The Dark Sire Issue 4 (Summer 2020) | Page 16

Problem-Solver surveyed the gathering, and when she was satisfied that none would touch the babe, she turned back to it. Rebirth had finished his portion of the ritual and stood back for Problem-Solver. She stepped up to the corpse and gingerly picked through the slippery innards until she found the child’s sloppy red heart. Using her beak as a scalpel, she carefully extracted it from the body, and held it up triumphantly in her red stained beak. As the crowd of animals beheld the heart in Problem-Solver’s beak they turned their heads towards the skies and cried aloud, allowing their voices to echo off the walls, calling forth for the completion of the Agreement. Problem-Solver leapt into the air, flying up towards the top of the canyon and the currents that would take her to the secret place where the Agreement could be finalized once again. As she climbed, she saw the rangers and the little girl’s father rushing down into the canyon, to retrieve her body. As she watched them descend, she could not help but notice something seep from a hole in the side of the rim, an oozy, dark substance that dripped slowly only to congeal on the canyon wall. Problem-Solver felt a cold shiver run through her. There were innards in these canyon walls. Innards Problem-Solver had hoped never to see. Fueled by the image, Problem-Solver turned away from the canyon and rose into the sky. Upon reaching the current she soared towards a peak close to the other rim, flying to the sound of the animals’ calls below. 14 They called to wake it, for even gods must slumber.