Renni Ashfire's Arc

Chapter 1 of 12

Renni Ashfire stood before the hunters' board at dawn, reading the names of the dead. Papers fluttered against the wood. Tracks sketched in charcoal. Kills tallied. Beneath the newest notice, fresh ink declared the beast off-limits. No more hunters would chase it. The guild had spoken. She traced the name of the hunter she had lost. The one who knew these woods better than she ever would. Her jaw tightened. The ban was meant to protect them. It also meant the beast would keep killing, unanswered. She walked to the edge of the woods. A barbed wire fence stretched between two posts, a yellow sign warning trespassers of punishment under law. The hunters had built it overnight. Renni stared at the rusted barbs, then at the dark trees beyond. She drew an arrow from her quiver, the one with the pale feather and the dried red stain. She pushed it tip-down into the dirt at the foot of the fence. A marker. A signature. Anyone who found it would know. Then she ducked beneath the wire and stepped through. Somewhere deeper in, a shape moved between the trunks — white, bright, wrong. A mane caught the morning light in colors no animal should wear. Renni froze, hand on her blade. The woods were not what the chronicles had promised.