A grey dawn hung over the mountains. Far away, the sun had already begun to rise, but the craggy mountains around them still kept it from their view. Overhead, a little sliver of the red moon Roros, the larger of the two moons, was visible.

The day promised to be hot. Even now, so early in the morning, the heat was oppressive and not a breath of moving air to be found.

The Kharlin party was moving out of their village quietly, the long column following an almost invisible trail through the rock formations.

After a last lingering look at Nuala who had accompanied them for a short distance, Dawn went down the trail together with Grinna, almost at the end of the group. Teren and Ankou were out of sight, scouting in front of the Kharlins. Dawn was still tired, she hadn’t slept well, afflicted by confusing dreams that she couldn’t quite remember once she awoke.

After the fight against the horde of greyscale lizards, Grinna and Teren had reluctantly agreed to let the Kharlin hunters rest for a day before setting out again. Though Dawn had healed all injuries, the group had been weary and dispirited, not the best condition for another long march and possible fight directly the next day.

So they had rested for a day and Dawn had been content to spend the time together with Kharma, his little sister and to her surprise Verene, who had shown up and thanked her effusively for the healing of her father. For once she had no thought of fighting demons or other beasts. They had played together with Ankou in the morning, and in the afternoon Kharma had taken her with him to show her how new storage caves were grown by the stone singers. He had worked together with an older Kharlin named Morin, singing in gentle harmony and the rock followed their wishes, seeming to melt away before them.

“But where does the rock go?” Dawn had asked. “Does it just disappear into thin air?”

Morin had shrugged. “It is gone after the singing. I don’t know where it goes.”

“Do you have many stone singers in your clan?” Dawn had wanted to know.

“Not so many left now,” the grizzled old Kharlin said gruffly. “I’m the oldest, and besides me and Kharma there’s only one other left now. Too many have died, so our new home only grows slowly.”

He had patted the stone absently and looked at Kharma, shaking his head. “And you almost were killed too with your thoughtless escapade. There’s no need for you to be hunting and subject yourself to danger. What in the Vixen’s name were you thinking?”

Kharma had gazed back sullenly, ears drooping against his head. “Hunters get respect. I want to learn fight. Need to learn.” Morin had simply huffed and murmured something about stupid, obstinate children who didn’t know what was good for them.

In the evening Dawn had spent some more time with Verene, who though very shy, was almost absurdly grateful for Dawn’s healing of her father. They had talked about their families and their experiences in growing up. Though they were very different characters, they had hit it off instantly. Dawn was happy to get to know Verene better. It was the first time she had something like a friend of her own age. In the village the girls her age had only been interested in boys, marriage and a bit of gossip, so she had never really been close to any of them.

Verene liked to grow plants and she accelerate growth and preserve provisions with her path, so despite her youth she was important for the village who depended on greens and tubers to support and complement the bounty from their hunters.

Dawn shook her head and sighed as she looked around her. Sweat was trickling down her nape and she wished for a cool lake or stream to take a refreshing bath in. Not that they had time for that, even if they should come upon one.

Kharma hadn’t been pleased to be left behind again, as she went out with the hunters to hopefully fight and eliminate the better part of the grey demons. She could understand that he thought it unfair, she wasn’t any older than him and not much of a fighter to boot and was allowed to join the expedition.

Though maybe allowed wasn’t the right expression. She was forced to fight the demons. She, with her strange connection to the Queen, she, who had been responsible for stirring up the demons in the first place. It wasn’t as if she was dying to fight the gods-forsaken spiders.

If it had been up to her, she would have taken Kharma along. The Kharlins, especially Halvar, however, were adamantly opposed, claiming Kharma was to young and too irresponsible for this fight, and that had been that. And maybe they weren’t wrong. His sister depended on him. He was the only close relative she had left. What would happen to her if Kharma died in the battle?

Dawn was in a peculiar mood, half anxiously checking the surroundings for any sight of beasts or demons, half bored with the expectation of a long march still ahead of her.

“What are you going to do when all this is over?” Grinna interrupted her musings. “I know you said you don’t want to live in the city, but take some time to consider it fully. You could come back to Atelang with Teren and me? We’d love to have you stay with us. You know Teren and I are often away from home when we are on duty as rangers and it can be lonely for my mother. I’m sure she would appreciate your company greatly. Unfortunately, we never were blessed with any children of our own, my mother surely would have loved a house full of them.”

Surprised, Dawn looked at the ranger.

