09-28-2009, 08:32 PM
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 He hadn't long departed the company of the non-shifter she-wolf, Finn, when the dense woods began to thin, and eventually he found himself free of the treeline altogether. What lay beyond were miles and miles of grassland, as far as he could see with his one good eye. He knew that the ocean was nearby...no more than a few hours trek, but he wasn't looking to keep close to the coast this time around. Rather, he was looking for the city that the black wolf Cwmfen had spoken of. Once he found that, it would be only a short ways north to the pack named Phoenix Valley, which was his destination. Hopefully, once he got there, negotiations would go well. After all, he wasn't asking for too much, though he expected to be forced to make some concessions, if the pack's alpha allowed him and his people entry at all. He did not yet regret leaving the rest of his party behind, though he thought that he probably would when it came time to go back and retrieve them. Assuming that time came at all. It was entirely possible that the alpha of Phoenix Valley wouldn't want them anywhere near his border. A strong wind sent waves through the grass, and watching over the fields, Jantus could see its progress from a long way off. He strode toward it, closing his one eye and breathing deep as the breeze washed over him. Indeed, he could smell the ocean, but other things too. Pack smells...one to the south in particular, though he didn't know its name. He supposed that he and his group had missed it. The wind had told them of wolf populations in the area as they traveled, but now that he was tens of miles further north, he realized that one of the packs they had strafed along may actually have had some information regarding their destination: he didn't know that the group's name was Cour des Miracles, nor that it did indeed belong to the same community of packs as those up here, and certainly had members that could have told him earlier where Phoenix Valley was. Nonetheless, he had wanted to remain relatively unknown prior to their arrival, and had--he felt--mostly succeeded in that task. They had heard of a shortcut this time, and used a ferry to cross the great water, sparing them the land-bridge at the northwest of the territory where he had come in last time. No, he doubted he was more than a day's travel away from his destination, and once he found it, it would be a few days back to find his group and bring them back. Or, alternatively, to tell them that they all needed to go home. He hoped very much that such a fate was not awaiting them at the end of their long journey. It wasn't so bad for him, actually, nor his sisters. But Aivyr, even though he usually would have lived much closer to this place than anyone else, had returned from a long journey back to their mutual friend's long-lost home pack, and brought a visitor a very long distance to visit the grave with the rest of them. He hoped for that individual more than anyone else that they were not turned back. |