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He scurried to her side and rubbed into her legs a bit too hard. She crouched down and lifted an uncertain hand under his muzzle. Chap twisted his head to drag her palm and long fingers over his face.
This was Leesil's mother-Nein'a-Cuirin'nen'a, as her own people called her.
Wy
She finally looked up at Wy
Wy
Nein'a stood, looking down upon the sage.
"How does a human come here?" she said in Belaskian. "And where did you find this dog?"
Beneath cold demand was an unsteady quiver in her voice.
"I came with Chap," Wy
Nein'a blinked once as her expression flattened. "That is not possible. He would not be allowed amongthe an'Croan… no more than you would, girl!"
Wy
"Chap brought us through the mountains. Sgaile came to escort us by the request of Most Aged Father. I swear to…"
At the patriarch's name, fear washed through Nein'a's beautiful face. It was quickly replaced by something coldly vicious as she peered again into the trees around the clearing.
"Get out!" she snapped at Wy
Wy
She must come now, before pursuit catches us all.
Wy
"Leesil is among the Anmaglahk?" Nein'a cut her off. "You are all fools… rabbits who crawl into a den of wolves! How did you even find my prison?"
Before Wy
No more time for this-we leave now!
Wy
"He brought me… and they led him. They can bring us back. But you have to come. There are others pursuing us, and we do not know how close they are."
Nein'a looked away. "What makes you think I could leave… not having done so in the long time I have been here?"
"Of course you can leave," Wy
He barked once as his leaf-wing voice began to rise again.
"I heard you the first time!" Wy
Nein'a frowned at them both.
Wy
Nein'a shook her head. "I am cut off, girl. I can no more walk the forest than you. It rejects me. If I step beyond the clearing, I am lost… wandering until I am quickly retaken and returned to his place. Do you think I have not tried?"
Wy
"Trust me, or at leastChap," she urged. "He can lead us back."
Lily remained close by. In two steps, Chap brushed heads with her and tossed his nose toward the tall ferns. Lily yipped and the pack elder echoed her. All the majay-hi began to gather.
Nein'a watched them, but her large eyes kept drifting warily about the clearing, as if searching for some assurance. She sighed and scratched Chap's head.
"I have nothing to lose. But not so for you, girl, when we are caught."
"Just keep your eyes on Chap and the others. The forest ca
Chap led the way with Nein'a following, and Wy
"It took us all night to reach you," Wy
Nein'a did not answer, and seemed overly disturbed by the barrier woods, as if she had never seen it before.
Wy
Another patch of tall ferns appeared ahead, blocking the path. Wy
Wy
Nein'a huffed. "Now do you see?"
"Whenever you try to leave, you just end up back here?" Wy
"No…" Nein'a answered. "I have thrice wandered, lost in the outer forest, only to be captured again. This is the first time I returned directly to my prison. But I have never before had anyone try to lead me out."
Wy
"I did not know the forest had thickened outside," Nein'a continued. "It has been years since I last tried to leave. Perhaps it is a new safeguard placed by Aoishenis-Ahare… since my son's return."
The title caught Wy
Most Aged Father had some hand in cutting the woman off from the forest, leaving her susceptible to its bewildering influence. If that were so…
Wy
Most Aged Father wormed his awareness through the forest. He drifted from tree to bush to vine as he followed Frethfare. Though he watched her run hard through the night without pause, he worried that she would not catch Leshil in time.
He slipped ahead and came upon Sgaile and his procession, pushing on with just as much speed. Most Aged Father clung to his calm, watching as they ran past. His awareness caught for an instant on the one called Magiere.
Before this woman's arrival, countless decades had passed since he had looked upon any human. Of those he remembered, not one breed matched her white skin and black hair. There was something wrong about her-more than just the flawed nature of a human.
The sun had risen, glinting off the crimson shimmers in her hair.
Most Aged Father raced on, but his awareness halted in a cedar strangled by blackberry vines growing all the way up into its branches. A lingering prickle within its living wood stung his mind.
Many years had passed since a majay-hi or a clhuassas had come close enough to his home for him to feel their difference from the forest's mundane creatures. They shied from him, and even sensed his presence slipping through the forest's growth. But here in this tree, in these newly grown brambles, he felt it…
The same lingering touch as in the descendants of the born-Fay.What did this mean?
Most Aged Father drifted within the barrier woods, as if the very walls of his own home had been altered while he had slumbered. His panic mounted.
Footsteps approached in the outer forest. He slipped away, burrowing inward toward Cuirin'nen'a's clearing.
The farther north they ran, the more desperate Sgaile became.