(--)
Eris is by Nat!
The sable coyote had heard the alarm, but she did not race to Salsola's aid. She had her children to think of -- Artemisia, Harrow, and Ataxia were still too young to shift, and Basilaris and Salvador were barely old enough to begin speaking. Molcaxitl, useless as she would be if they were attacked, stood over the elder three girls shivering. Eris had commanded the coyote to put the lives of the children miles ahead of her own, and the slave-girl was frightened. The ruins were oddly quiet -- deserted, even, and the sable woman did not hear anyone moving about the ruins until the sounds of quick footfalls reached her ears.
Itzcitla leaped upon the wall of her abode, standing there and growling toward his master, though the growl was not directed at her. He even spoke a word, garbled and unintelligible as it was to Eris. Attacker, mistress, he says attacker, Molcaxitl babbled, having apparently understood the mangled Spanish that had come from the ocelot's maw. The cat's yellow-green eyes were wide with fear, and his tail flickered back and forth in his extreme annoyance.
Eris stepped from her home, growling low and long. Her lime-colored eyes swept the ruins for signs of the invaders, hoping they did not number too many. Perhaps some of Salsola might realize their Auxiliary was left alone and they would return to her -- this was her only hope of defeating multiple foes, she thought.
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