He had no idea how long he had been unconscious, but when he came to, he was inside and lying on a bed. He turned his head, and Tiddles immediately growled. He recognised the room immediately, smelling Doc’s perfume and the decoration. She came hurrying upstairs and into the accommodation at the noise from Tiddles.
“You're back with us then,” she said, smiling over him.
“How long was I out?” he asked.
“Four days, you had lost a lot of blood by the time we got to you, and I thought you might have lost your leg at one point. You had it tied off for so long before we reached you, but it looks like it wasn’t that good a job, and that’s why you lost so much blood, but it means that you kept your leg at least.” She said, smiling warmly at him.
“Damn, how is Mitch?” he asked.
She replied, “After the wounds were dressed, he was in a better state than you. Stevo had done a good job staunching the blood flow.”
She helped Sniffer sit up, propping himself up on a cushion. He looked down at his leg to see that it was strapped in some seriously heavy bandages and had what looked like a metal bar down the side.
“Your leg was broken; I have set it as best as I can, and you won’t be able to walk on it for several weeks without support.” She said. “Your ankle is healing nicely, though, and you should be able to put weight on it in another few days.”
“Shit,” he said, “My leg is throbbing like no business.”
“Here, sip this.” She said, handing him a tonic.
He took a sip, and the pain instantly began to ease slightly.
“He hasn’t left your side, you know, since you were brought in,” she said, patting Tiddles on the head. “I thought he was going to attack us when we got to the den to collect you?”
“You came up to the den?” he asked.
“Yeah, and good job I did. You would not have made it back down if I hadn’t”, she said.
“Thank you,” he replied. Tiddles rested his huge head on the edge of the bed, and Sniffer reached over and scratched him by his ear. Bandages covered his body, protecting him from the Spylore bite. “Is he ok?” he asked.
“He is fine. I did offer to take them off yesterday, but he growled at me. I think he likes the extra attention from the townsfolk, being an injured hero,” Doc replied, laughing, patting him. “Although I am unsure what he wants us to do with those?” Doc said, pointing over to the side of the dining table.
“What?” he said as he could not see.
She walked over, bent down, picked something up, and then moved to the bed. Sniffer’s eyes widened in shock. “What the actual fuck?”
She was holding a Spylore cub in her hands. She placed it in the crook of her arm and then turned, walking back to the kitchen area, picked a bottle off the side with a teat on it, and placed it into its mouth. It lay there happily suckling on the teat. “He would not let us anywhere near them. Holland wanted to kill them, but as soon as he took a step towards them on the hill, he growled in a way that we knew wasn’t going to end well if we had.”
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Sniffer looked from the cub to Tiddles and back again. “What are we supposed to do with those?” he said, looking at Tiddles.
He rested his head on its side and released a series of deep, low growls. The cub in Doc’s arms seemed to respond with its mewing sound.
“You want to keep them?” he said to Tiddles.
He just turned and looked at him.
“I know I was injured, but am I actually seeing this? I really have no idea what you want with Spylore cubs. These things won’t look so cute in a couple of months.” He said.
“They like Keefir milk. That’s what I have been weening them on.” She said.
"I think I just awoke in a different reality. If I go back to sleep and wake up again, things will be different, right?” he said.
Elizabeth laughed at his remark, bending down and kissing him.
∆∆∆
The fight had been won, but Sniffer was severely injured. He could feel his injuries, but they weren’t serious; they were just annoying after checking his display. They affected his movement and restricted his acrobatics skills, making it harder against the last Spylore. Sniffer had asked him to finish the job, so he entered the den knowing what to do.
He had continued inside. The cave had gone back quite a distance until it opened into a large cavern. There were various bedding areas around the outside, and in the middle were the remains of various Wild Ones, which had served as the food for the pack.
He heard the mewing coming from the corner of the den and walked over. That was when something extraordinary happened. He looked down on the three cubs huddled in a far corner and understood them.
He had never understood Spylore before, but these cubs were as clear as day. They were calling for food and attention. He heard one of them ask him to play with them. Tiddles had stood for a couple of minutes wondering what to do when he had growled at them, telling them that they needed to shut up, and to his surprise, they did. He then said that if they wanted food, they would have to come with him. All three replied and started to follow him as he turned away.
As he walked back to the entrance, he was not sure what he was going to do with them, but he could not just kill them. They were innocent and harmless. They had never hurt anyone or anything, and he thought about when Sniffer had found him as a cub and taken the same approach. He remembered Sniffer's hand raising him on Keefir milk and when he was old enough on rats.
He had seen Sniffer tip sideways as he lost consciousness and had bounded over to him. He had used his paw to push him back upright and curled up by him as tight as he could to keep him warm, stretching his legs around him as best as he could, being careful not to press on his wounds. The three cubs had come over, crying for food, and climbed onto him. He had told them they needed to wait and sleep while he took care of his friend. They had eventually settled down, all three of them giving out a contented, rumbling purr while lying asleep on him. He could feel their fast little heartbeats through their bodies as they lay on him, and it was then he decided that he would look after them.
Doc, Holland, Stevo and three others had arrived about two hours later to help Sniffer, and Holland, on seeing the Spylore cubs, had gone to attack them. Tiddles had warned him off, and Doc had somehow known and understood what he wanted to do. She had scooped two of them up and made Holland take the other, which he had done with a face of disgust, while Stevo and the others had picked Sniffer up on a stretcher before heading back to town.
He had been worried about Sniffer and knew he was in a bad way and did not want to leave his side. Doc kept reassuring him that after he had survived the first night, he would eventually be okay. He had left at one point briefly to grab a couple of rats and grab some food for himself, but apart from that, he had not left his side. Sniffer was his best friend and had always taken care of him. He had returned with rats, which he had dropped in the crate where the cubs were, but they played with them and had not eaten them. Doc had seen what he had done and started to feed them with Keefir milk, which they seemed to like.
He had been speaking to them, and their language was slightly different. It was also very basic as they were so young, but he understood what they were saying, and they understood him. All they ever wanted to do was eat or play, and they would fight each other in the crate. He looked forward to when they were a bit bigger and he could teach them how to hunt.