What Doesn’t Kill You

Fear wrought havoc within Varushka as the large male puma slashed Khranbari in the chest. More blood stained the white snow around them and not much of it belonged to the puma. With his sheer weight and brute strength Khran managed to injure the cat’s right shoulder and it buckled beneath them. With a yowl of pain the puma fought harder, shaking free of Khranbari’s barrage of bites and dull scratches. It hissed and snarled at them as it slowly began to back up and away from them. Varushka was finding it harder to stand up but did not let herself fall from fear of the animal seeing her weakness and possibly attacking her again. She stumbled closer to Khran for safety as she growled warning for the puma to not come any closer. It seemed to be considering if the battle was worth its effort or not. Blood seeped out of a wound on its neck, likely from the silver male’s last attempt at tearing through its fur before they broke apart. Its wild eyes narrowed at them before turning tail and fleeing. All three parties had sustained a significant injury, but perhaps the cat didn’t feel it was worth the effort. Plus with a dislocated shoulder there probably wasn’t a lot more it could do than run and try to live to fight another day. As it fled Varu did not give chase, she stood panting staring in the direction it had gone. Only after catching her breath she limped closer to Khran and sniffed the wound on his chest. It didn’t look too serious, but she was no healer. ”Are you okay Khranbari?” she woofed softly. His silver fur was dark and matted with blood. They both were missing fur in some places but most importantly they were alive.

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