Seaside Moors [m] pine drop

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the rolling land was flattened by hard winds. the caribou huddled there as a storm climbed over the sea. 

cen had said nothing of their time in the forest. it was over. it was done. "look, @Sulukinak," he said, pointing with muzzle toward the thick line of herd-animals wandering toward the tall forest on the other side of the moors. "we will hunt them there, as they cross that river."

she could not help but think of the look on dutch's face as she followed her man cen. she saw it within her mind's eye; it lingered and would linger for those long seven weeks.

the man cen appeared to have put the conversation behind him. he directed her attention to the herd, which earned a fleeting glance.

they crossed a river. as the wolves followed, sulukinak became more aware of the distance from the weald and from morningsong; but she did not speak, or seek any sort of comfort from cen.

whatever turmoil she felt was well buried. her steps were fleeting and nearly silent.

cen pointed out the round-bellied cows splashing into the muddy shallows. "we have only another moon to hunt them like this. when the calves come, we will need others to kill one."

he was satisfied that nothing more was said of that dutch man, or the seal hunter. "they began their march far, far from here, in the bracken mountains. between that place and here, they have lost many elders. they die almost willingly to make room for new blood."

and their sacrifice fed every part of lanzadoii life.

"choose one."

there were many mothers here, bellies rounded, bodies moving slowly. cen pointed out how obvious they were as targets but it would not last.

sulukinak wondered if that was true for everyone. was that why hungry men came for her mother? was that why the temptation of women to the glacier had led to morningsong dwindling?

she moved to get a better view, branching from cen to lope ahead and then she stopped, watching each of the fat bodies until something met her criteria.

when she looked to him again it was to motion at a young cow who might be carrying twins; her belly was so distended that there was a monstrous quality to her which fascinated sulukinak.

sulukinak was silent. cen watched her this time, noting how her bronze eyes watched the herd, carefully and with perhaps more time than he would have taken. he considered how smoothly she had glided from the shadows, entering them once more when they had left the fish eater and his friend behind.

yes. already she showed more promise than red leaf.

cen found it curious that sulukinak did not choose a stumbling elder, but a cow. she was massive, bulging with calves, lagging far behind.

he lunged forward into a run, forcing the others away and leaving her haunches unguarded for the raven hunter.

sulukinak watched the man take flight after the cow, almost forgetting herself. she did not go to pursue until she saw the opening at the cow's flank and lunged in to a run, reaching with each step to compensate for her slow response.

the cow was swiftly abandoned by the rest of the herd, but there was a smaller band of elders among them that stood watching with obvious horror at the wolves; snorting and pawing to one-another as if to say, "we should help her!"

over time these elders fled, too.

sulukinak charged to the cow with her snapping teeth, worrying at her, and soon ribbons of blood coated her haunches.

cen admired her. the cut of her strong dark body, the way she showed no fear but came at once to the blood and to the slashing.

soon they were both sprayed with it, the riverdirt churned to red mud.

the cow bellowed weakly, and sagged against the ground, as if saying she would only catch her breath, then rise to fight again.

cen grabbed her shoulder, pinning her to the earth, trusting that sulukinak would take the fatal strike.

she moved in swiftly, seeking the throat.

the man held the caribou in place although the mother barely fought back, so when sulukinak tried to grab and to cut, there was only a tremble.

it was enough to push sulukinak back, and she did sink her teeth, but being pushed away winded her.

the caribou had sprung a leak now, and blood came seeping down the neck and in to the earth. sulukinak licked her stained teeth and looked to cen.

cen grinned with teeth bloody from the kill. "tear open the belly."

the tender meat of three would sate them for a long while. he lunged forward to rip the throat again, to pin the caribou to the ground and force its death to come faster.

the thought of warm blood being so enthralling had not been introduced to sulukinak before; she who existed on the cold flesh of fish or the chalky taste of dried meats, so much like carrion that it was nostalgic to her.

the man approved. she basked in that look, the attention, the blood. when he said to bite again sulukinak moved quickly to follow through, tearing flesh from the belly over and over again.

the poor mother creature would die an agonizing way, eviscerated there by the probing teeth of sulukinak, and whatever she carried would feed the wolves for many days.

she felt nothing.

what cen felt later was a stretched-tight belly, delicate meat he meant to carry back to red leaf.

"augh!" he yawned and stretched and chewed idly on a small piece of bloodied bone, no longer hungry but wishing the cut of his teeth against it. 

"i must go home now, cousin. i am still a father. but this hunt has been so good for my blood." cen exhaled, rising to take deep draughts of the clean air. "you will come with me then? when i leave this place?"

she ate as much as she could, to the point of nausea. it would not be a surprise if her gut was distended for days, leading to a pregnant look to sulukinak. she wanted more but could not.

the man cen ate too, and sat chewing a bone. perhaps she would take a bone for herself and carry it back to the weald -- you will come with me then? when i leave this place?

she wanted to say no, at first. then thought of the shaman, and the look on dutch when he learned of the harvest. of his wife and her silence.

yes. sulukinak confirmed, and moved to go.

he would visit the carcass often, sharing little with the others in moontide.

cen would move toward that village. if sulukinak came with him then it would be welcomed in silence; otherwise he expected that she would return to dutch's wolves for a time.

he thought of red leaf and ghelan, and trudged on.