White Ghost and the Poison Arrow by Kellie Steele

was going to die eventually, Arella just made it
quicker and less painful. The auron cat seemed to be asking for it
too, which was strange. There is nothing wrong with what Arella
did, and she knows, however hard I was the end the life of the
auron cat, it was the right thing to do.

    A whimpering
cry breaks Arella’s trail of thought and she is instantly reminded
of the kitten. The sound came from inside the black den under the
rocks. Arella’s first thought is to go straight to the kitten, then
she remembers the body of the mother. “If the kitten sees this it
might distress it. I should probably bury her or something.” With
this thought Arella begins to look around for an area of ground
soft enough to dig up to bury her. She comes up short. The only
thing she can think of is to put the mother under rocks, and bury
her that way.

    The body of the auron cat is heavy, but Arella manages to drag
her behind the rock she was using as shelter. It dips down lower
than the rest of the ground here, and will be easier to bury her
there. “ I can’t bury her with this arrow in
her. She should be buried how nature intended her to die, without
human weapons.” With deft fingers, Arella
grips the arrow as close the auron cats skin as she can and gently
pulls until it comes free. The arrow grips at he auron cats cooling
flesh, difficult to pull out from between the matted fur of the
cats body. The tip of the arrow is black stone but there is
something different about it. It looks like there is some kind of
sticky green on the end. “ What is
that” She touches the green substance on
the end of the arrow. It’s sticky and burns a little. She then
smells it. It smells sweet and sickly. “ Poison? I didn’t know we were using poison now. That’s
ridiculous. Where is the need for that. The arrow would have killed
her anyway.” Arella is seething with anger
now more than ever but she must finish her job. She gathers rocks
and builds them up in a small wall around the mother cats body. She
then finds larger rocks to place over the top, finally sealing her
in a tomb where she can rest in peace, free from the vultures that
circle the skies above. By the time Arella is finished with this
she is sweaty and dirty, her muscles all ache and she is tired, but
there is a little kitten that needs her attention. She just hopes
it is old enough to be eating meat rather than suckling milk,
otherwise she will not be able to raise it, and the kitten will die
also. Arella takes one long look at the rocky tomb the mother cat
rests in, clumsily built, but to will do the job intended. Another
tear falls from Arella's purple eyes, falling onto the dusty ground
below.

    A screech from
above startles Arella. She looks up to see the vultures diving to
the ground, towards the entrance to the auron den. Arella takes her
grathon in hand and runs for the den entrance. Her quick movements
frighten the vultures away, all but one of them fly off into the
sky, screeching as they go. One of the birds seems more determined
that the others and stays on the ground. It’s head inside the den,
snapping at the kitten within. Arella reaches the bird and
instinctively hits it on the back with the flat of the grathon.
This shocks the vulture and it turns on Arella, snapping its great
white beak at her. Its black feathers look dirty, and its body
covered in scars. This vulture is clearly the more dominant of the
flock, and he does not look like he is backing down. He pulls his
wings back and stretches them out wide, making himself look big in
an attempt to frighten Arella. He then lets out a piercing screech
aimed directly at her. Arella thinks for a second then mimics what
the bird did to her. She takes hold of the edges of her black
cloak, throws her hood back, pulls her arms out to the side and
shouts “Away” at the vulture. It looks like it’s working. The
vulture looks unsure, so Arella moves her arms in the same motion
as flapping wings and shouts louder