Once, the Garou were a Nation. Each tribe worked together, because each tribe protected Gaia in a different way. But now some tribes have fallen to the Wyrm—the Enemy, the principle of cosmic ruin. Others have fallen into disgrace and dishonor. People say the Garou Nation has fallen, that the Apocalypse has come and gone, leaving only the bitter taste of failure in the mouths of the elders, that now you must trust only your pack.
But you don't trust your pack. Before your First Change, Clay and the others worked together with human and spirit-world allies to stop the pipeline that now rises empty over the winter woods, but now your elders are paralyzed by despair, slaves to long-dead authorities whose wisdom failed when it was needed most. So what now? How can you rebuild? And with whom?
As you contemplate who might help, a strange smell draws your attention. It's the dead horse in the snow. Sometimes, fomori—that's the name you learned for when a Bane possesses a person or animal—sometimes fomori rot quickly after death, consumed by the putrescence of the Wyrm. Other times, Clay's packmate Scarper has to roll the corpse up in a rug and take it to a pig farm his ex-girlfriend owns. That's always a hassle. But though this horse's fanged teeth have disappeared and it now looks like an ordinary dead horse, the flesh smells…sweet and strong. As if it still held some power within it.
The Litany—the laws of your people—tell you not to eat the flesh of humans. This monster was never human, but still you hesitate.
Damn the Litany! It has failed, and now the world is all but lost. But I have won, so now I brush the flies away and eat.
I'm still worried about the horseman. I want to make sure he's all the way dead. Mortals ruined this world, and I don't want one slinking off to cause more trouble.
I won't eat the dead. I offer the proper prayers to whatever spirits still watch over this place, and thank them for my victory.
I don't want meat, I want information. If there are more of these creatures, they might attack the communities nearby. I study the dead rider for clues that will help me protect people.
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