Page 5 of Keeper of the Word (The Unsung and the Wolf Duology #2)

Chapter

Five

SOMEWHERE IN THE GREENWOOD FOREST IN THE PROVINCE OF GREENWOOD: ELANNA

E lanna had lost count of the days she’d stumbled around the Greenwood Forest. ’Twas difficult to read the changing moons through the canopy of high branches.

But it had been at least a fortnight, because she sensed the full Dew Moon rise a few hours ago.

StarSeers did not worship the goddesses of the moons but did regard them in high esteem.

They knew their worth to the ancient stars.

The Dew Moon had spread the blossoms of renewal throughout Tasia.

The Dew Moon would command the spring rains to bless the crops.

Aye, the StarSeers understood their worth.

Elanna had ridden Rasa north from the Dasei Moors into Greenwood province guided by the stars.

She knew not why. Even a fortnight later, half-starved, she questioned it not.

The forest could provide when necessary.

Berries, wild onions or mushrooms, even fruit from a peculiar dew fruit tree that should not be able to thrive amongst these dense trees.

Her blonde hair was a snarled mess. The grime layering her skin appeared even more ashen in this dark.

She steered her thoughts away from Ashwin and what her StarSeer sisters, Tara, Casta, and Kyrie, must be feeling.

These many nights separated. The threads of starlight that connected the Five held taut, and Elanna knew they sensed the stretched bond, too—even little Maristel, though she wouldn’t yet understand what it was—pulling and pulling and pulling as she continued to evade her home.

The stars bade her here, and though she understood naught of why she wandered through these dank woods, Elanna would never question their command.

So, she could not spare thoughts on her StarSeer sisters.

With the determined pale light of the Dew Moon bespeckling these woods, Elanna found the splashes of light from the stars and stood waiting. Waiting to remember. Remember something important.

A man on a battlefield, in a war camp, waiting to die with one last breath of hope before welcoming doom.

She could See him. Waiting. And Elanna wondered if she could save him. She Saw not his past, only his future, but the scars were evident, and his eyes were melancholy.

Elanna needed to remember this man because they were each other’s destiny.

Where to find him?

’Twas more than the eyes that she needed to remember.

He is important to some other cause, too. Something that occurred far away.

“Rasa,” Elanna whispered to her stallion, who cocked an ear at his mistress and snorted.

Like an obedient hound, the roan beast came to stand next to her, nudging her with his muzzle.

“A path is being carved for the Wolf. I See his fortune.”