III

The moment I spun my head around to find the two pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness, I unsheathed my claws, digging them as far as they would go into the thin sheet of dust. I thought these eyes belonged to cat at the beginning, but as my own slowly adjusted the light level, I realized that they were those of two fox cubs.

I didn't know how they had ended up in this old cave without the company of their mother. But I did soon realize that they were not dangerous. In fact, they seemed rather frightened of me for some reason. Now that I examined them even closer, I could see that their ribs were jutting out from their coats.

I should have just left them there. But somehow, I just couldn't. So it was with that thought that I came back to the cave fifteen minutes later, a plump mouse and a large starling left hanging in my jaws. The fox cubs were still there. So as I sat there, listening to the sound of them chewing prey...

The sound of the wind sighing through the tree branches... the sound of cat voices...