Post by Kae on Oct 6, 2010 14:22:21 GMT -5
Exhaling sharply, Orca stood upon a lichen-covered boulder, watching her breath crystallize into a stream of fog in the chill dawn air. The slanting sunlight had not yet penetrated the forest floor, and so she stood in the gray shadow of the dawn beneath the drooping autumn leaves.
There were many smells in the air. The deer were growing wild, beginning to compete with each other for mates, their antlers growing sharp and strong. The squirrels were rapidly storing their pine nuts and seeds in stashes for the winter. Rabbits were browsing the browning vegetation. Foxes, bobcats, and coyotes were on the prowl, as the reptiles and amphibians curled up against the cold and sought hibernation.
Other wolves were thickening the air with their trace scents, as well. Strange wolves, passerby, all coming and going, and all either wolves to be pawns for Orca's pack, or rivals to be driven off... or killed. They were less likely to come back causing trouble later if they were killed. They were less likely to join Cross Roads if they were killed.
The black and white wolf exhaled again, the puff of cloud rising from her nose as her dark blue eyes regarded it with disdain. Hungry, she snapped at it once to amuse herself, feeling the cold bite back at her fangs before she lept down from the boulder and jogged off through the forest's leaf litter.
There was a coyote nearby. She studied his scent for a while, reading his scat, determining that this coyote was not one of those vagabonds that her Alpha had employed as a henchman. She tracked it with single-minded determination before locating it in a rocky meadow, it having caught a rabbit and settling into the concealing cover of the brush, rocks, and rotting tree trunks to eat. Sneering to herself as she listened to it crack a bone, she crept quickly through the meadow towards it, the lack of breeze giving her a few moments of surprise. Without waiting overlong, she hopped up onto the large tree trunk it was resting against and used it as a springboard, her eyes locking on the shocked coyote and her legs springing her up into the air. Orca leapt at the coyote, aiming not for his meal, but for his back.
She caught a mouthful of fur that came away in her jaws as she landed heavily on the scrambling coyote, over double his weight. He yipped and tried to flee, but Orca let her motion carry her in a roll against him, snapping at a leg and grabbing hold. She came to her own feet in a smooth motion while pulling the coyote off his paws, then hopped onto him, her teeth grabbing his throat.
"Wolf, you-you can have the rabbit!" the coyote yelped.
Orca's eyes gleamed as she grinned toothily around his furry mane. "Rabbit..." she snarled. "I have had too much rabbit," and she ripped deep into his throat. The coyote fought and kicked, but could not escape the large wolf's crushing weight and grasp, and he perished to her teeth.
The rabbit ignored, Orca tore into the coyote. He was wiry and lean and had little flavor; he was no deer, or elk, or bison, but it was at least something different than the normal. And it sated her appetite for another hunter's blood.
There were many smells in the air. The deer were growing wild, beginning to compete with each other for mates, their antlers growing sharp and strong. The squirrels were rapidly storing their pine nuts and seeds in stashes for the winter. Rabbits were browsing the browning vegetation. Foxes, bobcats, and coyotes were on the prowl, as the reptiles and amphibians curled up against the cold and sought hibernation.
Other wolves were thickening the air with their trace scents, as well. Strange wolves, passerby, all coming and going, and all either wolves to be pawns for Orca's pack, or rivals to be driven off... or killed. They were less likely to come back causing trouble later if they were killed. They were less likely to join Cross Roads if they were killed.
The black and white wolf exhaled again, the puff of cloud rising from her nose as her dark blue eyes regarded it with disdain. Hungry, she snapped at it once to amuse herself, feeling the cold bite back at her fangs before she lept down from the boulder and jogged off through the forest's leaf litter.
There was a coyote nearby. She studied his scent for a while, reading his scat, determining that this coyote was not one of those vagabonds that her Alpha had employed as a henchman. She tracked it with single-minded determination before locating it in a rocky meadow, it having caught a rabbit and settling into the concealing cover of the brush, rocks, and rotting tree trunks to eat. Sneering to herself as she listened to it crack a bone, she crept quickly through the meadow towards it, the lack of breeze giving her a few moments of surprise. Without waiting overlong, she hopped up onto the large tree trunk it was resting against and used it as a springboard, her eyes locking on the shocked coyote and her legs springing her up into the air. Orca leapt at the coyote, aiming not for his meal, but for his back.
She caught a mouthful of fur that came away in her jaws as she landed heavily on the scrambling coyote, over double his weight. He yipped and tried to flee, but Orca let her motion carry her in a roll against him, snapping at a leg and grabbing hold. She came to her own feet in a smooth motion while pulling the coyote off his paws, then hopped onto him, her teeth grabbing his throat.
"Wolf, you-you can have the rabbit!" the coyote yelped.
Orca's eyes gleamed as she grinned toothily around his furry mane. "Rabbit..." she snarled. "I have had too much rabbit," and she ripped deep into his throat. The coyote fought and kicked, but could not escape the large wolf's crushing weight and grasp, and he perished to her teeth.
The rabbit ignored, Orca tore into the coyote. He was wiry and lean and had little flavor; he was no deer, or elk, or bison, but it was at least something different than the normal. And it sated her appetite for another hunter's blood.
