Chapter Four: The truth
Hunter looked closely at Artificer.
She felt hot under her skin.
"What are you doing here? Shouldn't a pregnant slugcat be somewhere else other than fighting lizards?"
His supposedly charming way of talking made Artificer's cheeks turn hot.
"I'm not…pregnant." Artificer said, pronouncing the strange word carefully as if tasting it.
"But you have a HUGE belly!"
His voice lowered.
"Unless you have…The Rot."
"The Rot?" Artificer shook her head, the wound on her leg throbbing in rhythm with her pounding heart.
"No."
"Then explain your belly!"
Hunter reached for his spear and pointed it at her.
She snarled, then yanked her spear out of the ground and pointed it back at him.
"The only way to remove the Rot is to stab the victim's part of the body and kill the spider."
Then a light bulb flashed in Artificer's mind. She could fake it. Baring her teeth and slowly flicking her tail left and right, she growled the biggest lie of her life.
"Then you'll kill the poor lil' slugpups in my belly."
Hunter's pink, dense fur rippled as he relaxed.
"Well, you're a smart one." He conceded.
Artificer smirked, but then the smile dissolved when a wave of agony flashed through her lower abdomen.
"Argh!.." She cried, falling to the ground.
Hunter backed away, the spear still clenched in his teeth. Then without a word, he fled, jumping from lizards and grabbing a batfly in his teeth.
"Cow-coward!" Artificer roared, her body shaking with pain.
"I never knew the Rot was so deadly.."