Screams and groans and shrieks seemed to be coming from everywhere. Sinnik\u2019tok could feel a burning, turning, in his chest. His heart pounded in his ears and his breath had grown quicker and raspy, escaping from him in steamy plumes in the cold air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cold north wind had picked up. It swirled snow all about them severely reducing the ability of the defenders to see the gathering horde of shivers which all of their senses told them were amassing outside of the tower\u2019s threshold. Altogether it invoked a certain claustrophobic feeling in Sinnik\u2019tok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u2019nwtsa maintained the traveling song without wavering even though they\u2019d been singing and playing for what seemed like hours. The steady rhythm was good medicine and went a long way towards calming the nerves of the defenders as they shifted their attention around the circle looking for evidence of the creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Makkitu\u2019q worked feverishly tending to the pile of spears and war clubs stacked before her. She painted the symbols of spirits and ideas, and sang soft songs into each one, such that they glimmered softly in the dwindling firelight. Nergui watched over her, handing back weapons as Makkitu\u2019q finished her making<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was a sudden flare of light and a shriek off to the southwest that made her and Sinnik\u2019tok jump. Some shiver had just tried the threshold and was repelled by the magic of the waytower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs this your first stand?\u201d Nergui asked. Putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo\u2026\u201d Makkitu\u2019q began and rethought her answer. \u201cJust the first one where we have to fight like this. This feels more intense than normal and the thing we saw earlier has me worried. I\u2019ve seen shivers. Killed a few too. But that one really made me afraid. I\u2019ve never felt that kind of afraid. I\u2019ve heard there\u2019s many such shivers on the Line. Is this what the Line feels like.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d Nergui offered. \u201cThe line is far, far worse. The White offers a lot of protection for some terrible things. Some grow very strong in the dark places and deep in the ice. I have seen shivers as big as the great beasts that carry the Wu Towns. Some are really strong, some are really fast, and some can control the mysteries. Some don\u2019t even have forms, waiting for bodies to inhabit like puppets. Unfortunately they\u2019re not the worst things out there. Sometimes you come up against a shiver that isn\u2019t a shiver. They\u2019ve usually some toy of one of the Sorrows. Those are the worst. The Sorrows cultivate special shivers that they turn into new things to murder us or control us with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI used to not believe in the Sorrows when I was younger. Then something stumbled out the Shiver Plains from beneath the ash cloud and started rampaging through villages in Batu territory. My order, the Eight Mountain Society, rode out to find it, alongside some Crows. The Crows warned us that it wasn\u2019t a normal shiver and we laughed at them. We we sooo eager to show the much lauded Crows that they weren\u2019t as mighty as we.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter four nights of searching we finally came across the thing moving through a ravine. We heard it before we saw it. There was this screaming like hundreds of people being slowly torn apart. We thought it was attacking some village so we rushed toward the sound. What was there made no sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was like a giant walking hand made of corpses and wood. The corpses were where the screams came from. When it saw us, they started laughing maniacally and the bellies of them burst open and things like babies poured out but they had razor sharp claws and instead of heads they had just huge mouths across their shoulders and these ridiculous tongues lolling out and rows of jagged teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The thing has set a trap for us and they swarmed us. We fought for hours. The Crows had caught up and helped, While we fought the baby things, the hand crawled up to us and began stomping and crushing warriors. It was a massacre. We would have all died if it weren\u2019t for a group of Illuminators who had followed it out of the ash cloud. They came to our aid and joined the fight with their lights, and fire, and sun lances. In the end we brought the thing low and killed all the spawn. As the thing died it turned to dust and the wind picked up and the dust swirled and formed a terrible face that I can\u2019t even see anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It laughed at us. It just laughed like we were nothing. You could feel it unravel you with that laugh. It was a Sorrow and it was looking at us. I\u2019ll never forget that moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat was the end of the Eight Mountain Society. Were were twenty strong going into