I survived the forest at far too low of a level, when I should have been nothing but prey myself. All the while, I had battled with the idea that maybe things would be okay. Part of me already knew what I would find up here, but I had been denying it to keep myself moving forward.

  Now the truth was in front of me.

  I force my head up, eyes misting with tears. A strong wind blew, pulling more dust off the side of the mountain, wrapping around my father like a fluid cloak. Even in death, he looked powerful. He was not broken, nor was he simple remains left for whatever scavengers came by. He still looked out over the vale as he always had—the vale that still belonged to him.

  So long as I was alive, I wouldn’t let his legacy die, and I still had my family to think about. I couldn’t let this stop me, I knew. I had to keep going.

  I had to keep going…

  I lowered my head to focus on the uneven path and moved forward. I was unfamiliar with this exact location, but I knew it must have been close to the hunting ground Mom used to take us on. Once I found that, getting back to the den would be simple.

  The wind blew harder, and dark clouds rolled in from the tops of the pointed peaks that created a bowl around the vale. The air smelled fresh with water, and soon rain began to fall.

  I took extra care with jumping past broken fissures on this improper path I scaled across, steadily climbing higher.

  Soon, I came across a flat and grassy area that was all too familiar, just below the tree line with branches hanging over it. Iris used to sit on those branches and hunt from above, while Lily and I worked as a team in the grass. Ben, Jerry, and Luke were less strategic, but succeeded in their hunts all the same.

  The only difference between this hunting ground now was all the extra boulders that littered it from when the dragon rider created that avalanche.

  I looked back over my shoulder, my father now behind me, yet I still could imagine standing proudly along the ridges, his three heads watching over everything. Though his heads no longer moved, I could still think of him that way.

  My fur quickly soaked in the falling rain, but I now made my way up the pass easily. It would be ride open walkways all the way back up to my den.

  I had never come this way alone before, but it was still familiar.

  Finally, turning the last corner, I saw my den—a dark open mouth along the mountainside. I closed my eyes tight, thinking of all the safe familiarity of it. But, knowing my family wouldn’t be there, it left my heart feeling heavy.

  I stepped inside. There were several scorch marks along the walls from Ben and Jerry. A pile of bones sat on one end, and tufts of our fur lingered about.

  I walked over to the spot where Mom always used to lay, and I sniffed. It still smelled like her.

  I laid down right there, my snout resting over my paws. I was soaking wet and colder than I ever imagined myself being while in the safety of my den. I could still hear the yips and growls of my siblings. I could imagine letting my eyes drift closed, and Lily coming over to snuggle next to me.

  I worried about Lily the most, I think. Of all of us, she is the one who always needed protection. I didn’t want to imagine her being alone and scared.

  I laid there for a long time, listening to the patter of rain outside. It was getting harder.

  I wondered, would it really be possible for me to find them again? I thought of Genzo and how strong he was. Was he stronger than the dragon rider? And how long would it take for me to become as powerful as him?

  But something else occurred to me. Genzo was not from this vale, yet he knew of the red masks. Naturally, a tribe of people who rode flying monsters and hunted things that were as powerful as my father would be well known in this world.

  This vale was a good hunting ground, but there were no civilizations here. There would be nobody for me to get information from. That would mean, if I wanted to find my family, I’d have to move on from this vale. But at the same time, I needed to become stronger, so that when I did find them, I could do something about this.

  Above all, I needed to know more about this world. If I had the ability to speak, I would have asked Genzo a thousand more questions and gotten all the information I could out of him. If he wouldn’t stick with me and help me train, surely he would do at least that.

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  For now, there is no way I was hunting in that rain, but just lying here was a waste.

  I turned my attention to our piles of discarded bones and sniffed. It hadn’t been very long, and my puppy stomach could handle food that was not entirely fresh much better than a human one.

  I forced myself up and padded over to the bones, looking for scraps I could snack on while I waited for the rain to clear.

  The first one I chose was completely picked clean, and so were the next few.

  I sniffed, trying to pick out the scent of meat. We had such an abundance of food, there were always scraps to nibble on… but… strangely, that wasn’t the case now.

  Confused, I started shuffling my nose through piles, turning over bone after bone.

  Picked clean. All of them. It hadn’t been that long since I’ve been gone, though it felt like a short lifetime.

  I used {Pulse Sense}, wondering if something moved in while we were gone and was now hiding. No, there was not a single heartbeat close enough to be picked up.

