Morningside Cuesta skaiplei

with a wrenching cry, heda leapt free just as the first elk cow plunged over and down upon the stone. dust rose in high plumes, forming a cloud that wreathed around she and the stranger.
a stag had staggered after, trying desperately not to follow but doing just that all the same; she heard his bleating cries of pain out of eyeshot.
her own wide gaze swept to the man; her sides heaved with exertion and surprise. gingerly heda prowled to the very edge of the precipice and glanced down.
a dead elk cow. a deer stag who tried valiantly to rise with two broken limbs.
heda's breath came harder, and she began to laugh in disbelief, soft and then building in volume, a sound of shock and worship and pride.