Heron Lake Plateau your shadow weighs a ton

He hit the dirt despite Niamh's best efforts to prevent further injury, but at least with her aid the body landed without incident. As he adjusted to this new position the stranger glanced first to Niamh, then the retreating Ceara, both of which earned little regard aside from the drifting of Screech's eye.

He tried to lift the body again, positioning limbs that quaked, only to fall against Niamh again; in doing so he let out an unbidden yelp — sharply cutting through the air and startling a few songbirds from their hiding places in the tall grass. Brief flashes of orange-on-black fluttered around the pair of wolves, with the stranger leaning away from Niamh at the earliest convenience as if she'd harmed the vessel of the body in some way.