Hollowheart Keep Womblewhop

For @Marianna

Her decent from the mountain had been much faster than her journey up, owed in equal measure to the sloping terrain, and the ageing goat she had intently herded to a well known drop off. The perfect placed charge had spooked the wooly beast into a leap of faith that went unanswered, with two broken legs it was an easier catch once she made her leisurely way the long way around to the bottom of the crevasse.

The carcass was heavy as she dragged it under the cover of gnarled trees. She didn't want the carrion birds giving her away to every other predator predator around, so she would endure the aches that accompanied such a feat before settling down in front of a familiar stone formation and taking the first bites of victory. Blood stained her face and chest as she ate with unbridled ferocity, only extracting her head from what had once been the abdomen of the goat to cautiously glance about. She couldn't eat it all in one sitting, but she planned on hanging around to rest for a few more days before surging south. 

While the Ghastly Woods often left one with a feeling of being watched, the woods embraced her with familiarity. So when she felt eyes on her back she turned, golden gaze squinting as she searched between the trees. You can't fool me. I know you are there.

Winter seemed to drag on, and Marianna continued to wander without knowing entirely what she was trying to find. If she thought about returning to pack life with Round Stone Crest, she was going in almost the opposite direction. If she wanted to find her brothers, well – she was really having similar luck. There wasn’t much for the last Lagina princess to find out her, and she continued to drop weight, even as winter slowly gave way to hints of warmer times coming.

The smell of something tasty caught the youth’s attention and she lifted her head. Hunting had been difficult on her own, especially in the thick of winter. Her black nose wriggled again, and then Ari was off, broad frame moving into the thick of the forest well before she realized it. If the woods were the opposite of commodious, she hardly noticed, too driven by the rumble of hunger in her stomach.

She came across the kill shortly, her silver eyes bright as she spied the dead goat. A moment later, she realized there was someone else here – the adult who’d killed said goat. Ears flattened backwards as she glanced between the kill and the older wolf. “Ah – hi,” she hazarded. “You going to eat all that?”

 

A wild dissertation appears!