“You must want these,” he said of Askold’s apples and carrots within. He pulled an apple out and offered it to the baby, who quickly bit into it and yanked it away from Benny, chewing loudly and smacking its lips.
It let out a gentle humming sound and shook its head back and forth, stamping its foot.
“Whoa…” Askold said as he sat up. “She’s a cutie.”
“She?” Benny asked.
Askold looked at him as if he were an idiot. “Of course, it’s ashe. I can tell.”
“Why do you think she’s here? Where are her parents?” Benny looked at both the Corvids, who were both now awake and watching the exchange.
“Perhaps her family was in that fight last night with the Jotnar. Maybe she ran away?” Sephyr suggested.
“We should get moving,” Vira interrupted as she looked up at the massive moon and the wall highlighted in an amber glow in the distance.
Benny reached into the pack and held out another apple for the Unipaca as a parting gift. She gleefully accepted it, swishing her tail back and forth, and crunched into its red skin.
“How long were we asleep?” he asked the others. The moon, before they had fallen asleep, had been crescent-shaped, but the moon above them now was full and glowing brightly.
“Not sure. Must not have been that long,” Askold groaned. “I can use a few more hours.”
“No, we need to move,” Vira reiterated.
They packed up what little belongings they had taken out and began walking away. Benny glanced back at the Unipaca and saw that she was trailing behind them. He turned around. “You need to go find your family, little one. We’re going past that wall, and your family is the other direction.”
She shook her head at him and hurried over, stamping her foot again once she reached his side.
“She wants to stay with you.” Sephyr smiled.
“That’s what you get for feeding wild animals,” Askold complained. “She’s going to eat all my food.”
The baby Unipaca stamped her foot repeatedly on the ground, releasing a huffing sound from flared nostrils, and narrowed her molten eyes at Askold.
“Do you think she can understand us?” Benny asked.
The Unipaca nodded at them, and Benny laughed. “She can understand you, asshole. You’d better stop being a dick, or else she’ll stab you with that horn of hers.”
The Unipaca let out a wheezing sound, almost like a laugh.
“If you come with us, you need to bevery quiet. We’re trying to avoid those giant beasts you ran into. We don’t have the manpower to fight them.”
The Unipaca nodded again and nibbled at the sack at Benny’s side. Benny reached in and pulled out a carrot this time. She hummed and jumped up and down.
“What should we call you?” he asked her.
“What about Bluebell?” Askold suggested. “She has flowers on her chest, and she’s blue.”
The Unipaca glanced up at Askold and narrowed her metallic eyes once more.
“Don’t like that name, I take it?” Benny asked as he laughed. “What about Aurora? That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl.”
She nudged him lovingly, and Vira said, “I think any name you said she would’ve taken. I don’t think she likes Askold much.”
They laughed, and Askold grumbled, “Of course not. Just wants to eat all my apples. I packed those for myself, ya know.”
Aurora pranced over to Askold and quickly bit his thigh, leaving a hole in his pants. He yelped out in pain and jumped away from her. “Ouch! You heathen!”
She spat at him, and it landed directly where she had bitten.
