the circle of life

Stella, too, had taken her leave from the den, though sensing Leo's desire to be off alone as he skulked off earlier, she'd gone in a different direction. Perhaps she should have stayed home today, but the young girl had been testing her boundaries lately, leaving the densite behind and pressing out to begin exploring the extent of the pack's territory, at least as far as she could go before being scolded or herded back for babysitting by one of the well-meaning adults. There were so many things to discover, to hunt - today she had become enamored with a rather large hill full of odd little bugs all coming and going. When she poked her paw into the hill, they all came streaming out, and clung to her paw, leaving it stinging painfully by the time she managed to shake them off. With a smirk, she stuck her paw into the dirt again. The pain faded quickly enough, and she was contemplating going to find someone to show her discovery to, when she heard a sound she couldn't identify, followed by the call.

-

It took her longer to arrive than she would have liked. Whatever was going on, she didn't want to be last! But it was all the way on the other side of their territory, and her paw did still kind of hurt now that she was running all over the place on it. She was feeling rather sorry for herself for missing out, as well as nervous, and hopeful all in one. Perhaps she should have been paying more attention to the way the rumbling was growing louder, more ominous. It sounded like thunder, coming from under the ground. In fact, she could actually feel the ground trembling!

Tucking her tail between her legs, she sprinted toward where she had heard Aquene call from, letting out a cry of her own. "Ma! Da!"  She wasn't really thinking anymore.

And then she crested a small rise and saw the dust and the huge creatures streaming along frantically just like the ants and a handful of the grown-ups and... "Leo!" Stella exclaimed as she pressed herself close to the ground beside a small, stunted pine, her eyes wide in fear. Her brother was in danger, but a few of the creatures had broken ranks, and the chaos of the situation had overwhelmed any ability the girl had to act.

Chan knew that others were becoming involved, but the sounds and motions and panic all swirled within his head and made it impossible to concentrate, much less get a full and accurate picture of what exactly was happening. What was for sure, was what had been from the start of this emergency; the herd needed to turn, otherwise their home would be just a memory once more.

Someone shouted that the caribou were starting to split, and it gave him a burst of energy. He pushed harder, bit into their flesh and snarled more fiercely than he had in a long time. At last, the panicked beast began to heed the wolves' determination, and the surge of ungulates began to bend and turn, following the shoreline the opposing way as they hit it.

If nothing changed, they would safely thunder along the East coast, rather than West and up the valley that housed their densite.

 

Leo was scarcely aware of anything happening behind him, all he knew was the thunder in his ears as he ran; ran as fast as his oversized paws could manage, ignoring the pain in his legs and the burning ache in his chest.

 

Then, a call vaguely stood out among the noise. The pup turned to look over his shoulder, eyes wide in fear at the mass of bodies bearing down on him. But in the mob, he caught glimpses of familiar, dark fur – just before he stumbled, rolling tail over ears, the rumbling of the ground making his head swim.

 

Exactly what happened next, he couldn’t tell, he wasn’t even sure what was up or down, seeing only blurs of color through the tears in his eyes. But he felt a pressure against his neck, then a jerk as his body seemed to change direction.

 

Leo whimpered, closing his eyes, hoping the world would stop spinning soon, and that he wasn’t about to get trampled.

I'm thinking two more rounds! Next round due 12/17/2021

But I put it out of my mind Long enough to call it courage To live without a lifeline

She could see the fear written on the pup’s features as she dove in, stumbling out of the way of the herd just barely in time to avoid injury. She was fortunate, and thanking the stars for such a blessing that she remained unharmed, as well as the good graces of her packmates for covering her as she leapt into the fray. She quickly gave the boy a sniff, detecting no blood or injury, only fright and fear. It was fair, given what the boy had gone through. Her eyes snapped to his sister who was calling out for her brother. She’d missed her initial call for her parents. “Leo, let’s get you and your sister to someplace safe.” Her first priority was to secure the cubs, including her own daughter @Kateri who had yet to make an appearance and continued to worry her with her absence and then it would be to drive the herd off of the territory.

The other members of the pack were efficient, but the ranks of caribou started to split and that concerned her as well. The herbal den was the closest den she could think of, and so without hesitating she started to nudge the boy towards it. They would be safe in a confined space. The herds wouldn’t stampede into a closed off area like that, surely, and then they could collect the children once it was safe to do so.

