Reborn as a Side Character in the Beastworld

Chapter Twenty-one

Weak and pathetic yips from a small creature woke him from his doze. He had just consumed an entire floating beast and was now laying at the bottom of the lake, digesting. The sound was persistent and preventing him from falling back asleep. Deciding to go silence the creature, he swam his way towards the sound, but what he saw confused him thoroughly.

Floating in the middle of his lake, a female, with hair the color of fire, clung unconsciously to a log. And inside the log, a small fox kit was anxiously yipping, trying to wake her. The smell of blood wafted over to him on the breeze and he could see the right side of her face covered in it.

He swam closer. His scales slid smoothly through the water, creating no ripples. The female was starting to slip from the log, so he wound himself around her middle, keeping her in place. The cub hadn't noticed him yet. It was still alternating between yipping and licking the female's wounds.

He lifted his head out of the water and the cub shivered in cold and fear at his appearance. But instead of cowering, the brave little thing put himself between him and his mother as much as the space on the log allowed. The little fox barked and yipped at him as aggressively as the young thing could manage.

He smirked in amusement. "Easy cub. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm already full. Is this your mother?"

*Yip*

"Hmmmm." He hummed, intrigued. "She's a unique one. She isn't letting go even though she's unconscious."

*Whimper*

"It's alright. She's still breathing. Climb on. Let's get you to shore."

*Yip*

"You don't trust me? Well, that's smart of you, but what else are you going to do? Stay out here until she slips and drowns?" He didn't tell the cub that he was already preventing the female from doing just that.

*Whimper*

"Hurry up. I have all day, but you don't"

The cub, understanding he had no other option, walked to the edge of the log and put a paw out. The male lifted his body from the water just enough so the cub could climb on just behind his head. Still wrapped around the female's waist and ensuring her head stayed above water, he swam them both to shore.

Once on the lake's bank, he shifted and picked the female up. He let the cub jump up onto her as he walked them a short distance. Once at the base of a large tree where the ground was dry and clear of sharp rocks, he laid her down. He stood up and started to walk away.

*Gruu?*

"What? I've got to build a fire, don't I? You don't want her to die from cold, do you? Just wait there and try to keep her warm."

*Whine*

The fox cub did as he was told and snuggled into his mother's side.

The snake gathered an armful of dry sticks and branches, and using the friction method, expertly got a fire started. He then got closer to the female and began to strip her.

*YIP!*

"The clothes are wet. They'll prevent her from getting warm. Can I continue now or are you going to interrupt everything I do?"

The cub drooped his ears and tail and went back to watching quietly.

"Good kit. You're pretty smart for your age, aren't you?" The snake smiled appreciatively. "Thanks to you, your mom will probably survive. You should feel proud." The cub's ears perked a little at that.

Once the female was comfortably warming by the fire, the snake inspected the wound on her head. It wasn't bad. She had two shallow, long cuts. One ran from her hairline to just across the right eyebrow and the other ran from her right temple and across to the middle of her cheek. They wouldn't need any treatment except maybe a salve to stop the bleeding.

He didn't know how to make such a thing so he settled for cleaning the wounds with clean water and allowing it to dry. He had noticed her mate marks and knew that if he waited long enough, they would show up to take her back.

He directed his attention to the cub. The kit's fur was drying thanks to the fire but the little thing looked exhausted. Thinking he should at least feed the brave fox, he partially shifted his tail and slithered up the tree. Finding a couple eggs, he brought them down.

"Eat then sleep. Her mates should be here soon." He placed the eggs in front of the cub.

*Whimper*

"Relax. I won't go anywhere." Too prove to the fox his words were true, he curled his tail underneath the female's head like a pillow and leaned lazily against the tree's trunk, closing his eyes as if to nap. The sound of eggshells breaking and a little tongue lapping reached his ears. Satisfied, the snake fell deep in to his own thoughts.

He'd lived a long time but had never met a female that would willingly risk their life for their cub. Their mate's life? Sure. But not their own. Based on how he had found them, they must have been swept up in a river's current and taken downstream. The waterfall should have crushed and drowned them but they'd miraculously survived. Despite all of this, she had held on to log and her cub. It was a feat he would have thought impossible if he hadn't seen it for himself.

He was intrigued and hoped the female would wake before her mates arrived. He wanted to talk with her. Even if only for a little while.