Ouroboros Spine digitalis horridus

The growling reverberates through the boy until suddenly it stops. The pressure of teeth against his skin lessens. Where the warrior has forced her will upon him, shoving him in to the path, he will have bruises. The fur beneath the cut of her teeth is tangled with saliva and a sheen of blood. Whatever she was after from him, perhaps she got it, perhaps not. The boy remained in the dirt as she withdrew.

The question was met with silence. The wheezing of his panicked breath, nothing else. His ears were ringing - his skin humming with fading adrenaline while he lay there. When she did not leave but only stood and watched him, Kiliutak saw his chance.

He hastily drew his sprawled limbs beneath his body and stood himself upright, lunging away from the woman's shadow. His entire body was shaking, snaking, aching; but he did not retaliate, only tried once more to escape before she gathered her surprise to attack again.

Oddly enough, he was moving back along the path towards the ulax, upper shrine, and the stonework where he had for so long been kept. Plants forgotten, reeking of fear.