Lost Creek Hollow "what did the fish say..."

The going was not easy; the branches did not break from themselves or the mud surrounding them without a lot of heaving on his part. The work was exhausting, and discouraging, that so much energy would be spent to scarcely free a trickle of water from the dam. Even from the top working down, progress was slow at best.

He had just set his teeth in another branch when his packmate loosed a pained yelp. His head snapped up to see Ilya snarling and lunging at a daring beaver. She seized it, drawing frantic squeals from it, before giving it a fling to the side. Luke's brows pinched, noting the way his packmate favored her injured foot. He looked to Mordecai with uncertainty. It seemed to him they needed the full presence of the pack to make any progress on the dam, and to guard from the beavers, whose sharp teeth could lacerate them with ease.