The Wildwood guns & horses

<blockquote>Finally it came down to communication Marsh was comfortable with, and as the pups were hidden, the adults took up position, Indru's intentions clear from the silent gestures he offered them. Marsh took the fore as he led Triell about to the optimal spot for launching their third of the attack, attention trained onto the sow designated as their own. She was a fine one, larger than those Marsh had taken on before, and he anticipated a good struggle before victory - for victory was certain, surely, so outnumbered and outgunned were the pigs.

In position and undetected, Marsh kept an eye out for the signal which came before too long, and when Indru erupted from the undergrowth, so did Marsh, the squeals of the sows in perfect balance with the snarls from their attackers. Marsh's dance with his pig was decidedly less subtle than Indru's, being as the Second was rather more reckless in his manner, though in those few moments that he and the sow tested each other, no tooth or tusk made any serious contact. In the end, he was simply ensuring that he was the sow's biggest concern so that when Triell intervened, it would be with minimal danger to the young Tainn. Snapping at her neck, but flinching away when she screeched and lunged at him, Marsh kept the sow's attention focused and waited for Triell to force the upper hand.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Attention was on the pups, though they had two parents to guide, and watch them he couldn't help but to look where they would be. If anything he wanted to make sure no harm came upon them, and if something bad happened he knew where not to go. Watching each parent give warning, and then saying a short goodbye he gave them a soft smile, and then found himself following Marsh, keeping low, and quiet on their walk to the prey. His eyes kept track of Indru mostly, though he wondered how Kinis was feeling, but he felt Ruiko would keep him safe no matter.

Indru went first, but he did not watch what happened. Triell followed close behind the chestnut elder. They had to get their sow stable so everyone else wouldn't have more work, and looking how everyone else was fairing could cost him more than a meal. Once Marsh had their sow's attention, his lips rose but no snarl came, instead he reached for the tender belly where Indy had said, and his teeth met flesh. The sow felt it, and let out a squeal of pain, jerking forward. His grip was no more, and he once more tried to strike. The sow seemed to know he rendered more threat, and made to turn on him instead of the red male. Triell could not think in the moment the teeth came at him, though his paws twitched back hoping to bring him out of harm, though the sow was still headed his way.

<i>D: this post is not very wonderful.</i></blockquote>

(This post was last modified: Nov 19, 2011, 05:13 AM by Triell.)

are you with me through it all?

As Indru and Corinna tucked the pups away from harm, Ruiko took a moment to scan over the brood of three, noting the eagerness in their eyes and the disappointment at only being able to watch. Holding back a smirk, the large Tainn followed down the slope after his brother, taking a similar crouching prowl, his eyes now focused upon the sows as they came to view. Following Indru's incline of his muzzle, the large male's eyes cast upon the middle sow, noting it to be his and Kinis'.

Shifting his gaze back briefly to his younger brother, Ruiko felt a flicker of worry at having the youth take on such a beast. He hadn't taught Kinis the way of these creatures, despite their time spent together and he suddenly regretted it. Giving him a nod, the tawny male noted the other adults were ready.

Indru lead the hunt, and yet no sooner that his brother's first paw rose to leap forward Ruiko was in pursuit of his target as well; no one could deny the two brothers had always worked together seamlessly. With a rumbling snarl and a flash of his canines, Ruiko Tainn clashed with the beast, his paws attempting to swiftly avoid the tusks of the angered sow as his jaws sought out the flesh between the cheek and neck. Feeling his teeth pierce, his attack was brief as his body shifted to the side, feeling one of the sow's tusks shove his side with a powerful blow. Snarling in rage, the wolf knew it was a well formed bruise, and crouching low once more, the male went in for an attack to the throat, also keeping conscious of where and what Kinis was doing.

Father lead them to where they were to stay during the hunt. Casting a longing glance down the incline where a scent she did not recognize drifted to her on the breeze, the girl settled herself down to her haunches dutifully, albeit reluctantly. With a warning from Indru, Kisla's little muzzle bumped up beneath his chin as he gave her an affectionate lick goodbye. Next was Corinna, and her mother's stern voice stirred the youth's ears back against her skull, her peridot gaze blinking up in near disbelief at the tone. Never before had she heard Corinna use such a voice, and shying back slightly, Kisla offered a nod. After that, she wouldn't dare trial her mother's patience!

