Stavanger Bay fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill

I hope this is okay! I did not want to pp finding Murgash without your permission.

The monster that battered against the confines of Szymon’s rib cage had wailed for days without rest. The advent of Sharkbait and her trespassing father, followed so swiftly by the paltry stray who had reeked of infection and venom, had put his senses on high alert and befouled his already touchy temper. Now the convex swell of his black-banded chest heaved with a silent push of effort as his scarred paws propelled him forward after an unsuspecting ground squirrel — a snap of heavy jaws cut the fat rodent’s death cry in two. Doe, he thought, would enjoy a break from oceanic fare, and perhaps she could coax the soot-colored foundling to eat as well. The little sea urchin was so thin and frail — Szymon saw elements of himself in the undersized youth and did not wish to see her battered and bloodied by Sharkbait. It was an overture of compassion that he would have bitterly denied had he been accused of it — he was a Cairn, after all — but it was as involuntary as his feelings for Doe.

The marks of passage he uncovered as he returned home — a snag of fur that was not his own caught in the gnarled growth surrounding the bay; the press of paws that bore an unfamiliar and somewhat sour smell; the lingering scent of an unfamiliar presence that did not bear Donnelaith’s woodsy aroma — caught Szymon’s attention, and he was swift to bury his prize safely within the territory borders before setting out again, scratches of his blunt talons and a virulent scent mark stating plainly that the ground squirrel was not of the communal caches and should not be touched.

Hackles ablaze along his spine in a fiery bristle of salt, ginger, and cinnamon, he thrust his tattered ears attentively forward and slunk forth, following the stranger’s scent — if only to ensure that this creature was not related to the disgusting, pitiful excuse of a beast that had cried for unwarranted succor from the Blackrock wolves before soiling Donnelaith’s doorstep.