Kovak glided through the underbrush, dodging the occasional low-hanging branch, and periodically stopping to sniff the air and keep his bearings. The scent of the blooming hellebores stood out from other plants of the forest. Subtle and somehow a little sad, the fragrance served as an unwavering olfactory beacon to the ranger, who had left the marked trail a few miles back. He estimated the flowers to be around three miles from his present position.

  Outside of the clearings made for settlements and a few naturally clear areas like glades and creek banks the forest grew incredibly dense. A layer of vines and small shrubs grew as tall as a man in places; sapling trees completed this understory.

  Adult trees towered fifty and sixty feet above the forest floor to form a hodge-podge ceiling of red, orange, and gold. They crossed branches with one-another in a continual battle for more space to seed their progeny. The upper canopy ascended even higher; ancient pines, maples, ash, hemlocks, oaks, sycamores, elms, birches and spruce among others climbing to one-hundred feet and more.

  Multiple beams of sunlight crisscrossed the woods around the wolf. Gaps in the canopies as leaves fell for the season grew more numerous by the moment. Little windows of light in the distance indicated the forest’s edge; these would not be visible during the summer months.

  Having left the main trail immediately upon detaching from his companions Kovak used the sound of the nearby creek as a sort of trail marker. Keeping it always to his left as he moved north would take him near the center of the forest.

  He was already far from any of the settlements in the woodland region. His present trajectory would take him to Crystal Springs eventually but his planned destination stopped a few miles short of that town. Most of the humans living in the Waywards had probably never even seen this deep patch of their own forest.

  The wolf came upon a large ash tree set near a small clearing. A dozen or more messy glyphs had been cut into the trunk with a knife. He couldn’t be certain but Kovak believed the markings to have a goblin look, in both their movement and the crude manner of their inscription.

  Most goblins were illiterate. One who makes deliberate marks must be a priest or magician or perhaps tribal royalty.

  The wolf sniffed the air. No goblins nearby. He presumed any magic that may be involved with the marks was either weak or intended for some non-hostile purpose, for he could usually sense dangerous magic in his vicinity. Still the presence of the markings was a reminder that he had entered a wild region inhabited by hostile beings. The wolf made note of the tree’s location for future reference.

  His work as a ranger had shown him many times that dangers lurked closer to home than most people of the realms would comfortably admit. He imagined most people living in the towns of this forest considered their woods tame and safe, assuming things like goblins and trolls dwelt on or below the mountains to the south but not beneath the ground they walked each day or beyond the shadows at the edge of the town wall.

  He passed another clearing with a large rock outcropping jutting from its center. A landmark such as this would certainly be used by surface dwelling goblins as a site for rituals and ceremonial gatherings. Kovak made a mental note to investigate the area on his return trip to look for more goblin sign.

  He remained alert and in the present moment as he continued to move through the forest. The occasional breaking stick or fleeting shadow informed him that he was indeed being watched by whatever lived in these parts.

  The fact that he caught no prominent scents other than typical wildlife – squirrels, deer, racoons, various birds and all the flora -raised some interesting questions about the noises and shadows. A chill ran over the wolf, and his adrenaline elevated slightly. His mind of course wanted to entertain the notion of the revortor, or revenant, that haunted these woods.

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  With a force of will he pushed the thought from his mind. Most likely, he decided, he was catching glimpses of local nature spirits curious about the intruder; or perhaps they recognized him from months ago when he passed this way.

  With such a cascading symphony of odors and aromas the forest provides it would not be difficult to miss a specific smell that was perhaps masked by a stronger scent. Because his powerful nose was his primary sense when scouting or moving across wild territory he made a point to frequently expel all scents from his nose with a forceful push through the airways, then allowing the air to recede naturally back into his nostrils.

  After one such exercise the wolf immediately caught the faint scent of decay. This was not new death, but neither was it very old; maybe an animal – or other - that had died a few days ago and was mostly cleaned up by the forest’s carrion eaters.

  Within another moment of walking he found the source of the odor, a remnant deer carcass in a small clearing. Mostly bones, the ribcage to be more exact, along with a couple of legs and a broken antler. Examining the ground briefly Kovak determined the animal had been killed elsewhere then later drug here, probably by a scavenger.

  Silence hung in the air all about him save for the slight sounds of his feet moving through fallen leaves. The bugs and small animals of the forest continued to go quiet as he passed them by.

  As he continued towards the scent of the hellebores he passed by a group of ancient hemlocks. On the north side of the grove one of the conifers had recently fallen and now leaned against its fellows. The hair on Kovak’s forearms stood up as he looked into the dark gaps between the hemlock foliage. The space beneath those large, drooping boughs of evergreen needles would be very similar to a cave.

  He forced himself to remain focused on his present task. He couldn’t stop to investigate every potential goblin lair he came across.

  After a bit more walking he passed an ancient sycamore tree, its trunk covered in three distinct types of symbols. The first symbols were those of the people once indigenous to these parts, the Shai Hai Ula. Next were the runes of the Guth people, seldom used these days except by those who kept with the old religions. Finally, there were more of the crude markings the wolf saw earlier and associated with goblins. Kovak felt a mild tingling sensation in the tree’s proximity, no doubt a result of the magics carved into it by three different cultures.

  The markings were probably akin to magical signatures to mark territory and beseech the aid of any resident nature spirits. Not powerful magic but magic nonetheless that had been in this place for centuries most likely.

  At one point he came upon a single, large track in the mud. It looked like a human foot with five toes but the size and proportions were wrong. The length of the print was about fifteen inches and the midfoot was easily ten inches wide. The depth of the track indicated significant weight.

  Kovak circled out and away from the track, using it as a center point. In this manner he eliminated any strong possibility of missing additional tracks. About twenty feet to the left of the original solitary track he found two pairs of much smaller tracks that were partially erased by drag marks.

  One adult bugbear and two young. the wolf reasoned. Likely a mother with her offspring.

  The tracks appeared to be aiming for the creek. Kovak saw no need to alter his course as continuing straight would not bring him into contact with the creek.

  Bugbears were potentially dangerous, but they were not inherently evil creatures like goblins and ogres. Had he found the tracks within a mile or so of one of the settlements he would have followed them.

  Certainly if the bugbears were known to move any closer than a mile to where the humans slept the wolf would have taken decisive, lethal action. The present circumstances did not warrant this, for he was not obligated to arbitrarily kill wildlife or indigenous people in their natural environment; the bugbear occupied a place somewhere between these two categories.

  The scent of the hellebores continued to grow stronger. Eventually Kovak could hear the small, unseen waterfall near his destination. He recognized his immediate surroundings as the last of the forest before the clearing he sought.

  After another moment or two of stealthy and steady movement towards the increasing aroma of the flowers he came upon a grove of hawthorn trees, Two large ferns ahead of him acted like curtains, concealing the entrance to the clearing. He paused before the ferns, collecting himself.

  His ears stood up a little straighter. He turned his neck and looked into the forest behind him for a few seconds. Shaking his head, he again faced forward and stepped through the ferns and into the clearing.

  ?