hurry up now

"Speech"

Demelza worked on stifling her whines and sniffling. The tears mixed with her blood down her cheeks. Her body convulsed and trembled beneath him as he loomed over her, her breath shuddering against her chest. Everything hurt, she just wanted it to stop.

Finally, he stepped off her, giving her praise. She sat up on her side, cradling her paw. She slowly nodded then made it more expressive. Yes, she understood. Don't leave the den, even for three days, don't leave the den without the fox. Never.

He snapped his claws together and she was on three legs as quickly as she could, before he even said come. Her shoulder tenderly dislocated again, and her toe was broken on the same foot. It was painful to hold it up as she hobbled along.

She grabbed more plantain, she glanced his way as he mentioned no painkillers. It made her freeze as she thought through what herbs would be specifically used as painkillers. There were antiinflamtaries... There wasn't any that really killed the pain without some effort, cherry and willow bark for instance. Miners lettuce... She'll just gather the disinfectants, the antibiotics. Whatever sped up healing. Some of them had natural pain-killing in them... She gathered some more fireweed, it'll do. She held the bundle in her mouth as she pulled several tall stalks. Then hobbled back to the den. Wincing and shuffling as she did. It was used for infections, rashes, and bee stings. But wouldn't do much for the overall pain. What gods had she pissed off to be held by such a cruel master? She grabbed some raspberry leaves too.