“I should think you’d be only too glad to get rid of me, after this is over,” she said, brushing a sweaty strand of hair out of her face. “Feels like I’ve been nothing but trouble ever since you met me.”

Grinna laughed.

“I’d rather say you are a refreshing novelty. Not turning up your nose at a female ranger, traveling with a mountain lynx in tow and monstrous spiders after you. Kidnapped by a nobleman after barely arriving in Atelang. Whatever you say, at least life with you is never boring.”

“It almost hurts me to admit this, but during the last few weeks I was looking back fondly on boring village life from time to time.” Dawn sighed. “Only sometimes, you understand.”

“But as to your question, much as I appreciate your offer, I don’t think I will go back to Atelang. At least, not in the near future. Don’t get me wrong, I adore your mother and I’d love to stay with you and Teren. But if I’ve learned anything during my short stay, it’s that the city is no place for me. Ankou could never be happy there, not that I think he would go anyway. And I don’t want to be separated from him.” She paused for a moment, her face set in grim lines now.

“And ... and, when I think of Atelang now, I can’t help but think of Aaron too. Every time I remember his face, I feel as if I cannot breathe.”

Dawn wrung her hands nervously and swallowed.

“Grinna, he just erased me when he was near. I don’t know how he did it, but I would have done anything he ordered me to do. I could not remember myself or what I wanted when he was with me.” She shuddered in remembrance and shook her head as if to fling the memory away.

“I never even imagined that such a thing was possible. Since I started out on my own, I have been in desperate situations, when I was fighting beasts against overwhelming odds. I was afraid lots of times. But I don’t fear the demons or even the queen half as much as what Aaron did to me.”

Grinna glanced at her solemnly, for once her face was bereft of any smile.

“From what you told us he must have been a powerful Infigor. Someone who is able to charm and persuade others into doing what he asks. According to ancient law, people with such paths have to be registered, to prevent misuse of their talents. But of course, there’s the law and then there’s reality. People are inclined to keep their paths to themselves, sharing information only with family. And the workings of an Infigor are insidious and hard to detect. Moreover, Aaron was a nobleman, and in their case the application of the law is fickle indeed.”

“Don’t be so certain that Aaron is dead.” Dawn retorted. “I have the feeling that I will meet him again. Could be just my anxiety, but I’m not convinced that the queen killed him.”

Grinna shrugged.

“Time will tell. There’s nothing we can do, one way or the other.”

Hours later, the group was finally nearing their destination. The sun was burning down mercilessly. Everyone in the party was grumpy now, sweating copiously in the stifling heat of the day and pestered by the annoying swarms of stinging insects buzzing around them.

After a bend in the stony path, a dark blue lake lay glimmering in the sun before them. A ledge led them along the water’s edge, wide enough for several Kharlins to walk side by side. A few scraggly trees were clinging to the edge of the rock. On the other side of the ledge, as well as on the far side of the lake, sheer cliffs of dark granite soared up high vertically.

“We’ll follow the lake for a few miles. On the other side there is a small island where we’re going to camp for the night.” Dermo told their group.

“The lake is very deep, and the only way to reach the island is via the ledge and crossing the water for a small distance. As long as we secure the island beforehand, there should be no concerns.”

Dawn smiled at him.

“I can’t wait to go for a swim. This heat is killing me.” She said with a grimace.

Dermo nodded in agreement.

“It should be safe enough after we build the camp. We have no knowledge of any beasts in the lake, though stay near the banks anyway. Better to be safe.” With this words he lengthened his stride and left them behind, headed for the start of the column.

Dawn sighed and held her braid up and away from her hot and sweaty nape.

“I wonder where Ankou is.” She said absentmindedly, peering at the group in front of them. “I can’t see him before us.

“You know how it is. If that cat doesn’t want to be seen, he’s practically invisible. Sometimes I could swear that he has a stealth skill, too. “ Grinna chuckled.

“I’ve wondered about that myself from time to time.” Dawn admitted, finally giving up on catching sight of the lynx in the surroundings.

She lengthened her stride, thoughts of a cool bath in the lake spurring her on. They’d trudged along for a further mile or two when Dawn stumbled suddenly, overwhelmed by a dizzying plethora of sensations. Shock, grief, desperation and rage alternated in quick succession, finally settling in a feeling of deep sadness.

“What on earth?” she straightened and shook her head, confused and fighting back tears. “I think something’s wrong with Ankou.” She started to run, once again checking the surroundings with her eyes. No trace of the lynx, only a bunch of Kharlins, the rocky ledge, sheer cliff walls and the lake.

