Redtail Rise ready to start

Like a good pupil, Moon Runner mimicked her mentor’s every move. Her belly slung low as they assumed a stalking posture and crept through the dying autumn leaves and conifers toward their prey.

Moon Runner could smell them before she saw them. A strong waft of fowl, almost cone-line in distribution, hit her flared nostrils. Instinctively, she froze into a liminal stake between the stages of stalk and pounce as her big amber eyes watched for any sign of movement.