Chapter 94. Forest Meetings

CAIVAN

By the gods, they are fast, even for me. There is no telling their number and that has got to be the scariest fact that faces me (or in this case, pursues me).

I take a sharp turn, veering off the path and into the unmarked parts of the forest. Another warning tugs at my mind, one that I studiously ignore. Lian, the big brute, is a long way ahead of me, too fast for me to follow, and a sure temptation to transform.

Come now, Caivan. You can evade them. No need to give in to that scary part of you.

Something catches at my foot, and I go tumbling down a slope I had not seen in the first place. Plants catch at my hair, scratch my cheeks, have at my clothes. I reach out sharply as soon as the ground becomes smooth enough for my grip, and dig my claws into the earth, just as a pond comes up to meet me.

Lian growls softly at me a little way to my left, half-hidden beneath some bushes. The beast must had tripped me up, bless his hide. I limp over to the