Snippet #1569153

The delicate prancing of the light dappling down from the woodland canopy, showered the small rock outcrop with a decievingly safe and peaceful glow. It would have been a veritable beauty spot...were it not for a few points of incongruity.

The first was the shredded carcass of a stag, dumped unceremoniously onto a fallen slab of rock. The second was a number of male bodies, similarly crumpled in various positions and locations. And as the rippling light became ever more intrusive, the first of these began to stir.

Dex opened his eyes slowly, not moving a muscle just yet. He way laying on his back, elevated slightly above the others on a naturally hewn rock ledge, with his legs raised further still over another rock. The discomfort of the medium of his repose was nothing compared to the heaviness and lethargy he still felt from the consumption of so much meat.

A stag. Such a rare catch of late. Dex and most of his brothers had a vague awareness that they should excercise caution when hunting an animal like that; not through any sense of danger to themselves, but because it could screw up the mating patterns of the deer and make future hunting more difficult. But, of course, in the heat of the moment caution was not so much cast to the wind as thrown into the abyss.

With a grumble, he rolled sideways and fell a good seven feet, landing on all fours and remaining in a hunched position for a moment before uncurling himself and standing upright. He swung his arms and stretched out his back, working his muscles into a state of readiness. But as much as he could do for his limbs, nothing apart from a steady walk was going to abate the feeling of having half an animal weighing down his stomach.

He tilted his face upwards and sniffed the air. He couldn't be much bothered to look around and account for the other four; whether they were still asleep, awake, or whether they'd wandered off to do something. And he knew they'd feel the same about him. So without a word, and without making any effort to straighten out or smooth down his shirt and jeans, he began a slow amble out into the woodland.