Sleepy Fox Hollow umber

he came creeping up the hillside of the hollow with his head lowly aligned, a hitch in his step that was being compensated for, and a tired drag to his expression.

there was blood across his chest. a tear to the muscle behind his right shoulder, and bites cutting through the elbow of that front-most leg.

and he would not stop his ambling walk; not when the musk of other men crossed his path, or the sweetgrass women, or anyone. not until the shadows of the hollow swept around him.