  Then, I started sniffing for any unfamiliar scents that might explain this.

  Nothing.

  I could smell my pack still lingering, and that was about it. So who had picked all of these bones clean?

  There was an obvious answer to who among my family would be able to slip away from the hunters—Lily.

  I started sniffing around the den, searching for her scent. I now more than ever regretted not relying on my nose more, because it was difficult to distinguish one from the other.

  But… yes… There was one that stood out. One scent was far fresher than the others. Could it be Lily? It was hard to say with absolute certainty, as my brothers and sisters, for the most part, smelled very similar, except for Ben and Jerry, who had a slightly ashy scent to them.

  I followed the scent out of the cave, and my tail drooped as I watched the rain fall.

  Damn it! Why did it have to pick today of all days to rain! It’s completely washing away the trail!

  I ran out of the den and started frantically looking around. Facing down the way Mom would usually lead us on our hunting expeditions, I still saw Dad’s corpse there. I was glad that on the last stretch to the den he was behind me, but walking down that slope now, I’d have no choice but to look at him, and it hurt my heart.

  But I realized that might be a clue.

  I looked back the other way, opposite where Mom would take us. The pass was not as clear, but it would be simple for a small puppy to travel down.

  If after the hunters left, Lily went back to the den to fill herself on the left behind scraps, she would eventually realize she couldn’t just stay there.

  Coming out of the den, Lily would see Dad’s body looming over our old hunting ground, and it would hurt her far too much to have to walk that way. Therefore, she would go in the opposite direction.

  Maybe.

  I tilted my nose to the sky and let out the loudest howl my body could muster.

  I was answered only by a crash of thunder, but I tried again.

  “Lily! Lily! I’m here! Where are you!” I cried into the rainstorm.

  I tried again and again, howling until my throat burned and I was losing my breath.

  When I couldn’t muster another howl, I stared down the mountain. My chest bumped heavily, and I was shivering from the rain. My ears slowly folded back against my head, not hearing a response.

  If she is out there, maybe the rain was breaking my howl too much from a distance. It was not echoing back at me the way it normally would.

  Another crash of thunder, and I considered going back into the den. I knew I should stay close to it for a while, and just hunt locally, in case Lily came back… if she even was out there.

  It is possible I was right about everything, but the red masks still picked her up later.

  Then… I heard a sharp sound break through the rain.

  I didn’t believe it at first, despite my head instantly jolting upright.

  I listened and…

  “Yip!”

  Instantly, I began running down the pass, paws scraping and sliding on the wet mud. I responded with the best bark I could and was once again answered by a yip.

  It was easy to forget my footing, but a particularly bad slide that almost made me tip off the mountainside reminded me to slow down.

  “Yip! Yip! Yip!”

  It was her! I knew that small bark anywhere! It was so much more delicate than any of my other brothers and sisters!

  And then at last, I saw her. Small—smaller than I remembered her, but maybe I was just bigger—soaking wet and covered in mud.

  It was Lily!

  She ran uphill, and I ran downhill, our paths crossing, we nearly tackled each other off our feet. Luckily, we met at a portion of the pass that was a little wider.

  We licked each other's faces. Our tails whipped in wild circles, splattering rain in every direction.

  Lily’s little body quivered as she rubbed against me, cold and thin beneath her soaked fur. Yes, she was quite thin, she clearly had not been eating well since we parted ways—but I would help her with that!

  I’d take her back to the den to warm up, and then I’d go find a rabbit and bring it back to her! Tomorrow we could go hunting together!

  When Lily was done licking my face, she stared at me with her ears folded back and let out a low whimper. My ears folded back as well. I gestured back over my shoulder, trying to ask about the rest of our family through gestures. She seemed to get the idea as her gaze lowered and she shook her head. Then she looked intently up at the sky, moving her gaze over the mountains. She then looked back at me with a horribly sad look in her eyes.

  I got the message. They carried the rest of our family over those mountains. Those giant black birds—Night Harriers, according to the encyclopedia—would easily be able to carry all of us pups, while the dragon was probably used to transport Mom.

  As I looked up, scanning the peaks through the fog of the rainy weather, a low growl bubbled in my throat. Lily whimpered softly and snuggled closer to me, her body shivering lightly from how damp and underfed she was.

  I calmed myself down and licked the top of her head, then gestured back the way I had come, signaling her to follow me back to the den.

  I didn’t know what our future held, but for now, I at least had my little sister back, and I was going to protect her!

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