A cruel day’s hunt

[Karnna]

Skrall was hungry, he had been hungry for days, the last time he ate was at least ten circlings of the moon when he feasted on a group of ogres who shouted and threw sharp rocks at him, that had been a good feast. But now his belly was empty and prey had either been too small to eat or too careful to let him get near. Hungrily he searched the fields near the great white mountain for Cleffhoofs to eat, however strangely he could not find any out here as if they had been scared off far from this place. Surely it could not of been him? They had always gathered in this part of Nagrand, maybe other predators had already been here? Then why had not found them or the bodies at least he could eat that. So where are they?

Skrall’s thoughts suddenly broke at the cawing of carrion, as he headed toward the direction of it he found the cause, a plum looking clefthoof seemly dead, lay flat on the field, regardless of what killed it, it was meat, and Skrall knew it would feed. The birds had only managed to break open the hard skin of the beast when Skrall swapped them away, grabbing the clefthoof in both hands he bite down into its belly, gore and blood spilling into his mouth, so delicious. It took only a matter of minutes for the great gronn to devour all the meat on its body, such a rich bounty had left Skrall feeling full and ready to sleep maybe he could rest in the shade of the great mountain and-

BANG!

A sharp pain shot through the mighty Gronn’s leg, as if he had stepped on a sharp rock, he looked down and saw a tiny hole in the back of his thigh, a small trickle of blood pouring from it. Then came a second bang, this time the pain came from the top of his head, he could feel more blood leaving his body, it did not take him long to find the cause of this time.

A wolf in strange spikes and leather stood on a hill nearby on top of it was a black shape with green skin, it held a wooden stick that bellowed smoke, it must be what did this to him. Though Skrall was certain that he was full, he was certain he had room for this pest. With a bellowing roar he broke stride to catch it.

It had only been a few minutes yet it felt like agonizing hours for Skrall, the wolf and being on top of it had been running circles around him as he tried to grab them, every so often a sudden bang from the creature’s wooden stick would go off and pain surge though the giant, they were not large enough to be threatening more akin to a prick on the skin like stepping on a sharp stone or cutting one’s hand on an ogre’s weapon. Yet something was wrong, Skrall could feel his body getting tired too quickly and his belly, it felt like it was ripping him apart from within. He made one desperate grasp for the wolf, maybe eating it will cure what ails him, however the weight of his own body betrayed him, Skrall found himself falling to the ground and smashing into the grassy plain, his prey easily evading him the gronn tried to raise his hand to grab it and the rider stood there but there was no strength left in him to move it.

“It seems the poison worked better than I had hoped, good I was worried I had used too little in the clefthoof” the strange rider said as it leap from the wolf, as it grew closer. Skrall could barely keep his eye open but he could make it out clearly. It was green skinned, with black leather covering its body with cruel spikes rutting from it’s shoulders. It drew a large talon like thing from its side and pointed it at his eye. “I shall have to make my offering after the gathering, but I am sure the eye will keep.” The last thing Skrall saw was this tiny prey, no this monster was a cruel smile before his world turned red and pain devoured him, then everything went dark left all that could hear was the sound of the wolf riding away and carrion gathering around him.