Let's Get Down to Business

The porcupine lurched again, and Pyrik stiffened, preparing to spring back as quickly as his currently-available paws would allow. For a moment it bristled at him and Murkystrike. Then it began to waddle toward the trees. He glanced aside at his mentor as she joined him. She’d taken more hits between the two of them, but maybe porcupines tasted good enough to fight for.

Murkystrike didn’t move; neither did he, until the last of the porcupine’s tail had vanished between the pines. Only then did Pyrik’s shoulders slump. “I’ve seen those before, but I didn’t know they lived here, too… Ow.” Though adrenaline numbed the worst of the pain, he could still feel the slight jabs in his forepaw. He raised it to peer at the quills. Pulling them out would cause more problems than it solved; even if he’d known what else to do about them, neither he nor Murkystrike were in a position to go roaming the marsh for herbs. “…Are we still hunting?” Please say no rang so clearly in his tone and his uncertain smile, he might as well have said it outright. “I can probably—” Pyrik looked at his paw again, reevaluated. ”Okay, I don’t know if I can pounce with this, but I can try?”

Pyrik waited at her side, and when he looked over to her she shook her head slightly. The quills in her chest were pulling painfully, if she could avoid collecting more she would. They would let the other warriors in camp know about it, and they could send a patrol out to finish driving it off. For now... Her shoulders slumped as Pyrik's did, the porcupine finally well out of sight. He raised his paw, and she looked at it sympathetically. She almost laughed as he asked if they were still hunting, looking at her with a silent plea in his eyes and tone. "No no, we're done for today. We don't want to hurt ourselves more trying to push our limits. Let's collect what we caught, and head back to camp. Once there, I want you to go straight to Rookfire. I'll meet you there once I've stopped our prey on the fresh-kill pile and warned the other warriors. They can finish driving it off." Murkystrike chuckled as she limped over to her bird, leaving Pyrik to collect his mouse. With a flick of her tail, the two began the journey back to camp, taking their time to avoid disturbing the quills sticking out of them too much.