Eyeseffendee

17

I'm doing illustrations from this book for my AP art portfolio! I'll add them once I'm done with all of them

The coyotes got up and began walking towards the north, scowling at each other and the lack of sleep, but Verde stayed behind, rubbing his eyes. I couldn't tell how bad it was, but one of his eyes was bleeding.

We just made things worse. We've wasted time and Verde has a wounded eye. I thought regretfully.

I helped him up and let him regain his balance on my shoulder.

"That was foolish of us . . . of me. I apologize for my tribe." He rasped.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Saguero." I said harshly, leaving him to catch up with Sarah.

"Ugh." I hacked.

"I couldn't agree with you more." She replied.

I started trotting, encouraging the coyotes behind me to go a little faster. We were all tired and ornery, but I was anxious to get back to my tribe. I wanted to bite off that Shifter's ugly tail and choke him with it.

"Astor, you trust the spirits, don't you?" Sarah asked me in a worried tone.

I hesitated for a moment. Nope not at all.

"Uh, no, not really. They've helped us a lot, don't get me wrong, but with the false information about the Guerro, and the Fuego assassins, and you can't remember the way back . . . it isn't easy to trust them."

She pouted, not meeting my eyes. "Alright. But I trust them. I trust them with my life."

I didn't know what to say. I didn't think trusting anyone with your life was a good idea.

"Do you want to hear about my dream?" I asked after a long, quiet moment.

"No." She said.

"Okay so you were in it, and you came to talk to me and you were like hey I've got something to tell you and I was like what is it? And then you told me you were part mermaid and you had to go back to the ocean, but you wanted me to come with you and be the king of the ocean. I said no I can't do that, I can't swim but you didn't really care, so you tied snakes to my feet and dragged me there. They weren't big, scary snakes, they were just little garden snakes."

"Wow." She said, smiling a little bit. "I was a mermaid?"

"Part mermaid, you didn't have a tail." I replied.

She giggled. "You know, the spirits say dreams come from both your own soul and the great spirit. They're messages telling you your fears, desires and responsibilities."

"Oh really? Then why do I have such weird dreams?" I asked, starting to get into an even jog now.

"I don't know. Maybe you have lots of problems you need to sort out." She said.

"Tell me about it." I grumbled.

The run to the Piedra territory was long, muddy and exhausting. The rain had slowed to a gentle thumping, cooling us off but threatening us with the possibility of turning into a rapid downfall. We ran as fast as possible, but it was difficult with the mud. The dark red earth stained our fur and grabbed our paws, refusing to let us have an easy journey.

The elements weren't an issue though; rain was good for the desert, and the tribes accepted it, even with the possibility of flash floods. The real problem was our attitudes towards each other and the overhanging pressure to get to the Piedra tribe before more damage could be done.

The sun had been muzzled by metallic gray clouds the whole day, but we could see it's bright golden light glowing through the clouds near the evening. The wet light shined off the red cliffs, illuminating every sage brush and prickly plant. It felt odd to see the pink and yellow light after a cool, misty day. But it felt unreal to see the tall red cliffs surrounding the Piedra territory again.

The fifth claw stood proudly, watching over the golden land of hills and ravines, cacti and juniper trees, pronghorns and desert mice. I missed this place.

"We're coming up to the southern border!" I called out. "Once we cross it, let's rest. We'll need our strength if we encounter the Fuego."

There were a few cheers of happiness and sighs of relief, but it became quiet again, leaving the air filled with the rumble of our feet.

I could only smell the weak border right as I was crossing it. I halted, causing the tribe to slow down behind me.

"Have we crossed the border?" Mountain asked, his tongue lolling out and panting heavily.

"We just passed it," I said, backtracking to the border to investigate. "it's extremely faint."

Verde came beside me to sniff it. "Yes, it's old. The rain must have washed most of it, but a patrol should have marked it yesterday. This border hasn't been touched in a while."

I frowned. Hawk was right. If the Fuegos has enslaved them, there wouldn't have been any need to mark the border.

"Let's rest. We'll investigate the camp later tonight, see what we have on our paws. Any volunteers for first watch?" I asked.

It was silent.

I sighed and was about to volunteer myself when the little, dark-furred coyote spoke up. "I want to do it." She barked.

I smiled weakly. "Thank you."

The five other coyotes collapsed, not even bothering to find a comfortable position or lick their raw feet. Before I collapsed myself, I hobbled over to the young coyote.

"Hey, I never asked your name." I said, sitting beside her.

"I'm Rabbit." She said, her sparkling green eyes focused on mine. "It's an honor being here Astor. I'm so happy that I can live up to the Guerro legacy now." She spoke with intense admiration, as if it had been her lifelong dream to follow a raggedy, angsty teenager through the desert to fight a Navajo demon.

"I'm glad you're happy to be here. Keep up that attitude, we need your positivity." I said.

She beamed up at me. "I'll try my best!"

I gave her a quick, tired smile, then found a place by Sarah to sleep.

I wanted to talk to her, but she was snoring violently. I sighed. I felt nervous about everything: staying hidden from the Fuego, battling the shifter, dealing with Snake (who may or may not have transformed into a wendigo), talking to Sego about everything . . . but there wasn't much I could do now. I could have gotten up and chatted with Rabbit again, but she wouldn't have understood. It felt like Sarah was the only one who understood.