Snippet #1529809

It was some time before the will could not escape folly of placement. The ovis was taking a detour through an entanglement of fig trees, where solid tendrils wove around trunks of form trees. The roots as well besieged the ground and on foot it was tricky to keep a sprinting pace while over coming the entanglement. In a hardy leap, the ovis had tried with desperate effort to leap a root that had poised above the air, misjudged for being thinner than it was. Its stout legs did not carry it across and the ram clipped his back hooves on the obstacle, thrown from escape to the mercy of Menita.

She stood over the animal, limbs quivering still as her heels planted on either side of the horned creature. Her hand smoothly revealed a small knife, the other grabbing the left horn in a manner that pulled back the head. Its neck exposed without much more in defiance or fear, the animal accepted defeat as her blade ran the vital course. Warm, thick blood curdled from the throat as the ovis was still intoxicated with fear and exhersion.

Always accepting the entire animal, the young Sustiva wiped her knife in a large leaf and tucked it back into its pocket before heaving the bloated ram up into her arms. It would have been the wiser to bring an animal familiar on this trip for assistance but Menita hadn't planned on catching prey this big. It would weigh her down on the walk home.

With much effort she began to turn around and make her way back, trying to find her bearing now amongst the jungle. Her almond shaped eyes were canary yellow, glassing decisively over the foliage to figure out her distance from home. There was the vermillion hibiscus, a vulnerable sprouting of weeping bells on the forest floor, and then she eyed a cluster that left her unsettled. True and vibrant in the sun, beneath an opening of canopy, sat a thriving cluster of carnivorous Heliaphora. Her expression of ease twisted in severity within the shadows; they were bright red urns that were the omen for their rival's territory.

There was a change in the air, perhaps out of a rise in guard Menita felt it send vibration up her slender spine but it felt very real to be scared. Her attention darted in several directions until it the truth was given--a man. A young, formidable stranger his form came out from behind a draping of tropical wysteria. Menita's muscle flexed but she knew given the ovis, it would be folly to run. He didn't seem to notice her or the ram burdening her arms. Would he see her? She tried to take the chance of his ignorance by slipping from the open view behind the thick trunk of a fig tree, blood dripping from the severed throat and spotting along the tangled roots.