Chapter 5 Night Hunt Fawkes slowly trudged across the sand, passing the cactus field on his way back to the camp. It was evening, and the sky shimmered with shades of purple and orange. His troop had been searching for a spy all day until dusk. As they were heading back to the Chaos camp, Fawkes had split from them after catching the scent of a jerboa. Unfortunately, it had barely quelled his aching hunger, so he continued hunting. He yawned and blinked several times to shake off the sleepiness threatening to overtake him. Alright, if I don’t smell anything in the next five minutes, I’ll head back, he promised himself. Spreading his jaws to try to catch a scent hadn’t worked. Maybe he needed to try a different strategy. He was primarily skilled at detecting scents and rarely strayed from that method. Fawkes crouched down, scanning the area for any signs of prey or dens. This was a tactic he had observed from Crescent Moon, who had keen eyesight. Of course, she also had four eyes, which gave her an advantage in spotting things. Slowly, he inched forward after assessing the entire area. Just as he was about to place his paw down, he noticed something on the ground. There was a paw mark almost twice the size of his own, with four digits and sharp claws on each toe. It somewhat resembled Crescent's paw prints, but this one had a broken claw. Investigating further, he found a few more faint marks. They were leading in the direction he had come from. The paw prints indicated a creature with a long stride—or perhaps two paws hopping along like a kangaroo, although that seemed unlikely. The shape of the paws didn't match the elongated form of the kangaroos and jerboas he had seen. The desert usually didn’t retain footprints well due to the shifting sands, so these must be fresh—only a few minutes to an hour old. Maybe he wasn’t as bad at tracking as he had thought. Some of the Chaos residents regarded him as a weak link, a burden. He had overheard Mesa and Plum discussing him one sleepless night not long ago. Fawkes had woken up, hoping to take a short walk to calm his restless mind, when he heard two voices speaking—Mesa, the orange raptor with cunning eyes, and Plum, the soft-spoken amphithere and sister to Orchid. “Well, I don’t know about that,” Plum sighed, “but it can be difficult to have him on patrol troops.” “Mhm,” Mesa replied, lowering her voice. “I heard he can't even fly well. I mean, Anarchy and Crescent put him on scout duty all the time, so I suppose the news hasn’t reached them.” Mesa stifled a laugh with a cough. “...I hate to say it, but I agree with you,” Plum admitted remorsefully. Fawkes covered his ears with the cactus leaves in his nest, but they barely muffled their voices. A few phrases stood out to him: “Ditzy,” Plum had remarked sarcastically. “Don’t see what they see in him,” Mesa had replied. Fawkes had closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep until he fell asleep. Still, the remarks lingered in his mind. Maybe he needed to be more commanding, like Crescent Moon. Fawkes shook his head to clear his thoughts and took another step, intending to follow the tracks. As he set his paw down, the sand collapsed under his weight. He stumbled forward a few inches with a startled cry, kicking up a cloud of sand. The fall hadn’t been hard, but the surprise left him dizzy. He lifted his paw and found it dripping with yellow yolk. Looking into the hollow in the sand, Fawkes saw about fifteen small snake eggs. He hadn’t been searching for them, but he was happy to find them. Forgetting the tracks, he grabbed as many as he could, leaving only three behind after carrying some in his jaws and tucking others under his wings. • • • Fawkes was almost back at the camp when he heard a commotion coming from Anarchy’s den. She preferred to have her den away from the camp, up on a hill, for reasons unknown to Fawkes. He didn’t want to be intrusive; then again, what harm would it do if Anarchy didn’t find out? He sidled close to the entrance of the den, angling his ears forward and keeping his wings close to his body to avoid giving away his presence. A green light was filtering out of the cave, illuminating its interior. “It was an accident!” Anarchy cried out as if speaking to someone. There was no response. “I didn’t mean to!” The green light glowed brighter. “I said I was sorry! When are you going to forgive me?” Anarchy started before the light flashed a blinding neon green, and the cave rocked with a deafening explosion. Smoke curled out from the entrance. Fawkes flinched away from the cave. He took this as his cue to leave. He darted past the hill, his wings accidentally unfurling and dropping a few eggs. He left them behind and made it back to the camp within twenty seconds of running. [ CONTINUED IN N+C ]
[ CONTINUED FROM INSTRUCTIONS ] A few heads turned in his direction, including those of Fern, Citrine, and Orchid. Orchid shrugged and turned away, while Fern and Citrine kept their eyes locked on him. “Found prey?” Fern asked, tilting his head. Fawkes simply nodded, unable to speak with eggs in his mouth. After a few seconds of uncomfortable eye contact, he set the eggs down but kept one for himself, as he was unimaginably hungry. He cracked open the leathery shell with his teeth and lapped up the golden yolk inside. The sound of flapping wings drew his attention. Crescent Moon, intimidating as ever, landed on the ground. Around her neck, she wore a skillfully made basket of reeds and watergrass. Fawkes remembered seeing reeds in the Water Kingdom. When he was young, he would pluck their feathery leaves and toss them into the water to watch how they floated. Crescent dumped the basket’s contents into the food cache. Out fell hares, birds, lizards, berries, and other unfamiliar foodstuffs. He heard a nearby creature muffle a surprised gasp. For the first time in weeks, the food cache was full. Without a word, Crescent raised her wings and took to the sky. The residents of Chaos crowded around the food cache, hungrily grabbing what they could. When the group settled down, Fawkes stood and took a rabbit and a handful of berries. Only about half of the reserve remained. He figured he would give the rest to someone who had been out or asleep when Crescent brought the food. Glancing up at the sky, Fawkes noted that the moon was high in the sky, though just a sliver. How much time had passed since he returned? The moon reminded him that he desperately needed to sleep. The previous few nights had been spent awake, from two-night shifts to hunting and losing track of time. He stifled a yawn and lumbered off to the sleeping cave. i wrote this in 2 days while i was sick sorry for bad quality Next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1126325037/ Last: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1097586654/ First: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1094154086/