the battle. Only five survived, including myself. We returned home but we were broken. The hearts of those who remained were so broken that they had all fell to sorrowstain over the course of the next week. Even worse the stain took those who knew those warriors as well. It seemed like every day I heard someone wail as they discovered yet another smoky black stain were someone had laid down to sleep the night before. At least five times as many people faded to stain as those who had died fighting. We had to abandon our village altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI would have faded too were it not for a Rook who came with a group of Doves and Jays to cleanse those who remained. The Rook lay with me and took the story from my heart. It turned into nasty black words that crawled across her back. She left to carry it to the Line, to have it purged by First Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe next year, in honor of the Rook, I traveled to the Line and fought for the first time to gain my rebirth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWow!\u201d offered Sinnik\u2019tok. \u201cI\u2019m sorry for you loss. I wish good travels to your fallen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey have all traveled well, I believe,\u201d returned Nergui. \u201cAll except those who fell to sorrowstain. They will never travel or return to the world again. That is the great loss. That is what the Sorrows do. They don\u2019t want to kill us, they want to remove us from existence altogether. Luckily they fight each other so much that they have little time to devote to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI learned that if you meet them you\u2019ll have so much sorrow in your heart it will spread to others like a plague of sadness. They make creatures just to ensure that happens. We couldn\u2019t kill the sadness with spears or knives. The only defense is cultivate joy and light. Whatever you do don\u2019t take the sorrow back home to your people or you might destroy the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAho!\u201d the other warriors responded in unison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you for the reminder and that lesson sister,\u201d Tu\u2019Urok said graciously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The wind shifted momentarily revealing myriad shapes gathered at the edge of the threshold. They were all kinds of twisted and wrong but the snow and darkness made it near impossible to discern one from the other. Moments after that blue flashes erupted in multiple points on the threshold\u2019s perimeter followed by wails and shrieks as the creatures tried it and were repelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are lot of them out there. There shouldn’t\u2019 be this many. Not yet. Where are they coming from?\u201d Dal observed. \u201cWill the tower hold?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t know for sure.\u201d said Makkitu\u2019q \u201cIt depends on how strong they are. The tower didn\u2019t get an exposure to a full day of sun, and the moon is hidden behind the clouds and storm. As long as we\u2019re just dealing with this mindless kind of shiver we should be good. But if that strangle comes back I don\u2019t know. Sinnik\u2019tok?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinnik\u2019tok stooped to the ground and dug his hands beneath the fallen snow to touch the earth below. He let out a reverberating hum and cast his senses out into the earth surrounding them. He did this a couple times and turned to address the group. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell. They have so many shapes and legs I don\u2019t know if there are 10 or 100. But it does feel like a lot. My safe guess is at least 20 or 30. I don\u2019t know if we can survive a mass assault.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The threshold flared multiple times as shivers tried again to push through. The entire perimeter was crackling with energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are too many out there working the the threshold,\u201d Tu\u2019Urok announced. \u201cThey\u2019ve got our scent and are hungry for us. We\u2019re going to have to go cull them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGrab long spears and head to the threshold. Partner up and kill what you can from our side of the it. Sinnik\u2019tok you go with Dal. Nergui, you\u2019re with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tu\u2019Urok withdrew multi-part poles from the packs at the center of camp and assembled them into what looked like long ice-fishing spears, twice as tall as a man. He handed one off to Dal and one to Sinnik\u2019Tok. Nergui opted instead for a long length of bladed chain. Once armed, they all shuffled down the hill to the base near the marked threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they got closer they could see the shapes pushing and rolling against each other. They were all mouths, and teeth, and legs of all sorts. Sinnik\u2019tok\u2019s stomach turned and jumped more. The things responded to his presence by throwing themselves against the barrier in rabid