wander ~ Chapter 3
"Matt..." The cheetah's amber-orange eyes unfocused as he said my name, as if he were tasting the word. For the life of me, I could _not_ figure out his accent. "That's a good name. Short for... Matthias?" "Matthew, actually." I reached down into...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 17
The days continued to turn one at a time, each one the same last yet still so different in their own ways. The little hunter's shack out in the woods, once used by Lannon's father, and by _his_ father before him, and by _his_ mother, began to feel more...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 15
That night, Sulla had trouble sleeping. Lannon felt it, both in his body and through whatever rudimentary link the two had established: the turning and rolling, the shifting back and forth, the vague restlessness in his limbs and in his mind. When he...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 13
_Day 38_ _Evening_ _ _ _The ritual was a success, though so many days later I still feel the effects of pushing myself too far. I made a novice mistake and now I'm paying for it. It was worth it, though: Sulla's bodily aberrations are restored...
Birdsong ~ Part 5
For a while it had seemed to Felix as though the storm had cleared, as though the clouds parted overhead so that the sun could shimmer down and warm his skin and fur with its gaze. The ground became soft and pleasant, and the scent in the air shifted...
Moonlight ‾ Part 1
Shimmering sunlight filtered in through the open-air ceiling of the palace's great hall, the wide, far-reaching branches of the central tree casting speckled shadows down along the polished marble floors. The Queen sat there in her throne, carved...
Birdsong ~ Part 4
Felix froze where he stood, the _force_ of this presence swirling all around him. Shock, fear, disdain, disbelief, all pounded out and away from Askia where he stood, gun clutched in one paw and hatched in the other: hackles bristled, snout curled back...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 2
Lannon sighed softly as the water coursed and flowed first around his ankles, the soft mud and rounded gravel of the riverbed settling in against his pawpads and between his toes. He looked up to the sky, took in a breath, and started further in, the...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 1
_Day 1_ _Afternoon_ _ _ _Things here are exactly as I remember them, yet at the same time none of it feels familiar. It looks the same, it feels the same, it smells the same, but it's still completely different. Something here has changed, but...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 5
The same flash of primal terror still shot through the young lynx's chest as the wolf trudged out of the trees and into the light. Lannon forced a smile through it, but deep inside he kicked himself - he had wanted, had hoped, that after their recent...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 3
In the morning Lannon could still feel the beast's presence clinging to him, through the sticky matting of dried drool around his muzzle, neck, and shoulders as well as in the faint exhaustion vibrating through his muscles, the lingering remnants of...
Heart of the Forest ~ Chapter 20
_Day 63_ _Morning_ _ _ _It rained again last night..._ Summer blossomed. With it the forest swelled with the scent of fruits and flowers, and as the daylight grew longer so too did the nights shorten, even as they continued to warm up;...