Odymn returns from foraging
and the Slain is gone.
She panics.
Wakes Wen-le-gone
and berates him.
"I could not stop him,"
says Wen-le-gone.
"He needs to move.
Rebuild his strength."
She starts into the woods
and meets the Slain,
returning to camp.
He wears his armour,
sparking blue.
He catches her with one arm.
A brace of midlar in his right hand.
The smell of burned fur
on their carcasses.
Odymn chastises him.
"How will you ever heal?"
The Slain has nothing to say.
He rakes coals
to the edge of the fire.
Rigs a spit.
Twists the head
from each midlar.
Strips the fur, the skin
turned inside out.
Guts the carcass
with a sharp rock.
Severs each frail paw.
Skewers the bundles
of muscle and bone
on the spit.
Odymn, vegan, beyond disgusted.
Nauseated, she looks to Wen-le-gone
for support and sympathy.
But he is busy
nibbling bark
from a long stick.
YOU ARE READING
Meniscus: One Point Five - Forty Missing Days
Science FictionAfter the Slain is shot, Odymn and an Argenop elder work together to try and return him to good health. As they journey towards the Themble, survival is a challenge. Odymn must add to her foraging skills and survive an attack by the vicious kotildi...