attempts to get at him and rip him apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBe careful,\u201d Dal called out to him. \u201cBrace your footing and stab at spears length. If something should recoil from your attack it could yank you forward, and through the threshold, if you get caught off guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They began to slash and stab. The shivers spilled their black blood and fell slowly. However, even as they killed them, new shivers scrambled to take the place of the fallen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinnik\u2019tok had slain a first, then a second. As he stabbed at a third another shiver bit at the spear and began to pull, dragging the young stonecaller forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHelp!\u201d he called out. Trying not to lose his spear while trying to resist the creature\u2019s strong pull. He wrenched his knee a bit in the process, making his footing even more unsteady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dal, produced a long hunting knife and flung it into what looked like the creature\u2019s head, forcing it to release its grip. Sinnik\u2019tok flew backwards and landed in the snow on the hillside, dropping the spear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGet back up and fight!\u201d Dal called as he shifted over to stab the thing. Hooking it with his spear he dragged it into the threshold which burned it as it died. The knife fell out of its dissolving form and into the snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinnik\u2019tok scrambled to his feet, looked around for the spear but couldn\u2019t see it. It was already covered by the blanket of snow. His knee protested his every step, sending sharp pangs up and down his leg. Shivers were pressing even faster against the threshold. Seeing them focused like that, Sinnik\u2019tok changed tactics. He momentarily gave up the search for the spear. Instead, he reached into his satchel and produced two fistfuls of large stones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Holding his hands outstretched before him he focused on the stones, calling on the mysteries of the element of earth. After a moment he caused them to slowly, at first, levitate before him. He then made a flattening motion with his hands while whispering words to the rocks and they began to flatten and stretch like sand poured on a table, until they were sharp like blades. He followed that transformation with a circular motion like he was setting a great wheel turning, and the rock blades began to circle each other in the air. They moved slowly initially, but then faster and faster as he continued to motion with his hands. As they picked up speed they sliced through the rushing air making a sound like a bull-roarer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When they were moving so fast they were a blur, he directed them out of the threshold and into the mass of shivers. They tore through the terrible beasts like a mill saw through fabric. Bone, ichor, and bits of shiver flew everywhere as he sawed through them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dal, pulled back to let the rock blades fly into the shivers before him. He whooped and hollered as the creatures died. Unfortunately the integrity of the stone blades wore down quickly and they fell to dust. Not, however, before they had slaughtered nearly a dozen of the creatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCan you do that again?\u201d Dal called out excitedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo,\u201d responded Sinnik\u2019tok. Those are specially prepared stones. They\u2019re not really meant for battle, we use them for clearing trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dal sighed and returned to killing shivers that had begun to fill in for the fallen monsters. Sinnik\u2019tok took the opportunity to find his spear and lucked up on Dal\u2019s kinfe in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the other side of the perimeter Nergui and Tu\u2019Urok made short work of shivers as fast as they could. Nergui got her chain moving in deadly arcs, catching, hooking, and dragging shivers into the the barrier with her mighty arms as Tu\u2019Urok systematically slew them. They worked with a deadly, well rehearsed rhythm. It was a killing dance that hey had rehearsed many times int he past against the shiver hordes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On top of the hill, Makkitu\u2019q finished the last of the heavy spears, then fished a bow out of her own pack. Rushing to the northern edge of the hill top, she wrapped a paper with some marking on it around an arrow and fired it into the shivers beyond the threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moments after the arrow embedded itself in the shiver she targeted, the paper flared and then exploded with a bright light, burning a small handful of shivers caught in the blast. The light was like sunlight. It was a making trick she had learned from an Illuminator who had come up north to the Line last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Off in to the north there was a rumbling like distant thunder, and in the flash, something odd in the swirling white caught her attention. She knocked a new arrow, with flash paper and fired it off into the sky. As it soared, it brought bright light that was scattered by the swirling snow. At the apex of its arc, however, it illuminated the silhouette of a gigantic humanoid figure headed toward the hill dragging something behind it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh no!