Ouroboros Spine The drummer boy from Illinois went crash, boom, bang

Kiliutak was perplexed by the way this man spoke. He claimed this was not his home - yet here he was guarding it, working in concert with the witch and her orders. What was that if not loyalty to ones home? Perhaps he too was a prisoner; then why did he watch Kiliutak on the rock and not keep to one himself? No, not a captive in the same vein. Not the same as the boy at all.

He scowled as he listened. Kiliutak did not know why the witch had kept him - neither why she refused to kill him, as any Ursus wolf might take such liberties with any captives they held. The slowly dawning knowledge came, that Moonglow was not the same as the valley.

She is a witch! Kiliutak exclaimed as an act of protest, as if that should hold weight. What does she want with me? He huffed and, inevitably, sat in the dust. The question was rhetorical as Kiliutak doubted a mere guard would be privy to such machinations.

Zane was right on many accounts. Nobody had come for him - not the red daughter, not the beasts that lorded over Merrick's valley - and only Kukutux seemingly cared for what became of the boy. She led him to water. She had food laid out for him. No teeth cut his skin, despite how barbed her words oft became when she visited. Still, all that meant to Kiliutak was, she had designs in mind that he could not figure out.

Was she waiting for a full moon before the slaughter? Would she feed him to her boars, summon spirits with his ending? Maybe barter his life to some greater beast; as Merrick held dealings with the bears within Ursus, Kiliutak could only imagine the sway of the witch on her own mountain.

She calls me family. He blurts.