Broken Boulder Crucible of Broken Blouder

His tongue shrank back into his jawline as he lay in the shade of a set of trees. Two trees had fallen, by whatever means he knew not, and they were crisscrossed yet they both leaned upon a large dominating fur, kicking up a small crawl space in which was room for basic shelter. Redmoon wasn’t interested in finding a home but the winds were up this day and he’d found a muskrat, the fat vermin was a tasty breakfast in this land aplenty with game. The taint of blood was still on his right paw where some of the prey’s fluids had doused him there, hence his cleaning. The remnants of the muskrat was naught but the head and tail, crunchy scraps he wanted to chomp down on though his belly mentioned a fullness and he didn’t want to overdo it. 

For long weeks he’d been hunted by a large pack of wolves from the south. They’d chased him north where he’d vanished into the bramble and density of the Bracken Woods. From there the hunters had lost his scent and for more moons than he could remember he traveled southward where he’d met a darkened wolf of regal nature that’d helped him take down large game and to feed for the first time in a while. There he’d gorged himself, a clear mistake for one whose stomach had shrank do to the prior starvation during the run northward. 

Lessons learned the hard way, he wasn’t about to repeat them. He continued to clean the paw until all that remained was the damp fur that was his own. He still hungered but he would not be foolish and so he collected the scraps and buried them in a shallow hole. If necessary, he’d know where they were. Otherwise, the scent was hidden. Perhaps not from a wolf as keen as he, but hidden enough that he was confident in a return to this spot. With a gentle stretch of his weary legs he rose to his full height of twenty-eight inches and lifted his nose to the passing drifts. A strange lingering taint was in the air and it came from the southeast. Ears snapped too like radars though he heard nothing, though the wind distorted him he still suspected what he smelled was not too far. 

Easily the fire brand lifted up onto rough pads and he eased onward to the east. He would proceed in this direction and attempt to get around his target to the north and continue onward until he’d arrived on the eastern side. Once there he would approach his goal with the sun at his back, even though he’d be traveling upwind. He suspected that it was no wolf he sensed and so the hint of the winds would not reveal him so.