Gyrfalcon's Keep Kindle my heart

Feel free to play the cougar!

The mountain lion paused, its champagne eyes apparently sizing up its prey. Pied pressed herself even closer to the ground, feeling the horrible weight of the feline's gaze as well as the requisite terror of the situation. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, unless she wanted to take her chances leaping down the cliff side. Which was worse, breaking her legs, back or neck or dying at the tooth and claw of this savage beast four times her size?

The mountain lion's lips peeled back and it hissed loudly, its whiskers quivering. It took a step closer, its broad paws silent on the rocky ground. It began to lower its head, presumably to spring at her, yet it jerked up and shot a startled glance over its shoulder at the sound of a booming bark. It hissed again and the trembling Pied saw its fangs in profile and she felt her bowels loosening.

In the next instant, however, she acted quickly, seizing this narrow opportunity. With a wild grunt of terror, she pushed to her feet and bounded past the cat, all the while expecting a death blow to rain down on her head or back. When it didn't come, she kept running, not even daring to look back to find the source of the bark. She sipped in panicked breaths of air as her legs pumped, carrying her partway around the keep's circumference and to a lower vantage point.

Finally, she stopped, quivering from head to toe. She looked up and could see the mountain lion's back and its long, quivering tail. It was now facing whatever individual had provided the distraction. A jolt of fear struck Pied and, unthinkingly, she barked this time. Now that she wasn't cornered herself and had the advantage of distance, perhaps she could lead the mountain lion away from her unseen savior and lead it on a chase away from the stunted mountain peak.