Chapter 86 — Ten Wolves

Chapter 86: Chapter 86 — Ten Wolves

~ Raven ~

"Where?"

"Under a fallen tree."

Dorian kept staring at the Founder Seal beneath Raven’s harness strap as though a better answer might appear if he looked long enough.

"Where under the tree?"

Raven gave him a look. "Beneath it."

"That narrows it down tremendously."

"It was a fallen tree in a forest, Dorian. I didn’t stop to name it."

He seemed entirely prepared to keep going.

"How long ago?"

"Early."

"How early?"

"Before I found either of you."

"Did anyone challenge you for it?"

"Seren."

"Which means Ashbourne knows—"

"Dorian."

Brielle had already started walking.

He looked at her.

"She’s carrying a claimed Founder Seal and you’ve stopped us in the open to interview her about where she found it."

Dorian glanced around the clearing as though only just remembering they were still in the middle of the Hunt.

Brielle kept going. "Let’s move."

Dorian blinked after her, then drew himself up. "You know, technically, I’m the senior here."

Brielle didn’t even slow.

"So if anyone is giving orders, it should probably be me."

Still nothing.

Raven bit down on a smile as Dorian hurried after her.

He cleared his throat. "Right. As senior representative, I’ve decided we should move."

Brielle didn’t even spare him a glance.

"Exactly like this," he added.

Hale’s fallback point sat above the second stream, where a shelf of rock pushed out over the bank and gave them cover on three sides. Garrick and Mara were already beneath the overhang when Raven, Brielle and Dorian climbed the slope toward them.

Garrick was on his feet almost immediately.

His gaze swept over the three of them, then past them toward the trees.

"Five."

The word came out with more relief than celebration.

Everyone had made it back.

"What kept you?"

"Rivers found a Founder Seal," Dorian said, though his gaze flicked toward Brielle.

Raven turned her head slowly toward him.

She had been planning to build to that.

Garrick’s attention snapped to her, and Mara straightened beside him.

"Show me."

Raven pulled the crossing strap aside just enough for the carved disc to catch the light beneath the overhang.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

That silence was far more satisfying than Raven wanted to admit.

"How long have you had it?" Garrick asked.

"Most of the morning."

"Who knows?"

"Seren Ashbourne."

Brielle added, "And anyone close enough to feel the claim pulse."

Raven looked at her.

Brielle met the look without apology.

Fair.

Mara was already tightening the loose coil at her belt.

Garrick looked from the Seal to the trees beyond the shelf, and Raven watched the calculation settle over his face.

"Then we stop treating this like a search."

His attention moved across all five of them.

"We’re carrying points now. That means we move like everyone else knows it too."

No congratulations. No fuss.

Just the next problem.

Raven found she preferred that.

"We stop searching and keep moving. Ellison, rear. Dorian, if I put my hand up and you’re still talking, I’ll break your seal myself."

Dorian frowned. "That feels excessive."

Garrick was already moving.

For the first time since the Ward had scattered them, Raven entered the forest with all four Hale representatives around her.

It changed more than she expected.

Garrick chose the route without explaining every decision. Mara held the rear and corrected their spacing whenever they drifted too close together, usually with a touch to a shoulder or two raised fingers. By the third correction, Raven had started adjusting before Mara needed to tell her.

Even Dorian knew when to shut up. Garrick’s fist rose once and his sentence died in the middle.

Brielle stayed on Raven’s left.

Not close enough to crowd her, but close enough that Raven noticed.

For the first time since the scatter, the forest felt slightly less hostile. Garrick was leading, Mara had the rear, Dorian had somehow managed to stop talking, and Raven no longer felt like the Founder Seal against her ribs had painted a target across her entire body.

Three days of drills had apparently done something after all.

Raven had just started to relax when Garrick’s fist went up.

Everyone stopped.

She listened.

Nothing.

She realized that was the problem.

The stream was behind them now. There were no birds above. No small animals moving through the brush. Even the branches seemed too still.

Brielle turned slightly.

A faint crunch came from somewhere behind them, soft enough that Raven might have missed it if the forest hadn’t gone so quiet.

One step.

Then nothing.

Ahead, movement slipped between the trees.

A figure stepped out first, followed by another, both wearing Ashbourne insignia at the collar.

Raven’s stomach dropped.

Garrick’s hand moved twice, quick and practiced, and Hale responded around him. Mara widened to the right. Dorian shifted back. Brielle closed the space on Raven’s left without needing to look at her.

Raven turned toward the sound behind them.

Seren came up from the lower ground with another Ashbourne representative beside her.

That was when Raven understood.

Seren hadn’t kept chasing her after Brielle appeared. She had gone back, found the rest of her Wing and told them the one thing that mattered.

Raven had a Founder Seal.

And Ashbourne had decided it was easier to come for the person already carrying one than search the forest for another.

