Broken Antler Fen New life and love

A day left to her own devices, hunting and fretting over the absence of her daughter, and Ibis was at her wits end. When she saw a figure standing among the falling snow she immediately moved to close the distance — only to stop after a few strides when there came a metallic scent.

The stranger was laying down. The little body clutched between his paws while he pulled at the meat and at the fur. A smear of red spreading across the iced-over fen and staining the stranger's face. She wanted to throw up — to scream — but stood there silently, staring in horror.

The panic of losing her daughter and the stress of the hunt for her, sleepless and manic from the intensity of her maternal instincts, linked Ibis' fears with the scene before her.