07/24/2024 Snippet, THE REAL THING.

More fights!

And the naked lizards had been whittled down to something almost manageable. Most of them were worrying at the meager flesh of their fallen packmates; the rest had learned wariness, at least. “How smart are these heconnar?” ‘Bob’ snarled as we scrambled past the half-cleared hedge that was our major defense. “Because they don’t act too stupid!”

“How would I know?” I snapped back. Then I paused. “Dammit. They’re not sapient. Their heads are too small and they don’t have hands. These things are here to eat, not think.”

“That sounds like good news!” Either Elanor was mad, or just wanted to get in the spirit of things, because she was being loud, too. “Why is that a problem?”

“It’s not!” I grimaced, and lowered my voice. “It’s not. I just hate it when I have to correct myself. I did know, after all.”