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The soil was wet and soggy as the minty fox pressed his paw pads into it with every step. His ears were attuned to the sounds around him, and his golden eyes were sharp on the lookout for any visual changes.
He tried to follow Riven’s scent but the rain had bogged it down and diluted it greatly. Still, he pursued. Kieran was good at this. The determination paid off and he found paw tracks leading up a muddy path on a hill with scattered rocks adorning the ground in patches.
Following it, he picked up the faintest indications of Riven through scent; he was getting closer.
The mud splashed with a consistency almost like water due to the amount of heavy rain the region was getting.
A fresh, earthy scent caressed Kieran’s nostrils, the smell of raindrops against green pine needles and grayish-brown mossy tree bark. This place reminded Kieran of his home in Drakewood Heights, except it was just missing all the snow.
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The terrain twisted and turned, curved up and down, and Kieran had to bob between the foliage. Pine needles and cones mottled the forest floor, and crisp crunches were heard as Kieran moved forward, even in the rain.
Ahead of the bounty hunter was a meadow, with a shadowed figure standing completely still before another figure that he couldn’t quite identify. ‘Riven?’ he thought, trying to make out the fox’s features in the dark of the stormy night.
A flash of lightning streamed overhead behind the clouds, illuminating the figure in the meadow for just a moment, long enough for Kieran to get a good look at him. The detail that stuck out most was brown fur; the unclothed body of Riven.
Riven was standing in front of what seemed to be a statue, just staring at it.
The bounty hunter had, of course, not gone weaponless; he still wore his belt of leather, with the sheaths for his daggers attached. Kieran approached the outlaw with caution, hand paws resting upon the hilts of his blades, ready to draw them at a moment’s notice if he had to.
“I was wondering where you were,” Kieran called out to him, walking out of the undergrowth.
Riven bristled at the voice of the bounty hunter, but quickly calmed when he saw that it was only the leader of the group. “Yo.”
Kieran got close enough to see that the statue was of a female fox draped in luxurious clothing, holding up a big star in one hand and a moon in the other. Indications of snow were carved at her feet paws, and the statue as a whole was made of iron. The minty fox couldn’t help but notice that her breasts were barely covered by the draped material. In the place of her eyes were jade gemstones.
Engraved at the lower half of the statue, below the girl, was:
TO THE MOTHER OF OUR PEOPLE
ASTRIKA PROPHETA