"Apologies, sir Grimm. The next trek will be through a mountain pass. It's a tight fit and very long, so we'll want to stock up on supplies while we can," the captain explained. He pointed towards the large mountain wall about a mile out. "It's about three days along the pass, and then we'll be free. I'll have my men collect fresh water from the river, and we'll have to rearrange supplies. Don't worry; your wagon will be untouched."

Devon stared at the man and said nothing. It was obvious that the captain looked hesitant, but the hunter wasn't known for being the first to speak.

Better get this out of the way.

"Is there something else, captain?" I asked.

A look of relief passed the captain's face, and I kept my chuckle to myself.

"Yes. I wanted to ask for help. We have enough supplies to last for our trip through the mountain, but we could always use more. And salted jerky does not satisfy the way fresh meat does."

"Are you asking us to hunt, Volk?" Devon asked.

"I am," he replied. "I won't force the issue. It's a hopeful request, nothing more."

"Very well. Give us some time."

The captain nodded and left. I watched him walk away. He subtly rubbed his fingers while shifting his view from right to left.

"Is there something he's not telling us?" I asked.

"Possibly."

"Could it be that he was just worried about asking for our help?" Alice countered.

"No," Devon shook his head. "Ever since Cain discovered the body, he's had men rotate heavily towards the riverside. It's normal for men to fear the beasts inside the forest."

Makes sense.

"Are we hunting? You just gonna sniff out some deer?"

"Do you want me to, or do you want to try for yourself?"

I blinked.

"Uh, I guess I can try for myself?"

Since when did you offer a choice?

He leaned his head back and turned to Alice. "Adeline taught you, right?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Take Cain and try to teach him."

"And you?"

"I'll talk with the noble. The more I learn about the current state of the capital, the better we'll be."

She watched him. It lasted long enough for him to begin to straighten up, but when he did, she hopped to her feet and grabbed her axe off the top of the wagon. Without a word, she slid past the people and disappeared behind the row of trees.

Devon glanced toward me and I shrugged.

"Sorry, I don't know what's going on."

I rushed after her while ignoring the stare burning holes in the back of my head.

***

"So, do you want to talk about it?" I asked carefully.

She stared at me with dead eyes. "No."

Right.

"So what exactly are we doing? I can summon Freki and have him scout."

"Do you want to learn to hunt yourself?"

My shoulders dropped. "I understand."

We began to move deeper in, and I only had one mission: find signs of wildlife. I felt like a bloodhound trying to sniff the air. The only things I smelled were fresh dirt and trees.

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"Over here," Alice called out.

She pointed to a thick bush hedging onto the trunk of a thick tree. Despite sniffing around, I still only smelled nature and not whatever she wanted me to spot.

"I give up; I can't smell anything."

Alice crossed her arms. "You have more senses than smell. Use your eyes."

Squinting, I used my foot to disturb the dirt and peel back the bush. Eventually, I found what she wanted me to see. The dirt looked scuffed. A major chunk had been shoveled aside to reveal gnarled roots. Parts of the roots looked destroyed. They sported several white scratches, both short and thick.

She then pointed to the trunk where parts of the bark were stripped off. Moving her finger slowly, she pinched a small tuft of hair between the grooves.

"Smell it."

I accepted the dark green fur and sniffed. The smell made me cover my nose and hold it away from my face.

"That's musky. Smells like mud, too."

"We'll be hunting for a boar or a wild pig."

"Green fur?"

"The different worlds have different beasts. Green fur could mean nothing, or it could mean the boar isn't just a boar."

I let the hair strands fall to the dirt and rubbed my hands on my pants. "Okay, fair enough. But why are there no tracks?"

In response, she walked on top of the thick roots exposed above and around the back of the tree, where obvious tracks led away toward the river. At one point, we came across a berry bush, but Alice shook her head. "I don't recognize it; it could be poisonous."

"Would poison affect me with my current constitution?"

She scowled. "What's your stat?"

"Eighteen."

"Probably not, but it's a risk you'll have to take. I once made the mistake of trusting a bush only to have stomach problems for several days."

The berries looked bright and plump, but I shook my head. "You're right, not worth it."