Raven looked at Seren.

That was annoyingly sensible.

She hated it.

More movement appeared ahead.

A fourth Ashbourne representative came through the trees, and the fifth stepped out behind him.

Pale hair pinned back. Mud streaked one knee.

Celeste.

Her eyes found Raven almost immediately.

Five Hale.

Five Ashbourne.

And beneath the crossing strap of Raven’s harness sat the first claimed Founder Seal of the Hunt.

The Ashbourne fourth-year stepped forward. A dried cut split one eyebrow, and his trousers were soaked from the thighs down. Whatever his morning had already involved, it seemed to have left him with very little interest in negotiation.

"Founder Seal."

Garrick answered without hesitation.

"No."

Nobody moved for a moment.

Then both groups began adjusting.

Not enough to call it an attack. Just small shifts in footing and position, each person quietly making sure they would not be the one caught badly placed when somebody finally decided to start one.

Mara edged farther out. One Ashbourne representative shifted to give himself a clearer approach toward Dorian, and Dorian moved with him until the opening disappeared. Hands lowered nearer to personal seals. Chins tucked slightly.

Raven noticed one of the Ashbourne students tuck his chin, protecting the personal seal at his collar.

A second later, she realized she had done the same thing.

No one had attacked yet, but the clearing had changed. Every small movement now meant something.

Seren’s eyes met Raven’s across the clearing.

There was no amusement in them now.

Celeste stepped forward.

Her attention dropped almost immediately to the Founder Seal beneath Raven’s harness.

"Of course it’s you."

Raven said nothing.

"Give it to us now."

"No."

Celeste’s jaw tightened. "You really can’t make anything easy, can you?"

Raven stared at her. "You came all this way to take something from me. What exactly were you expecting?"

Celeste’s expression sharpened.

"Celeste."

Seren’s voice stopped her before she could answer.

Celeste looked back.

"Leave it."

"She has the Seal."

"I can see that." Seren’s gaze stayed on Hale. "And there are five of them. Don’t turn this into something stupid."

Celeste went still.

Raven knew that look immediately.

She had seen it for years whenever Celeste was furious enough to argue but knew the person speaking had enough standing that she couldn’t simply dismiss them.

The change in the observation grounds reached Dante before he understood what had caused it.

Noise swelled from the lower rows. Students began getting to their feet, attention shifting from scattered projections as more feeds turned toward the same section of forest.

The central display had changed.

Ten competitors filled it.

Five Hale.

Five Ashbourne.

Facing each other across the same clearing.

The grounds erupted.

"Hale!"

"Ashbourne!"

The shouts came from opposite sides and quickly dragged everyone else into it. Students abandoned the feeds they had been following. Someone near the rail started yelling Garrick Holt’s name while Ashbourne supporters answered from farther down, and even Prymont’s section was suddenly on its feet despite having nothing riding on the confrontation.

Dante’s attention went straight to Raven.

She stood inside Hale’s formation with the Founder Seal strapped beneath her harness, and he almost laughed at the absurdity of how quickly her morning had escalated.

Some minutes to an hour ago, she had been dancing beside a fallen tree because she found the thing.

Now two Wings were lining up over it.

His gaze shifted briefly down the rail.

Nikolai was no longer smiling. Both hands rested on the barrier as he watched his representatives.

Rowan had risen too, his attention fixed entirely on Seren.

Cassian was still seated, but his eyes had not left the display.

Around them, the observation grounds kept getting louder.

Nobody wanted either side to walk away now.

Dante folded his arms and looked back at Raven.

"Come on, Rivers."

None of the noise from the observation grounds reached them.

Inside the Ward, the clearing stayed eerily quiet, which somehow made the standoff worse. Raven knew the academy was watching every second of it anyway.

Wonderful.

The Founder Seal had shifted beneath the crossing strap while they walked and was beginning to dig into her ribs. Raven reached up to adjust it.

Celeste’s eyes followed her hand.

The change in her expression was small, but Raven knew her too well to miss it.

"Hold," Garrick said quietly.

Hale stayed exactly where they were.

Across the clearing, the Ashbourne fourth-year gave an equally low instruction, and his side settled with him.

Celeste didn’t.

She stepped forward.

Raven looked straight at her.

"Celeste," Seren warned.

"I know."

Apparently knowing did very little.

She took another step.

Beside Raven, Brielle shifted her weight. Essence began gathering around her, subtle at first, but Raven felt the pressure building against her skin.

Celeste’s attention remained fixed on the Founder Seal.

Raven lowered her hand from the strap.

"Don’t."

Celeste finally looked at her.

For one second, neither of them moved.

Then something in Celeste’s face hardened.

"Fuck this."

She lunged.

Brielle’s aura burst across the clearing.

Garrick shouted.

And every careful formation disappeared as all ten representatives moved at once.