Hydra lurked near to the borders again, a strange scent luring her here. She followed the trail idly, her ears twitching as she sought any abnormal sounds. And at last, where the scent was strongest, she heard the movement of something distinctly
not wolf, and saw it as soon as it rounded a boulder near the mountains base. The critter was canine in shape, but small and nothing that Hydra had ever seen yet. Her ears tipped forward, and deciding that this thing was not welcome here and was as good as a trespasser, Hydra bounded toward it. The thing—which was a coyote—noted her arrival and made the unfortunate mistake of attempting to escape
into the territory. The critter was young, and its fear made it foolish. Hydra called for her father, and her mother, uncertain what protocol was when it came to creatures such as this.
Her daughter's call was a worthwhile distraction from her own circuit of patrol so she would come upon her in mere moments. Downwind, but not too far away, she had not yet come into the coyote's trail herself and neither had they made a habit of being an issue lately, so they were not even her first guess here. Curiosity prickled up and down the back of her neck in the meantime as she made her way along the mountainside, not finding Charon on her way yet either.
Once there at her daughter's side, she scented the winds and rumbled gently a brief hello for the dark juvenile. Amekaze's eyes didn't linger long on her, though, and turned eagerly towards the very fresh trail her nose was indicating. She was beginning to understand everything she'd need to know. Quirking a brow and keeping her voice low and quiet, she had to ask: "Did you see it yet?" How close had she come already? The warm trail was a good sign.
There was an urgency to his daughter's voice that caught Charon's attention right away. He moved forward quickly, his hackles prickling at the thought of anyone harming his daughter.
He ran as fast as he could, but when he arrived it was not his daughter and mate that he ran into first. It was a young coyote and Charon nearly ran into it as he was rushing so fast towards his daughter. For a surprised moment the two looked each other in the eye. But before Charon could respond the small thing turned tail again and started to run away again, unaware that it was headed straight towards Hydra and Amekaze again.
let me know if you don't like the twist and i can do an edit :)
Her mother arrived quite swiftly, but the critter by then was out of sight. Still, she knew what way it had headed, and nodded toward her mother before gesturing toward the path with perked ears.
That way. She began to move in that direction when suddenly, from the cover of the trees, the coyote emerged. Hydra did not yet see the silhouette of her father, and let out a growling
whuff toward her mother who surely had seen the thing. Hydra bolted in its direction, recalling her fathers words that trespassers, well, ought to die. But she'd never participated in a hunt before, she had only watched and practiced giving chase on small prey. Still, Hydra was confident that she could assist here. She noted the wide-eyed shock of the coyote as it attempted to drive itself in another direction, away from her snapping jaws.
twists are always welcome!!!!
Stride by stride, she was warming up to this surprise pursuit so her stride stretched out accordingly following her daughter's gesture. It did not take her long to meld into the role of not only defender, warrior, but a dash of hunter weaving in its way. With coyote in mind, she knew enough about their sort to always mistrust them and to always expect the unexpected. As proven exactly when it came rushing back at them all at once, looking hot off someone else's chase entirely.
Hydra went right at it and she followed suit, arcing wider around it than the youth's direct route because she could hope to cover more ground and grant them more coverage. Flattening out, she bore down and kicked the speed up another notch or two.
When it would veer away from the first set of snapping teeth, Amekaze lunged in to meet it with a second. It was fast, but so was she, and it gave a scared yelp when she managed to slice down its shoulder; not a deep injury, or one with any grip for the young coyote was slick enough to avoid that, but it was enough to terrify it. In the very next second, it was darting off in a whole a whole new direction — the nearest one without wolves in it. Ame gathered her momentum again to renew her chase, and judged her pursuit based on Hydra's. She went where her daughter didn't so they could maximize their harassment.
The coyote turned and ran immediately, which gained it an advantage over Charon at first. He was rather flabbergasted, so it took him a moment to regain his footing and set in the chase.
With a growl bubbling in his throat, he followed back towards the borders, intent on chasing it out or killing it. In the distance he heard the coyote's yelps, which gave him good hope Hydra was holding her own, but still he ran as fast as he could to get there in time to help her.
Hydra did not even wonder what might come first: the killing, or the chasing out. Whatever the outcome was how it would end for the creature, and Hydra was keen on ending it. She and her mother chased the creature which moved in the direction of her father, and when it saw the pale wolf it altered its path yet again. Hydra altered her own path, kicking debris up all around her as she charged in its direction. She gained on it swiftly, and the way the 'yote had turned had slowed it down significantly. Though she had not yet caught up, Hydra was close.