A smile stretched across her face.

"Good. If you notice, the beast rooted underneath the roots but left the bush untouched."

Huh, she's right.

"You think we're getting any closer?"

"If it is a boar, they are mainly nocturnal. We won't find it searching around this time of day."

Eventually, the tracks took us to the river, and we stopped to wash up and clean ourselves. We kept things polite; I turned around while she kept to her side of the stream. Thankfully, I could dry any wet clothes by bastardizing my incantation.

Once washed, we decided to pause as my stomach started to growl. I pulled out the last of the jerky rations and brushed my hand against the package of cookies. They were several days old, but I unwrapped them and hesitantly bit down, finding them still soft.

Alice was wringing out her hair, and I tossed her a stack. She caught it and stared at me funny.

"You know what?" I said between bites. "I told myself I wouldn't get into this, but what's the deal with you and Devon now? Is it because of what I told you?"

She crunched a cookie; the only noise was the river bubbling along. She swallowed and stared at the water. "There's nothing wrong."

"Malarkey."

She turned and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm calling out your lie. There's something wrong, and it's very obvious. What about the whole 'we're teammates' thing? Spill."

I combined two cookies and some jerky and bit down like it was a sandwich. She stared, but I stared back.

Surprisingly, it's a good combo. That or I'm too hungry to care.

"Devon was my brother's best friend. They've known each other for six years; he was part of the original team who took us in," she paused to swallow another bite. "Devon is like a brother to me, and he's always been protective. But lately, he's been cold, more so than usual, keeping his distance."

"Has he? He seems more talkative than usual."

"Perhaps."

I finished off my sandwich and felt my stomach beg for more food.

Oh, calm down, will you? We're trying to grab food.

"Well, whatever is going on, I'm sure it's nothing. He'd die for you, I know that. Hard to trump that kind of loyalty."

She chuckled and stood up, offering me a hand. I accepted, and she pulled me up with ease.

"Let's follow the river upwards; I spotted a dense thicket up ahead. We'll have a better chance of finding the beast there."

I tossed the last stack of cookies back into my satchel and followed her. We adjusted since the wind had changed directions, but it was a minor adjustment.

Finally, after another dozen minutes of stepping over fallen leaves and small twigs, she crouched low and hid behind a tree.

She held a finger to her lips and pointed.

There.

Hidden almost entirely by the thick foliage above, a small, dug-out space contained what was a strange-looking pig. The boar had four tusks, two on each side, and grass-like fur. Its belly rose and fell as it slept, snuggled beneath a grass blanket.

We were several yards out, so I wasn't concerned about it hearing us.

"That's the strangest-looking boar I've ever seen."

"It's food."

"Right. Still, it feels wrong since it's sleeping."

I glanced at Alice, but she didn't move. She gestured towards the beast.

Yeah, no. I just washed; I don't need blood.

I closed my eyes and pictured Freki's runes. The spell weaved itself into existence, the skill facilitating the system knowledge ingrained in my brain. My shadow stretched, and my wolf rose out of the ground.

"Freki, hey. Do you think you can finish it in one go?"

The wolf's jaw was massive, and although the boar was huge in its own right, it wasn't rideable-direwolf size.

Freki dipped back into the ground, and I closed my eyes, letting the void pull my consciousness in. I watched it navigate an upside-down world, the negative space hurting my brain as he stalked forward.

The boar looked like it had a weight to it, filling out a weird negative balloon. My wolf got directly beside its head, the entire area looking like white paint spilled inside the grass nest. Opening my eyes, I blinked a few times to adjust to seeing normally and watched and waited. Alice glanced over, but I motioned with my chin.

In a blur of shadows, the massive wolf head rose up and sank its razor-sharp teeth into the side of its neck.

Crunch!

A single bite and a chunk of meat tore away, disappearing down my wolf's throat. The boar went to kick as it squealed, but it died nearly instantaneously.

Freki licked his lips and rose entirely out of the shadows. Blood gushed out of the dead beast's neck as my summon pawed at its stomach. More blood spurted out, coating the soft grass in a puddle of red.

He then looked up at me and wagged his tail.