Great Bear Wilderness in our town the hangman came, smelling of gold and blood and flame

like a felled tree—if an elk falls in the fields and nobody's there to listen or watch, did it fall at all?—the elk thuds heavily to the floor. for a few minutes, they eat without talking and without breathing, his face warm and red in its entrails. sinew and cartilage snaps in his mouth and from his chin down everything is soaked in blood.
once he had eaten his fill, he sits back on his hands. good work, he murmurs, cleaning off the inside of his mouth.
the girl swears, though, and urias notices her toe seems to be in pretty bad shape. it's unnatural and crumpled, and he brings himself to wince. some. but for a wound like that...you'd need cold water. or ice. and a lot of rest.
urias arlli, somewhat of a washed-up child prodigy, moves closer to inspect the wound, his breaths metered.