Redtail Rise red

the elks continued to fight.

it's a prolonged battle period, and Avicus notes it, minding her pack while she follows the herd. a pair of male elks at the edge of the Rise—that is the issue, and she watches them keenly. their battle culminates in a crushing blow to one's sternum, knocking the wind out of the boy—

she'd seen it in real time, and now watches the young elk struggle, stumble across the prairie. she prowls and then pounces, howling for @Masquerade and @Redd and @Ashlar and @Mulherin and @Mountain Boulder and @New Snow and @Riley and @Redsky and @Carrion and @Tulimaq and @Saturdays Sunrise and

the sheer length of her call invigorates her

the fact that she has so many wolves at her beck and call is so empowering

and as she draws up alongside the injured elk yearling, she is feeling invincible, and nothing registers but the thrum of his gait and the heartbeat in her chest and—

a sharp-edged hoof against her throat, slashing it from shoulder to shoulder, blood splashing across the prairie