Luna Greymane's Arc

Chapter 1 of 3

Luna smelled the horses before she heard them. Iron, oiled leather, and the sour sweat of men who had ridden all night. She dropped into a crouch at the ridge above the den and counted six riders threading the pines. Royal trackers. They were half a mile out and moving straight toward the crystal-mouthed cave where she had hidden Astra three days ago. She slid down the slope on her heels and ducked under the low stone arch. Pale blue crystals threw cold light on the walls. Astra sat against the far wall in a stablehand's brown tunic, the silver diadem gone, her long hair tied back. A small gold chest sat open beside her, half-buried under a folded cloak — coins, a ring, a sealed letter she would not explain. Luna had stopped asking. "Trackers," Luna said. "Six. Coming up the north draw." Astra closed the chest. "How long." "Twenty minutes. Maybe less." "Can your father hide me." "He won't." Luna's ears flattened. "He said bloodlines matter. He said no." Astra stood. She did not look afraid. That was the thing that gutted Luna every time — Astra never performed what she was feeling. "Then we run." "They'll cut our trail in an hour." Luna's hands shook. She pressed them flat against her thighs. "Unless I give them a different one." Astra's cold blue eyes settled on her. "Explain." "I go north on foot. Loud. Wolf-shape, wolf-scent, my tunic dragged behind me. They chase me instead of searching the den. You stay inside until dark, then take the east cut to the river." "They'll catch you." "They'll catch a wolf. They won't know it's me." Astra was quiet for a breath. Then she crossed the space and took Luna's face in both hands. Her palms were cold. "If you die for me I will not forgive you." "Then I won't die." Luna pressed her forehead to Astra's. "Stay in the dark part of the cave. Don't touch the chest again until I come back." She stripped off her deer-hide tunic, balled it around a stone, and ran. She broke cover a hundred yards from the riders and let them see her — grey ears, grey tail, yellow eyes bright against the pines. A tracker shouted. Horns went up. She dragged the tunic through mud and pine needles and led them north, away from the crystal mouth, away from Astra. An hour later she doubled back through the creek and climbed to the ridge above the den. The trackers were gone north, following a false trail that would hold until morning. But a new scent hit her on the wind. Wolf. White fur. Her father's musk, close and familiar. Bone Greymane stood at the mouth of the den, one hand braced on the crystal arch, looking in at the girl in the stablehand tunic. He had found them first.