The sounds coming from above grow louder. Unlike the wolves when they’d hunted me with their loud howls chasing after me, the guests that were coming now moved at a slower pace. 

What was taking them so long?

Ugh, I can scent the same rancidness from before.

Boudicea quips, wrinkling her snout as she lowers her head to enter into the cave, her mate behind her.

Yes, I know, but no more killing unless it’s necessary. Too much blood will draw other scary things.

I remind her.

Howl if you need the Pack, Alpha. I’ll send the healed ones out to you.

Capo calls out behind me.

Thank you. I’ll call if it’s necessary.

I was going to fly deeper into the forest to scout the source of that sound, but the speed at which the animal noises drew nearer makes me hesitate.

Flying up, I perch on a tree that stood alone, a good distance from the rest of the trees. With the chittering, squeaking sounds are joined with the sounds of rustling tree branches, I adjust my stance once again.

Just how many of them were there?

Pink noises stick out of the tree foliage, sniffing, followed by round eyes that peer out at me. The foul scent that was on the possum knight from before was on them, though it was faint.

When they catch sight of me, their eyes widen, but none of them stop. Possums continued to emerge from the trees before me, wearing the same rusted armor the possum knight had worn. Were they his family?

Tensing, I watch them draw closer.

I couldn’t sense any aggression from them.

All they did was stare. And stare.

Their pale pink hands wrap around the base of the thick branches to support their weight, creaking as they carefully pick their way towards me. 

Until a half circle of knight possums sat perched around me. Waiting.

Can any of you speak?

I ask, but there was no response. 

No Possum King here, I guess? I ask again.

Only the sound of wind blowing by us, making their ill-fitting armor clang together echoes around the clearing.

Hugh!

I pop my neck forward, trying to agitate them into doing something.

Nothing.

One possum quivers its noise, blinking at me.

Hopping from side to side does nothing. Only their heads turn side to side in sync with me, watching my movements.

Well, I guess there’s nothing to do here if we can’t communicate.

I turn my back to them and motion to fly off, back over the green wall of vines.

Squii!

Ok, they didn’t want that.

Then do you want me to come closer?

When I start waddling to the edge of the branch closest to them, they squeak again.They shook as they stared at me, rattling in their armor.

This wasn’t going anywhere.

Can someone help me out? I’m totally confused as to what these possums want from me.

You called, Alpha?

Capo pops his head out of the cave, furrowing his brow at us, the lone raven and a passel having a staring contest in the trees.

It won’t be easy for the Pack to hunt those stinky creatures, but if you wish it, it is possible. Though they are particularly weak prey.

Oh? How do you know they're weak?

Waving his paw towards the possums, Capo whuffs.

Any good hunter can tell these prey are weak. They smell of fear, mildew, and old, bad meat. And dry. But also wet?

He cocks his head.

Of course, you can sense their weakness as well.

Uhh. Maybe if I was a normal raven, I could? I respond sarcastically.

Capo spoke like automatically knowing the strengths of an animal by only looking at them was the norm. And maybe it was. I’d noticed this with the salamanders and other smaller creatures actively scurrying away when I hopped past. Before my evolution, when I was a small baby raven, they would ignore me, or try to eat me.

But I wasn’t exactly normal. This may be a drawback of being a (former) human in a raven’s body.

Or maybe it was an innate skill only wolves had?

You’re right. Capo nods and relaxes his stance.

I hope he meant that as a compliment.

Esteemed Lady, what is happening here?

Crixus!! Welcome back!

The large figure stoops out of the cave, stepping out behind Capo and inciting a large chorus of shrieks from the possums in the trees. Tail snapping behind him, his large body, bigger than Capo’s now, unfolds to its full height as he squints in the sunlight towards us. In the sunlight, the tanned skin he'd had previously was now an even darker shade, of a rich tawny cinnamon.

I am glad as well to be awake again. If I slept any longer I may have become a new corner of the cave. 

One eye blinks shut, winking at me. 

That was for sure, I thought, thinking of what I'd seen this morning. The pile of rocks on top of Crixus had continued to get bigger as he slept. I'd lost sight of his head beyond the mountain of rocks precariously build atop his chest.

And these are? Enemies...?

Are they causing you any trouble?

The last bit was full of doubt. The possums didn't look like a threat to Crixus either, looked like. His chocolate-bar abs ripple again. Furrowing his thick, ridged brows, Crixus gives a hard stare at the possums.

Thud!

One possum falls out of a tree, quivering. What the heck. Did Crixus just kill a possum by only looking at it?!

No! No more!! I can hear Boudicea’s cry from inside the cave. 

What is that?!!!

Capo cries out immediately after.

