Page 35 of A Fate In Moonstone

My first instinct was to see Rune, even if he was in werewolf form and that side of him tried to kill me.

The woods were silent, which heightened my senses with each step through the forest. Just when my nerves relaxed to the eerie silence, a low growl would bounce off the tree trunks, and I’d tighten the grip around my sword.

An owl hooted nearby, startling me. After a few moments of acclimating to the owl, I lowered my sword.

“Rune,” I whispered.

The Hallowstags were big, stretching all the way to the Crescent Sister Mountains. It could take hours to find him. Ultimately, my hope was that he found me first to save me the time and trouble.

The full moon was high in the sky when I decided to take a break. I’d run into a catagaro, the massive catlike beasts, eating a deer. Got my boot stuck in a bog and nearly lost my arm attempting to drink water from a calm pond. Then a mermaid approached. She wanted to brush my hair and I didn’t let her, so she grabbed me.

After another hour, I laid in the grass near the roots of a mighty oak and looked at the stars.

All my choices and the weight of my crown disappeared under the magnificence of the galaxy.

I wonder what it would be like to be a star. Just burning in space without care or people’s wellbeing depending on you.

Steps vibrated from the grass below my palms and I shot up, sword ready for whatever or whoever stepped into the light.

“I told you boys I knew where she was. Piece of cake.”

That voice. So familiar.

Foxface himself stepped closer. Which that, in itself, would have been annoying enough, but then two guards wearing black and red armor closed the distance beside him. Three bright and malicious smiles greeted me. I pointed the tip of my sword at them.

“Harron. What the hell are you doing?” I snarled.

As the general’s son, he knew better. These were Verin’s soldiers, enemies to Crysia.

He pushed back his shaggy hair. The corners of his lips tilting a little too high to be natural.

“I was having a drink, you know, fun with my men when these two heard me talking about you, and how I saw you sneak into the woods. They offered me a reward if I found you and I did.” Harron turned to the tallest of the two soldiers.

“Harron, you dumbass. Do you even know what they’ll do to me?” I shouted and the male shrugged.

“Don’t care. I’ll be rich and with you out of the picture, that brute will quit pushing me around, telling me I’ll die if I come around you again.”

“Brute? Who are you talking about?” Only one face came to mind, but I needed to hear it.

No talking sense into that idiot.

Harron snapped his fingers. “Ah, I don’t care to remember his name. Goodbye, Sapphira.”

The tall soldier pulled an apple-sized brown sack from a pocket in his pants and tossed it to the fox fae.

“Harron,” I called out as he turned to leave me with these two.

“Fine, come on boys,” I said with a resigned sigh to the soldiers. “I hope you were warned. I fight for fun.”

Digging my feet into the earth, I readied for an attack with my sword.

But fast, heavy steps sent ripples across the ground. They travelled up my body. Something was coming, racing, with powerful steps. Branches snapped, the thundering rampage of something big, something eviscerating everything in its path.

A piercing scream came from the darkness followed by a gurgle and a thud.

The two soldiers whirled around, backs to each other.

“We’ve gotta grab her. Verin’s orders.”