Role

Chapter 6

Alendross blinked at the scattered bones before him in confusion. He had
seen many things since he first started throwing the bones. Learning the
nuances to what each placement meant had been exciting and challenging. The
wing bones here, turned this way or that. The raven skull digging into the
dirt with its beak or resting upside down warning of the treacherous storms
that would be coming overhead. But this was... unsettling. The bones laid
there, with every bit of the ruby that was encrusted over parts of them
hidden from view. From other bones, or nestled solidly into the dirt. And
together, forming a pattern almost reminiscent of smoke. But even with the
strangeness of the ruby being hidden, what was stranger still was the fact
that this was his third casting... and the third time the bones fell exactly
this way. Never had any more than a single bone or two at absolute most
fallen into the same form through multiple castings. Alendross could feel
the tale-tell signs of the migraine coming on that so often accompanied the
times he saw misfortune in the future.

"Hunt well wild ones," he said as he took to a warren in the circle of
thorns to sleep for a time. The headaches had grown worse over the last few
days since the bones fell that way. And there was an inkling of a memory.
Something seen in his dreams that he couldn't quite recall clearly. But
even with that, the sleep helped pass through the migraine. Slumber would
come.

The sudden screech of what sounded like a large predatory bird reverberated
through the Refuge. Sniffing at the air, the rabbit darted from the warren
to the hollow, looking for the Spirit there to protect it. The Spirit
grinned at the rabbit, but made no move to usher it into his embrace.
Gesturing to the sky, then to the open space outside of the Tree the Spirit
seemed to suggest, "Run. Survive." And then the cacophonous scream echoed
again as a large vulture dived down towards the thorns. And with that the
rabbit was off. Darting every which way, over stream and under branch,
always the vulture merely a moment behind. Running... running... the rabbit
ever nimble began to grow weary. It stumbled, rolling down a small hill
before colliding with... bones. Giant, ruby encrusted bones. It settled
into the palm of a skeletal hand as the vulture landed on the upstretched
fingers. Raising it's clawed talon it screeched at the rabbit...

Alendross started awake, clearly remembering every detail of the dream this
time.