The Journy, Wolfheart [best book club books for discussion TXT] 📗

as well as my friends and even those who had taunted me for my entire life. The people I’d hunted with and played with…the people I loved.
All of them were gone.
“Shut up!” Wulf had his hand over Mist’s mouth.
Rayvin sped through the gorse to look over the village.
“We’ll be found out.” Wulf growled just barely loud enough for me to hear.
“Too late!” Rayvin called as she zipped back into the clearing, heading for the horses. The animals spooked a moment, nearly breaking the girl’s foot with its giant, iron hoof.
“That’s enough of that!” She smacked the unruly white mare and flung herself into the saddle.
Following her lead, I sprang onto the liver and white stallion of my own. Wulf forced Mist onto her black and white mare, mounting his black. Last was Havok, who had put out the fire and grabbed out food supply. Spurring out mounts into full speed, we bolted from the cover of our confined camp copse. Faith sprinted after us at full throttle.
The sound of pursuit made the hair on the nape of my neck rise. Arrows whisked past us, smelling of smoke. I leaned forward until my mouth was aligned with the stallion’s ears as he spooked.
“Be calm; the wind is in your mane and the ground is beneath your hooves. We are free unless you are faint of heart. You are my strength, Kismet.”
The stallion reared for a moment and hit the ground at a flat-out gallop. He soared over a log with grace and ease; his harem tailed us with absolute trust.
I yanked hard to the left; he complied promptly. We burst into the wide open fields of the central plains.
The forests were only a day's travel; we could see the trees as we urged our horses onward.
"They're mounts are slow!" Mist called. "We've lost them for now."
I eased Kismet into a walk, his mares quickly following suit.
"We can't rest. But we can plan." I looked around. "Those lizards need the sun. So we need to travel at night as well until we get far enough ahead of them."
"Where will we go?" Wulf demanded. "We don't know anywhere but the village!"
"Havok and I know those trees better than we did the village, we're there so often. I know a few paths that will lose our enemies for at least a day."
"So, what, we wonder into the forest and try to live until they find us?" Havok growled.
"No. We live off the forest while they're lost until we can figure out where to go next! They'll turn back eventually, anyway. They're only bandits."
Mist sighed. "I agree. They'll waste whatever they stole from our village if they keep on our trail. Let's lose them in the forest!"
Rayvin's white mare yanked on her bit and bridle.
"Can we, like, go now?" Rayvin asked anxiously. "I can hear them again."
"Alright." I turned Kismet toward the trees. "You heard us, right?" I asked him. He stomped his hoof and snorted, his eyes locking on the trees. "That's my stallion. Let's ride!"
And without me doing a thing, the stallion took off toward the forest, his harem right behind him.

It was only because our horses had more endurance and speed that we stayed ahead of the men. And Kismet wasn't as stupid as my grandmother had claimed horses were when civilization had been ruled completely by mankind. It was him who led the harem, and he wasn't going to get us caught!
I held on as tightly as I could as he climbed rock piles, leapt from hills and crossed rapid-flowing streams. He wasn't heading directly for the trees, but I didn't question my survival-savvy equine friend.
All the while, the harem was his shadow. Faith would fall back and hide in the grass at intervals. Then she would leap out at the men and race back to us. I always knew where they were this way.
The sun began to fade. Even I was sore and exhausted. By now, everything hurt - including my head from the unforgiving sun constantly in my eyes. My stomach complained as loud as Mist about not having eaten all day.
"We should be able to have a small rest soon." I told her quietly. "Long enough to sort through our food and get some water from the stream." Kismet nieghed in agreement; he had to be thirsty.
"Faith!"
The canine appeared from the huge grass that tickled Kismet's stomach.
"Go and hunt. Be back by the time the sun has fully set. Eat enough for the entire night."
She growled in reply and disappeared again. For a moment, the grass swayed as she followed her nose to pray. But it was only a few patches, then nothing.
The horses slowed to stop and gathered into a circle. Being much bigger and stronger than us with better hearing and night-vision, they made an excellent guard. They began to graze on the grass as Havok brought out the bag of meat. Without the risk of a fire, it would be cold salted meat tonight.
"There isn't much here, is there?" Mist asked quietly.
"No. We didn't have time to gather anything but this. Faith took what she could. Now...here. We'll each get three jerky pieces..." She handed them the strips of tough jerky. "And four beetles..." She dished out the fist-sized dried beetles. "The rest will have to be saved for tomorrow."
"What about your hunting trip?" Rayvin demanded. "Didn't you bring back more meat and fish?"
"Yes." My fists balled. "They saw the meat first thing and robbed us of that before it was done curing."
"Damn!"
Kismet snorted, sniffing the air.
"We should probably eat and ride. We need water as much as the horses do." I replied.
"You need to put something on those burns. I think on top of them, you're sunburned."
"I'm out of herbs. We'll find some in the forest." I said as I began toward the streambed nearby. Kismet followed me, nudging me.
"Let us drink first, Kismet. We need to use our legs." I laughed.
He pushed me playfully toward the stream.
"Stop being difficult, Rebellion!" Rayvin scolded her mare...again. "Just let me eat and drink." Imprint

Publication Date: 05-18-2011

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Dedication:
To my beloved friends, Tabitha Vicotia and Frank Chase Allen, my wonderful sister Angel Mclaren and my fiance, Joseph Pruitt