Haunted Wood The sun also rises

Crowfeather watched as the red wolf responded, driving the elk back into the water. Each lifted hoof made a deep squelching sound as it was pulled from the mud. The elk bellowed again. 

When the red wolf pulled out of the wet and back to solid ground, Crowfeather pricked with fear. The shadow moved to take the man's place. He snapped with his fangs and barked at the elk. 

When the muck and water had risen to his chest, Crowfeather sought Germanicus, praying he would call out instruction.

teya felt as though she was only a hindrance. something to be tripped over or stepped on. but at the mention of water, the raven brightened. she saw almost at once the tactic: to mire the elk. grateful to learn so much upon this hunt, teya slipped into the muckpool with no hint of pause.
she looked for the man who had appointed himself leader now, darting another glance to reyes. teya was giddy and breathless, and her eyes were bright with excitement, the anticipation of the situation sharpening her consciousness.

each wolf was spared a moment of observation. the red creature drove himself to the very edge of the waters, and then retreated. germanicus did not think it was a tactic, but crowfeather filled that gap in their ranks. he blinked, heartened, and shifted his attention to teya.

she was in the water, too near the elk. germanicus sought the curving bank and leapt from it. 

the eagle's soar came to an end as water erupted near the straining shoulder. germanicus surged fishlike from the depth and seized the bridge of the animal's nose with his jaws, muscles standing sharply as he sought to shove the cow's head beneath the water.

Returned now to solid ground, Reyes paced there and watched as the three worked in tandem. The dark boy moving swiftly to fill that gap he himself had left; Teya moving effortlessly within the water to strike at the elk; the larger man taking up a position and striking also — meanwhile Reyes merely watched, as if he had stranded himself, much the opposite of the sunken quarry that struggled against the mud.

He felt a burning ambition to return to the hunt, chiefly because of the other man present. The way that Teya so eagerly worked alongside him, glowing with unspoken praise and adoration, which spiked jealousy throughout Reyes' system. He neared the edge again and could not breach the invisible line of it, regardless.

It did not take long before Teya was in the water, darting into place so that she could help to keep the elk from fleeing onto the bank opposite them. Their target was trapped perfectly, leaving the elk’s snout to be grasped by the soaring Germanicus.

Crowfeather pulled his legs from the muck as the elk attempted to struggle. He did not want to see the cow pull its head from the soldier’s grasp. The shadow lunged and gripped at the elk’s throat from behind its skull. Crowfeather’s sharp fangs sunk into the flesh of the beast, and he felt it writhe.

she moved with germanicus, but crowfeather was suddenly near too. teya backed somewhat in the murk until she could watch them both, tongue lolling just above the dirty water. there was nowhere higher she could grab; the raven took the break to look for reyes, wondering why he had not joined them.
no matter — teya was pleased simply to have him so close;
she latched herself like a furred moray to the side of the creature and held.

germanicus bore down with a grunt. his own breath seared his nostrils. the cow resisted, lowing even as her fate was determined. the eagle gave all his strength to it.

crowfeather materialized. the boy's teeth cut into the thick hide and the cow sagged beneath the shadow's added weight. germanicus lashed his head to and fro, frothing the water into a grim foam.

it was soon rosy with blood.

he fastened himself grimly.

in time, the rest of the cow's body slowly toppled, lifeless, into the water.

Watching the wolves work at the elk, Reyes could tell it would not be long before it gave up its ghost. The more lissome of the dark wolves moved in to the beast's chest and neck where it worried the skin, meanwhile the larger man sank his teeth with some finality in to the flesh and began the thrashing that would cut short the elk's life. Blood overtook all other scents and smells for a time; vibrant and overpowering.

Reyes turned away as a sense of revulsion parried with the conflagration of other emotions. He heard the beast collapse in to the mud alongside the heavy breathing of those involved, and waited tensely for the scene to unfold. As he waited the blood would flow and drain across the mud, in to those sticky hollows left in the wake of the elk's path, soon to be absorbed by the earth.

When Reyes had control of himself again he would be able to turn around and help with the butchery, so for that he waited.

The collapse of the elk came with a great relief. Crowfeather released his hold on the beast’s throat and felt his jaw ache with the force he had maintained there. The dark wolf’s sides heaved with each labored breath.

Squelching his way out of the water and mud, bloodied by their successful kill, Crowfeather looked to the red wolf and smiled nervously. He was rather frightening up close, those intense yellow eyes bore into Crowfeather with an unknown tension.

We did it, the dark wolf spoke as though he was baffled by their success. When he looked to Germanicus, he could not keep the adoration from his eyes. What a feat, he thought and recalled the soldier’s strength.

at last it was over.
teya clambered out of the muck with a triumphant grin that she flung in its entirety toward reyes. making a mental note to ask him about why he had not entered the water, the little raven looked with respect upon the two hunters who had helped brecheliant.
attempting to summon what she could of eljay's diplomacy, she dipped her head to the two, flanks still swelling as she sought to steady herself. "thank you, from brecheliant. this elk feed us for many days."
here it might keep. she looked to germanicus, wondering if he had more to add.

their quarry had been felled. the eagle rested his sungold eyes briefly upon the scarlet man. he had not helped in the last. but he had stood upon the bank, and germanicus felt it was enough. the cow had not been able to escape them.

crowfeather's eyes were suffused with enchantment.

he tore himself away to bow before teya. "let us pull it from the water. it is close enough to your waterland to be visited often."

the eagle turned, cutting at the hide with his teeth, seeking to haul the limp carcass from the murk onto steadier footing.

They were each winded and glad, and while the triumph could be shared with Reyes he did not feel as attached to it. The way Teya looked to him after made him forget his anxiety for a moment but not the churn of jealousy, which reared its emerald head once more as the gruff older man continued to order them all about. Too tired to protest, the others went to work again.

When Reyes neared the now dead elk he thought he was steady enough to aid them, more-so once the thing had been pulled from the sepulchre where it had been killed. The red sheen across everything unsettled him; brought to mind various images he would prefer to avoid, and so he hung back while the two narrow-built wolves hoisted and Germanicus pulled.

As soon as the elk was clear of the crimson radius of that initial lifeblood's splatter, he was there to help. It was hard work with the slack weight of the massive creature, but together they would pull it somewhere for better keeping.

Hard work, but the group of four managed to drag the elk body from the water and to a place where the Brecheliant wolves would be able to feed from it for several days. Only when they had managed to do so did the dark wolf feel the budding pleasure of a job well done.

Thank you both for aiding the hunt, Crowfeather offered to Teya and her crimson guard. The nimble figure bent slightly so that he could bow his head to the woman, a soft way of his tail was his offering as a farewell.

It was time to move on, Crowfeather could feel it in his chest.

she helped, catching bits of flesh in her teeth and spitting fur aside. there was some shade here. teya felt that she could return again, and with the help of the others, pick dry the bones before the birds found it. 
the younger wolf turned almost abruptly to a departure, but teya only nodded toward them. all the formality, and bowing, for what? 
when they had gone, teya turned back to reyes with a suggestive glint in her coolwater eyes, fired by the purpose and success of their hunt.

germanicus cast a watchful eye over the place where the elk would be stored.

crowfeather made a fine departing word for them. he bowed sharply to teya, cast a last scrutinizing glance toward the red male, and then turned, keeping apace with the shadow as they moved forward upon their journey.