It had to go, that was that. Dead or gone or any sort of in-between, the coyote could still slip them if it was lucky, and attentive to its flight. Amekaze was not about to give it any leeway and with three wolves somewhere on the scene here, each occupying a slightly different rally against it to further the odds in their swift success. Even when it changed course, she readily altered hers to match. But this time she let Hydra go in closer. She aimed to swing wide again. In her pursuit, she hung back, watching the juvenile gain ground from her best vantage point
The overall path was still heading for their outer reaches and downhill, but until it was well beyond, she would not relent. Unsure of Charon's location, or proximity, she focused on Hydra's. After pinning her ears, she devoted several long strides to gaining her momentum then drove towards the coyote. With her angle of approach, she hoped to steer it into changing course again (and potentially slowing more) where the closer Hydra could hopefully benefit from her effect. If not, she would gain her ground soon after and throttle it herself if she could catch it.
He felt like he was hot on their trail, but as he ran he still couldn't see them. He heard them running further up ahead but he couldn't tell where they were exactly and if they'd already caught the coyote. But considering the fact that they were running still he assumed not yet.
Charon chuffed loudly, hoping that they would catch his bark and return it so that he knew how close he was -- so far he just followed the running sounds but he wasn't catching up on them just yet since he was behind from the start.
Her mother continued to assist her as Hydra's strides brought her closer and closer. Though the coyote sought escape, it was given no quarter from the Ostrega youth—at long last her fangs connected to a limb of the trespassing creature, and the smaller animal flailed as she tugged and released to unbalance it. But Hydra did not retreat as she let go of the limb— instead she doubled back, knowing she and her mother could finish it off now, and her father could assist too were he to catch up then.
She never noticed Charon coming into view, so couldn't gauge where he was very well anymore as everything closed in on the coyote. Hydra unbalanced it first, and when the opening showed itself to her with time, she sprang on it and grabbed with vicious intentions. It seemed it wouldn't be outrunning them today as she made sure it fell. The coyote yelped and flailed more, this time, desperate just to preserve itself while all of her intentions were just to throttle it while she had it.
In just this go, she cut deeply into its sides at least twice, once near the shoulder and again further down the ribs--although neither were critical injuries yet, they bloodied it more. It did eventually find feet again, just long enough to scramble out of her immediate grasp but she was on it's tail otherwise. She was near, and was her daughter, so they had this covered. Soon, wounds would begin to fatigue it, adrenaline wouldn't be enough any longer, and it's time was closing in swiftly as she gathered for a new flurry of snaps--this time aiming to grab more earnestly at its neck.
No chuffs were returned but he could hear the scuffle taking place not far off now. He came bursting from the foliage and without even looking to see how they were doing he made a dash for one of the coyote's hind legs. Fangs grabbed around the creature's leg and a snap could be heard as teeth combined with the force the creature was trying to get away with snapped a bone in the leg like a twig. He could hear the coyote cry with pain and figured it would soon be over, giving Ame and his daughter a chance to grab it at the throat.
Her mother landed some significant blows upon it when she had torn it off its feet. Hydra swooped in in turn, and her father came upon them and broke its leg. It fell, and the team worked together to tear the critter veritably apart; her mother gripped its neck, and Hydra went to cease its thrashing by moving to press her weight and her fangs upon it wherever she could with a low snarl.
From somewhere in her periphery, white fur finally appeared and brought with it more onslaught. Bolstered, by not only the strength of her offspring, but now her mate's teeth added to the flurry, the coyote had little time left. Between the three of them, they made short work of it. She finished it with one last grab and crunch, which left it limp in the end.
Still held up by its neck, she gave it one last good shake--letting the broken and bloodied legs toss carelessly before she let go. Her tail waved up tall in slow satisfaction, pleased that the pest was eradicated without any incident upon them and quite glad that they had been able to maul it up together.
There were cracks of bones that he was not sure were sickening or satisfactory — maybe both — and it was not before long that Amekaze dropped the broken body onto the ground. As he looked at it it almost looked just like a wolf, albeit a little one, but he knew better. "Good job," he praised his child while he licked the blood off his lips.
I've posted this as a fader but if you guys want to throw in another post that's fine too!!! I LOVED THIS THREAD.
When it was all done, Hydra proudly waved her plume and grinned at her fathers praise. They had all done this together and Hydra was thrilled by working with her experienced parents and learning their methods all the while. Panting, Hydra let her parents do with the carcass what they would, joining them, before she invited them to patrol with her. After the coyote's impromptu trespass, she wanted to reinforce the borders even more so. The blood of the coyote was painted upon her shoulder to include in her scent roll so others of that creatures ilk would know Moonspear meant business.