Noctisardor Bypass riskieron

rivenwood was beginning to hunger. for a week the snow had gone unabated, and the brackenwood remained harsh, emptied of all but a few straggling reindeer.
when he was not hunting, draining his own energies beneath the onslaught of snow, mahler felt rage gripping his belly. it remained with him when he woke, delved into his fitful sleep; it was a heavy-grown cloak that drove him now from the tunnel beneath the boulder. 
greed had driven him before. now pride awakened its unwelcome self in the gargoyle and his stoneflower gaze turned in the direction of legion. nostrils exterminated steam and mahler sent up a howl for @Star, for @Sequoia, for @Praimfaya. the former he would give the reins of rivenwood in name, for the shadowpriest intended to succeed or to be succeeded by life itself; the latter two were called as warriors. @Ketzia he requested to remain behind for now.
the children of rivenwood were hungry, and mahler could no longer remain subservient to the hard-packed land.
he set out grimly, using instinct over visibility to lead him onward.
for any who followed, the gargoyle knew it might very well mean death, and so he did not demand; he had sung once and followed familiar frozen trails until he came to the land he accepted must be his own.
the borders of legion found the tall man wreathed in snow and cold-hearted with determination.
crown upon a backtilt; a black dirge sounding at the snow-banked territory line.
i have come to claim what is mine, @Arbiter.