The following week was very uneventful as Inferno slowly healed and Cody and Mournful went out hunting for him and the others every day. During the little trips, Cody started to realize that not only were the deer big, but so were the other animals and even the plants and trees, and everything seemed to get bigger, if only slightly, the further they went. For Cody’s sake they avoided the neighboring deer herd as much as possible and instead went for smaller – though still enormous – prey like rabbits whose backs nearly reached Cody’s waist in height, squirrels that could stretch out to be longer than him from noses to tail-tip, and they even caught a turkey a few miles away that was as tall as Cody’s chest.

                Towards the eighth day it was decided that they would try to hunt a larger deer to feed Inferno. The idea made Cody shudder for a moment, but Destiny and Ashheart volunteered to go with to help. Both the dragon and wolf had grown over the course of a week until Ashheart was only slightly smaller than Destiny, who was just large enough to ride, since she stood shoulder to shoulder with Cody. Neither had hunted on their own but Cody could tell that both were more than capable of bringing down a large deer.

                Before long they managed to bring down the second largest deer in the herd: a buck that only stood about 15 feet tall. Cody noted that the buck, same as the larger one, had darker brown stripes along his flank, and up close he noticed that the antlers were the same dark brown as tree branches. Obviously it would help the deer appear to be only a tree to larger hunters. The thought suddenly scared Cody.

                “Mournful, why do things get so much bigger here? Are there things like giant wolves further in the forest?”

                Mournful, in her gryphon shape, responded in her mind, “The Hidden Mountain Pass seems to have that sort of effect on natives, though my kind were excluded somewhat. We are mostly still larger, some of us as tall as eight feet, but for the most part we do not grow much taller than humans. Dragons and wolves are the only other intelligent creatures native to this land, and it has certainly had an effect on the dragons.”

                “What about the wolves?” Cody asked. “Wargs and Wargals aren’t too much larger than the wolves of Semiones, and do larger wolves live here?”

                “That is normally a long story, but to make it short I will give you only a small history,” Mournful said as she sat down to rest from their weary hunt. “Wargs and Wargals were natives here once, towards the beginning of time. But as the dragons began crossing over to the other world, so too did the wolves. However, the dragons that left became even more feral and were set loose upon your world, causing the chaos and destruction know to you in stories. But the opposite happened for the wolves: those who stayed behind became vicious and those who went settled down in relative peace in Semiones. Those who lived in Semiones; the Wargs, Wargals, and wild dragons, stopped growing at a certain point, while those who stayed in Mrana Akano Furista continued to grow. For your own peace of mind I won’t say how much the wild wolves have grown since then, but there are large predators out here such as wolves, who are no longer as sophisticated as their distant relatives.”

                At the end of her story Mournful stood and walked over to their deer kill and with help from Destiny, Ashheart, and Cody, she managed to drag it bit by bit through the forest. The sun was down and darkness was descending in the mountains when they returned. There was a golden, glowing fire in the center of the little clearing they had made, and the three that remained: Inferno, Omen, and Avalsmokes, were having a light conversation together.

                “It’s about time you were back!” Omen announced when he saw them. “My stomach’s been howling at me all throughout the day.”

                “Well that’s the cost of going off to find enough food for all,” Mournful commented with a cluck of her beak, which Cody had come to take as a sign of humor similar to a laugh.

                Inferno, who had regained much of his strength over the week, snaked his head around the fire and snatched the front half of the massive deer, which mournful had already cut off, and began eating. Large chunks of meat were chopped off with a small hunting knife that Mournful carried and as much as possible was laid on a makeshift gridiron to cook. What remained was given to the wolf and other dragon to share.

                That night they all slept well with full stomachs and rose peacefully the next morning. As soon as Cody awoke he looked over Inferno’s injuries and peeled off the last of his bandages. The wounds were still dark, bloody scabs, but they were healing better than expected considering Inferno’s condition. As reluctant as he was to admit it, it was time for inferno to move again.

Everyone was confident that the threat from Micah, Argos, and their riders was all but gone after so long, but it was time to move. Already winter was setting in and over time Mournful had convinced them that they would need to seek shelter with her kin if they were to survive. She had argued mostly that the larger predators would become desperate and even try to attack Inferno. But more than that, Cody could tell that there was something else troubling her, and soon her anxiety returned at least partly, barely noticeable, but present all the same.

Ashheart and Destiny positioned themselves on either side of the larger dragon, but he shook his head, thinking to them, “No, if I don’t do it now with my own strength, I may never have the strength on my own ever again.”

The two respectfully backed off.

Inferno grunted and slowly slid his paws underneath him. With a slow heave he pulled himself, with agonizing slowness, up onto his feet fully. It wound up better than the first time, and it seemed that much of his strength had returned so that he could stand up straight. He was a mere shadow of his former power, but it was a significant improvement.

Obeying his silent wishes, everyone turned away and packed what they needed into whatever form of pack that they had managed to bring with them by chance. Cody paid Inferno little mind as he wrapped what little he now owned in a little piece of cloth. Among the things he put inside were his helmet and a piece of deer’s antler that he had found and intended to keep until he found a suitable use for it, whatever that may be. The rest of his armor he continued to wear thanks to its heat and comfort, though he was beginning to think that that meant it would not hold out as well in a fight. Regardless, it was useful to him while he was cold.

When Cody turned around again, he saw that inferno was walking around a bit to stretch his muscles and even went far enough to put his forepaws in the upper branches of a tree to stretch out his legs further. In the end, though he still walked somewhat jerkily and was clearly in a fair amount of pain, he appeared stronger, more sure of himself, and was apparently ready to travel for some ways. How long exactly Cody couldn’t tell, but everyone was sure that it would soon be found out.

