Blackfeather Woods He thrusts his fists against the posts

they came - three wolves abreast with their gazes baptized by fire. he watched them stride along the ground and break formation and he stood his ground until a wolf many ways his superior came upon him. he hunched over into the ground and bared his teeth in rejoinder and the two entertwined in fierce battle. fur and snow flying. their hocks and limbs rapidly pressing against the snow while white powder rose around them.

he did not know this male's name but he thought he would kill him. he was twice his size and while iliksis thought he detected a lack of confidence the male outmuscled him on more than one occasion - many times he was rebuffed, thrown against the ground. many times he rose again and fell upon the agouti until the ground was splattered with dark welts of crimson and deep groves marked their scuffle in the snow.

at one point they were side by side and sebastian's teeth found his muzzle with rakish impunity. at another they were flank to flank at opposite ends and iliksis felt pain sear his shoulder as hooked tooth sunk through it and blood rose profusely to the surface. in their fierce fight he found himself once at sebastian's tail and driven by pain he sought to sink his teeth into the male's rump and instead found a mouthful of tail that he wrenched to his best ability until he felt a sickening crunch of bone -- he might have made off with this trophy were it not for sebastian's defensive onslaught that left him limping. on several occasions iliksis thought the male's experience would be easily manipulated into his favor only to be quickly rebuffed by brute force. they jawsparred and they bit and nipped and scythed and parried; over and over until both were panting with fatigue and numbed by raw pain.

there were a few times iliksis became too brazen in his approach and sebastian's fangs found him -- the dark male's energy was rapidly expiring and he knew it. exhaustion began to creep in each of his parries and blows and his fur was matted in many places with blood that was mostly his own. a glance at the battlefield around him told him all he needed to know -- if he was to live today, he was to run -- for no assistance was coming and the redhawk wolves were more than capable of driving them back.