Wow. Killed the thread. Anyway, moving on...
Dove turned away from Robin, her nose searching the air. "Excuse me," she said, distractedly, as she began to trot in the direction of the scent, a worried frown on her face.
It was hot that day, the air still and humid. There was no breeze to be found and not a cloud was in the sky. The sun beamed down hard on the earth, as if smiling like a small child who does not know he is hurting someone.
There was a rustling in the bush. "Lion," Dove whispered. There was no wind to carry his scent to her but it was so strong that she could still sense it. The smell was of dry blood and rot, of dung and battle. "Lion, come out. It's Dove." This time her voice was pleading, begging. Dove was worried.
Out of the brush came Lion, deep scratches lining the left side of his chest. His tail was down and he hung his head. One ear was slightly torn and in places he was missing patches of his tan fur. Blood dripped steadily from his neck and back. "Dove," he said, weakly. "The foxes." He said no more, but Dove understood his three simple words.
Dove escorted Lion back to the clearing and made him lie down in the herb den. Looking around anxiously for Osprey, she listened to Lion's story.
"I went off a few mornings ago before you woke up. I smelled Scorpion and decided to talk to him. Two hundred paces from here I was ambushed by a dozen fox warriors. None of them was Scorpion, but his scent was heavy on them. For sixty trotting-paces time they tore my flesh and raked my skin with their claws and teeth till I was little more than ripped muscle, broken bones, and rags of skin all hanging to a thread of life. After the foxes had left me, and just before I fell into unconsciousness, I saw Scorpion. He was sitting on the edge of the thicket where I'd been attacked, smiling devilishly. He said a single word to me: 'Agreed.' Of course he believed I would die and that the Agreement would be carried out. And I would've if it hadn't been for a girl. She was still a child, but little less than a woman. She found me and cared for me, tending to my wounds and letting me eat and drink. And I quite believe I killed her." At this point Dove had such a look of horror, unbelief, and alarm on her face that Lion laughed grimly. "Well, when I woke enough to clear my senses and stand, she wasn't there anymore. But when I went to a stream to drink, she was there. At least, her body was. She was smiling in a sad sort of way, and she seemed as if she had just given up her life there and then. She was starved, that's for sure. I have her to thank for my life. I buried her as my I could with my paw like it is, but still it didn't seem proper - no one but me knew she had died, I suppose."
Both Lion and Dove were silent for a time, and then Dove said, quite abruptly: "I will have pups this summer. Your pups, of course, Lion." Lion looked pleased, but tired. Then neither said any more. Lion slept, and Dove went away to hunt and care for the three pups.
