Sheepeater Cliff the earth spins, the world gets more crazy

they'd released Karst, but not told her when, or where. she's picked up pieces of his scent, moving away from that circular mountain, through glen and glade and finally, onto the vast plains. here on the golden ground, she feels at ease; the sky is bigger than she's ever seen it, and the air is crisp with the promise of coming winter.

nostrils flared, she tries to capture Karst's aroma once more, having lost it somewhere behind her. in front of her, the mountains rise up, and she is loath to cross them. this journey cannot take too long—she had promised Erzulie and Rosalyn that she would return.

so it's to her surprise that she finds another scent trailing toward the cliffs. what is she doing so far from home? she wonders. her mother did not look well the last time she'd seen her, and besides, she had the children to tend to, a pack to care for.

a distant snarling floats upon the breeze, and she lifts her chin, brow knitted in concern as she tries to suss out the source.

two giants, one dark, one bright, the latter stained with vibrant crimson. and between them—

no. 

she releases a horrific scream, the kind of sound that splits the sky and sends a tremor down spines. she rushes forward in a desperate effort, but she is so far, and they are so high, and—

oh, god, so much blood! and the limpness of her mother's body fills her with anger and terror alike, 

and she begins to sob because she knows she cannot help.

that it is too late.

tears cascading down her cheeks, she turns tail and heads the way she'd came, gaze fixed upon the peak that Ursus now claimed. to rally the troops. to. . .do. . .something. anything.

even though nothing at all now matters.