The fire pit at the base of the tree still had ash and rocks from his snake cooking setup but the leftover raw python meat was gone. Something had taken it while he was away which was expected.
He dropped the long stick he'd been carrying and unwrapped the vine from his arm. The roots at the end of the cutting looked dry but still alive so he dug a shallow hole about two meters from the trunk and buried the root end in loose soil. The rest of the vine he guided upward along the bark and tied it to the trunk with strips of his old rope.
If those fire apes can maintain an entire fruit grove and the wolves keep beetle farms then I can grow one vine. A permanent food source right next to where I sleep.
He was tying the last strip of rope when something struck at his ankle from the base of a rock near the fire pit.
