Blackfeather Woods a haunt of roulette dares

The woods were lovely, dark, and deep — and he had places to be, things to piss on. Not so poetic, but it had to be done.

Mou was tired of being in the dark; the early morning light had a hard time penetrating the canopy but what meagre light there was, somehow filtered in to the hidden entryway for the caves. It was enticing. It felt like there was a presence calling to him, whispering in that light — and the boy's first thought was of Relmyna, which made little sense. He had never heard her voice; she had never heard his either, come to think of it. He was tired, having spent the night mapping the caves and making sure the tunnels were legitimately safe to stay in, and by morning he was aching for sleep.

But the voice called, and he crept to the light. When a shudder of air whipped through the trees, the light became a concentrated beam and he winced back from it as if wounded - but then things settled, and he could slink from the cave without blinding himself. There were a few fuzzy spots in his vision but they faded with his blinking, and soon he'd forgotten all about the blinding light; the voice remained curiously familiar, but with the calming of the air it seemed like he wouldn't be privy to the message after all.

Mou lingered for a moment in the shadows. Overhead there were crows and ravens squabbling for turf - or so he suspected, the crows being plentiful and loud while the ravens were much more intimidating with their silence - and he watched them for a bit, until the scent of something alien hit his nose. The urine stain wasn't fresh, but it was like a black mark upon the base of the tree. He looked around as he approached it, but saw no sign of Ramsay or Maegi - and the scents around the point were unfamiliar.

He did what came naturally - he lifted a leg, and let a hot stream splatter all over the tree trunk. The relief was immediate.