The taira were in no hurry. Half the pack lay watching as the others harried the creature. They knew they had the advantage of numbers and time.

The new creature let the end of its stick drop. Immediately, a taira charged, snarling fiercely. The new animal hit the attacking taira on the side of its head, just below its ear. The speed, force, and accuracy of the blow surprised Ani. The taira fell, and the creature hit it again. Bone crunched. The rest of the pack drew back, uncertain.

Ani looked at Ninto. “Now?” she asked.

Ninto flickered acknowledgment. The two of them turned bright red and charged from behind a tree screaming and hurling sticks, stones, rotten fruit, and anything else they could pick up off the forest floor.

The taira fled, falling over each other in their haste. Millennia of association with the Tendu had made such flight instinctive. The new creature backed between the buttresses, and stood, stick in hand, ready to defend itself.

Ani backed away and squatted so as not to threaten the creature. Ninto moved forward, grasped the tail of the wounded taira, and dragged it backward, until it was out of the new animal’s range. The new creature sat down, its stick across its knees. Ani doubted that it would attack unless they tried to capture it, but it wasn’t willing to let go of its only means of defense.

Ninto chittered to get Ani’s attention. She was crouched over the taira, hands sticky with blood.

“It’s dying, Ani. Come help me.”

Ani got up slowly, and crouched beside Ninto. The taira were a part of Ninto’s atwa, and she was responsible for their welfare. Ninto was trying to build up the population in the area so as to bring down the numbers of the puyu before they ate the bark off all the saplings in their territory.