Then, she was bombarded again, this time with an inner clarion call of joy. She stopped and slowly started spinning around in a circle.

“Where in the Abyss is he?” she grumbled. Finally, as she concentrated, she felt a tug in the direction of the cliff to her left. A short way in front of her, a part of the cliff had come down in a landslide long ago, leaving a heap of rubble at the side of the ledge and a rough cove in the cliff.

Without hesitation Dawn started to scramble up, the sharp edges of the rubble biting into her palms.

Behind her she dimly hard Grinna shouting, “Dawn, wait!” but she ignored the ranger, focused only on finding Ankou.

A few meters up, she reached a roughly flat surface. As she heaved herself up, a revolting odour greeted her: sweetish, rotten and cloying.

“Yuck!” She exclaimed, wrinkling her nose in disgust and glancing around.

On the small platform in front of her, several lizard corpses lay in a state of beginning decomposition, obviously the originators of the detestable odour.

The lizards exhibited grievous wounds, deep slashes and bites in their bellies and snouts. Holding her nose, Dawn cautiously inched her way forward through the heap of corpses, at long last catching sight of Ankou.

He was standing at the end of the cove, whirling around now that he heard her approach. Behind him lay another corpse. Beaten and bloodied, but the original sandy colouring still visible in patches, with fur instead of scales and tufted ears. Another lynx.

“Oh! I’m so sorry, Ankou.” Horrified, she looked at the motionless body of the cat.

Strangely enough, Ankou stood stiff as a stick, lightly crouched, ears flattened with aggressive demeanour.

Dimly, she could feel his anxiety and desperation. Dawn approached him, sinking down on her knees before him, bewildered by his posture and his conduct.

“Ankou, it’s only me.”

From the corner of her eyes, she registered movement and realized that the corpse of the Lynx lay before the opening of a small cave. In the shadowy opening two small figures were visible, tightly pressed against the dead body of the lynx. Two small heads lifted up weakly and turned towards her.

“Kittens!” whispered Dawn. “She had kittens.”

She looked at Ankou again.

“Is that what has you so anxious?” she asked softly. “I’m so sorry their mother is dead. But they’re still alive. And they need help. You’ve got to let me see what I can do.”

Tentatively, very tentatively, she could feel a fragile stirring of hope. Still, Ankou was hesitating, blocking her way to the kittens.

“Really?” Dawn asked exasperated.

“What are you afraid of? I’m not a monster! You have to know I’d never hurt them. They are important to you. We are friends. We are partners. We are family. Please, you need to trust me!”

Slowly, Ankou relaxed and Dawn started to approach the kittens.

Then the sound of crunching rock reached them from behind, and Dawn saw Grinna appear in the cove, elegantly flowing up on the plateau and eying the lizard corpses with obvious distaste. Ankou promptly took up his defensive stance once more.

“You shouldn’t just wander off alone, Dawn. That’s a good way to get killed by beasts, or even by falling rock here around.” Grinna chastened her. “And what on earth are you looking for, up here?”

“It was necessary.” Dawn told her absently, still focused on Ankou and the kittens.

Slowly. she inched forward and reached out to the first one, softly and carefully laying a hand on it and activating Nurture, repeating her actions with the second one afterwards. The kittens barely reacted, obviously lethargic and exhausted from lack of food and drink.

She looked up and said: “They need water and food”, while taking out her brand-new water-skin, a present she had gotten from Verene before they set out. Slowly, she started to trickle some water into her palm and feed it to the kittens.

Grinna stood a little distance away, watching, and shook her head. “Lynx cubs. It’s a miracle that they survived that beast wave. Their mother must have fought tooth and nail for them.” She sighed. “Poor things. But - what are you going to do? Do you really plan to take them with us? They will surely hamper us on this expedition.”

Dawn shrugged. “Well, they’re alive and we found them, or at least Ankou did. And Ankou and me, we will do our very best to keep them alive. So we’ll take them with us.” She declared firmly.

“All right, all right, don’t bite my head off, mama bear.” Grinna raised her hands defensively.

Dawn looked up and smiled faintly.

“No, no, I’m not ready to be a mother. But an adopted sister or aunt, that I can do. Ankou can be the proud papa. “

Ankou cocked his head and she had the feeling he agreed. One moment later, out of the blue, she was surprised by a notification.

Call of the wild (Passive)

Herne, the god of wilderness, accepts your vow of protection for two orphaned lynx cubs.

Pleased with your actions he grants you the ability to communicate with denizens of his realm as a favor.

This ability only works if your counterpart actively wishes to communicate with you.