clarity

Haha. Surprised it took this long for someone to intervene!

It was habit, routine, to conceal himself as he moved, but for all his effort and talent he was not immune to being seen, or smelled. It did not happen often, but it happened this time: one of the plain wolves had scented him. Just as he caught sight of the coyote he sought, he saw the grasses sway as the wolf stole toward him. He strafed as she neared, his paws moving quicker, anticipating an attack by the predatory way she stalked him. He was right: she sprang from her cover with a snarl, and he bolted with her on his heels, dropping the fawn so as not to be encumbered by it.

His mind worked quickly. "I surrender!" he called, but he did not slow, nor turn his head. His ears were fanned back to listen to any shift in her pace that suggested she was receptive to changing her mind, to listening. "I brought a gift. I wish to serve!" The acid, he tasted it in his mouth as he said those words. But he had a task, and a saw a more efficient means to it, if he could convince her to capture rather than kill him.