Nash stood firm, a useless shield in the face of the storm thundering down upon them. He heard a voice - Siyet, the thought - shout about some of them breaking ranks, and Nash's stomach sank. They weren't even containing this herd, how could they keep an eye on two stampedes?

Then Aquene had Leo in her jaws and was dashing away, and Nash quickly turned tail to follow, sprinting out of harm's way just as the animals came through. Their hooves churned the earth where the three wolves had been moments before. Nash glanced after Aquene to make sure she was safe. She had Stella and Leo and appeared to be preparing to lead them away. Good. Now he could focus on directing the stampede. He located Chan on the far side, driving his fury against the stampede and winning. Nash realized what he was trying to do and quickly leapt back into the fray to help him.

Someone, it sounded like Siyet, shouted something about a few of the caribou in the stampede breaking off, which was not good. What was good, though, was that the woman going after the frightened child managed to secure said child and get him out of harm’s way, allowing Jethro and his two packmates to move out of the way, as well. Another cry and a quick glance revealed that a second kid was present, too, but seemed to be safe for the moment, and Jet trusted the dark woman would escort her to safety as well.

Returning his focus to the others, it appeared that the sibling duo of Chan and Nash had, somehow, managed to veer stampede away from the heart of their home, and towards a different path. Taking his cue from that, Jet launched himself forth as well, heading towards the rear of the stampede to hopefully ensure no other caribou further back in the line would decide to suddenly break ranks. A series of snarls and growls emanating from him between bites and snaps, although such noises were almost inaudible even to him, over the deafening beat of hooves against the ground. He did not think that was a sound he’d soon forget, either, provided he lived to see the end of this day.

The others headed her warning about the split and had worked hard to prevent too much of a split. She was relieved. The stamped seemed to be moving away from vital areas of the Cove. Probably the work of Chan and Nash who had initially spotted the stamped. She breathed a small sigh of relief and turned towards the last few trying to split off to make them keep rank. It seemed to work and they were all merging back together. She spotted Jethro helping with this and was thankful. He really was good at what he does. "Think about this later, you got a job to do." She followed the lead of the others in leading the stamped away.

Chan continued to work at herding the mass of ungulates until his paws hit iced-over mud and he realized he was yards from the lake's shore. He dug in and slid to a halt, keeping up the vicious snarling and snapping to ensure that the rest of the herd followed the turn the others had taken. It was working, they were actually pulling it off. The exhaustion was starting to creep in now, and he felt safe enough to let his mismatched eyes wander, checking on the others that could be seen from where he stood.

Each appeared to be safe. Chan paused his racket to take breaths and contemplate what came next. When the last of the caribou - the stragglers moving with less panic - passed him by, he at last turned away from their trampled wake and barked for those nearby to gather so that he could pass out directives. There was plenty to be done in the after math.

(This post was last modified: Dec 31, 2021, 12:37 AM by Chan.)

When his head stopped spinning so bad, Leo noticed the solid ground under his rump and a familiar, warm body at his back. Opening his eyes a jar, he saw the dust cloud of the caribou thundering past, the whole pack chasing after. Then he heard Aquene’s voice and titled his head up to look at her, going slightly cross eyed in the process.   But he understood her words perfectly, and as his breathing slowed and the boy realized he wasn’t gonna die, his brotherly instincts kicked back in. “Stella?!” He hadn’t even noticed her shouts before, but now, following the healer’s gaze, he spotted his sister up on the ridge. Jumping to his feet, his own fear already long forgotten, Leo raised up the hill alongside rescuer, eager to make sure Stella was unhurt and remained that way. As they met, he moved to brush along her side, aiming to reassure both her and himself. Then he looked back to Aquene, ready to follow her lead. Thoughts ”Speech”

Lakela @DA

Last round! Planning to archive on January 15th!

But I put it out of my mind Long enough to call it courage To live without a lifeline

Aquene was quickly ushering the kids towards her herbal den as it was nearby, fortunate enough to find and scoop up her own daughter along the way. She needed to make sure that all of the kids were safe and out of the way before she went back to see if she could assist the adults any further. However, it seemed as if they had a handle on it, and her time seemed much better spent babysitting the kids to make sure they continued to stay out of harms way just in case more strays resulted in problems for the adults. “I know that was quite scary, but you’re all safe now.” She encouraged Leo, Stella, and Kateri all. “Would you like to hear a story?” She asked softly, a kind look in her eyes as she tried to offer a distraction to them all until everyone else returned.