He bounded back into the mountains over rustling treetops, the eggs wrapped in thick leaves remaining perfectly intact.
Crouching on a rock, he peeled away the wilted leaves, took out the eggs, and arranged them one by one on the stone. Then he returned to his body, opened his mouth, and gently sucked all the eggs inside, his throat muscles rippling as he swallowed.
They tasted wonderful.
All it took was a little work to earn some eggs.
He could not bear to spend money buying them. He was saving his money for other uses later.
But these few eggs were nowhere near enough to fill him. He had heard that people lived comfortably in the County Seat, with shops lining the streets, and planned to go have a look in a few days. He had also considered raising a flock of chickens like River Ash, which would give him an endless supply of eggs.
After trying, he discovered he could not manage it. River Ash had claws, which made both building nests and putting up fences easy. He could not imitate that.
His Yin Spirit could not do anything too strenuous yet. He would leave that until he grew claws.
With nothing else to do that night, he continued digging up medicinal herbs.
He worked through the entire night.
Morning light spilled over the eastern ridge, slanting into the woods and illuminating the leaves high in the trees.
Moisture steamed from the pits freshly dug the night before.
Once the sunlight had dried and paled the soil in the pits, Black Snake carried the herbs back to his cave in his mouth.
Then he rested briefly on a rock before heading out to search for more herbs. As the old saying went, fail to toil today, and tomorrow you