\u201d she gasped. Her stomach dropped and nausea rolled through her. She rushed over to the eastern side of the hill where Nergui and Tu\u2019Urok fought and shouted at the top of her lungs to be heard over the din of the screaming, croaking shivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cY\u2019yahilaaaaa!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hearing Mikkitu\u2019q shout, Tu\u2019urok turned his attention to her. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cY\u2019yahila! Approaching from the north!\u201d she shouted as loud as she could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tu\u2019Urok and Nergui bounded up the hill, which was now slippery and heavy with snow. When they got to the top. Makkitu\u2019q shot the last of her Illuminator arrows off into the distance again and they saw the great figure, three times as tall as the hill. Towering and gangly, with gnarled rock like skin, these creatures were said to be spawned by the Sorrow known as Y\u2019ya and not really shivers at all. This one was big. It was old, and likely powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, no, no, no!\u201d called out Tu\u2019Urok. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to drop that thing before it gets to the mound. If it has a weapon it can crush us from outside the threshold and break the tower. He motioned for Nergui to follow and whistled to Dal and Sinnik\u2019tok, motioning for them to meet them at the northern quadrant of the threshold. He grabbed a couple of the spears that Makkitu\u2019q had finished blessing. He tossed one to Nergui and kept the other for himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nergui, turned to the center of camp, put her hands up high, making a waving motion, and called out to the two great arachnids that were waiting patiently. \u201cBura! Moma! Hai hai!\u201d she called and took off running behind Tu\u2019Urok. The two white-furred spiders held their forelegs up in some strange announcement dance, let out a low vibrating chortle and leapt to the base of the hill where the others gathered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is a huge Y\u2019yahila out there.\u201d Tu\u2019Urok barked to the others. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to run out and try to take it out or distract it. You two draw shivers away to clear us a path somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d protested Sinnik\u2019tok. \u201cThat\u2019s crazy! Do you see how many of those things are out there? You\u2019ll get ripped apart!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what we do my friend. We\u2019re BearWalkers and Line Walkers. If we\u2019re not ready to do this we\u2019re not ready for the Line. Sacrifices and gambits keep us all alive. Can you draw the shivers?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinnik\u2019tok thought for a second. \u201cYes! Makkitu\u2019q and I can open a breach in the threshold. It will weaken the threshold overall but we can close it. We can open it long enough to get the shivers to rush it. Then pull back the perimeter of the threshold about maybe 20 feet and close it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo it! Dal, you hold the breach. Nergui, you and I rush out with Bura and Moma when they give the word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sinnik\u2019tok rush back up the hill with Dal and they talked with Makkitu\u2019q to explain what was happening. The brother and sister then sprang into action. Sinnik\u2019tok shaped a stone gate to mark for Dal where to defend. Makkitu\u2019q prepared to adjust the flows of mystery in the tower and Dal planted himself at the archway and began calling to the mysteries within himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BearWalkers were trained in \u201cthe natures<\/em>\u201d, mysteries of body and mind which let him meld his rage to his flesh. He grit his teeth and called forth his rage. The sinews and skin of his body protested as he swelled with strength and power, growing more feral, his teeth grew into fangs, and his nails grew into claws. His face was that of a madman, tears of blood ran from his eyes and spittle foamed and drooled from his mouth. He let out a howl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow Sinnik\u2019tok shouted at his sister. They both placed hands on the tower and channeled the mysteries through themselves. A visible seam appeared in the air where the threshold gave way and the snow swirled in the emptiness. As soon as the first shivers realized there was an opening, they all poured forth. Like locusts they rushed around the remaining bit of threshold to get in through the breach. They were hungry to kill. Instead they met death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dal, slashed, stabbed, and rended them with inhuman ferocity almost as fast as they came through. Though he tried to hold ground he was slowly being pushed back. He managed to keep the things from surrounding him and pulling him down, but only just.