“Are we ready to be off?” Mournful asked in a perfectly calm and relaxed tone of voice, though her question suggested she felt otherwise.

“As we’ll ever be, I think,” Cody said.

The others confirmed what he said and they began to walk through the massive forest just as the snow began falling again. It was slow going with Inferno’s injuries, but they managed to go a few miles that day before making camp. Cody and Mournful worked together to clear a spot for Inferno to rest for the night while the others hunted and gathered a meal. The next two weeks passed much too quickly and there was little difference between each day as they continued to travel. As far as Cody could tell (even the stars were apparently different in Mrana Akano Furista), they were almost always headed generally in a northeasterly direction.

Cody and Mournful kept checking on Inferno’s wounds again and again and treated them, and while Cody was cautious and gave his input on most everything Mournful said and did, it seemed as though the dragon and gryphon knew what needed to be done or used, so Cody did his best to only observe. To his great surprise, the two used all kinds of seemingly random plants and herbs that they could find in the wintertime in the mountainous area, some of which would have easily killed any human, or made them very sick.

He worried and fussed over Inferno, but it wasn’t very much appreciated and the results didn’t lie. Before long, Inferno was strong enough to trot for hours at a time at a quick but steady pace. Cody was soon able to ride him and the group made good time with Mournful in gryphon shape, Avalsmokes on Destiny (who had grown to be more than half Inferno’s size), and Omen on Ashheart running alongside Inferno. His injuries were far from fully healed, but they were soon able to cover more distance with each day than even horses.

One thing that never got better, however, was Inferno’s wings. They healed, but they were still horribly tattered and ripped. Mournful had explained on numerous occasions that dragons usually were able to heal their wings after fights, and quickly too. She seemed to know of some sort of cure, but if she did she never said it. Once again she was growing more nervous with each mile they passed. Wherever they were actually headed, Cody could tell that they were getting close.

Each evening that they stopped, Destiny and Avalsmokes would take off into the skies and fly about for an hour or so, and during that time Inferno and Cody were actually a bit grouchy and sour. Destiny and Aval had a right to fly as dragon and rider, and Inferno and Cody even encouraged it, but it was a bittersweet view to see the pair united on the wing, soaring high above the clouds. At one time Avalsmokes offered for Cody to join them once, but he refused, explaining that it would be unfair to Inferno, but that wasn’t the only reason. Deep down Cody felt that if he didn’t fly with Inferno, he would never fly again.

One evening as Destiny and Avalsmokes landed beside the fire, Mournful stood up and said what she said most nights, “Time to go hunting.”

Cody nodded silently and stood before moving to follow her, silent as his despair wore off. It was a routine for the group: travelling, Goldscales’s flight, then Cody and Mournful went off to hunt. More than half the time they returned after a few hours with little to nothing to show for it, but little in mountain standards was still enough to feed half the group for an entire day. Disconcertingly, it seemed as though the animals and even the trees continued to grow and grow the further they went. The rabbits they killed each night were ancient beasts the size of deer after two weeks of travel, and as for actual deer they saw none any longer, and even the trees towered so high above that they could rival the mountains in Semiones. As Cody came to understand, the large herd of deer they had seen in the beginning of their journeying was the only one they would find for many, many leagues. Still, the kills they made were keeping the group on their feet.

Once again Cody followed Mournful into the wilderness and growing darkness. Since both had good night vision they easily made their way through the forest and sooner than usual made a kill: a squirrel that was as tall as Cody, if not a little larger. The three arrows that Cody had embedded in its fur appeared to be only sticks poking out of its skin.

“That’s bigger than ever!” Cody said, no longer quite as disturbed by the size of the animals, but still surprised.

Mournful nodded slowly. “This should be enough to feed us now, we need to hurry back.”

“Why? We normally stay out twice as long.”

“The closer we get to my family’s territory, the larger things get. That includes predators,” mournful pointed out.

“But we haven’t even seen any so far, why now?”

It was true, the most dangerous thing they had seen was an owl twice their size. It was still dangerous, but weeks of hunting had hardened Cody to the point where he was rightfully convinced that between him and Mournful, they could fend off any attack by an owl.

“I haven’t been here in a long time, there may be even more predators,” Mournful argued.

Cody crossed his arms as he pointed out, “Or there could be less, or even none at all.”

“Better to be safe than sorry. This squirrel will feed us all for tonight, and I’d rather not risk it.”

“Fine,” Cody breathed as he grabbed the end of the squirrel’s tail and began dragging it even as Mournful shifted into a gryphon and grasped the neck in her teeth.

They dragged the squirrel for a few a few minutes, during which time Cody was made painfully aware of the fact that he had hit a major blood vessel with an arrow. A trail of blood followed him and Mournful, but it couldn’t be helped. A chill ran through Cody’s spine as he heard a noise about a mile away: the noise of a branch breaking.

“Did you hear that?” he asked slowly.

Mournful stopped and shook her head as she listened. The noise didn’t come again, but she seemed a bit on-edge and soon asked, “Can you smell it?”

Cody was going to say no, but within a moment he caught the smell. It was a horrible odor, but familiar from his days of hunting when he was younger. He recognized it at once, and icy claws of horror pierced his heart.

“Run!” He howled.

But even as he started to run he heard the noise again, and Mournful took to the air with a furious beat of her wings, forgetting Cody in her terror. She recognized the scent as well. Cody pounded through the forest as fast as his legs would carry him, the squirrel left behind in their haste. But no matter how fast he ran Cody was still at least a ten minutes’ run away from camp. The branches were no longer braking. The creature didn’t usually make such noises apparently, even for its size. Cody continued to run. He tripped on a hidden tree root. There was the sound of a heavy paw dropping on the forest floor only a few hundred yards away, a sound that Cody hadn’t noticed before over the sound of his labored breathing.