Coconut Grove Paradisal Loss

In the distance, a dark furred shadow on the horizon. His mouth filled with saltwater, he could not smell this wolf nor hear them with the wind whipping past his ears. To Massaraq it was as if some dark ghost made its way towards him and he struggled, staggered to his paws, saltwater sloshing across his sides, sending his wound stinging and making his vision blurry. A feeble growl, he stumbled forward in unsure steps, but in his mind a run towards the apparent threat.

But he had not stopped to give his body food since the elk, had not stopped to give it water in many hours perhaps half a day or more. He shuffled forward near tripping over his own paws, ready to fight, teeth bared. Had he looked, had she scented the air, had he stopped to think, he might have recognized the figure. Instead he hastily lurched forward, finally tripping and succumbing, down once again, the air knocked out of him. A pained groan as he breathed in, forcing his battered ribs to obey so he could breathe once again. Why was everything so hard?

Looking at the word sideways he thought he saw a flash of red fur interspersed with the black and white. Towhee? His anaa's friend. His anaa. No. No. No. His paws twitched as if he could run, this time away but his limbs did not obey, refusing to listen to him. A whine escaped his throat. For a moment he drifted in and out of consciousness. He was dreaming. He must be. When he woke he would run and play with Ajei, then his anaa would tell him it was time for him to take a spirit walk, and then he would go and hunt and make a kill and dream of....something better than this.