There were only a half dozen of the fearsome fruits remaining, most of them from the fox’s merry little band of playmates he’d coaxed away earlier and now making their bumbling, trundling return to the heart of the action. Unfortunately they were led by two of the larger gourds in the group, and Jigano was a little wobbly on his paws after the ill-thought-out headbutt. Nor was his companion having fun anymore – the sound that came from his throat was almost animalistic and clearly unhappy. The fox didn’t blame him – with both of them nursing bruised legs the game had lost its charm and he was ready to bring it to an end.
The pike whistled past over his flattened ears, stabbing into the heart of one of the twin terrors but its mate was right behind and Jigano snarled, shaking himself as he gathered his courage and launched himself at it, taking heart from the blond man’s steadfast defense. It was as big as he was and weighed more, but the fox had momentum on his side, and the green squash was round and lacked traction. Front paws hit the gourd high, followed by the rest of the fox as he slipped over its smooth rind, scrabbling for purchase. He might have slid right off but his jaws caught the upthrust stem and locked, and as his body continued on behind the vicious vegetable it found its forward motion halted and dragged back a little ways. There was a moment’s pause and then Jigano found purchase with small claws and jerked his head as if snapping a rabbit’s neck. The stem in his teeth crunched and splintered much the same as one and the squash let out a bubbling howl as it tipped over backwards.
The fierce calabash, still with one good mouth, had just wobbled up in its wake and had a few seconds to realize its companion had stopped its charge before the squash rolled back on top of it, crushing the smaller gourd and silencing its high-pitched keen of protest. The fox spat out the broken stem as he scrambled away, white tail fluffed out like a bottle brush as he barked to keep the attention of the remaining four gourds – one trying to roll back upright and three smaller pumpkins – on him while Rory recovered.
The pike whistled past over his flattened ears, stabbing into the heart of one of the twin terrors but its mate was right behind and Jigano snarled, shaking himself as he gathered his courage and launched himself at it, taking heart from the blond man’s steadfast defense. It was as big as he was and weighed more, but the fox had momentum on his side, and the green squash was round and lacked traction. Front paws hit the gourd high, followed by the rest of the fox as he slipped over its smooth rind, scrabbling for purchase. He might have slid right off but his jaws caught the upthrust stem and locked, and as his body continued on behind the vicious vegetable it found its forward motion halted and dragged back a little ways. There was a moment’s pause and then Jigano found purchase with small claws and jerked his head as if snapping a rabbit’s neck. The stem in his teeth crunched and splintered much the same as one and the squash let out a bubbling howl as it tipped over backwards.
The fierce calabash, still with one good mouth, had just wobbled up in its wake and had a few seconds to realize its companion had stopped its charge before the squash rolled back on top of it, crushing the smaller gourd and silencing its high-pitched keen of protest. The fox spat out the broken stem as he scrambled away, white tail fluffed out like a bottle brush as he barked to keep the attention of the remaining four gourds – one trying to roll back upright and three smaller pumpkins – on him while Rory recovered.
