Mount Apikuni Those Claws Dig Deep

As the sun drifts through the baby blue depths of the sky Ulysses paws are rubbed raw due to his lack of rest. He refused to hunker down until he finds a safer, more suitable place to sleep. His travels have taken him to the torturous cliffs and danger terrain of the eastern Sunspire Mountains. He’s weary but not enough so to trust just lying around out in the open. His wits and lack of trust keep his ears perked and alert, always alert.

Ulysses is traversing up the valley between Mount Apikuni and Northstar Vail. The sun is a couple hours from disappearing behind the horizon so he still has some time.

His massive body makes it hard for him to be the sneakiest but he really isn’t trying to be right now as he sidles through the green of the grass below him. This appears to be at a disadvantage when he sees a few smaller rocks tumble along the mountain ridge beside him. He suspects it’s a mountain goat or something of the sort, what meets his eyes as this white orbs follow it up is another story.

Siding carefully down the rocks is the long body of a fairly large cougar, not the biggest but healthy enough to be dangerous. Those rounded amber eyes of the big cat glued to Ulysses own form and he knew he was in a bad situation. Who knows how long he’s been stalked for. Ulysses knows he can’t outrun this cat, his only chance is to fight.

Ulysses pulls his lips back in a ferocious snarl, the growl emitting from deep in his throat would be enough to scare off a fair amount of other mammals. The hair along his neck and spine bristle, making him look even larger and he slowly walks toward the cougar, attempting to scare it into submission.

A audible thump and the cats paws meet the same grass Ulysses stands upon. It’s body is low to the ground and it’s already begun trying to circle him. The wolf dog expertly keeps his back away from the cougar. He’s surprised it even wants to tussle with him judging by his size, he’s still bigger but that doesn’t always mean luck is on his side.

Hissing the cat pounces towards him, just close enough to get a tough swipe of it’s claws in. Ulysses hardly has enough time to move back enough to narrowly avoid them. So he tries his chances and takes his own lunge while it’s recovering. Growls and barks emitting from his maw, face screwed up to intimidate it, he watches it try and scrabble back but misses it footing enough for Ulysses to clamp his teeth of the throat of the big cat. 

It’s not even the teeth that are the dangerous park about big cats, it’s those back legs. He already feels the cat drop it’s weight to the ground and out of the corner of his eye sees, then feels, those deadly claws trying to shred his side. The cat spits and growls as Ulysses backs the opposite direction of those claws, dragging the cat a few inches. He holds his ground and shakes his head savagely, shaking the smaller cat from side to side, it’s body following the movement. It has its front paws around his neck and shoulders, digging into his double coat. It’s not enough protection and he can feel the cat splitting his skin, leaving bloody claw marks. 

All he cares about is killing this cat, so he  continues to shake and drag the feline across the grass. His ears are pressed back but quickly swivel forward again when he hears the rocks falling. Keeping a grip on the cougar he looks up, sees and hears, two smaller cougar cubs attempting to safely make their way down then rocky slope.

His eyes go wide and all of a sudden the blood in his mouth tastes toxic. One of the cubs give a loud squawk at their mother and even she hears it. She goes still, then starts a whole new type of struggling, the frightened, panicked kind. Ulysses own memories come back, of him protecting his family and he instantly disconnects his canines from the cat, dropping her instantly and backing away as fast as he can. 

She scrambles and tumbles a few times to the direction her kittens are in. Ulysses’ moonlike eyes are glued to her neck, all bloodied and ruffed up. She stumbles a few more times but she’s not bleeding too severely as she licks her kittens a few times. Her round and frightened eyes stare back to Ulysses and he locks eyes with her. He turns his back on them, sidling away. He wants nothing to do with that, he’ll go lick his wounds elsewhere.

She lets him go, Ulysses can feel blood trickling down into his fur on his neck and side. She got him a few good times, so he plops down in the thinnest part of the tree line of Herbalists’ Cache, licking his wounds. Maybe he’ll rest here for the night.