Barrow Fields vii Come home to roost.

Valmúa could see that the wound along his mouth was still present. Surely it would heal in time with a young, sprightly Tartok like him. Stjor had his medicines of course. Together, they would spread Tartok and make it strong in this new southern land. Like their forebears, the land and her nature would reward them with riches. Those that stood in their way? Well, Val had plans for such insects.
They are little rats, niki in the dirt, she explained, ears swiveling toward the sounds and pawing frustratedly at the damaged hole again. She used the more general word for food in his native tongue, not knowing the more specific one. I hear them, she growled. Her nose twitched as she pawed hopelessly at the vole tunnel entrance.
She was not experienced enough at hunting such animals to know that they had been exiting out a back route every time she managed to dig far enough to get one out. It was only when she spotted them running between entrances that she had managed to capture just one.