They proceeded towards the borders at an even pace, coming upon them with the light of the day still high in the sky. Out there the dense undergrowth served as a humid blanket, alive and loud with the insects and other creatures of the wilderness. For Echelon there was no idling, just a silent dive into the work left ahead of them. She paused briefly to add to the scent markers there, initially pleased that in their collective absence that nothing was seemingly disturbed.
Once that was complete, she brought her cool-eyed gaze to rest upon the reddish coat of the alpha male, testing the wind curiously for things unseen but not to be missed. Even out here, she could smell Tonravik as though she were with them, though a large part of that no doubt came from her chosen breeding partner of the season. His scent was all over as well, as she anticipated. Good.
murder by death — end of the line
With their friendly spar complete, the two of them took off towards the borders. It was a familiar path, one in which they wove through their inner territory towards the all too familiar outskirts. He patrolled these parts frequently. More so now that they'd dropped a near-dead wolf on the Plain's wolves doorway. He wasn't taking any more chances with them and so he'd made his patrol more frequent and thickened his own threat upon the earth. If anyone dared the Spine, he would meet them in true savage fashion.
For today, he had a specific goal in mind. They'd only recently felled a moose in the nearby forest and had dragged its carcass back to share with the rest of their numbers. It had left a trail behind. That scent of death? He was determined not to let it attract any unwanted predation. He nudged her shoulder lightly before tipping his head in another direction as if to say "this way." His paws turned then, leading them towards where they'd brought in their kill. He scented the air and earth, thickening his marks where they had thinned as they approached his intended destination.
As he took the lead in a different direction, Echelon fell into step behind him. What he had in mind she would soon learn, as it was not too long into their journey that the trail left behind from the felled creature became evident. The buzzing of flies on left behind blood and entrails were her first signs past the sickly sweet tinge of death on the air. Something like this would have no doubt drawn attention to them eventually, but as they pressed onward to begin covering the trail, she noted smoothly that this close to the Spine the area remained disturbed only by the past and their present venture.
Further out however, the scents that clung to the passing foliage told her a different story. Tinges of vagrants came to her senses. They were of the canine sort, though she did not distinguish whether or not they were of wolf or coyote. The gender was indeterminate as well and useless to her; these scents were stale. Whoever had passed by had rooted around uselessly before deeming it a risk too high to make. It was there that she paused to scent the ground again, the action concluded by her scattering the loose earth and growth about.
They discovered the trail of gore without too much issue. The scent of blood was still somewhat fresh and not entirely erased from the efforts to drag a giant moose back home. It'd taken all three of them to maneuver an awkwardly large body up the rim of their mountainous home so covering their tracks had been of a lower priority. Echelon was quick to realize this and quicker still to cover what trails had not been erased by the natural ways of nature. Flies were quick to devour the portions that had been dropped. Scavengers picked up the rest. Carrion crows and lingering vultures. A canine scent here and there.
"Fox?" he inquired, wondering if she'd picked up on it too. Canine, but not distinguishable as wolf or coyote. Something else. Something that didn't much matter to the Spine now as the scents were stale, but might be of more significance in the future when the puppies were born. Smaller things were always subject to predation.
His voice withdrew her from the focus she had given to the task for a moment, pausing in their steed to assess what she could from the scents around. That lingering touch of something distinctly canine yet not; she couldn't be entirely certain of what it was. A wayward shrug followed his guess, an acute perhaps. She did not entirely worry of what foxes would do to their homestead, if only for the fact that she did not anticipate them to be foolish enough or brazen to travel too far into their territory.
She cast her gaze about for a moment, searching over the tousled summer growth for some sign that there had been more than just minimal traffic in their quarry trail. "Let us find out," she suggested, though it was hardly just a suggestion on her part. Her muzzle dropped low to the ground, hovering over it as she pushed to follow the questionable trail.
A paw brushed over a trail of rot, covering it with another layer of dirt and concealing it beneath his own scent. He did not wish for anything foul to come this was so every effort at removing traces were taken to their fullest extent. It was the lingering scent that was of some concern and his mind spun through the possibilities. Fox was a knee jerk assumption, but it could just have easily been badger or weasel or some other forest carnivore they may have forgotten.
She was quick to pick up the trail and quicker to follow it upon the notion that they might discover the culprit. With a nod of agreement, Kero too lowered his nose and sifted through the scents on the ground. She followed the more direct course of the scent and Kero lingered behind her, fanning at her back to search for any patterns of deviation, accomplices, or additional visual cues that may be of value.
Her pressed onward, carefully going over the scent as they progressed past the beaten path and onto smaller, more minute runs through the foliage. Her eyes deviated between the path ahead of her and beyond, searching periodically for any hint of bright fiery color against the ever-present greenery. The scent itself was muddied and weak, no doubt half-washed out by the rains that had crisscrossed the wilderness in the days past. Perhaps like Tonravik, it too would be lying low in the heat awaiting the coming night for cooler air. Or maybe it had gone to higher climes in their range.
But for all the speculation that she could give it was in passing alone; Echelon wanted nothing more than to find it and dispatch it into darkness permanently, where it would sense nothing. It too would become a marker for their territory, if they were to suss it out from the terrain beyond. She came to a pause at a crossroads, snorting at the ground as she scratched at it.
"The paths converge here," she informed the trailing Iqniq. "What do you see?"
