a different stink

Tracking 3/3

Finally, she was getting somewhere! Except, as she slowly and dismally raised her head to look around, Fable realized that somewhere was a circle. Messy tracks looped around and around, their pawprints layered side by side and on top of each other in places. She paused and waited for a few long breaths. All she could hear at first was the familiar hum of the rapids. Beneath the rushing water Fable picked out the noise of someone behind her sneaking through the undergrowth. The trees were thin striplings here, still recovering from the volcano her aunt had told her about in hushed tones. Any second now the intruder would reveal himself!

She whipped around as the crunch of twigs and leaves grew closer, dropping into a defensive crouch. Kuroki appeared between the trees, still half-hidden. "Oh! Jeez, your face!" Fable breathed. Very few wolves in Abaven had any kind of mutations. She'd never seen horns before. But he wasn't bleeding... and he didn't seem distressed. "What's up with that? The pointy bits?" she asked, her brow furrowed in confusion. Nevertheless, she stayed crouched low. Better to be on the safe side.