Northstar Vale friends in high places

Her eyes followed the direction of his gesture. True to Regan's word, an old female loitered just a little bit away from the rest of the group, eyes glazed with age. There was that young male, as well, but. . .

"The doe will work. Let's leave the young buck alone," she said decisively. "He'll have fawns one day and grow the herd. The doe is at the end of her life cycle."

Her mouth twitched as she began to formulate a plan. "You're big, and I'm fast," she murmured to Regan, taking in his barrel chest and brute strength. "If you wait here at the edge of the glen, I can chase her towards you and you can take her down. There's a ravine right in front of us that we're agile enough to cross, but I doubt she is. Wait here for her."

Before she slinked off, Miyako turned her head and added, "If I can nip a leg for you to slow her down, I will. But I don't know how fast the old gal is." Like a thin shadow, she lept across the ravine and prowled a wide oval around the herd, darting slowly between points so as not to catch the deer's notice. When she was just a few feet away from the doe, she lunged forward, teeth flashing white in a snarl.

Bleats of alarm rose up from the herd as they caught her in their periphery, and the deer began to scatter. Her eyes, though, were on just one, and she bore down on the doe a black fury, obsidian pelt rippling in the mountain breeze. The deer whipped her head up and took off slowly, arthritic knees struggling to get into motion.

Bracing for impact, Miyako pushed all her weight back into her hindquarters and launched herself at the doe, latching onto a rear leg and clamping down. But the old girl still had some fight in her, and her other hind hoof caught her square in the chest, causing her to lose her grip. Despite the setback, the doe was badly hurt, and was limping toward Regan waiting in the glen.

"It's your time to shine!" she called out gleefully to her new packmate.