A Treefox and a Watersnake

Part 7: Betrayal

The evening of the following day, only having taken short breaks to gather food and rest, they arrived to a very, very big tree. The air was damper here than near home, probably meaning they were closer to the "wetlands" Thalas had spoken of.

The wood smelled...weird, sweet and rotting, but still somehow alive. It was mostly covered in vines bearing ugly brown fruits.

Mist's father led him up a ramp carved in the decaying wood. When Mist tested the trunk itself with his claws, the bark crumbled under his touch.

"In there," he stopped in front of a hollow covered entirely by thorny bushes. "Special beetles live in there. They raise their future queens in beds made of the flowers of those vines. It takes five years for a queen to mature, and eating a mature one allows us to revert to this shape."

"So if I eat one, I will never change?" Mist asked, hopeful.

"I think so. But as you can see, getting in is not easy. We're trying to keep anything else eating the beetles out."

Mist jumped to hug him. "It's fine. I'll find a way inside. Thank you so much, father!"

The adult remained somber despite his cub's overflowing joy and only watched in silence as Mist carefully made his way through the thorny wall.

Inside the tree had been carved - eaten? - into a big hollow. At one side on the floor there was a big pile of wood dust, which Mist guessed was the beetle nest. Small, black beetles about the size of the tip of his thumb moved quickly across the floor and the walls.

There were also tiny hollows filled with dead flower petals on the walls. Those must have been what father had talked about! Eager to find a queen beetle, Mist emptied the hollows one-by-one.

But there were no beetles in them. Was it possible that they had all been eaten? Or...maybe they had gotten all grown up and left their nurseries?

Then a single flower petal fell on the top of his head from higher above. There! A bigger beetle was making its way out from a higher-up hollow he hadn't been able to reach. Patiently he waited until it came lower...lower...just barely out of his reach...

It was accompanied by lots of smaller beetles now, but Mist didn't hesitate for a moment before snatching it from the wall and popping it into his mouth. It tasted kind of icky, tangy and heavy. But that was not his biggest worry as suddenly all the little ones started moving towards him. Were they mad that he ate their future queen? Surely it wasn't the last one? Right?

No, he could see two others leave similar hollows, but apparently they were also angry at him. And they could fly!

Adding a good amount of bloody scratches from the thorns and more than a few bites from the beetles to his already bleeding injuries from forcing his way inside, Mist fled the tree as fast as he could. Fortunately the beetles stopped their chase as he burst out of their territory and into the faint evening light.

"Father! I did it! I found...one..." he trailed off as he reached the bottom of the ramp and saw his father surrounded by at least half a dozen treefoxes in their animal forms. Their fur had lost most of its colors, so they must have been elders. "...What's happening?"

"You have broken the laws of the pack. Only the strongest are allowed to enter the beetles' home, and only at the start of the mating season. It is forbidden for a cub to go disturb them." His father paused. "And anybody breaking these laws has no place in the pack."

"But..." Mist couldn't believe his ears.

"I've said what I wish to say." His father turned away. "Go ahead and kill him."

"Father!" Mist called out, then took a few hesitant steps back as the others closed in on him. "I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted to be with someone I love!"

His words fell to deaf ears. As the first of the elders lunged at him, Mist fled to the trees. They were near the wetlands. If he could make it to the water, he might escape.

But even old, the males were too fast for him, hindered by his injuries as he was. With his eyes on the ones chasing him on the ground, another one leaped at his back and knocked him down from the branches. Sharp teeth chomped on his leg, tearing through flesh. Crippling him.

"Thalas..." he sobbed as he felt hot breath at the back of his neck. "I don't want to die..."

Suddenly everything seemed to freeze for a split second. Then the other treefoxes fled, alerted by something. If Mist listened really carefully, he could hear the slithering of a reptilian body moving across the ground. There were snakes in the forest too, real snakes, but the little treefox could only think of one thing as his vision slowly faded to black from the pain and lost blood.

Thalas...