The wind hadn't been blowing back to Wolfhive, so he'd completely missed the scent until Alpinepaw had moved away from him and caught a whiff of it.
Rot....
It made him tense, hackles raised as he moved to follow her. More importantly, to pass her to see what was ahead.
Past the worst of the trees, he spotted him - a familiar gray and white form sunken against the earth. Around him, grisly dark birds pecked at his remains, tearing chunks of stale flesh from their former host.
The scent was more sickening to Wolfhive than anything. It reminded him of Acornkit, her corpse mangled and left to rot under the heat of the sun.
A low, feral growl rumbled in his throat.
"Stay back, don't look." Not like this, not when it was so gruesome.
"... Just stay back."
They hadn't noticed them, or perhaps didn't care. Regardless, Wolfhive knew this creatures needed to leave... and they'd need to bury the remains. What was left of them, though he wasn't sure bringing them to the graveyard was the best option in their current condition.
"I'm going to drive them off." It was stiff, what needed to be done.
"I don't expect you to get close, you aren't trained if they fight back. But I do need you to listen - if something goes wrong, can you make it back to camp?"
He doesn't, for the record, plan on being defeated by some birds. But Wolfhive didn't want his apprentice being completely stranded if things did go awry.
[ @
Highsnow of Matterhorn ]
Re: Willow's Rise
