The Yule Log RPG

[piosenniel]

Almost hidden in the shadows of a tall balsam’s boughs perched a single raven. A look out for his companions below as they cawed in excitement and flapped their wings and pecked one another in order to get closer in to their meal. Wren glided in silently to a nearby tree, his eyes searching the small clearing.

The snow was bloodied and thrown up in heaps here and there as if a great struggle had gone on. Now on its dark red little hills and valleys the footprints of predators crossed and recrossed the clearing. All gone now save for the dark dusting of ravens that feasted on the remains.

It was a deer, a large buck to be exact that lay on the icy bed. Wren shuddered wondering what animal had brought it down. The antlered head was torn off, and rested where it was thrown against the base of a thick fir. Eyes open, it stared at its own remains as the birds stripped ribbons of its flesh from the carcass. The great buck’s back was broken, its limbs twisted at odd angles . . . as if something had toyed with the deer. It seemed not a clean kill - not one meant for food. Wren’s mind took in with horror that this might have been the handiwork of the dark creature.

With a loud warning call, the sentinel raven glided across the clearing, calling the others away. They answered his call and took wing, leaving the carcass to its snowy bed. There had been a noise, as of some beasts crashing through the trees a ways away. Wren flitted from tree to tree, keeping in the shadows, as he neared the source.

Three reindeer plunged in under the branches of the outlying trees. What are they doing here, the little bird wondered, cocking his head at them as they passed beneath his perch. Curiosity drove him after them.