Bearclaw Valley I roam these halls, search the night, in hopes that I might see

the boy maintained himself well despite the scent of herbs and blood clinging to the still air within the den. merrick was pleased; his gaze glinted with it, and then he crossed his paws. "bishop. skoll." skoll had shown great loyalty to ursus, and the boy-king wished to reward him by testing the bear-prince against the soldier. he would teach aventus the ability to marry accuracy to speed.
and bishop. neither merrick nor the blackbird were large in stature. the dog-man was cunning, brutish, massive. aventus must learn to use his swiftness against a beast able to crush his leg in a first blow. and thus, when someone like nyra threatened the shadow again, for it would come — he was of ursus — it would be blood that his son would take going forward. "your mother, of course," but merrick did not command the rook; she would train them both to be grave and terrible in their meting-out of savagery.