Meadowlark Prairie XXXV

he looked skyward. no ravens.

he ranged out, head low and yellow eyes searching the terrain. wolverine flagged in her steps but he did not look back.

the wind twisted. he examined a tuft of grass and then another. he tasted the ground.

a horse.

he did not know the name for these beasts. they had hard hooves but no antlers. 

there were two of them, grazing the little grass. gaunt from the same hunger which plagued the wolves. one's haunch was clustered with flies.

augur gulped snow into an aching belly then ran directly at the beasts to test their mettle

his ground-eating strides soon carried him to their attention. they turned to run, giving no fight. they were tall but ragged, ribs showing. still, there were more pounds of meat on a single horse than he could know. 

the wolves would cut them away from one another.