That familiar foul stench was wafting over here on the breeze.

Why are they wearing armor??

Wrinkling his snout, Crixus eyes them again, stepping backwards, further away from the passel of possums.

Oh Crixus, that’s what we all want to know.

I speak over the other possum’s shrieks as one of them goes down to grab their fallen comrade. We watch as the dead? Possum gets dragged into the foliage, and the other knight possums go back to staring. Staring straight at me.

How’s your body right now? Doing okay? I ask, in an effort not to let the stares get on my nerves. 

Yes, though these new growths will take some time for me to comprehend. Not exactly the outcome I was expecting.

With his lips quirking in an ironic smile, Crixus moves his shoulder-stumps, which in turn makes the two green shoots sprouting out of them wave in the air. They were completely a part of his body now, gently undulating each time he moved. When he stumbled, the sprouts twisted, moving up towards the outside of the cave like a hand would, only to fall short.

Still the cute sprouts they were before, but longer. The length of the sprout was now at what would have been Crixus’ elbow.

Crixus stares at the long sprouts. Under his gaze, the sprouts lengthen, sprouting some new leaves, but then goes limp.

Something was still happening to him.

The dead one! It’s back! 

Boudicea cries again.

Crash!

The wolves seriously did not like that scent.

I mean, I could still bear it, as long as I breathed through my beak.

“Breith i bpoll cúng ort!!!” A loud bellow in the cave.

No! Stay away from my fire! Andvari cries.

Another crash.

“Imeacht go fánach ort féin is ar do chnapán miúlach!” The dwarf booms in his language, clearly cursing at them in extremely colorful language.

My tools!! Stupid dogs!! He adds again. Poor guy. The wolves must be going berserk with the nasty smell wafting over here again.

Sticking my beak in the air, I can scent only the decay scent being stronger now. I can’t scent if there were the two dead possums here. But I took Boudicea’s word for it. And the reactions of the other wolves.

Stay calm everybody!

Bang!

A wolf whimpers in the cave. I wish I could see what was happening in there. All I could hear was wolves howling and whimpering and Andvari bellowing. Though I craned my neck from my perch in the forest, I could only see the back of Crixus peering inside, shaking his head at their antics.

This wasn't going anywhere.

Yare-yare. Rolling my eyes, I cough a few times to warm up my throat and then-

Whiiiiii!!

My clear, shrill whistle makes them shut up. The cave finally grows quiet, while the possums crawl backwards away from me with the whites of their eyes showing.

Oh great, now we might never know what they wanted.

I’ll get rid of the possums, hold on a little longer!! 

That seems to settle everyone down.

When it was finally quiet, one of the armored possums, still shivering, finally makes its move.

Clink!

Clank!

Crawling down from the base of its tree, the possum shimmied out of its armor, crawling out of it.

Nudging it towards me, and then waiting.

Master.

Greenie was out of the cave now too, crawling back under the wall again to my side. He had soot smeared all over one side of his body, with dust from the cave coloring the dark green strands of his hair grey. Greenie must've gotten involved in the tussle the wolves had with Andvri. Standing up with his arms crossed, he cocks his head at the possums.

Yeah, Greenie?

The goblin looks at the armor, then a hard look at the possum that stood there on all fours, shivering.

He points at their stomach.

Hungry. 

They’re hungry? How do you know they want food, Greenie??

I genuinely wanted to know. These possums were hard for me to read. Maybe he could communicate with them?

Greenie jabs his finger at the naked possum again.

Big, before.

When was before, Greenie? Before you met me?

Yes. Master. Dark, possum take. 

They took what?

Take food! Greenie food!!

Greenie’s hand movements grow wilder. His breaths grew heavier with the remembered anger from the past.

The naked possums shivers again, dark round eyes flickering between Greenie and I as we gesticulate to each other. 

So they were hungry?

They all chatter again, loudly, when I take flight, this time heading straight into the cave. I ignore their noises, grabbing a smaller salamander half the size of my body with my talons, and flying back out.

The dried corpse of the salamander hits the ground before the armor. As soon as it made contact with the ground, the possum was there, using its five fingers, patting all over the meat, checking it for something.

But then it stops, parks its behind right next to the food I’d offered them, and stares at me again. It’s tail taps on the set of armor behind it that it had shed.

The tail take one arm guard from the set, and sets it down next to the salamander. When I continue staring at the possum, it looks between me, then at the armor.

Cocking its head, the possum hesitates. 

Squiik!

Arrk!

I squawk back.

It nudges the bronze arm guard forward with its pink hand towards me, then takes the salamander, swiftly grasping it between its jaws and passing it to a armored comrade that waited in the trees.

Looks like they wanted to trade.