Redsand Canyon Wheat like waves.

Blood trickled into her eye and Towhee winced, though she barely felt the shallow bite mark on her brow. All she could feel, suddenly, was a horrific burning sensation spanning from her shoulders down her spine. She did not turn to inspect it until the cat lay still on the dusty earth.

When she finally attempted to take a look at the damage, Towhee hissed at the agony of such a small, simple motion. Gritting her teeth and still blinking blood out of one eye, she arced her neck to look at her own back. The lynx had only clawed her once, but it had laid open three deep gashes spanning dorsally from the base of her shoulder blades along her spine to her hips, where they curved toward the meat of her haunch.

Even as she gazed at her new track marks, they welled with blood that streamed down her right flank and leg. Where the gouging ended at her hips, the wound was not so deep. But as Towhee bent her neck even more, she swore she saw a glimpse of white. Was that her backbone exposed? A small cry escaped her, though whether it was due to the sight or the pain, she couldn’t say.

Sucking in a breath, Towhee faced forward again, wondering if Germanicus and Reyson were at least faring better. Before she could determine how badly they’d been hurt, she swayed on her feet, causing her to step in the puddle of blood pooling beneath her. Experience told her she was on the verge of passing out, so she slumped her hindquarters, another cry wrenching loose at the way the shredded muscles along her back pulled.