Purity Kills (The Tara Wolfe Thrillers Book 1) by Andy Maslen

Author:Andy Maslen [Maslen, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tyton Press
Published: 2022-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

25

Facing her, or, she supposed she should say, arse-ing her, was a big, fat porcupine.

Its black and white quills were erected into a sort of rosette around its tail-end. A few were much longer than the others and stuck out towards her like white-tipped spears.

It shook its hindquarters at her, while emitting a noise like a woodpecker as it clacked its teeth together. Mei tried to circle around it, but each time she moved the little creature swivelled his bottom around so the protective shield of needle-pointed quills was aimed straight up at her face.

There used to be a yellow dog that hung around the village, looking for scraps and the odd pat from one of the children who didn’t see it as a pest the way the adults did.

One day it loped into the centre of the village looking very sorry for itself. The reason was plain to see. Dangling from its greying muzzle were three quills that it must have picked up in an ill-judged attempt to eat a porcupine.

Mei had crooned to it, squatting down and extending her hand until the poor mutt had given in and sidled up to her. Holding its head steady with one hand, Mei had plucked the quills out of its face, eliciting little yelps each time. But the dog must have known she was helping it because it made no move to escape. Just wriggled a little in her grip.

After that it adopted her, trotting around the village after her and growling if anyone came too close. But as the weeks passed, it became as much of a pest as the adults claimed. In the end, Mei had resorted to driving it off with pebbles flung in its direction, though she’d been careful always to miss.

The porcupine rattling its spiny arse at her now wasn’t going to get the chance to embed any of its weaponry in her face, but she thought a couple of them might come in useful over the next day or so.

She grabbed a stick from the ground and tossed it at the chattering creature’s rump. With an angry little squeal it shuffled off towards the trees, but not before leaving a handful of quills on the ground.

She stooped to collect them, being careful to avoid letting the wickedly sharp tips stick into her skin. The last thing she wanted right now was an infection.

Carefully, she slid them into her daysack. The Crane would be impressed with her improvised weapons. She’d only been out here for a few hours and already she had the axeknife and some deadly stabbing weapons – or maybe they were arrows. It didn’t matter. Anyone who tried to mess with her was going to get one right in the eye.

The physical work in building her soup bowl shelter had made her thirsty. Maybe Mr Pointy Arse would know the location of some water. All animals needed to drink, so if she followed his trail it might lead to a stream or even a hollow log filled with rainwater.

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