There seemed to be quite a few new members in the pack; not that it was a bad thing. There was still the male wolf Somnia had yet to encounter who's scent has been around for a few weeks. Then, there was Grimm and the one wolf who had been at Elwood's feast. She hadn't managed to catch the name of the latter. But, that could quickly be changed.
Somnia started at the top of the Caldera, for the female wolf had been there. She then tracked her down at a steady pace. It took some time, but the task wasn't too hard. Soon enough, the newer wolf was within her sights. "Hey! I didn't catch your name the other day!" Somnia barked, trotting up to her with her tail wagging in a friendly manner.
Tempest looked up from her incredebly important task of staring at a shiny beetle crawling across the ground. She spun around as a joyous bark snapped her out of her trance, to see a pretty gray female. "Hi! I'm Tempest." she responded, her tail wagging as well. "Somnia, right?" she asked the wolfess.
She had seen the wolfess at the feast, but didn't have the chance to converse with her. Welll now, she did. "Do you want to go kill something?" she asked excitedly. "It smells like a lone deer wandered through here." she pointed her tail at the faint scent behind her. "It could still be in our territory."
The girl's name was Tempest. Somnia would remember that. "Yeah, that's my name." Somnia replied with a little nod. Introductions over, Tempest moved on to a new subject, hunting.
Somnia licked her lips with a circular motion of her tongue. Hunting was right up the new Gamekeeper's alley. Of course she would want to track down a lone deer! "Yes, I would love to kill a lone deer. It's not often that you find one of the herd animals alone. And, in case you didn't know, we're allowed to hunt outside of our territory. I would just suggest not hunting in other packs' territory. But we're allowed to kill stuff in unclaimed lands, which is a good privilege, as there's often more prey the farther you are from a pack's land." Somnia shared. "Back on topic now, lead the way." Although she probably had no right to, she wanted to see what Tempest could do. It wasn't like Somnia would make Tempest do the whole thing by herself, Somnia just wanted to have the newer wolf track the prey down, so Somnia could get a good idea of her hunting skills. Maybe Tempest could even become a hunting partner for Somnia in the future.
Tempest dipped her head politley as Somnia explained. At the words "Lead the way,", Tempest sprung into action. She followed the trail at a steady lope, getting into her element. Sometimes the trail would fade, and she would simply go into the general direction the trail had lead until she found it again.
Piles of droppings and bits of fur caught in the brush were easy to spot, and Tempest followed the trail without to many problems. The deer smelled closer and closer, until she finally caught sight of it in a small clearing. She stopped, eyes on the deer. She silently murmered"What should we do?" she thought the does back leg looked a bit off, twisted. Maybe that was why she alone.
Tempest had no problem following the signs of the doe, which was a good thing. She led Somnia right to the doe without any problems. Somnia already approved of her.
Somnia had started to analyze the doe from the moment her eyes found it. Even as Tempest asked her what to do next, Somnia stayed silent as she came up with a plan. The doe was indeed alone, and even better, it looked as if it had an injured back leg. That would mean that the doe wouldn't be able to run as fast, or at the very least, tire quickly. Still, taking precautions couldn't help. "We'll ambush it, just in case it can run faster than I expect with the leg injury. Go find a spot to ambush it, I'll chase it as straight forward as possible, but be prepared if it goes in a different direction." Somnia whispered.
Tempest nodded briskley and circled to the other side of the clearing. Her pelt melded in with the early morning shadows, and the doe took no notice of her. When she was in a sutibable position, she attempted to make eye contact with Somnia and nodded, showing her that she was ready.
She crouched low, making sure she was hidden so that the deer would not flee in another direction if it saw her. Her heart was beating fast, she wanted to catch this deer, and show the wolfess that she was a capable hunter.
Tempest did as she was told, and even managed to make eye contact and give a nod. That meant it was time to chase the injured doe towards her. Somnia's adrenaline spiked, and she jumped out of her cover, charging the doe.
