Heron Lake Plateau Ma'am... Some other sunset

I did some rolls to figure out what the deer did, but I didn't write them down, apparently, just the results.  Oops.

The harassment done by Niamh and Colt drove one of the does away from the lake and the deer that remained merely picked up the pace -- but not all of them.   The young buck they were chasing wasn't able to keep up with the final turn of speed and was starting to lag behind.  So there was something wrong with it.  Instinct hadn't been wrong.  A gap started to build as they raced along the lake shore.  The rest of the herd was almost to safety unless something went wrong -- as nature was prone to do, the weakest was being left to the predators.

Quixote would be the first but not the last to make an attack at the lagging buck, snapping at the deer's rear legs.  His teeth grazed its ankle but didn't hold fast.  There was too much movement.  But a tiny bit of blood was spilled, enough that the wolves would all be able to smell it.  Quixote hadn't done enough damage to mess up the buck's stride -- adrenaline kept it at a fairly even pace, even if that was slower than what would keep it alive.  An end to the hunt was within reach if everyone did their parts.