The Otter with the Warpaint

Chapter 7

    Otters were gathered around the Southern part of the camp. Pine tried to look over their head to see what was happening. Another murder must have occurred, he thought. It had been a murder. Four otters and five beavers had been killed. Pine knew that this was the work of an Awanshi. The murders must have attracted the creature, he thought. His mother Sage came up behind him and tugged on his arm before he saw any of the bodies. 
    “Mom,” he was startled by her. 
    “I don’t want you to see anything you’ll regret,” she led him back to the hut. 
    “I'll be fine,” he growled, “I'm a grown otter.” 
    “I don’t want you to see those dead bodies,” she firmly told him, still holding his wrist. She looked down at his wrist. Small cuts were scattered all over his arm. “Pine!” she exclaimed, “you’ve been cutting yourself!”
    “Yeah,” he tried to pull his wrist away, “so what?”
    “I know your sad about Pineneedle’s death but don’t hurt yourself over it!” she was worried about her son. 
    “Pineneedle was my only brother and his life was taken by some psychotic creature! It’s my fault he died!” Pine shouted, finally tugging his hand away.
    “It’s not your fault, Pine!” Sage informed, tearfully, “you did nothing to cause his death!” 
    “It should have died instead of him!” he yelled. 
    “Doesn’t mean you have to kill yourself,” she told him. 
    Pine sighed, “your right, mom. I don’t have to kill myself.” 
    “Yeah, I’m sure Pineneedle doesn’t either,” Sage calmed down. 
    “I need to kill the one who killed him,” he spoke. 
    “No, Pine! I don’t want you getting caught up with that murder!” She cried. 
    “Well, I’m going to avenge Pineneedle either way!” Pine darted out of the hut. 
    “PINE!” Sage yelled as he bolted through the camp. Otter watched as he ran away. I’m going to kill that murderer and save my tribe but avenging Pineneedle is my main goal…

    Sitka spent her day just at home. It was quite relaxing actually. But as night fell she got anxious. Once everyone had gone to sleep, she got ready to attack. Sitka grabbed her knife and looped the belt around her waist. She knew that Sage, the otter who worked in the pup dens, wasn’t there because she was looking for her son, Pine who had run off earlier. 
    She slipped out of the hut and trotted across the camp. It was a new moon so it was quite dark out. The wind shook the leaves quietly. Sitka made her way to a large hut that had a sheet draping over it like a door. She looked into the hut to see several otter pups, laying there, asleep. Usually, Sage wouldn’t keep pups overnight and if she did, she would stay the night in the den with them. Since the murders started, most mothers kept their pups safe with Sage. Sage wasn’t there at the moment for she was still looking for Pine. 
    Sitka walked slowly up to her next victims. She quickly held one down with her paws and clamped her jaws onto one who was next to her. She shook the pup in her mouth like a rabid dog as the other one under her claws had awakened. She let go of the one in her jaws and it was tossed to the back wall. 
    She tightened her grip on the other one before grabbing another one in her jaws and shaking it around. The one under her grip had died due to all her weight being forced onto it. She dropped the other one in her mouth and struck the last pup who had just awaken. He hid in a corner, trying to get away from her. 
    Sitka lunged at her and pinned her to the ground with her jaws. The pup screamed as it was killed by Sitka. She finally let go of it. That wasn’t much fun, she thought. She slipped out of the hut and decided that she needed to get some rest. 

    Sage spent all night searching for her son. I won’t give up until I find him. She looked around the forest for her son. Pineneedle knew that she was searching for him so he stayed hidden. The otter jumped out on the path and stared as his mother wandered away. I’d better tell her to go home before the murder comes by. He darted towards her.
            "Mother," he yelled as he approached her.
“Pine!” she cried as she turned to look at him. Sage ran towards him as fast as she could, “where have you been?”
“Mother, I want you to go home right now,” Pine firmly instructed his mother. 
“What?” she looked scared, “no, Pine! I’m not leaving until you come with me!” 
“No, Sage. I’m going to kill that murder to save our tribe,” Pine shook his head firmly. 
“I can’t let you! I-I can lose two sons! What if you die?” Sage looked tearful. 
“Whatever it takes,” his eyes narrowed. Pine darted into the forest. I won’t let the killer’s actions go unpunished… 

Something was strange to Sitka when she had woken up the next morning. The tribe seemed, different. Only five otters were left in the tribe. Chief Elm came to the center of the camp. 
“Fellow otters,” he announced. The three other otters came forward to hear what he had to say. “We only have six otters left in the tribe. So, we will all stay in the camp at all times and be alert and aware.” 
The otters nodded and went off into doing this. Everyone seemed aware and alert. Smart otters, she thought to herself, but being aware and alert won’t stop me from attacking… 

After hours of waiting and carving wood, Sage was worried that the murder got Pine before he had gotten them. Her heart raced with fear. Please, Keoonik… please bring my son back…
Someone walked into the hut with his head hung low. It was Pine. 
“Pine,” Sage dropped the carving and hugged her son, “thank Keoonik your back.” 
“I think the murder is among our tribe,” Pine grimly said. Sage looked at her son. “And they won’t stop until we all go down.”