Porcupine Ridge auntblood

He had dashed his paw up on a snow-covered rock earlier in the day. It was a small wound, but he licked the icy blood away now and found comfort in the dull pain and the sharp flavor. It meant his heart still beat, and that he still had feeling in his bruised toes.

He did this sprawled out, cold but slowly warming now that they were out of the wind. An ear flicked toward Chakliux when the other man spoke, and at the end, the panther lifted his head to regard his pale silhouette.

"There will be many more marks upon your spirit than on your body before you leave this world," he said after a long moment of contemplation. "No one escapes this, mera bhai. I say that we will spill his blood, and I believe this. But if all we can do is warn all the others, and make him known to all the wilds — he will find no rest in this life or the next."

He pushed himself back to his paws and came to sit beside the seal hunter.

"And regardless, you will grow old and fat chasing your grandchildren through the fields. Rest, Chakliux. In the morning, we will go and find him."