The Sigil Makers

Chapter 12

Woe's grieving was cut short by rustling coming from outside the small clearing. In a moment of panic, she grabbed her sister by the scruff and tossed her to Aureate. The ginger smilodon looked confusedly at the recently passed body of the young felid before Cypress pushed her way through the shrubs and into the clearing.

"I heard commotion.. what..", her voice trailed off when she saw the dead body of her daughter. Her eyes widened and she began lashing her tail to and fro.

"Aureate killed Bliss", Woe blurted out. Her thoughts were running a hundred miles per hour and she was having a hard time thinking sensibly.

"What?" Cypress growled. Emotion laced her voice. Woe saw how her mother stretched out her toes and dug her sharp claws into the soil below.

"W-what? No I didn't-! Woe killed her, with that branch!" Aureate's voice was lined with panic. And betrayal. Woe thought, but it was too late to go back.

"I tried to save her, but it was too late", Woe's words were hardly louder than a whisper. I tried to save her, but she refused to listen.

Cypress stayed silent for a moment. "We offered you a home. We offered you food and shelter. We gave you a second chance when you failed to keep my daughters safe the first time and now you murdered one of my cubs?"

"I- No, that's not true! I-", Aureate was cut off by Cypress launching at her. The two smilodon thumped against the ground and Woe could hear Aureate gasp for breath underneath Cypress' crushing weight.

"And now you dare to blame my only living cub?" Cypress snarled while pinning the helpless smilodon down.

"I swear I didn't do anything!" Aureate bawled and attempted to claw at Cypress' shoulders. The brown smilodon didn't budge. A deep growl rose from her throat when she sank her sharp saber-teeth into the ginger felid's throat and ripped a sizeable chunk of skin, fur and meat out of Aureate's gullet. The ginger smilodon rasped as she tried her best to gasp for air, before the struggling calmed and she lay still beneath Cypress' paws.

Silence filled the clearing. Woe could hear her own heart beating rapidly in her chest. Even the birds didn't sing. 

"I am so, so sorry I couldn't protect your sister", Cypress uttered. You couldn't have protected either of us. Blood dripped down her muzzle and onto the ground, bending the grass blades.

Woe stared at Aureate's lifeless body. Blood was oozing out of the missing chunk of muscle on her throat. The gory sight almost distracted Woe from her sister, whose dead body was still laying breathless on the ground before Aureate's. The stick still lodged in her throat was dripping blood from where it had been stabbed through Bliss' gullet. A soft wind twirled her otherwise motionless hairs. 

"Yeah, me too", Woe whispered. A lump was stuck in her throat. I could have saved both of them if only I had let Bliss kill me instead. She shook her head; nobody would blame her if she told the truth of how Bliss attempted to take her life first. Cypress would still blame me. The brown smilodon was still staring at Aureate's dead body with only pure hatred and anger lining her gaze. Woe wished she could have been able to console her mother, but she couldn't find the right words for it. 

Cypress grabbed Bliss by the scruff and threw her lifeless body over her shoulder and traipsed out of the clearing. "Push Aureate's body in the river. Maybe she'll be of use one last time feeding the fish", she growled.

Woe nodded and watched as Cypress made her way out of the clearing, balancing Bliss' dead body on her back. Then she turned back to Aureate.

"I am sorry, Aureate. I really am. You were never meant to die here, like this", Woe whispered her goodbyes to the ginger smilodon before she placed her snout underneath her side and swiftly nodded upwards to push her body into the flooding river. "Goodbye", she watched as the water splashed heavily and swallowed the ginger felid into its waves. 

Woe slipped between the tall shrub bushes and made her way back to the temporary camp. She noticed a blood trail following deep pawprints. She let her head hang low, following the trail back to camp. She played the events again and again in her head, the dying expression on her sister's face forever scorned into her memory. The taste of her own blood in her mouth would always remind her of this day.

The other smilodons had gathered around Bliss' body in the clearing. Their expressions were mixes of grief and confusion and anger. Eyes and Mammoth were standing beside the body, their claws digging into the soil below. Mastodon was nowhere to be seen. Cypress stood near Bliss' head, grooming and smoothing out the messy hairs.

"Where's Mastodon?" Woe asked timidly.

"He's still out hunting. Woe, your battle wounds! Let me fix those before the funeral ceremony", Eyes looked up at her. Her eyes we bright, but obvious pain still circled her pupils. She's relieved I'm alright.

Woe sat down and watched as Eyes applied some kind of green mush on the bite wound on her neck and other scratches that had gathered around her body. She looked at the furless patch of skin on her left forearm. Bliss always wanted a cool battle scar to adorn on her pelt. Woe felt a lump in her throat. She pressed the hairs around the patchy scar to hide it as best as she could. 

"That wound on your throat will most likely leave a scar. Oh, Woe, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know what it feels like to lose a family member", Eyes' voice was full of sympathy. She lost her mate years ago. What was his name again? Carabidae. 

I never thought I'd have to lose a family member like this.