Okay, I have more notes on this section at home I may incorporate into this little bit of fic, but as I don’t have my notepad with me right now I can’t do that yet. Just bear with me for a while…
And if Drag can bully her scanner into working ( 
) I may post a picture of Xarr, even though the caption on the pic is wrong…
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It took me four days to get to the plains, the last of those long, weary days spent sprinting from tree to tree as the forest thinned, as much afraid of my own helplessness if caught on the ground as of the unknown dangers that lurked out there… I sat in the last tree before the wide grasslands for a long time, arguing with myself, daring myself to take that last bold step and start to traverse the openness…
A hunter should not get scared. At least, that was what we were told as children – the hunters were fearless, a breed apart from the ordinary sligs… and yet… and yet, I was scared. More than just scared, in fact – near on terrified. At ground level I couldn’t run, couldn’t wield my harpoon with even half the dexterity I could in a tree… I felt I might as well just carry a sign saying
“here I am, eat me.”
In my tree, I felt safe, no matter that it was a truncated wind-twisted little specimen, and even in the highest branches I was scarcely above scrab head-height. I scratched annoyedly at my face – out from the cool, vaguely damp air of the forest, the broad strike of red clay and plant gum across my snout was going hard, and uncomfortable. I’d applied it to break up my shape in the dappled shadows; usually it stayed slightly tacky, supple – but the gum was hardening in the arid grassland air, and it was irritating my skin…
Oh, what the hell. So what if I got killed in the first hour or two? I’d never get home, anyway, I’d starve before I got halfway back. Boldly, I dropped to the ground, swallowed thickly over the lump in my throat, and set off, not knowing where I was going, just walking, walking…
I lost all track of how long I walked for; the hot, dry air had made the back of my throat hurt, and I could feel by skin burning where the sun beat unmercifully upon it… But still I trudged on, woodenly…
I heard the yell before I saw the figures ahead, shimmering in the midday heat-haze. My heart lurched – they were running toward me, and I could hear the angry yells, even though I couldn’t pick out the words. I wanted to explain myself, explain why I was there, but I never got the chance. Aside from the fact my throat wouldn’t allow me to speak in anything more than a hoarse autumn-leaves croak, the first mudokons had reached me…
And the closest brought his spear smartly down on my skull. It was like being dragged down a long dark tunnel, my world imploding, brilliant stars exploding in my eyes, and then…
…nothing.