Dogwood Strath All The Stars Aligned

The youth’s earnest made her heart hurt. Kyna could not recall being so ardent about anything at that point in her life – though she’d been close with Greer, their friendship hadn’t exactly blossomed into the relationship they had now. If anything, she was rather petty, and sullen. Perhaps if someone actually care—

Refusing to go down that rabbit hole, the young woman instead trained her eyes on the pale yearling as he hunkered down. Though she hadn’t asked, she was glad to see that someone in the lad’s past had given him some training on how to stalk. She tucked away the mental note for later; for now, she could only be glad that someone had, or they’d be chasing their prey further down the slopes. Backtracking further in the direction they’d came, the redhead found a sizeable boulder to hunker down behind. Hopefully, it would not only hide her from sight, but keep the panicked mountain goat from noticing her scent, either. Running from your death didn’t leave a lot of time for the subtleties, after all.

A growl alerted her to Kyrios’ sudden charge, and she peeked her head carefully. The mountain goat had certainly heard him and had begun an abrupt bolt; the sharp smell of copper became all the more evident as fresh blood oozed from the wound running down the animal’s front limb. But fear overtook it as it ran blindly uphill, veering wildly from left to right as it hoped to dodge the wolf behind it. Moments before Kyna could spring, it veered suddenly again, leaving the female loping after to catch up to both Kyrios and the goat. Shit!

“Don’t stop!” she called, circling lower down the incline to prevent any further escape. The goat veered again, slowly losing its head start on the young male. “Its hurt! We’ll tire it out if we don’t give up!”

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Hunting Dem 5/8

(This post was last modified: Jul 12, 2017, 10:32 AM by Kyna.)

A wild dissertation appears!

I will travel the distance in your eyes

He’d been running forever, surely the woman would be jumping out any second now to take down the wounded beast. His lungs were burning, pulse beating painfully in his throat as he gasped for breath, fighting to keep up the pace of even this wounded goat. A flash of ginger fur out the corner of his eye send a quick rush of excitement and relief through his body, then he realized the other wolf was behind him, rather than ahead, where their prey was still loping on, down the mountain side. Kyrios stumbled, catching a wheezing breath; We failed? It would seem being two hadn’t significantly bettered their chances. Then Kyna’s call reached him, urging him on, even as he shuddered at the words; Easy for you to say! He felt pretty certain he’d tire himself out long before the goat did.

But he kept running, trying to ignore his aching bones. Kyrios was not a fast wolf, but he had a scout’s blood running through his veins, and even in his weakened stage, that resilience kept him going, at least for now. With his tongue still sticking out, every breath loud and ragged, he ran on, chasing the scent of blood more so than the swerving shadow that could hardly be glimpsed through the heavy snow. This felt desperately like all his other attempts at hunting, frantically chasing another creature, quicker and more agile than himself. Though he would have never dreamed of targeting something this big on his own. Except he wasn’t now, the sound of the large woman catching up behind him brought new hope, pushing him onwards through the snow.

The bloody tracks before them seemed to be getting deeper and darker as they went, eventually they reached a spot where the blood had pooled slightly, leaving a larger stain in the snow; Like it stopped here for a bit… Was it working? Was the beast getting tired? Golden eyes slid back up to squint through the flurry, and there he saw it, more clearly than before; We’re catching up! And good too, his legs were starting to feel wobbly, paws numb. “A’ can’t go on much longer,” he wheezed at his companion through gritted teeth, faltering in his next lope and only barely managing to keep on his feet. The misstep sent a jolt of pain through his tired frame. But up ahead, he saw the mountain goat stumble too, its injured leg giving in. Triumph glowed in the pup’s eyes, he couldn’t give up now! Grunting, he pushed on, ignoring the nausea that was starting to build in his stomach. If he made this, it would be full for the first time in weeks; Come on!

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Oh, shoot! She was wearing the poor kid out faster than they were the goat! This would never do. What would she tell him if the damnable thing got away, leaving him exhausted and hungry?

The potential consequences only hardened Kyna’s resolve, ears flattening as she poured on the last of her speed. She too saw the mountain goat falter, adrenaline finally giving way to injury as its leg could not take any more punishment, giving out and sending the ungulate tumbling into the snow. Only a few lengths behind her prey, the redhead lunged – but even if it was injured, the goat wasn’t willing to give up the fight just yet. Not so easily. It made one last, final effort to try and pull away, and so the coming adult caught it by the top of its neck, not its throat.

Not a killing blow, not like this – but she dare not let go. Hopefully Kyrios would see. With her weight on top of it, the creature could hardly move even as it gave weak thrashes and pathetic bleats. He could easily sweep in and end the hunt once and for all…as long as he had a little faith in himself, and let his teeth do the job.

Please, hurry!

Resources by freepik.com, table by Kydnt

Hunting Dem 7/8
@Kyrios -- We can end with your next post, or Kyna's after that!  I'm sorry this took so long!  D:

A wild dissertation appears!