Wolf of the Emperor

Chapter 6

It took Seth and the two females about six days to get the entrance to the cave the way he wanted.  Once the entrance was chiseled the way he wanted it he took some time to smooth it as best possible.  This wasn’t for cosmetic reasons but so the frame he was going to put in would fit as snuggly as possible.

Once they were done with the entrance he had the two Warblers dig down where he wanted to put the uprights for the frame.  This had led to more chiseling so the base of the uprights would fit reasonably squarely against the sides of the entrance.  That had taken another day to complete.  Once that was done he had decided to take the next day off till the rain let up for a while.

Seth was sitting in the tent and was grooming Kleth and getting as much loose fur out as possible.  Both she and Cleasal were shedding heavily as they got rid of the winter coat.  For that he really wished that it wasn’t raining so they could do it outside.  The fine hairs were getting into everything including what Leosafr was cooking.

As he was brushing her he heard a tremendous sneeze and looked up and had to grin.  Marthag was doing the same for Cleasal and a tuft of hair had gotten stuck on her nose.  As he was watching her try and get it off she sneezed again and he could have sworn her fur stuck almost straight out from her body.  “The joys of having a symbiote huh?  Grooming, cleaning, the taste of fur in your stew.  Gotta love it.”

She sneezed one last time before getting the fur off her nose and glowered at him.  “Not funny skin ball.  I was starting to worry that I was going to have to go and find my nose.”  She rubbed it one more time and then started laughing when Kletharl did a sneak attack with her tail and tickled his nose till he sneezed.

“Damn it Kleth that wasn’t funny.  Just for that I am going to brush your tail backwards.”  When she smacked him in the face for that he growled at her.  Just for good measure he caught her tail and tugged on it.  “Got the tail furball and what is you going to do about it?”

Leosafr looked at the four and sighed.  “Avoid stirring fur up.  Dinner is soon and both get the top layer with extra fur.”  Just for good measure she thumped her foot pad at them and glowered.

Seth winced and shared a look with Marthag.  “Sorry Leosafr we are mostly done so hopefully some will settle.”  He bagged up the fur he had brushed free and added it to the rest of the fur he had collected.  It would make for some comfortable pillows and cushions.

Kletharl stretched and carefully moved over to Leosafr and lightly bumped her with her head.  Just for good measure she gave her a swipe of her tongue before sitting down and trying her pathetic kitty eyes on her.

Leosafr scratched an ear and then narrowed her eyes.  “Not happening Kletharl.  I am becoming immune to the sad bunny eyes.  The leftovers will be for breakfast and you get that nice juicy leg of too many teeth antelope thing.”

Marthag laughed at the two of them.  “I am glad you are getting more comfortable with the Gudag Leosafr.  I am pleased that you have relaxed a bit as well.”  She knew that part of it was getting into a routine similar to what she had on the ship.

Mendasol was grinning at the interaction even as he was watching the sensors.  He had the small projector showing what was being seen by Seth’s helmet and the display screen showing what the pod was sensing. 

When he glanced back at the displays he frowned.  From the Pod he noticed several indicators for larger animals.  They were a distance away but were heading towards the valley wall.  If they kept in the direction they were going they would end up somewhere near their camp in the next couple of hours.  “Seth come, take a look at the view screen.  We have movement.”