hell is on earth

She remained where she was, knowing her hope was likely a vain one. This wolf she hunted might well be long gone, or he wasn’t, perhaps he knew nothing of the information she sought.

When he trudged through the muck towards her, her eyes lit up for the bearest of seconds, before falling again. Yes, he had come, but nothing she had to say was welcoming. It seemed he already knew that, with the hostility in his eyes that verged on hate, with the pain she could see behind them. He knew, she understood in that moment that she knew exactly who Caelum was, and her death had meant something to him.

Pain squeezed her heart, and she struggled to keep her voice straight as her words wondered out from her, trying to keep the pain from them and do her duty as a healer. “I promised a wolf that I would find a man named Zephyr, and a pack called Abaven. Do any of these names mean anything to you?” she asked him, her voice soft, and she did not react to the hostility she could see in him.