The Otter with the Warpaint

Chapter 4

    She woke up the next morning with the sunlight pouring into the hut. She sleepily blinked before getting up. She had remembered what she had done last night. Three otters were killed by her. 
    Whom shall I kill next? She stared at the rest of the tribe who were now surrounding the chief's rock. Maybe Tussock or Bristle. Sitka joined the rest of the otters who gathered around the rock. 
A deep grey otter rose to the top of the rock. 
“With great sadness, Chief Oak of the Achak Tribe was killed yesterday,” his voice boomed. The crowd gasped in fright. “Now, I shall look after the tribe as your new chief. 
Chief Elm that is.” 
    Chief Elm, eh? Well, I hope you are a talented fighter for you just might be my next prey. Otters began to exit the camp and go about their day. Sitka went back into the hut but grabbed a basket this time. She was planning to go ‘herb picking’. Another item she grabbed was a belt. But it wasn’t just a belt. This belt carried a stone dagger. 
    Her father had crafted the dagger a long time ago because they had no weapons and needed one. He told her never to touch it but she took it for murder. If he caught her with it, she would just tell him that she needed to protect herself from the killer. 
    Sitka swiftly left the hut. She left the camp and into the trees that surrounded the camp. A slim pathway that was lined with brambles took her to a small clearing where plants like mint, horsemint, loveroot, tarragon, and sagebrush grew. She began carefully picking a lock of horsemint. She carefully set the purple flowers into the woven basket. Next, she picked some sagebrush. She placed a large lock of the pale green plant into her basket. Then, she grabbed a lock of the small white flowers which grew next to the horsemint.
    This herb was loveroot. She set it on top of the sagebrush. She quickly made some mint which looked like stinging nettle from a glance. She placed it in her basket. Now, it was time to go kill someone. 
    It was now noon. Sitka left the basket of herbs in the cleaning so she could gather them later. She hid the basket a patch of poppies. Before she left the herb clearing, the Sitka rolled in the patch of tarragon which hid her scent. 
    She began to head through the forest, in search of someone to kill. Hmm, maybe Tussock is down by the western river, fishing. It's said to be the most rapid river but it's the best place to fish. 
    Sitka began to head west to the rivers. She darted as fast as her other legs would let her. Under logs and over brambles. Tall cedars towered over the otter. Birds sang and chattered. Soon, she arrived in the eastern rivers. Tussock was sitting by the river with a net cast into the river. Several other otters were there too. Guards. 
    These were guards that were off duty. Friends of Tussock that is. First, she needed to take out Tussock. Sitka leapt into a bush that was the closest to Tussock. He whipped his head around to see nothing but the bush shaking. He began to creep closer to the bush. 
    Suddenly, she grabbed him by the neck and sliced his throat. She released him from her grip as he screamed. The six other otters were alerted by the scream. She jumped from the bush and began to dart the other way. The otters ran as fast as they could. The bridge is what she was headed for. Sitka jumped onto the oak log which was the bridge. 
    Once she had made it across, Sitka pushed the log into the river, preventing the guards from coming across. 
'    “so, you're the killer,” Bristle, the largest guard who was also a commander, hiss. 
    “Wasn’t it quite obvious, Bristle,” she grinned with the stone dagger in her hand. 
    “We never expected a dainty flower like you to murder our chief,” he spat. 
    “Your bad at insults,” she giggled, “now, are you going to cross the river or are you just going to sit there and throw more horrible insults?”
    Bristle turned around to the five other guards. They huddled up in a circle. 
    “How will we cross the river?” a scrawny otter asked Bristle. 
    “Well, does anyone have a sturdy rope?” he asked. 
    “I do,” a grey otter brought out a long rope from his belt.
    “Good. We will all have to tie ourselves to the rope. I will be in the front and I’ll grab that large root that sticks out into the river and I’ll hoist us all up,” Bristle explained. The five otters nodded and began to make a large enough loop in the rope but splitting the strings apart. Bristle was the last to get himself on the rope. 
    “I'm surprised you haven’t run off yet,” Bristle yelled to Sitka. 
    “I just want to wait and see what happens,” she admitted. 
    “On three we jump,” Bristle commanded, “one, two, THREE.” The six otters leaped into the river. Bristle had almost made it to the other side but his hand slipped and he grabbed ahold of the root as he had planned. He held tightly with both hands and began to pull himself up. The five other otters just drifted in the river, waiting for Bristle to pull them up. 
    Sitka walked over to Bristle. 
    “You're stronger than I thought,” she grinned with her dagger in her hand, “but you forgot one thing, Bristle. You should have sent an otter to go spread the news.” Bristle’s eyes widened with terror. 
    Sitka took the large dagger of hers and swiped it at Bristle’s hand. His hand detached from his wrist with a scream. The six otters were swept away by the rapid river. Before Bristle’s hand could be swept away into the river with his body, she grabbed it. 
    “It's too bad, Bristle,” she grinned, “you could have killed me but you were such a fool… such a fool.”. 
    Sitka crossed the river by walking over a low hanging oak which she could walk across. She left his hand by the river that had swept him away. The otter washed up in a stream before retrieving her basket of herbs and going home. 
    She set the basket in her hut. The sky was darkening and she knew that soon she would go to sleep. She was so exhausted from her murderous day that she just wanted to curl up on her moss bedding and fall asleep but she just couldn’t. One more death today. 
    She happily trotted into the village to see who to kill next. She sat down in the center of the camp and looked around. Little otter pups played around the nursery as their nanny, Sage. She was a beautiful otter, even to Sitka she was, who watched over the tribe’s pup when their parents were away. 
    A strange otter sat next to her. He had a deep brown pelt with tan markings down his back. This was Pineneedle. He was training to be a warrior for the tribe but seemed as weak as a worm. Sitka always knew Pineneedle had a crush on her but she didn’t like him because he was too energetic and cocky. 
“Hey Sitka,” he proudly spoke at last. 
“Hey Pineneedle,” she responded in a chill way. 
“So, I was wondering….,” he trailed off. 
“Wondering what,” she turned to him. 
“Do you- are you free tonight?” he corrected himself. 
“Is this a date request?” she narrowed her eyes at him. 
“Yeah,” he admitted, nervously. 
She thought for a moment. Hmmm, use this request well. “Well, I’d like that,” she nodded. 
“Really? So what would you like to do?” he asked. 
“Maybe night swimming in the lake,” she suggested. 
“That sounds great! See you then,” the otter darted off, excited that he finally got a date. She watched as he ran off, her eyes narrowed. We’ll have fun tonight 
She walked off to her hut and stepped inside. No one was inside as usual. Sitka went to the back part of the room and picked up a thick piece of rope. It was quite long too. She looped it on her belt. I think tonight shall be particularly fun…