He caught traces of things here and there. Smaller rodents. The hacking remains of owl pellets. Inconsequential things that were not nearly of any or more value than the greater canine scent she chased. At one point, he noticed a few snapped twigs, but a sniff in their direction left no lingering tufts of fur. Whatever had been through here hadn't passed through in some time.
They moved for a while longer before Echelon stopped. Noticing her ceasing steps, Kero turned his search inward and joined her on the truer path they followed. He lowered his nose, confirming her words as she spoke them before he turned his eyes to gaze at the nearby area. Trees. He glanced up into their bows and found nothing out of place. Lower to the ground he noted patches of the earth that were worn. "A resting spot?" he considered out loud as he moved towards the barren ground and sniffed at it. "The scents are stale."
He turned a few paces, testing out the area around them and didn't gather much more than what they'd already discovered. It was possible, that with the scraps from their kill collected, the foxes or whatever had moved out. "Think they vacated the area?"
She supposed it could have been a resting spot of sorts. Maybe a rallying point by their canine cousin. Then again, it could have just been some central hub where they figure out what part of the area they wanted to root around in. Truth be told, Echelon could have also implied that she didn't care a whole lot about it either. Her eyes scanned their surroundings once again, and yet she did not see anything that fell miraculously out of place. Wherever they had gone, they didn't have the bodies with them to go scouting it out. And if the scents were old and stale...
"Most likely," she concluded, answering the question he voiced. She moved across the minuscule gathering ground, scattering the forest floor in her wake purposely. She marked this ground too in a manner of speaking, certain that the foxes would cross back over it at a later date. The paths were too worn to suggest that they hadn't been through in a while, so she was certain they'd be back in a matter of time to move along their foxy freeway.
And with all of the paths that branched out from there, she directed herself towards the one that suggested it went back towards the Spine. Casting her gaze back to Iqniq, she debated their options. They could follow it, or they could turn back to cover the remaining trail left in the wake of their recent hunt. Though she had made the decision in her mind what she would have done, she decided to leave it up to him with a curious, but silent inquiry.
It appeared as though this expedition was somewhat of a success in that whatever lingered around these parts had become uninterested and moved on. A pity though, he'd almost hope to come across something so that they could leave a proper message as to who was and wasn't allowed to linger this close to their borders. Considering the very few inhabitants allowed to wander this close were wolves of the spine and those animals they considered dinner, these traces were concerning, but stale. Whatever had been here once, wasn't here any more.
He didn't put it past the creatures to come back. This place was well worn and familiar so the chance of a return was likely. He made note of it and moved to raise his leg towards the well worn resting spot and claim it for the Spine. If nothing else, that would serve as a deterrent, while Echelon's efforts would muddle the scents and their associated memories.
Iqniq moved, spreading himself through the area and leaving his mark here and there to further ward off a return. Satisfied, he moved back to join Echelon and the scent she tracked. It'd forked again. One path towards the Spine. Another moving away. She lingered as if to ask which trail they should take. The one towards the Spine, definitely. He wanted to know what pathways they took to sneak closer to their home. Plus, if this one was just as fruitless as the other paths they'd searched, at least they'd be headed in the right direction to turn in and finish up their patrol.
Paws lifted as he set off in the direction of the Spine with his nose pressed to the ground.
This time, she trailed behind him as they made their way forward. The decision to complete their round of the borders was fine by her account. If he was satisfied by their task of scattering the carcass trail then she saw no reason to consider it further. Brushing past a particular shrub in their trek, Echelon allowed her gaze to wander as they made their way onward, taking study of the plants that grew, and lingering on the tall trees that provided them the necessary shade that was quite a commodity. At least for the northern baring wolves that she and Tonravik were; she couldn't fully attest to whether or not the humidity and heat were a nuisance to the rest of the Spine's inhabitants.
But that would fade away in time, she felt. If not, then perhaps it would not be outside the realm of consideration that Tonravik would grow tired of roasting and relocate them. But that would possibly come to a later date, as the season was young and hardly at the full throttle she would have anticipated of it. But she also had little to compare it to, this being perhaps the first full summer she had spent in the vice grip of the wilderness inhabited by so many.
She paused briefly to mark along their trail, scattering the scent wildly once more before coming to join Iqniq once more. This time, she adopted his role from their previous stint, and looked for the telling signs that their canine cousins had scurried off in some other direction altogether. And so far, nothing fully suggested that even foxes deviated from their usual paths. Joke would be on them in the future, though she did not know how soon such a thing would truly come into fruition.
He followed the stronger trail, their main path. Nose to the earth, he traced their movements as they made their way back towards the Spine. It appeared as though the foxes or whatever it was they were following merely dabbled at their borders and taunted without once daring to climb their protective slopes. He was thankful for this. Where ever the path got too close to their mountain it deviated away before drifting back and turning away once more. They were teasing them. Definitely daring, but not yet committed.
Echelon lingered, resuming his previous endeavors in skirting the perimeter. He glanced over his shoulder to spy her off some distance before he dropped and rolled on the ground in effort to distract from this current scent trail. If he could ruin it with traces of his own, it might not be followed again. Wishful thinking, as he knew scents along were simply familiar and not always a true course. Nevertheless, he was back on his feet. The could continue following this trail, but the scents were thinning and growing older. They'd find nothing here.
He chuffed lightly at her and altered his course. He would be heading back. She was welcome to join him if she so desired or continue as she pleased. Her tracking was good. With her prowling, he knew these borders were safe.
She turned in suit and followed. Together, they headed back home.