It could move fairly well for its injury, but if it came down to a battle of stamina, the wolves would likely win. Thankfully, it seemed like it wouldn't be that way, as Somnia managed to drive it towards Tempest. It had almost veered to the side, but Somnia had managed to get next to it's side to get it back on track.
As the doe neared, Tempest resisted the urge to spring out of her hiding place. "3...2...1..." she murmered, then sprang out of the brush. The does eyes widened, but it was to late. Tempest made contact with the deer, her claws slidding into its flesh. She nimbly twisted, and was mounted on the base of the doe's neck. The doe cried out as it stumbled and fell, Tempest's jaws clamped around it's neck. In the struggle, one of the deers hoofs caught her in the side, winding her and making her loosen her jaws slightly. She looked at Somnia for help, hooves raining down on her side, leaving sizable bruises.
As Somnia saw Tempest run out, she decided to help bring it to the down by grabbing onto the rear end of the creature to drag it to the down. Quickly, the doe fell. Which was good and all, except for the fact that Tempest had managed to strategically land herself in front of the doe's flailing hooves as Tempest hung on.
With a growl of irritation, -- not directed at Tempest, but at doe -- Somnia let go of it's backside to try and help Tempest out. "Try to tear open its neck!" She directed as she ran forward to get next to Tempest to help out. Somnia was also putting herself in the line of fire and would get kicked a few times, but the faster it died, the sooner it would stop hurting Tempest.
"Try to tear open its neck!"
Anger made Tempest clench down on the does neck even harder. She growled as hot blood trickled down her throat, awakening her bloodlust. She shook the deer's neck, and was aware that it's kicks became feeble, until finally they stopped altogether.
Triumphantly, she stepped back from the doe. It gave a few raspy breaths before it's eyes closed and it died. The rush of adreline faded, and Tempest felt the bruises on her side. "Ouch" she muttered half heartedly, eyes still on the doe. Satisfied it was 100% dead, and not deadish, she turned to Somnia. "We did it!" she cried, grinning. She had never taken down a full sized deer, one wolf was not enough to do it.
Somnia kept tearing at its neck until it stopped moving altogether. She heard Tempest say, "Ouch." Somnia grimaced as she felt her side ache a little. It probably wasn't nearly as bad as Tempest, who had received most of the kicks. "You alright?" Somnia asked as she was already sniffing Tempest with her nose in her fur, searching for any major injuries. "We do have an aspiring healer, Ashton, should you need him."
At least they had brought it down. Food was getting scarcer, and this was a lucky chance that didn't come often. Had the deer not been injured, it was likely that they wouldn't have caught it.
Tempest looked over at her side as Somnia nosed her fur. "Fine, I'm fine" she muttered. But she winced anyway, her side stinging. "Just some bruises." Tempest looked down at the doe, and pride swelled in her again. "We should take this back, give a haunch to Alphas?"
Somnia was a great hunting partner, Tempest was hoping they could become friends. "That was great. Do you want to do it again sometime?" she asked.
Somnia gave Tempest a disbelieving look as she said one thing, but her involuntary actions did another. She decided against saying anything, for it was Tempest's decision on trying to hide her major injuries. There was one thing she could do for Tempest, without pressuring her. "Should it get worse and you need to, Ashton's den is over that way." Somnia advised, gesturing her head in the direction of his den.
"We should definitely do this again though!" Somnia's enthusiasm for hunting was evident. She didn't choose to pursue the Gamekeeper trade for no reason.
"I'm up for bringing a haunch to Fox and Peregrine. They have their own personal cache next to their den. It might be best if I brought it up there, as Peregrine is definitely a bit territorial of Fox for the moment, as you've seen at Elwood's feast. I've managed to bring some food to the cache and survive. Just rub up against the haunch before I bring it up, and it'll have your scent as proof that you helped bring it down. But for now, let's eat." Without waiting for any sort of reply, Somnia started ripping open the stomach of the doe, bloodying her muzzle and paws as she sought out the delicious organs.
The two wolves ate their fill, and then set to work putting it in the caches, as well as a haunch in the Alphas' private cache.