The Barren Grounds

Ochek, Arik, Morgan, and Eli leave Misewa with few provisions, hoping once they reach the Green Time they can get some more food. They head southwest into the trees and travel for a couple of days until they reach the end of the forest; a long, wide field stretches in front of them with mountains beyond it. Before they reach the mountains, they must cross the same canyon they crossed earlier, but instead of a tree bridge stretching across it they now find an ice bridge. They all cross the bridge safely, though Morgan does so hesitantly.

They trek to the mountains but stop when they find wolf tracks, which make them nervous. The group sets up camp at the base of the mountain range. Morgan and Eli ask about the wolf, and Ochek says he once saw it when hunting in this area and decided not to come back. The group debates whether the wolf can talk but does not reach a conclusion, and they go to bed deciding the wolf won’t attack a group of four. Morgan can’t sleep, so she asks if Ochek and Arik ever travel to the north. Ochek says a giant lives in the northern wood, so the villagers no longer hunt there; one day the giant came upon the hunters and took the soul of an elder, warning the others never to return.