The adults went down towards the sow, and the girl crept up to her brother Fenru's side. Both ears perked forward, Kisla regarded the sows with great interest, particularly excited to see Triell take down one of those beastly things!

sparking up my heart

<blockquote>After returning his sister's nip with a gentle, half-hearted bump into her side in retalliation, Hael continued following Dad and settled into his spot in the cover of the grass. He stubbornly listened to his father's stern words as he plopped to a seat, one ear twitching as he was licked on the head. Mom was next to reinforce the rules. <i>Fiiiiiine, we get it already!</i> he whined inwardly, though knowing better than to say anything aloud, as he knew his parents were very serious about this whole safety thing. He'd never really seen either of them act so serious before. Was it that dangerous for them to be here? What was so bad about a... bowl... row... <i>boar, that's it</i>, what was so scary about one of those? He tolerated his mother's nip with a small sneeze, shaking his head as if to rid himself of the parental cooties before settling down into a low stance beside Fenru to wait for the action to begin.

Focusing his attention on the hunt that was about to begin, Rihael noticed the dark shapes hobbling around in the distance. He could see the one nearest him, which his parents were stalking, and it was hideous! Why did it have such huge teeth? It was like nothing he'd seen before— and it looked mean. His heart began racing as his bright eyes moved from Mom and Dad to Uncle Ruiko and Uncle Kinis. Theirs was big, too, and though he had a harder time seeing Uncle Triell and Marsh behind them, he tried to take note of their collective hunting approaches. He was so focused on how cool Dad looked in action that he missed his mother's injury... and kept carefully rooted to his spot, now secretly glad that the hunting of these creatures was being left to the adults.</blockquote>

<div style="margin: 0 auto; width: 100px;"><img src="http://moral-lock.com/rl/sr1.png"></div>

<blockquote>Having killed a porcupine all by himself only a few weeks earlier, Kinis was feeling pretty good about his hunting abilities of late, and though he had never come too close to a boar before, he trusted Ruiko implicitly; nothing bad would happen so long as they were working together. He wished that he could promise to protect his older brother in equal measure, but still saw himself as coming up very short in comparison; if anything were to go wrong, it would be Ruiko saving his ass, that was for sure.

And an attack from a wild pig was something a little less easily recovered from than a porcupine or skunk, Kinis thought, unable to stop the smile coming over his face as he glanced back to see if Triell was still nearby, but by that point the three pairs of hunters had already split, and instead he caught Ruiko's concerned gaze. Nodding to try and make sure that Ruiko understood that everything would be fine, it just would be, Kinis wagged his tail once and waited for the hunt to begin in earnest.

From his spot just beyond Ruiko, Kinis didn't see the signal, but from the way Ruiko leapt forward he presumed that it had all started. Keeping an eye on their designated sow, and on how Ruiko was handling the dangerous prey (for he saw this as an equal learning opportunity for himself as well), Kinis stalked about to the side somewhat so that, when he too went in for an attack, the sow wouldn't see him coming.

It worked well. Kinis felt a lurch of anger and worry as he saw the sow give Ruiko a nasty shove, and he didn't waste a moment longer to charge out, his teeth bared but otherwise keeping the warning snarls to a minimum - as Ruiko went for the throat, Kinis darted forwards and snapped at the sow's thigh, serving to distract her just for a moment - sabotaging the sow's chances long enough for Kinis to flash forwards, aiming to ruin the soft flesh about the pig's armpits and near her belly.</blockquote>

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<i>at least... that's where I'm supposed to be...</i></center>

The round before the finale guys, time to start seriously taking down those board, unless you intend for yours to escape that is. Next round will be the concluding one where Indru will gather the pack once more and then they eat, before taking any spare for the winter cache.

NEXT ROUND ENDS: 21st November

When he would think back on the hunt, like hundreds of others he had been a part of, it would seem as if it was in slow motion but at the moment everything was trigger quick, full of instinctive moves that had hardly little conscious thought involved. It was chaos, it was havoc, but Indru loved the thrill only a hunt could bring. Just as he lunged towards the sow's throat she squealed suddenly in pain and spun automatically towards the cause, which Indru guessed marked Corinna's first attack. The sudden movement had caught him off guard and as the sow spun her tusk caught him under his throat, tearing upwards through his flesh until he snarled in pain at the slash than now ran down underneath his chin and beyond. Heat rose from the wound in a sudden, burning wave but with a quick shake of his head to clear the pain he jumped forward again, eager to pull the boar's attention from his mate.

