Moonspear 起死回生

  “Wake from death and return to life” — attn: @Antares

 

Hydra had returned to Moonspear's relatively recent kill (just before she and her cubs watched smoke rise in the distance) to scavenge; it had been large enough to not store every bit of it, and there were still plenty of scraps. Upon her arrival to it, though, she saw the familiar form of the same bird she had longer ago than that; it was still here. Before irritation came relief, and she snapped the former away if only because she had to discover if there was benefit before vexation settled. 

The Queen did not snap or gnash her teeth as she normally might; the circumstances and the strange things she had seen caused her aggressive nature to be given some pause, though her instincts were ever eager to fight. Each cog within her mind geared her instinctive reaction to be such when matters seemed less than ideal rather than flight—here, though, she saw an opportunity to quite literally take advantage of the latter. Have your fill of our kills as you always have, when we go, Hydra determined. It was young, this one—not so big as its fellows she had seen in her own lifetime. though alert me to any new, fresher finds—or things we can hunt, if you would like to keep food in your belly. The creature simply watched her, and Hydra felt warmth creep to her cheeks; could she even be understood? Was it only some birds that heeded wolves, not all? Maintaining what dignity she could, Hydra lifted her head and all but begged the question in her ever-steady voice: do we have an accord? 

It hopped once, twice, three times away before taking flight—Hydra answered for it, voice low: no, then. She would chase that damnable thing from every corpse she found; she would hunt it and feed it to her cubs! 

Digging into the days old meal, Hydra ate her fill before tearing more of it free from itself to return to her children, who her mate supervised while they dozed. Their mother returned to them quickly enough, having known where the kill was and having not been too hungry, yet... it seemed wise, though, to eat while they could. They had not yet delved into their caches; she counted Moonspear most fortunate. Were they not owed this much? Hydra threw the meat against stone and gazed to the sky, thinking of her parents unfortunate end. 

Yes—they were owed some peace. She thought of Speedy, too, and looked over her shoulder. An idle dream was that the bitch and her children alike were snuffed out by whatever the cause of that, though more Speedy than the children, truly. If not them all, she would be glad for just the one. It would likely be a more painless death than she deserved, but when one upset the balance of things death simply came when it would, she supposed. 

Turning her head back to the mouth of the den, Hydra basked in the silence for a little while longer. Another moment of brief peace while the cubs dozed still... though it was only a matter of time before meatscent caused one to stir. Who would be first?