Redtail Rise Crossing the frontier

Sonda moved forward, panting and tired from the long journey. He ran over to try to quench the exhaustion and looked around. He was hungry.

The wolf lifted its head and sniffed warily, and he felt his hair rise in terror at the scent of other wolves.
He froze for a moment, but then tried to calm down and turned to leave. However, he caught a flash of white out of the corner of his eye and turned immediately: a rabbit. At that time he did not think it was a very serious offense to hunt in someone else's territory, or "steal prey", as his mother used to say. He just thought about how hungry he was and instinctively ducked into a stalking stance.

The hunt was very easy, the rabbit was old and skinny, so it was not fast. Then Sunspots grabbed it and, satisfied, trotted off to a shady area to eat it. He sat up and held the rabbit in his paws as he ate it, spreading fur all over the place.

He saw a tree and, when he went to smell it, he realized that he smelled that herd. A feeling filled him completely when he smelled the tree, riddled with the scent of the resident herd. He raised a paw and sprayed him so that he was drenched in his own scent.

His mother had told him that only Alphas marked trees with their paws raised, and that a subordinate who did so would be worth biting. "I'm not part of this pack" he told himself, louder than he intended "I have no commitment to this pack and that's why I can do whatever I want". However, he continued walking nervously and after a few seconds he stopped short.

He saw a blur approaching from afar, and at first he didn't make it out. Then he realized what they were: wolves. he ran back, fear forcing him to stay where the rabbit's remains lay, barely able to move. His only hope was that the approaching wolves were low ranked and he could trick them into fleeing, so he turned, fangs bared in a defensive stance. However instantly he changed his mind and grabbed the rabbit to raise its head. Expecting.

It was bad luck, on the interloper's behalf, that the first wolf headed straight towards him was Relic. Sun Jaw, as he was also called, may not be fully grown. Not quite having reached his full size. But he was an experienced young male. He had seen many hunts, had played his role on the battlefield and even successfully defended his status. The map of faded scars on his face proved it.

On his watch, nor anyone's, no outsider dared cross their borders. That was one thing. But stealing prey that belonged to the Rise, and then having the audacity to urinate as if dominant, made his blood boil. Piecing red eyes narrowed, fixing hard onto the male. A thunderous snarl bellowed in his throat, serrated hackles standing quill like. 

Completely disregarding their defensive stance, the Redtail broke out into a full on charge. Bared teeth clicking, coated with saliva. Honed for flesh, which he would rend if he got a hold of. He didn't even slow down in the slightest, making contact by barreling with brute force into the wolf.

With leadership in flux and young pups to mind, every wolf on the rise was on high alert lately. Masquerade was no exception. They felt more protective than ever of their mother and siblings, straying from Avicus’s den only to fetch food.

They were on such a task presently, drawn by the smell of a fresh kill. Whoever had made it, Masque could and would claim it for their mother without qualms. Avicus needed the nourishment more than anyone while she mended her wounds.

The sound of a snarl made them pause in their step, hackles bristling. They broke into a trot, headed toward what sounded like an altercation of some sort. When they came upon the scene, they saw Relic barreling toward an unfamiliar wolf: an interloper.

Although they were neither guardian nor warrior, Masquerade would not let their brother face the threat alone. They raced to join him, behaving more like Avicus or Redd might in that moment as their teeth sought the stranger’s flesh.

intruder.

interloper.

augur was up when the scent touched the wind.

sun jaw had come first, then thorn caller. the young wolves struck, and the hunt-leader bowled toward them both, gigantic jaws parted to seize the back of the trespasser's nape.

his snarling was thunderous.

Sonda chance to open his mouth before they attacked him.

First one, then two, then three... and Sonda grew more and more desperate. He bared his fangs, but it seemed that no one was paying attention to him. There was no option to flee or attack, they all had him practically immobilized. His fur began to turn red with each bite, and then he understood that this encounter was life or death.
However, he was not his brother. He would not submit, would not stoop to that.

