Her breath came in staggered gasps desperately muffled against the bloodied fabric of her scarf as the sound of hooves grew ever closer. If she was still enough and buried herself under enough corpses she might survive the night hunt and live to see another day.
It was a very weak if.
Their mares could smell a beating heart ten miles away and she was only beneath seven or eight bodies that were fresh enough to not make her gag. Or maybe she was getting used to the smell of rotting meat. It was hard to say which seemed more grim to her.
Regardless, if if kept her alive and gave her enough time to make it to the mountains where the night hunt didn't dare go then it was worth it. Even if she turned up to the last refuge reeking like something that died in a pile of its own faeces.
Anything but the night hunt.
That mantra had carried her through massacre after massacre, though the burnings and the drownings and the live burials and to her current half-burial. And the hunt was close enough to smell over the corpses but just far enough away that she had the time to wriggle beneath a ninth corpse.
Hoofbeats came to a slow, deliberate stop beside the mass grave.
It was a very weak if.
Their mares could smell a beating heart ten miles away and she was only beneath seven or eight bodies that were fresh enough to not make her gag. Or maybe she was getting used to the smell of rotting meat. It was hard to say which seemed more grim to her.
Regardless, if if kept her alive and gave her enough time to make it to the mountains where the night hunt didn't dare go then it was worth it. Even if she turned up to the last refuge reeking like something that died in a pile of its own faeces.
Anything but the night hunt.
That mantra had carried her through massacre after massacre, though the burnings and the drownings and the live burials and to her current half-burial. And the hunt was close enough to smell over the corpses but just far enough away that she had the time to wriggle beneath a ninth corpse.
Hoofbeats came to a slow, deliberate stop beside the mass grave.
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