Now he had the chance to look he could see Corinna had the sow by her stomach as he had recommended, and with a nod of grim satisfaction he dived for the boar's throat once more. This time Indru was able to make his attack from the side, distracted as the boar was, and as soon as he was close enough he clamped his jaws down tight on the boar's throat, pulling her viciously as he did so with his haunches dug into the ground, to turn her from Corinna. Making sure to keep his grip as secure as he could Indru tried to shift his grip closer and closer to the sows' windpipe attempting to suffocate her and at very least begin to tire the monster. After each bite that took his closer he shook his head brutally, throwing his entire weight into his movements now, his own throat throbbing with each further attack upon his prey's.

The leaders grip was tight and he knew that it must be starting to have an effect on the sow, her airways were blocked considerably and she was fighting the strength of two wolves, both larger than herself. But still she had the strength to spin, but this time Indru hung on, snarling and growling as he did so, biting deeper and pulling back as best he could through his now wounded throat muscles. His eyes managed to fall upon both Ruiko's and Marsh's team and their sow during the rotations and shuffles in the fight and he was relieved to see them still having control — his worst fear at the moment was that one would escape and head towards the pups. With relief he felt the sow give a shudder, the first sure sign she was losing strength, and gathering up his reserves Indru shifted himself to attempt to shove his shoulder up against her and finally topple the boar to the floor.

(This post was last modified: Nov 18, 2011, 09:57 PM by Indru.)

Gone Tomorrow

The rain in her shoulder was alternating between sharp and dull, and the growls that she was spitting into the sow's shoulder were both out of intimidation and pain. But she refused to let go, even as she felt Indru back off to re-attack. Their prey was squealing, and the leader's finally tuned ears buzzed in protest of the abuse. But she refused to let go, instead gradually taking more of the sow's stomach between her teeth. The power of her jaw was extreme and it took no time at all before Corinna's mouth was filled with the blood of the pig. Her muzzle was thoroughly drenched and her nostrils were being invaded by the smells of the sow's innards as her grip worked its way closer into her.

And then something gave, and Corinna was ripped from the sow's stomach. The beast was turning, trying to shake Indru like a rag doll. But her mate had a firm hold on the creature's windpipe and Corinna could see the beast's life giving way behind the glassy eyes. Righting herself on the grass, the leader leaped forward, throwing her shoulder into the weakened side of the pig. The force of the blow combined with Indru's own pushes toppled the sow onto her side. Without mercy, Corinna's teeth found their mark, the already injured stomach. Seizing a mouthful between her teeth, she wrenched her neck upwards, waiting for the final cry of the sow to echo throughout the clearing.

The squeals that emitted from the wild boars erupted in the Wildwood, though they mattered little to Ruiko. With one careful eye on his younger brother, and one on the sow they were attacking, Ruiko Tainn had become fierce some with raging snarls and quick snaps of his powerful jaws.

Kinis moved to the side in perfect unison to the older Tainn, who quietly made the decision he wanted the young wolf to deliver the killing blow. They worked as a team, and while Kinis had come far out of his shell, Ruiko knew the youth had never hunted such a wild creature before. His snap toward the sow’s throat failed, and sliding to the left as the beast flailed, catching one of its tusks to his upper side and causing the male to cough for quick breath. Something wet was under his paws and he realized it was the creature’s blood; Kinis’ initial attack must have been successful.

Shaking his muzzle lightly to rid himself of the blow, already Ruiko felt stiff from the battle; it had been a long time since he had gone boar hunting. Still, it was much better than a kick to the head by a large doe, and leaping forward, Ruiko clicked his jaws to the sow’s snout, hoping to sink his teeth in to its flesh and pull it down while leaving the belly exposed for Kinis.

Kisla’s ears swept back to her skull, and timidly she pushed her muzzle to Fenru’s soft neck. The high pitched squeals coming from the wild pigs were nightmarish, and her eyes widened as she realized just how dangerous they were – the thrashing and kicking of the beast’s caught their opponents with bruising blows, and the young girl cringed as she watched both her mother and father take blows from the boars.

Kisla was silent in her nervousness, and her emerald gaze shifted to regard both her brothers to gauge their reaction, wondering if they were as perturbed as she was about the whole thing. Just when she was about to whisper this, she saw Corinna deliver a blow that spoke of finality, and a smile broke out across her sweet little muzzle. They had did it! Blinking away from the leaders, her gaze fell upon the two other groups, wondering if they would be as successful as well.

sparking up my heart