Chapter 57

Hawk sent them on their way at first light the following morning before he and the rest of the group broke camp to catch up with the main hunt. They were joined by three others who had been wounded in the ravine, along with five of the bearers to speed them home on the backs of their wolves.

There had been many more injuries during the first failed hunting attempt, but most of them were of the sort the Moon People could heal overnight. None of their travelling companions were hurt much more severely than Fern, but two deep gashes and a badly strained shoulder were enough to keep them from hunting as their wolves.

All the way home Netya stared dejectedly at the back of the wolf carrying her, wondering what she would do now that a future as a hunter had been denied to her. Even the endless landscape, still so beautiful and foreign to her after a life lived in the forests, could not capture her attention that day.

She felt like she had failed, despite telling herself