Tempting Fate

Thirteen: Wings of Discovery

The Eastern Wielder Territory was vast. Perhaps even bigger than their own Southern Territory. However, unlike how their people used the caves, the rocks, the waterfalls, and the gifts they provided as shelter, water, and housing for their people, the wielders instead tore their territory apart. The wielders ravaged the land and all its beauty, choosing instead to craft their own designs and landmarks in place of the natural opportunities their territory had.

To Cael, this was the most disrespectful thing the wielders did. They laughed in Galetta's face, thinking they knew better about how their world could be built.

In hawk form, Cael soared over the northern side of the wielder territory. He'd spent the last two days in Veron City and the smaller towns around it, searching for any clues as to the whereabouts of Gavriel's mate.

A mate.

Cael wasn't sure his hawk would know what to do with one, let alone find someone he would want to spend the rest of his life with. But he admired Gavriel and his ability to select one.

Although many of the elders in the territory would disagree, Cael knew enough about Arietta to know Gavriel and his leopard had selected a strong life companion.

The sun beat strong against his feathers as Cael banked left. He'd scouted the cities with no success, and now he'd moved north, towards the farm areas that provided wielder cities supplies. Fields and hills swept across the horizon, their crops yellowing and withering at this time in the season. His hawk's senses were much greater than his human ones, able to see all the way down to the dirt peeking out from beneath dead, strawed stalks.

Not too far ahead, a pink nose of a mouse poked out from his burrow. Cael tucked his wings in and dived, his torso sleek enough to provide him with excellent speed as he scooped up the mouse tight in his claws.

The mouse shrieked as he swept it up and away—his dinner for the evening.

The sun was hardly a few inches lower in the sky before he was off again. Cael pushed down with his wings, soaring in a slow upward arc. The wind brushed under and against his feathers, and he used the momentum to climb further.

Cael soared high above the northern border of the wielder territory, scanning the surrounding area. He had already traced the path of the helicopter that had dragged Arietta back towards the wielder territory, losing it just past the border before the smell of fuel and metal meshed with the other common smells in the wielder territory.

From there, he had no choice but to sweep the area as best he could, with an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. Because they airlifted Arietta, he couldn't even trace her scent. The helicopter did a great job of erasing any hints as to its location.

Cael climbed higher, letting the sky wrap itself around him. These were the moments that brought him peace—when it was just him, his wings, and the expansive world surrounding him.

Eravella was never as beautiful as it was from here in the sky. Even from this height, the fields below him expanded further, rolling hills bisected by flat plains and trees which brought immense color to the landscape. All deep molten oranges, rich yellows, and muted browns.

The sky was sacred—this view provided by Galetta herself—and the fact that the wielders had used their machines and highrises to pollute something so beautiful, sent fire through his veins. These people may be determined to taint something precious, but he would not allow them to also wreck their havoc on his territory. Or his people. He would get Arietta back.

Because she was officially one of the shifters.

And shifters never left their own behind.

He would help Gavriel in whatever ways he could. His leader would have his revenge, his vengeance, whatever he needed to make these people understand what they had done.