Wapun Meadow No Admittance (Except on party business!)

He was a learned leech when it came to the disposal of the deceased; they were afforded little honor as he scraped them to pieces, pulled the meat from their joints, or the soft tissues - his favorite - before they spoil. The living had no use for eyes, livers, hearts; but he had all the need, he required it. It was his purpose.

So when one of the bodies rose, waking out of death, baring teeth, exposing a lucious tongue which he would have eagerly pulled free from its casing — the sawbones skittered backwards in revolt, hopping off-kilter out of the beast's nimble reach. It did not waylay him for long; he did not call out, but clattered his beak like a set of castanets, flaunting the sharp curve of it as one might brandish a scalpel.

Look what I can do, he was saying as he tumbled around the body. Look upon the face! The face! He reached for it, for what was left of it, and tugged playfully at a stiff ear only to withdraw the long neck upon itself should the wolf bare his teeth again. His role was inevitable — certainly the beast would understand this and let him work.