Emberwood Oats

The white-bark aspen trees were dotted everywhere throughout the wood. Where the pine and juniper trees grew, there were multiple beds of pine needles that had created a cushioned pathway. The snow did not reach underneath the coniferous trees.

After passing beneath two or three of them, Reno had found the telltale sound of chirping squirrels. He thought they’d make easy food. The dusty wolf waited at the base of one pine tree, watching one in the distance. He had a clear path to it. The needles would soften his footfall.

A bushy-tailed creature scurried down from the tree and began to rifle its paws through the needles on the ground. Reno prowled toward it, watching carefully.

colt was stiff but he walked easier than before. the winter had set his pelt into a thicker raggedness, a spiky carpet pushed up around neck and shoulders.
and the red eyes searched, searched for indra always. but today he found reno and stepped haltingly alongside the other man. pain shot through his body but colt ignored it.
knowing he was unfit to run, he cut off to the left into the undergrowth, slowly making his way behind the squirrel.

Colt appeared at his side. Reno glanced to him, quiet. The other man naturally moved to cut around the squirrel. He didn’t look as bad as he had at the start of their move. Winter had cut back on their meals, but Colt still managed to move around and make a fuss when it suited him. 

Reno prowled forward when he saw Colt had found a good place. The ambush would be quick enough. With one glance to the other figure, the dusty wolf lunged forward and snapped his teeth. 

The squirrel turned, fearful. Without seeing him, the bushy-tailed critter took off… right for Colt.

and colt lunged for it, harsh as the day was long.
he had gotten good at this, good enough to teach indra. and remembering her cut his teeth down into an angry clench until the thing bled and died.
he tossed it reno's way. "good catch, boss." his tongue lolled in amusement, though the humour did not reach his reaper's eyes.

The killing was swift. Colt ended the animal’s life with a sharp chomp of his teeth. The motion of the squirrel ceased before he tossed the corpse to Reno with a humorous comment. 

The dusty cowboy bit down on his tongue. Hungry as he was, Colt needed the strength. Reno shifted on his paws and returned the prey to the other man. His gold light gaze moved to scour the trees. They could catch another, perhaps. 

Eat it. Ya need the strength, he grunted.

colt hunched his shoulders against the cold. pride kept him from devouring the squirrel. "each passin' day i ain't half so worthless, reno." an arched brow asked the other not to humiliate him with insistence.
briggs turned into the snow-laden wind, inhaled deeply. no sign of her. no sign of gun. his brow knitted and he dropped his eyes back toward his companion.
"yew think she's all right?" his voice was saw-edged with something emotional and unlike him.

The cowboy shrugged. He would not insist on it. Pride would not strengthen Colt’s body. It would not return the muscle he had lost in his recovery. Reno had no business telling the other man what to do. He would find his strength again, one way or another. That, or he’d bite the dust and rid them all of his trouble. 

The shift in demeanour shocked the dusty figure. Reno glanced to Colt, blinking in surprise. The damn cur had gotten attached. 

I’ll be damned. Yer soft. He smirked, but it was clear that he wouldn’t rib the other man for it - not genuinely. No, I think she’s in deep shit. And we got no business startin’ trouble with that lot. But we ain’t gonna let ‘em get away with it.

"mebbe i am." colt snorted into the icy wind, neither liking nor dreading being read so well by reno. 
hatred twisted his face for a brazen, hellish moment. "swear i'll kill em if they harmed her more'n the fight did." he spat and looked at reno. "gun went to find her, an' gun ain't been back neither."

We need more, Colt. We ain’t gonna get nothin’ from ‘em… not with who we got. 

Reno understood his anger. He was right by it, but anger would only fuck them. They couldn’t let it get the better of them. Much as he disagreed with many of Colt’s choices, they were in it together. Reno was a lot of things, but he was a loyal man, primarily. 

Let’s do it smart. I reckon if we do it right, we can take that slice of land they got. Seems a fittin’ place to settle. Reno glanced to Colt, gauging his response.

colt growled low but reno was right and he conceded it. still, he hated the idea of little redbird being out on her own, lost to the wind and the snow. she should be with him, she should —
suppose the dark bastard had kilt her after all?
reno's maliciousness brought him back to present. the rogue's weathered face split with a horrid grin. "reckon we can. would be pretty easy. attack in the snow." height of winter, january.

Mmm, Reno grunted in confirmation. The man dipped his snout solemnly.

The snow would make it difficult for all parties, but they had endured much worse. They knew how to navigate well in winter. The snow would shield them until they were on top of the other group. January would give them time to gather more, pull together some members to boost their strength.

Reno thought of Amalia for only a moment. He would never ask the girl to join them on such a mission. She didn’t seem to have the fighting spirit in her, anyway. The cowboy hadn’t done a very good job of getting to know the locals. It would make gathering members more difficult.

How many d’ya think? Three more? Four? Could they find four more wolves who would join the gang?

"reckon we pull as many as we can." he inhaled a little, thought of indra so hard his head ached. "they're only a few but they're brutes. rough. gonna need two on the big man alone."
he thought of red's chest, ripped open.
"four at least. yew really want that land, reno?" colt's red eyes were shrewd.
"or do yew just wanna take it?"

It was the answer he expected. It did little to relieve the worry that stiffened his back and cast a shadow on his worn features. Four more would help them. Five would make him certain that they wouldn’t lose or suffer casualties. It was a difficult task, riling up the gang and preparing them for war. Reno didn’t want any part in it. The man was ready to find them a nice piece of land and live out their days in luxury – something none of them had known.

Dunno. I want ‘em to pay. They took one of ours an’ kicked ya to shit.

Reno’s goldlight stare was dull. He looked into the red of Colt’s eyes without shrinking away from that shrewdness, the hungry searching that was so common on the other wolf’s face.

Figured takin’ their land from ‘em – that’s a good place to start.

the way reno looked back at him, well, it cut to colt's core. he knew the other man saw him, really truly. more than any of the others. and it reminded him too harshly and too quickly that there were feelings there.
was. were.
"they'll pay, reno."
briggs slashed his eyes away. "then what?" his voice was rough, teasing. "yew gunna go fetch miz amalia an' homestead it? mebbe have a couple youngins?"
was that was reno wanted? was that what he'd brought them all here to do?
colt wasn't rightly sure he hated the idea of settling, least for a bit.

The mention of Amalia was unexpected and did not reflect well on Reno’s features. The dusty cowboy bristled. Sharp gold eyes picked at Colt’s face.

Why would he go and say a foolish thing like that? Why would he bring miss Amalia into their world when it was clearly a place that she did not belong? The suggestion alone was infuriating. They had no escape from the life they’d lived for so long. The young girl had the world ahead of her. She could have been anything she wanted, gone anywhere in the wilds that her legs could carry her to. Reno never wanted to see her in their gang.

She don’t belong. She ain’t ever gonna belong.

And that was all there was to say about that.

fading!

the end of that.
colt was silent.
reno was silent.
two men, one wounded in flesh and the other in spirit. reno had sacrificed a lot to keep them all safe. least colt could do was make sure that bones got broke in retribution.
truth be told, he looked forward to it.