for now, he was still huntlead.
augur devoted this day to finding red woman's markings and punctuating them with his own, until a crosshatch pattern of reinforced scent wafted all along the rise.
he waited for moon runner.
augur had seen bison moving; even now he turned in the direction of their ponderous hooves, ears cupped forward in observation.
Things were as normal as they could be now.
Redd settled back into the rhythm of the pack. There was still an undercurrent of disturbance, but what had once been a storm was now a murmur. The tension that had existed since Avicus’ first abdication had loosened within her, and things felt right once more.
Redd had avoided Augur during her time returning out of a mix of deference and pointed disrespect. To acknowledge his rank, and regain her place, she would have needed to submit. Yet this she could not do when her mother had been in flux. She felt it time to remedy this now; he was huntlead, she would be hunter.
She came alongside silently, observing a moment, before closing the gap more and looking towards the herd that he watched. She kept her posture friendly, but there was a wariness to her too, in the careful distance she kept. Avicus had accepted her daughter back into the fold, but she would not assume others would. She would earn her place here once more.
blood star.
she had come to join her mother and siblings. augur welcomed her with a tilt of his head.
the tensions settled.
only a pack could kill a bison. any wolf less was a liability. augur was counting their pregnant cows for a future bounty.
he moved off at a steady and careful lope. they could not test herds of such large beasts the way elk and deer might be run off. bison would stand together. but they would be compromised by their need to graze, and before winter, the weakest would show themselves.
Even at her full strength, Redd knew better than to test the strength of such prey with only two. As she was now she would be more liability than asset; she had yet to regain her weight entirely, and her fur was still patched and dull from the ordeal of the past months. Part of her insistence in following was to rebuild stamina lost. Masquerade was diligent in ensuring she was recovering, but it would take time.
At his welcome, Redd lowered herself briefly, deferentially; things would be as they ever were. As he moved off she paused a moment, then followed at his flank, keeping herself on the outside and allowing him nearer the herd. She would follow him in this, help to watch for danger or weakness, but would seek to make no moves he did not make first.
There had always been an easiness to his company, the same kinship she found shades of in
@Carrion and
@Watcher. While her faith in him had been shaken for a time, he had shown in almost all things that he prized the pack as she did. This was all she ever sought from the ones she viewed “family”.
Of those who led, it was perhaps he who she saw herself in most; perhaps that was why the past month had cut so deep. She was grateful that he had remained.
hunter. huntlead.
the curved horns of the bison were uninviting. augur paused in the long grass and sniffed the air again.
a cow had gone into premature labour. the reek and sting of it was in the air.
he snorted and rumbled to blood star, cutting a wide berth round the herd while he searched for her prone form among their milling and protective legs.
She followed.
He had found one who would not run away. Redd rumbled in return, the volume spiking momentarily before settling once more. This one she thought they might have.
There were no young to defend yet. The herd had little reason to protect one of their own too sick too stand. They could drive the rest to flee and take her at their leisure.
Provided she was right, and the cow was too faded to fight. Her eyes burned questioningly as she held for his decision.
blood star was not a child and yet augur worried for her safety. like her, he believed the herd had no reason to stand with the cow; self preservation would lead them away.
he exhaled into the cold air. they would test the ruminants then. with a look to the hunter, the ulfhedinn took off in his signature way: running directly toward the thickest part of the herd to see which animals spooked.
and true to blood star's thought, they began to scatter.
Redd watched him begin to harry them and was only an instant behind, placing herself on the other side of the quarry to better ensure they isolate her entirely. She kept a careful distance at most times, but when one threatened to break from the herd and run opposite, she snapped her jaws near its legs, encouraging it stay with the rest. She did not wish to risk putting both hunters between portions of the herd. Together the safest escape was to flee. An isolated and healthy bison might find reason to fight.
She heard the panicked cries of the unfortunate cow they left behind, and barely noted that she attempted to struggle and join them. She did not think it would make it far, even if it did find its legs, so she ignored it in favor of the chase. She would break from them when the hunt lead deemed proper.
blood star was quick and apt. he chased and she herded.
he barked once to her, to cut away for the shambling cow. mountain boulder dove into her place thereafter, falling back to harry the rest of the great animals away, cutting a wide swatch of space around the cow and the redtail hunter.
his chest heaved. his tongue lolled. he kept them at bay with heavy snaps of his jaws, pacing where needed.
and then he slowly joined blood star, though his focus was upon her protection while the cow's energies were truly sapped by a short flight.
Redd noted the hunt lead’s actions and did not question, though she shifted to the side he did not occupy in the chase in order to snap at the hindquarters. Her teeth were bloodied, a gaping wound left behind where they’d met. Redd dropped back to avoid the kick to dislodge her. It was not worth the risk of holding on; this hunt was one of endurance, not strength.
With only the two of them, she would not be kept at distance. She had observed the movements of many herds and seen them flee, watched them struggle. Instinct followed patterns. She did not fear the hunt so long as her stamina held.
smooth. graceful. the animal was wounded; blood star fell back.
the herd dispersed.
now for the kill. mountain boulder put on a great burst of speed and ran upon the opposite side; his teeth flashed for the foaming muzzle and he leapt high.
his jaws were a crush. the cow bleated through a shattered muzzle. he held firm, the curve of her throat exposed to blood star.
I rolled 20/20 for her hunt roll last time so just gonna continue with that XD
It was seamless. Redd paid close attention to the Ulfhedinn and saw him tense to leap for the muzzle. She sprinted to close the distance, and as the creature stumbled with the weight on its nose, Redd lunged for the arc of its throat.
She latched on, pulling her down as well and forcing her legs to buckle beneath her entirely. The cow thrashed in a panic but Redd held, snarling satisfaction, as life drained swiftly from their kill. It could do nothing positioned as it was, and they would not give it the opportunity to rise again.
sounds good! <3
head down, throat torn.
she died as feral as she had lived.
and she would be food for the rise now.
when their prey had slumped limply to the earth, mountain boulder rumbled in pride and approval to blood star, lapping at her chin once in acceptance of her rank and her skill.
Redd rumbled approvingly in the comraderie of the moment, allowing the pleasure of his praise to present an uncharacteristic enthusiasm before she let it fall away a moment later. The warmth persisted; the pack would feed well.
A few moments later they would summon them and those that came would fall upon it, eating their fill and taking what they would back. The rest was left to the scavengers to divide amongst themselves.