Wolf rode his horse through the dark forest, chasing his prey. It would be light soon, but the darkness reminded him of his first night in the woods a short year before. Then, it had been an ominous feeling, with danger lurking behind every tree and around every turn of the trail. That feeling raced back bringing his breath up short. Those days should have been banished, he thought, not happy that he still had the same feeling after all his training. He calmed himself by thinking of the friends he had made, including Shadow.
Wolf maintained an easy canter to preserve his horse's endurance. Shadow, the large gray wolf who led him, could have outpaced the horse, leaving him lost. He saved the wolf from a vicious trap the year before, and had been paid back for that good deed many times. The
