Horizon Ridge Blackfish

Unable to sleep, Pied rose well before daybreak. She left her mate sleeping peacefully in their den and headed down to the beach to take a walk, fetch some breakfast and prepare herself for the trek to the plateau. Despite the cold, she plodded along the water's edge, even holding steady when the surf began to lick at her toes with its wet, icy tongue.

Something caught her eye and she paused, looking out over the ocean. An enormous fin cleaved the water, slick and black. Pied started, recognizing it as belonging to one of the massive beasts she called blackfish. Entranced, she watched the fin bob and weave in the choppy sea, gliding parallel to the beach. When it drew nearer, she spun slightly to face the water, hoping to catch a glimpse of this creature of the deep.

Suddenly, the water roiled and frothed directly in front of her, arcing strangely, in the wrong direction. A massive black shape came flying onto the sand with startling speed. Pied didn't even get the chance to back up a single step before several thousand pounds of mobile marine mammal struck her. She yelped sharply as the blackfish flicked its great head, its teeth missing her but its momentum knocking her flat and crushing her to the sands.

Unable to grab her, the orca writhed its way back into the waters, sliding along the wet sands and then riding the tide back out into the open sea. It left behind it an unconscious Pied, one of her paws twisted the wrong way and myriad internal injuries likely after taking such a massive bodily blow.