He flattened his ears, lay back with his paws tucked under him, and crouched down, growling. "Let me go" he said, biting his tongue to keep from crying out in pain.

Lilia had been trailing behind Relic, following along with his scent in the interest of surprising him with the request of a spar once she caught up with him- but by the time she caught the scent of the stranger and the pungent scent of his urine at the borders, he‘d already bolted.

In the distance, a fray- the wolf’s voice was lost amongst the snarls of her packmates who seemed to have the situation well in hand. Augur towered over the cowering man and the others were so close, Lilia could barely glimpse him- but took a second to notice the stranger’s marking, and the rabbit fur that had begun to blow away on the breeze. A robin swooped down to snatch a claw full of it, no doubt for its nest.

Her eyes narrowed. The stranger had hunted, eaten, and marked the borders. Her hackles raised and she bared her fangs at the male when she finally caught sight of him through the others.

To her, it seemed an intentional slight; and deserved punishment. 

Fear, she knew, could be a powerful motivation.

”We could each take one leg, an’ pull you to shredth for this,” She snarled.

Just a warning: Swearing.

Like angry bees swarming to defend their hive, other Redtails swooped in, descending on the offender. First Masque, his diligent littermate. Then Ulfhedinn, who was like a father figure to Sun Jaw. And his fierce sun crested warrior Lilia. They all wanted a piece of this wolf.

Relic was practically quivering with fury. A terrifying whirlwind of a sight, foaming at the mouth. He shoved and barreled his way in amongst his family, the pleas of the wolf falling on deaf ears. He didn't care how much they thrashed. Wriggled, struggled or fought back. Snapping jaws raked once for their muzzle, then he re-directed. 

Aimed for a tender ear, which if he got a hold of, would rip clean off. By it, through his gurgling breath, he spoke, darkly. "Picked the wrong pack to fuck with, pal..."

The intruder bared his teeth even as they pinned him in place, lashing their own fangs at him. Masquerade exercised perhaps more restraint than their comrades—now including Augur and Lilia—their jaws only landing a glancing blow to his shoulder. Unaware of the wolf’s crimes outside of trespassing, the Caru only wanted to get the stranger to leave.

Instead of fleeing, he folded to the ground. Masque’s lips wrinkled back from their teeth at this, though his words made their ears splay uncertainly as they backpedaled to assess. Perhaps he couldn’t escape the onslaught. They pitied him but it was as Relic said: “Picked the wrong pack to fuck with, pal…” He would pay for his mistake, perhaps with his life.

augur did not mean to be merciful.

augur did not mean to relent.

the pleas fell on closed ears: to unwittingly trespass was one thing, to piss and to posture was quite another.

he began to saw his head back and forth with the intention of opening a large wound along the back of the stranger's neck, heavy forelegs like weighty columns.

augur meant death.

Sonda panicked as no one seemed to want to release him. He knew there was no middle ground: he had to rule or be ruled, die or fight to live. Blood soaked the ground and made him dizzy.

He started to shake and tried to get up, but his legs barely supported him. The wolves' words only scared him more, and he wasn't able to show them his fangs again.

He began to squeal uncontrollably and tucked his tail between his legs. He saw teeth and hair everywhere, some mouths moving and talking, but he didn't care.

"stop!" he yelled, desperate, spinning as he tried to dodge the attacks. "I will do anything!" he pleaded.

Surrounded, pinned, and gripped by two of the pack’s strongest wolves, it would have taken and overpowering swarm of backup to save him. It would have been a clever means of drawing attention to the border along one end and attacking at another- but none of the wolves involved were willing to forgive his trespass. 

Relic echoed her sentiments, and while Masquerade drew back at his pleas, the moment Augur renewed his aggression, Lilia surged forward. 

There was nothing he could offer that would be more satisfying to her than ripping him apart, and feeding him bit by bit to the pack’s next generation.