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Atop the hill, Sinnik\u2019tok and Makkitu\u2019q struggled to maintain the integrity of the tower while watching Dal fight. Some shivers had slipped pass him and were coming up the hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cGo!\u201d Makkitu\u2019q shouted and Tu\u2019Urok and Nergui sprang into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tu\u2019Urok charged towards the Y\u2019yahila, the giant man-shaped shiver, as it was finally coming into view. It was dragging a massive club behind it made of a pine tree with its branches torn off. The thing saw Tu\u2019Urok charging and began to raise its club to swing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBura! Moma! Chak chak!\u201d Nergui shouted at the two arachnids, pointing at the giant. Again the massive spiders waved their forelegs in a little dance. Responding to Nergui\u2019s motions, they turned in a jerky manner to face the gargantuan terror. There was a popping sound as their forelegs flexed and the spiders launched themselves forward like bullets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bura slammed into the the belly of the creature, snapping its fangs into the monster with a sound that resembled a \u201cchak chak\u201d. Moma did the same thing as it slammed into the giant\u2019s face. Their impact spun the creature and it swiped at them, but they were gone almost as soon as they had landed. They moved around the battlefield in lighting fast hops that took them twenty to thirty feet with each leap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Y\u2019yahila, momentarily forgetting about the charging Tu\u2019Urok, directed its ire at the wicate-wa and swung its club in a wide arc trying to kill them. It stirred up a storm of snow and earth in the process but the two jumping spiders were far too swift, jumping in and biting it from opposite directions and then jumping away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nergui, fell into a charge behind Tu\u2019Urock, each of them moving toward one leg of the great creature and calling on their rage as they closed in on it. Their skin was so hot the snow hissed and steamed as it touched them, causing them to leave a billowing trail of white mist as they rushed forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Makkitu\u2019q and Sinnik\u2019tok reset the threshold and the shivers that were inside erupted in flames. Dal, unfortunately was not in the area of the new threshold and the creatures were swarming him faster than he was able to put them down. Makkitu\u2019q took up her bow and deftly began to sink arrows into the shivers around him and Sinnik\u2019tok rushed to his aid. He stabbed furiously at the creatures at Dal\u2019s back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With his path cleared, Dal turned to fell back to the safe area. Just as he was crossing the threshold, something looking like a frog made of ants lashed out a tongue. Catching his leg, it yanked him to the ground and began dragging him out. Sinnik\u2019tok rushed to grab Dal\u2019s arms and pulled back. Another creature took the opportunity to bite into Dal\u2019s leg, nearly ripping it off in the process. Arrows rained down on them from Makkitu\u2019q forcing the monstrosities back and Sinnik\u2019tok pulled Dal to the safe zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Makkitu\u2019q rushed down to help her brother drag Dal back up to the center of camp. She looked at the wound and could see that not only was it poisonous, it was some kind of spreading poison that was quickly turning the leg black.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTake it off!\u201d Dal shouted at them. The brother and sister looked at each other in apprehension. Sinnik\u2019tok rifled through the camp tools and returned with an axe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDo it!\u201d Dal shouted! \u201cI can still fight with one leg. I can\u2019t fight if I\u2019m dead!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mikkitu\u2019q stretched the leg out, found clean flesh, and held it straight. Hope rushed into her as she could see that the sleeping warriors who had traveled to dream were beginning to stir. Sinnik\u2019tok took a deep breath and brought the axe down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ground trembled as the Y\u2019yahila did the same with its club. It was still missing the two fast moving spiders who were alternately ripping bits and pieces out of it. Moma and Bura leapt at the great shiver\u2019s face and attacked its eyes. It let out a howl and swiped at them, temporarily blinded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tu\u2019Urok slashed multiple times at the creature\u2019s leg. After a few attempts he sprang high into the air and brought his blessed spear