Nulif

A green shadow stalked through the jungle in the darkest hour of the night. With slow and careful steps it tried to get through the area without attracting anyones attention and to possibly find some careless prey. One foot after the other it moved soundlessly forward, no leave rustling or twig breaking under the weight of the lone Saliko. It was an experienced mayur jill with dark spots and a white tail. She didn’t feel too uncomfortable crossing through the territory of a different tribe. After all this wasn’t the first time she had to do so. Still the female preferred not having to make contact to anyone to avoid unnecessary conflict. She had investigated the area for a while and discovered that the tribe that had been living there has long broken up, but a few Salikos still remained there. Not enough to actually be a threat to her though.

After a while, the shamrock jill found a slow river with a few cornshrimps hiding between the rocks. She decided to take a short rest and lay down next to it, her paws hovering over the surface of the water. It was crystal clear and shallow, so she could easily see the little crustaceans and with a few aimed moves she managed to catch three of the orange creatures. Cracking the shell was always very tedious but worth the sore pads, as the flesh was very delicious. Satisfied with her successful and easy hunt, she rolled over onto her back and looked through the trees at the starry nightsky. A screech owl called in the distance and a few crickets were still chirping their song. Despite knowing she had to leave now, the jill didn’t want to get up. It was so perfect there, maybe she’d just stay a little while longer…

A loud harrumph jolted her awake. She had fallen asleep and that sudden sound scared her so much that she jumped to her feet and with eyes widened she looked around for any danger, but was still half asleep, so it took her a while to realise what was going on. A large, bright green Saliko with a big scar across his closed eye was standing in front of her, on the other side of the river, and looked at her curiously. It didn’t seem to want to attack her, but she remained cautious just to make sure. The strangers shadow mask was not black like usual, but a little lighter and deep green. It was a pretty, cream coated Mayur hob with stripes across the frontal half of his body and a full mane that made him seem even taller.

To hide her surprise the jill sat down again and licked her shoulder, acting as if nothing happened. Since she didn’t say anything, the male raised his voice once more.

«My name is Sage and I live here with my tribe. Who are you if I may ask?»

She ignored him at first, then took a quick glance at him and answered casually.

«Kali. I was just passing through but must’ve fallen asleep. I’ll be on my way now.»

The leaf colored male waved his tail softly, telling her to stay put.

«There’s no need to rush, I won’t hurt you if you don’t attack me. So what brought you here?»

She sighed defeatedly.

«It’s a long story…I don’t wanna talk about it right now. So what about you, I smell a lot of old Saliko scents, as if your tribemates have left a while ago. What happened here?»

He looked at her for a while, obviously questioning her trustfulness, but decided to tell her nonetheless.

«I’m sure you have heard about dawn and dusk, right?»

«Who hasn’t. I’m just not sure which of the million different stories I heard to believe. Why are you asking that?»

«Many of my tribe have left in their quest to find either dusk or dawn or to search for and help other tribemates that hadn’t returned. After a while most of them left for one reason or another, but especially because our leader was gone. I actually don’t know if he’s still alive.»

«…I…I didn’t think you’d…why are you telling me this? I’m just a stranger, I might use this against you, right?»

«I don’t think you’re the kind of Saliko to hurt others intentionally. Trust me, I know a few of those.»

«Alright, that’s all very well, but I think I should be going now anyway. Sorry if I caused you any trouble.»

«No worries. I wish you good luck on your journey.»

Kali got up and turned around, away from Sage, but after a few steps she heard a rustling in the bushes next to her. A shamrock colored jill with a white throat and black tabby appeared. The newcomer looked at the stranger first, then at the cream hob and, now with a big smile on her face, back to the jill.

«Oh hi! I knew I heard you talk to someone, Sage. Who’s this pretty soul?»

«That’s Kali, she was just passing through and is about to leave.»

«I see, well then don’t let me stand in your way.»

She nodded politely towards the spotted female, then went past and sat down next to the river, casually talking to her friend as if the intruder wasn’t even there.

«I just checked the sunrocks and it’s gotten worse. We need to do something about the snakes that have appeared there. They have laid eggs and if we wait too long they might hatch and we’d never get rid of the infestation.»

«Yeah I thought as much but I’m just not familiar enough with snakes to deal with them. They kinda creep me out.»

«Same here. We could try to find a Kumba or Tatra that might help us. They’re eating snakes for prey, right? Shouldn’t be a problem for them.»

«True, but where for mothers sake are you gonna find one around here? Maybe we should just wait for Octavia to come back. I’m sure she has a plan.»

«Might be but we have no clue when that will be. She might return tomorrow or two moons from now! We don’t have that much time.»

Kali has listened to that whole conversation and, to return the kindness of the two Mayurs that didn’t chase her away after she stole prey from their territory and slept in it, she decided to help them out.

She turned back around and slowly walked towards them.

«Hm? Did you forget something, Kali?»

«No. I’m afraid I might have overheard what you were talking about and I think I might be able to help you. I’ve been living in a swamp and there were a few snakes there, so they’re no mystery to me. It depends on the kind though.»

«Oh that would be great! The sunrocks aren’t too far from here, so if you have a minute to check it out..?»

«You’re gonna like the rocks, they heat up if the sun shines and become all warm and nice to sleep on!»

«Yeah sure, I got nowhere else to be. Sounds great!»

Together they traveled for a couple minutes, chatting happily in the meantime. Kali was still not completely comfortable, despite them being so nice, but that was the reason. They were TOO nice without a good reason and that made her uneasy.

They left the deep woods behind and came to a cliff with a lot of flat rocks in different heights and sizes. Looking off into the abyss, they were able to see forests, mountains and lakes, all the way back to the horizon. It was a beautiful place and for the first time in forever, the spotted jill was able to feel the warm sun on her fur instead of the shade of the jungle where she usually hid.

It didn’t take long until she heard a hiss closeby and looked down to see a snake curled up between the rocks. They enjoyed the warmth as well, but this place was too nice to share with scaly, cold blooded reptiles.

With a quick motion, almost as fast as a lighting flash, she snapped at the snake and grabbed it close to the head. Now it hissed madly and squirmed between her fangs, but she ran towards the edge and threw the snake off before it could release itself. Her gaze followed the creature that soared through the air, falling down until out of sight. It would not survive the fall.

Phyra and Sage had watched her closely and nodded at each other in agreement, then looked for more of the yellow neck natters that had gone astray and settled down in an unnatural habitat.

One after another they fell down the cliff into their death, but a few they just killed with a bite and left them there to try their meat later when they got hungry. Now only the eggs were left. Kali told them the eggs tasted disgusting, like dry leaves, so they just stomped them with their feet once they found a nest. Finally they were done and happily lay down on the warm rocks to sun bathe. The white tailed female was sharing one of the snakes with Sage after he asked her to and she was too polite to decline. It tasted weird and kinda bad, but that was probably what snakes always tasted like. Still they were all happy to taste the fruit of their labour.

Phyra was watching them closely, but when Kali noticed her gaze, she immediately looked away and cleaned her fur. Something was off about her, but she couldn’t quite place it.