Tender flesh ripped between his teeth, blood pooling in his mouth. The wolf tried to defend himself, tail tucked. Begging, pleading.

From Relic there would be no mercy. No reasoning. This wolf had gone to the point of no return. If Augur and the others would not let up, then neither would he. Wedging himself over Sonda, he attempted to pin him down. To hold him, while the attacks intensified.

In his most brutal display of savagery yet, he took a new target. Teeth snapping at the most tender of places. He would castrate this bastard himself.

Now the stranger pleaded for them to stop. Masque set their jaw, then shook their head. The Redtails weren’t complete savages, yet they were fiercely defensive of their territory and the wolves contained within. The interloper didn’t stand a chance.

There was no room for the Caru to wedge in and attack, not without risking friendly fire. They stood back and kept watch as their pack mates made to rip the interloper apart, piece by piece.

giving sonda an IC chance to escape as discussed over PM, anyone please lmk if this isnt okay <333

augur was not merciful.

but he was a father.

he knocked the young interloper away, intending to tear him momentarily from the jaws of the youthful rise wolves; he sundered the air with a cracking growl that ordered a respite.

run.

he would not keep sun jaw or wolverine from their pursuit, nor hesitate to join himself if further disrespect was given.

but a mauled boy was a boy who lived another day. and a boy who lived another day was a wolf who learned respect that kept him alive in the next.

Sonda stood up, his fur standing on end, stained with his own blood.

Wide-eyed, she didn't wait to be told again that she was free to go. He swished his tail at her and started to flee, his muscles still tense in case they attacked again.

He would not return to that territory, and he hoped to get out of there as soon as possible.

The stranger’s orange eyes were wide with terror. Lilia felt his pelt stretch and tear within her grasp as she grabbed a mouthful of loose skin and fur. She weathered the scrabbling of his claws and the high-pitched sounds of his wails. 

 Augur stepped back- Lilia snarled and clenched her teeth, thinking he was perhaps repositioning himself for another attack. A moment later, she glanced toward him to read his movements, realizing that he seemed to intend to release their pinned prisoner. It was just enough of a distraction that the male was able to pull himself free of her grasp and bolt away.

She gave him a moment- just long enough to pull away and cover a few yards- before she galloped after him, intentionally keeping her own pace in check. She harried him with snarls and barks, occasionally speeding up to close the gap and spark terror again.

Augur gifted him with his life- but Lilia would gift him with a swift and terrifying chase that she hoped would discourage him from ever coming their way again.

Augur saw fit to release the wolf, if only long enough to give him an opening to escape. Relic, forced to relinquish his position, stepped back, poised to lunge again. Hard red eyes pinned on the male, watching his every move. From between his blood stained teeth, he spat out tufts of fur.

Wisely, the intruder took Augur's final warning seriously, turning to run. Relic was savage. Brutal. Feral. But he would not take an innocent life just for the thrill of it. The Redtails had their Wealda and pups to defend. A reputation to uphold.

Like Lilia, he bolted after the retreating Sonda, tail flagging high over his back. Teeth clicked on empty air, booming snarls cascading over the whole of the Rise. Alongside his friend he sprinted, to drive Sonda out and well past the borders. Lucky to escape with his life, and hopefully, a little wiser.

Before their fellow yearlings could maim him, Augur gave the trespasser a mighty (and life-saving) shove, punctuated by a snarl. The bloodied stranger leaped to his feet and darted away, Lilia and Relic in hot pursuit.

Masquerade did not join them, instead shaking out their coat and huffing a breath as they glanced at Augur. They touched their nose to his grizzled chin, glad that he had shown mercy even if the stranger hadn’t deserved it.

With a last glance in the direction the three had gone, Masque rubbed their paws in the dirt to add to the Redtails’ scent markers at the scene of the crime. They then woofed goodbye to the Ulfhedinn and returned to the important task of fetching meat for Avicus and the pups.