[p] cut it out of my mouth

Vesper · 09-07-2012, 12:42 PM

[html]

For Raoth! Set in Arachnea's Revenge, close to CdC.

It had been nice coming home (the encounter with her Aquila’s sister aside), but Vesper still craved the routine of constant patrolling and checking up on the lands just outside of Inferni. She padded south from her territory, heading through the short strip of grassland into the mixed forest that spread across the center of the peninsula: Arachnea’s Revenge, a place she had frequented when she was a loner. It was nice to walk the old paths she still remembered, finding a little pond that had been her drinking source last time this year. She stopped and smiled, cocking her head and observing the glittering water in silence, before turning and trotting onward.

Stark would mock her for being so nostalgic, no doubt, but for once the Inferni second-in-command was not being babysat by the big black bird. With her shift toward working with the ravens, her usual scouting partner had offered to help out and observe them in ways she could not. He said he’d pick out a few that showed real promise as scouts and perhaps hook them up with a coyote the same way he’d hooked up with her—although Ves liked to think her little bond with the old crow was special.

Perhaps one of the puppies would be interested in a raven partner, and Vesper could start a tradition from there. She’d told Stark as much, and he’d made fun of her, but she knew when he was gently shooting down an idea and when he was just teasing about something that might work—this time, it had been the latter. She still felt silly at the thought of bringing the idea to Myrika or even the rest of the clan, but who knew? Ezekiel had had a raven companion, and she knew Ithiel had his vulture, so it wasn’t too far-fetched.

The patter of tiny paws made the coyote halt, her ear swiveling toward the sound, the line of her body alert. She swished her tail once then made a pounce at the mouse, which scuttled free and wedged itself underneath a bush. She scowled, glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was looking, then nearly stretched out on her belly to follow suit. As a pale paw rushed out to smack the mouse senseless where it was trapped against the trunk of the shrub, however, it became caught on something sticky. She jerked back, dislodging twigs and more of the stickiness, then scrambled out into the open as she rubbed her paw on her muzzle and tried to get the spiderweb off.

+431

Login




Remember me Lost Password?