Great Bear Wilderness night sun

loosely backdated for posterity!

blood caked the side of the man's face, mottling the black fur with splotches of dried burgundy.

the pain in his skull and clenched jaw was immense, beating a caribou-hoof rhythm inside the bone itself. he had said nothing since the trial ended, nothing since —

he had not been able to hold still after all. the marks of wolfteeth studded his throat, his shoulders, his nape.

cen had never been so thoroughly humiliated in his life. the anguish with which he walked now was only a single portion of the mental agony suffered.

the caribou hunter had been running until he could not, imagining the sunshine wolves leaping through the undergrowth after he and @Sulukinak. at first he had leaned heavily upon her, hot crimson dripping into her own pelt, but now cen only stumbled doggedly for the outskirts of the bear wilderness, singleminded in his intent to avoid death.