The Dead.. Are Alive?

Chade’s finds his mind fighting between a pup’s curiosity and a wiser sense of caution about the whole thing.  Admittedly the place was nothing like he’d seen before and was worthy of being explored with wild abandon.  The problem being naivete had already been stolen from him and any number of unknown threats could be down here  So the spark of joy and the spark of wariness seemed to flash on and off like the fireflies above.  The boy watched his step and stayed behind Ricin.  Both for the safety of going unnoticed and focusing on everything around them he remained silent.  The place was confusing both in not appearing like a normal cave and the strange way it seemed to be set up.

Chade’s head jerked when he heard the pebble and even as Ricin asked him to check the back his foolish brother was already heading off.  Admittedly Ricin wasn’t foolish but just reckless at the moment or maybe just less fearful than Chade was?  He watched Ricin go with half a mind to run after him.  His brother could get hurt while alone down here, no, he could die down here.  Gritting his teeth he turned away from Ricin and towards the back.  It was the direction he had scented the food anyway.

What Chade found was a thing he had never before seen nor that he knew how to handle.  The prey animal had horns that made swirly patterns on either side of its head.  A mushroom sprouted from one eye, another on a tear in its neck and a smaller long one was poking out of its ear.  The goat’s head was down low clearly unhappy with its predicament.  It was larger than Chade was used to hunting and beefier but it was also sick and apparently injured.  The mushrooms scared Chade still but there were no longer any good options in life.  There had been no good options from the day dad died and mom got rid of them.  Even as he stepped closer to the goat it faced him and lowered its horns, swinging them about to show off to the pup who would dare to challenge him.

"Speech"