down into the creatures ankle. The power of Makkitu\u2019q\u2019s blessing driving it through and nailing it to the ground. Simultaneously Nergui closed with the other ankle and swung her chains. They wrapped around the ankle and the blades bit in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The creature howled and swung first at Tu\u2019Urok who dived beneath the attack. It brought the great tree club back around swiftly, however, and connected with Nergui who tried to avoid it. Unfortunately, she was slowed by the snow around her while trying to hold onto the chain. There was a crunch as her left arm gave, along with a few ribs, and she was sent flying twenty feet into a snow drift. Her rage flowing through her, she wasn\u2019t phased by the pain and broken arm. As she rolled to her feet, she was vaguely aware that M\u2019nwtsa\u2019s drum had stopped. Her arm hanging uselessly to her side she called out \u201cMoma! Bura! Sha Sha!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The two spiders sprang to the chain. Taking it in their pedipalps, they began to make short quick backwards hops. Though considerably smaller than the giant, their strength was immense. They dragged the chained leg out, forcing the creature into a split, and it began to fall to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it fell, Tu\u2019Urok charged again. As he closed with the creature the giant swung out an arm trying to fend him off but he jumped over the massive limb. As he did so Nergui, pulled the other blessed spear and threw it to Tu\u2019Urok. He caught in mid air and brought it down on the prone creature\u2019s throat, pinning that to the ground. Still, it wasn\u2019t dead. Moma and Bura then descended on it ripping out its belly, with their fangs and chelicera, until it lay a dead mass of rotting flesh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tu\u2019Urok rushed over to Nergui who waved him off. The two spiders bounded up to them like gore covered puppies and nuzzled Nergui with concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She smiled at them both. \u201cGood, good! No time for pets though.\u201d She said as she observed the shiver horde, thwarted by the threshold, turning their attention back towards them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They braced themselves to receive the charge only to see the horde scatter as Ja\u2019qolimaq, BrownFox, and Ganji appeared and led the other warriors down the hill, into the mass, and began killing them in droves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tu\u2019Urok and Nergui glanced triumphantly at each other, drew long knives and rejoined the fight. With the Crow Gangi calling lightning down, searing everything he could see,and the Dove BrownFox causing the earth to rise up and swallow and crush the horrors, what remained of the battle was all over in minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n *****<\/p>\n\n\n\n From off in the distance, high on a hill, the great fox watched the people fighting the bad things then licking their wounds when the battle was won. So focused on them was it that it didn\u2019t hear the thing that was like smoke and strands of dark sneak up on it. Truth be told, there was nothing to hear for the strangle moved with the silence of a hateful thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the last moment the fox felt the things presence as a disturbance in its fur and whiskers. It tried to jump away but the strangle lashed out and snatched the fox out the air and pulled it to the snow. The fox struggled and tried to cry out but the thing of smoke and hair and shadows enveloped it. As it thrashed the thing wrapped its strands tightly about the fox\u2019s neck and choked the life out of it. When the creature was dead, the strangle poured itself into every orifice on the pearly fox until there was none of the evil thing to be seen. The fox lay still in cold, slowly being buried by the rushing snow, seemingly lost to the soft, white quietude of the White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Moments later the fox crawled out of the deep snow, its legs unsteady. The color had gone from its eyes. They were black as obsidian. It stumbled about jerkily like a marionette at first and then seemed to regain some semblance of body control, as though it had just come out of a seizure. It returned to its perch watching the humans. It settled down, studying them, placing its head on crossed paws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it listened, its face twisted into a hideous mockery of a smile in a way that it wasn\u2019t built to do. The effort pulled skin far away from teeth and revealing shadowy filaments that crawled across its gums like worms. Then it laughed. A soft raspy, wicked laugh, that was swallowed by the muffling soft snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Screams and groans and shrieks seemed to be coming from everywhere. Sinnik\u2019tok could feel a burning, turning, in his chest. His heart pounded in his ears and his breath had grown quicker and raspy, escaping from him in steamy plumes in the cold air. The cold north wind had picked \u2026<\/p>\n