Ballad of the Brothers: The Lion

Chapter Ten

Caiaphas rose an hour before dawn. His back was sore because of the rocky ground under his tent, but he was determined to tough it out.  The chill of the morning breeze stung his face. He didn't even realize how close it was to winter, because he was so busy trying to not die, fighting and trudging on and on through the accursed desert sands.
He had left the Jagd the morning after the Fall Equinox Festival, bag full of supplies and nearly ready to burst open. The funny thing about it was that he actually UNDERPACKED.
He thought about his final month in the Jagd. His peers were in awe at how quickly and confidently he volunteered for such an arduous task, and he was met with overall well-wishing, even from those who used to bully him. Though there were some skeptics who knew that he was unqualified for the job of putting a stop to such a vague issue by virtue of his lack of proficiency in using his gifts, they provided him with valid criticism, which he accepted gratefully. He knew that he was weak, and so his first priority was to compensate for his weakness somehow…The easiest way to do that is to find other people who complement your strengths and weaknesses.
Caiaphas was not a naturally social guy. He viewed relationships through a lens of risk, reward, and moral effects, and as such was very careful about who he spent time with. Despite this, he wasn't clueless, and to the observer, they might actually view him as socially adept, but that is a ruse. He smirked at this thought, full of irony. He actually wanted to be a genuinely nice person, but he knew that there was some truth to the saying, 'Nice guys finish last.'
  His train of thought was interrupted by his foot bumping into something warm and fluffy. It was a fox, with a matted and bloody coat, drool leaking out of it's open maw. It twitched, as if trying to move. Caiaphas stooped down, and felt for a pulse. It was alive, and seemed healthy despite being covered in scars and being unable to move. Though, he couldn't discern if it was paralyzed and just exhausted.
He put his hand on it's nose, trying to annoy it. It's breathing only sped up at this, returning to normal shortly after. He then wedged his fist into it's mouth, and tapped it on the nose again. It wasn't biting, though the jaw did twitch. He sighed, and rose, half dead fox slung onto his shoulder, heading back into camp. He didn't intend to keep it, but rather nurse it back to full strength. He didn't know why, but it reminded him of himself. He felt a kinship with it

Reuben was eating some berries he had found nearby  They had already eaten breakfast, and Caiaphas was sitting on the log next to him, the fox in his lap. He was feeding it some strips of the hare meat from his meal by hand. It wasn't able to chew, but it could swallow.  He, Reuben, and Shen were waiting for Gaol to wake up for a second opinion, Shen reminding them of her field aid training.
Gaol was nearly in a swoon when she saw the fox. She immediately took it from Caiaphas and was fawning over it as she inspected it. She was able to calm down enough to give them an assessment.
"The fox is extremely healthy, it's just very dirty, and ate something that it shouldn't have. Are you familiar with the poison of the carnivorous weed Baba Yaga? It's a leaves are extremely alluring to animals, carnivores and herbivores alike. It emits a strong pheromone that influences them to eat it. They then get paralyzed, and become vulnerable to other predators, though the toxin itself isn't fatal. The plant itself feeds off of the decaying remains. This fox here was able to get away from it after realizing what it was, and actually was intelligent enough to force itself to gag by forcing a branch down it's throat. I was able to get it to cough up this fragment of it here."
The leaf glistened in her hand, green and juicy looking, similar to spinach. Despite it being covered in fox spit, Caiaphas had to fight the urge not to devour it. Reuben meanwhile looked at it in disgust. "That'd make for a killer salad." He joked. Shen erupted into a guffawing of laughter at this. Caiphas grinned.
"So, after it gets this stuff out of it's system, it'll be fine to put it back in the wild, right?" He inquired curiosly.
"That is correct. I'd give it about two, three days. We might as well take it with us on the way to town."
"Good idea." Shen nodded.
Caiaphas gestured towards his tent. "I'll just grab my stuff, then. Now that this is settled, we should really get moving."