“I didn’t think anyone came up here anymore,” the man said cautiously, stopping a few paces away from Kade outside the broken gate. He pretended Kade’s hand wasn’t grasping his sword, instead c*****g his head to the side as he regarded the wolf as a kind of oddity. He was grey bearded and wearing furs, leading a mule loaded with firewood. “You looking for something, stranger?”
Kade cautiously let his hand fall from his sword. “Answers,” he said. “You know what this place was?”
The old man shrugged, “Iron Claw.” He said it as if he were naming an illness. “They say no pack claims these lands now. Cursed after what happened.”
“And that was?” Kade asked. He wanted to hear what had survived as a rumor.
The man’s gaze drifted back to the black towers. “Slavers,” he said. “Destroyed this pl
