Kintla Flatlands Maleficent

A mountain goat — probably one of those living in and around Sheepeater Cliff — had evidently died by the riverside. Its bloated body had drifted downriver and lodged itself in a mess of flotsam and jetsam in a bend near the plateau's southeast corner. It wasn't particularly visible, even from up there, but the stench of it wafted over the territory and into the nostrils of its lead Gamekeeper, drawing him down to the water's edge.

Ignoring the shooting pains in his ribs, he tugged the waterlogged carcass out of the river, dragging a bunch of debris along with it. Once ashore, he brushed off the detritus and surveyed the body. It smelled rank but meat was meat. And considering his pack's recent hunting failures, Peregrine wasn't about to turn his nose up at it, much as it offended his olfactory tissues.

Latching his teeth to the dead goat's neck, he began to drag it back in the direction of the plateau, eyes watering not only from the stench but the pain slicing through his midsection with every lunge and step.