the river, though it was a lesson he had come by the hard way. As a pup, he had dreamed of being a dragon, and thought himself mighty enough to conquer the rushing current, a hubris that had nearly cost him his life. Even after that, it had taken the lupine pirate a long time to accept that he had no dragon blood in him, but that was another story all together.   For today, he confined himself to balancing along the edge of the waterway, jumping between exposed roots, where the river had eaten away the dirt holding up the giant trees. This was entertaining enough to keep him going until he reached a familiar spot, where large rocks formed a half-bridge across the current. Many a time in his youth, Kyrios had jumped across those stones to get from one side to the other. He was in the heart of what had once been Hearthwood River. Thoughts "Speech"

Betty Wiley