She’d been chasing… she didn’t remember, and at this point it hardly mattered. Her prey had vanished, leaving her without anything to show for the pursuit into the mountain’s interior.
Her punishment for failure wasn’t only empty jaws; fate had a worse trick in mind. Retracing her steps led to a dead end - the entrance that at one time clearly existed now gone. Collapsed or covered, she wasn’t sure, but both left her just as trapped.
Digging got her nowhere, and what followed was a harrowing eternity in the dark. It felt like a few lifetimes… and still, somehow, she survived. She ate anything she could find, mostly bugs and rodents, and grew lean enough to count her ribs clearly. Her pelt grew thin and patched; some she shed, some she plucked herself, nervously worrying at her legs and chest as hunger and desperation took their toll.
It could have been her tomb. It would have been if she hadn’t heard the distant river. But following it had led her out.
It took time for her to regain her bearings and more to regain the strength to travel. Already she’d been apart too long; each day further only cemented more her failures. She couldn’t bear to be alone any longer.
She returned thin and bedraggled, her patchy fur almost reeking of shame. The joy she felt in seeing the rise again was mingled with the knowledge she’d been gone too long; it did not matter that it was not her fault. The loss of a hunter to its own foolish actions was untenable. She would answer for it as they wished.
Without even registering who it would be that answered the call, Redd lifted her muzzle and sang out. She would accept whatever might come.
Her punishment for failure wasn’t only empty jaws; fate had a worse trick in mind. Retracing her steps led to a dead end - the entrance that at one time clearly existed now gone. Collapsed or covered, she wasn’t sure, but both left her just as trapped.
Digging got her nowhere, and what followed was a harrowing eternity in the dark. It felt like a few lifetimes… and still, somehow, she survived. She ate anything she could find, mostly bugs and rodents, and grew lean enough to count her ribs clearly. Her pelt grew thin and patched; some she shed, some she plucked herself, nervously worrying at her legs and chest as hunger and desperation took their toll.
It could have been her tomb. It would have been if she hadn’t heard the distant river. But following it had led her out.
It took time for her to regain her bearings and more to regain the strength to travel. Already she’d been apart too long; each day further only cemented more her failures. She couldn’t bear to be alone any longer.
She returned thin and bedraggled, her patchy fur almost reeking of shame. The joy she felt in seeing the rise again was mingled with the knowledge she’d been gone too long; it did not matter that it was not her fault. The loss of a hunter to its own foolish actions was untenable. She would answer for it as they wished.
Without even registering who it would be that answered the call, Redd lifted her muzzle and sang out. She would accept whatever might come.
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slate - by Redd - October 27, 2023, 12:53 AM