Painted Flowers

Chapter 7 - The Stranger

Layali was not having a good afternoon.

Determined with her newfound mission after her argument with her Dreamwalker the previous night, the banished princess had pressed on, traveling for countless hours under the hot sun. Her attempt to catch a crow for breakfast had failed, with her only encounter with a flock resulting in dozens of eyes mocking her from the trees and wasted energy from her end.

A scent line belonging to pack dogs did not stop her from seeking the watering hole her thirst had forced her to track. She would be in and out of there quickly, and they would assume her to be a passerby--hopefully. When she had found it and was finally able to quench herself, she failed to notice the other threat in the form of a raging bull elephant, separated from its herd, until it charged at her unprovoked. She had only just managed to scramble away in time before she was squashed. A horrifying incident with the giant beast, with only her pride being bruised.

The worst part of the entire day? Attempting to hunt impala. Nobody had warned her how fast those things were! She had grown up eating meat regurgitated from her parents, and then casually taking the first bite from whatever they had brought down during her early lessons, and never expected the actual animal, soaring effortlessly through the air as if it were weightless, to be so difficult to catch.

Her shoulder was badly damaged. The doe's hind hoof had pierced the skin, but Layali was unsure if any bones were broken. It hurt bad enough that she at least had a severe limp, and had only barely managed to drag herself to a log for shelter before collapsing. She lay there for several minutes, willing her energy to return and forcing herself to focus on something other than the immense pain on her right leg. After what felt like hours, she shamefully began licking her wounds.

She realized that had left blood all over the field, in the middle of some pack's land, but at that point couldn't be bothered to care. She was exhausted. The days spent traveling without a bite of food, the failure of the hunt, the crippling of her limb. It was all too much.

Just let something find me and eat me already. I'm sorry, Baba--I have failed.

Now Layali found herself dozing in and out of consciousness, occasionally battering away curious beaks nipping at her back. The scavengers had found her already, eagerly awaiting the moment she passed so they could feast on her flesh. With that gruesome imagery now in her mind, she was startled awake by the shrill cry of one of the vultures just outside the log. Her heart pounded in her ears as she weakly crawled forward, poking her muzzle out of the shelter. What had caused the alarm, a predator?

Timidly, she scented the air, preparing for the worst--but the scent was of a painted dog. Regretfully, she remembered the stranger pack's scentline--she had crossed it again during the chase, hadn't she? Maybe whoever this was would help an intruder? She should make her presence known now, just in case.

"Wh-who's there?" Layali croaked.

No response. She tilted her head in confusion, before slowly pulling the rest of her body out. Was she imagining things? Better to be safe than sorry.

"I can smell another dog," she announced. "Can you help me? Or...at least show yourself."

Layali scanned the grass, focusing on the scent. She finally spotted him, a young male somewhere around her age, camouflaged among the foliage, low to the ground as if he was hiding from her. She blinked at him in wonder.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're by yourself," she sighed in relief. "What pack lives on this land? I'm assuming you're one of them?"

This dog almost seemed...frightened? He took a few steps backward with eyes darting around, as if searching for an escape route. Layali found it kind of amusing at first, given the circumstances, but after a few moments of tense silence in which he didn't acknowledge her, grew annoyed.