He felt the knot of instinct in the back of his head rumble. The power and speed of his body was known to him, but his mind was still human. How do wolves hunt? In packs mostly. He shook his head at his own sarcasm. That would not help him here. He inhaled and breathed out a sigh. The air of the forest was still, and the heavy scent of the woods and earth was all around him. He stopped as he realized that there was another, deeper, muskier scent underneath the clean smell of the woods. His brain caught on to the undertone of the musk scent. That’s Ares’ scent. He started to run after the scent of his teacher. He may not be able to run as fast as Ares could, but he knew how to follow a trail. The smell of Ares from the surrounding forest, now that he knew what to follow, was as clear as a freeway through a rural town.
He ran for a good while, almost closing his eyes to the surrounding landscape that he ran through. So much concentration was spent on following the scent. He started to get a little discouraged when the scent was not getting any stronger. In fact, it was getting weaker. William forced himself to run faster, he couldn’t lose the scent.
His face was grinding on the ground. His legs were a tangled knot behind him, and his body was ripping a grove in the pine needles and earth of the forest floor. It took him a moment to understand that he had tripped over something. He had been so concerned with running and following the scent that he was following, he hadn’t kept an eye on his physical surroundings. He untangled himself and stood up. He dusted himself off with his paws and looked back over his shoulder to see what it was he had tripped over and there, leaning against a tree, was Ares.
William was shocked to see his teacher standing behind him. Ares had a straight look on his face. William felt very embarrassed and a little mad that his teacher had beaten him so easily. He felt his other stir those negative emotions in him, but he would not let himself succumb to them. Instead, he stood up straight and looked at Ares.
“Do you still think you know how to hunt, pup?”
The tone of Ares voice and the humiliation of failure was enough to quell his ego. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. “I guess not.”
Ares took a step in his student’s direction. “Then I suggest in the future you hold your tongue till you know what it is you’re talking about.” William could do nothing more than nod. Ares walked past William and reached out his arms to the forest around them. “William, we are animals of nature. This forest, this city, this life we cling so preciously to is all wrapped up into one thing.” Ares turned back to find William facing him. “What you have to learn is how all of it fits together. And I mean all of it. The smells of the air around you, the way the wind moves through the trees. How our scent is left behind as we simply walk from one place to another. Some of these things can be controlled, others can be manipulated. How was I able to get behind you?”
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William thought about it. “Either you were simply able to outrun me by so much you left a scent trail that was so long that I just didn’t reach the point that you started to double back around me.” William paused. “Or, you were able to cover your scent somehow. I noticed right before you tripped me that the scent was getting weaker.”
“And the knowledge of the world shall be inherited by those willing to seek it.” He nodded his head at his student. “That is more along the lines of what actually happened.” Ares squatted down and with a claw drew lines in the dirt. “You and I were here.” He stabbed at a place in the ground. “I ran off here.” He drew out a line symbolizing his path through the forest. “I could hear you try to follow me, but you slowed down or stopped here.” He drew a very short line and rotated his claw in the ground making a slight hole. “Then you discovered my scent and ran off after me.” From the hole he drew out a line parallel to the first. “But here,” another slight hole in the first line, “the scent got weaker. Now what was going through your mind when that happened?”
William heaved a sigh. “I was thinking that you were running faster than I originally thought and that I would have to run faster. I had to put all my concentration in running and following the fading scent from the surrounding forest.”
“That’s what you thought happened then. Now looking back at it, what do you think I was able to do?”
William studied the diagram on the ground and what he had felt happen only moments ago. The two lines were parallel but the hole that Ares made in the first line had to mean something. He remembered what Tasha had said that she was able to do, mask her scent and produce other smells. “You produced another scent that blended in with the forest. That’s how you were able to get behind me.”
Ares cocked his head to the side in a question. “What makes you think that I am able to produce different scents?”
“Tasha told me that one of her abilities is to produce different scents from her body. She said something about pheromones and the biochemistry of her own body was something she could control.”
Ares looked at William and nodded. “That may well be. Tasha was reborn on the crescent moon and like all Trackers she has that ability. But you and I were reborn on the full moon. Enforcers like us do not have any ability like that.” Ares turned his head toward the forest and trail that William had left as he skidded to a stop, moments ago. “We have our own unique abilities which I will explain to you in time.” Ares turned back toward William who was looking around the forest, still trying to figure out what had happened to him. “Do you want to know how I was able to get behind you?” Ares stepped over and knelt on the ground. He motioned William to do the same. William followed suit and Ares took a hand full of dirt into his claw. “William this is earth, you know that, but what you have to learn is that this stuff is a sponge.” He took the dirt and gave it William. “Smell it.”