Overture Downs long live the king

coelho had noticed rannoch slip from the pack; she had wanted to talk to him privately about a den she had found - a den in the hollow that would be positively perfect for his kids. it was wide, with a smooth stone arch, a flattened entrance, and not too far from the river that coursed through the territory. its embankment was of soft sand and interspersed with round riverstones - in coelho's eyes, a perfect place for the puppies to cavort and grow. from the den one could hear the thick gurgle of the river, a melodic echo that was both soothing and rhythmical.

selfishly, she wanted to be the one to share it with him -- after all, she had found it -- and excited to divulge with the alpha, she trotted brightly after him and straight into terror.

it was as if she had walked from the sunny halls of the forest into a waking nightmare; before them a beast of impossibly huge stature lurked, rough and slavering as it approached rannoch. rannoch - coelho saw with wide eyes he was frozen in place as doom swung towards him with unyielding arc of a pendulum.

she moved like a machine, as if commanded by some order other than her own will: her feet flew and suddenly she was in front of the bear's path. "no!" she howled into that cold autumn air, flinging herself into its raised paw -- willing to absorb the entirety of shardik's fury if it meant rannoch would get away.

in that last second before impact, she held her breath and shut her eyes -- suddenly aware of the air that raked through her fur and the dark, terrifying stench of the bear.

***

just like that, coelho died. the heaved paw aimed for rannoch cut through her skull, just so -- if she was not killed by the evisceration of claw through her spine, she was certainly killed by the crack of her skull against stone.

she was thrown clear, her body colliding with the earth in the same gruesome manner of a meteorite. dust rose around her limp form, and a clear liquid oozed from underneath her ear. a long, gruesome crack appeared from the center of her forehead, down across the back of her head: exposing there-in the contents of her skull - soft, pliable grey brainmatter that spilled with profane laxity through that impossibly unsightly hole.