Fool's Gold Chasm bailout

Using one of the CCC prompts here: You come across a fawn with a deformed leg, an easy kill for any wolf. It’s mother snorts from a distance and bleats in panic, as if begging you to spare the child. Hunger churns in your belly.
Marrah is approximately 12 weeks old. Midnight, Thunderstorm, 18C/64F

All that remains is the faces and the names

It was very late at night, and Marrah would usually be sleeping at this hour, curled up with her siblings and Enera. But, tonight was not typical. The child had awoken to her worst nightmare, the sound of distant thunder and rolling clouds in the distance. She knew better than to try and shove herself into a crack in the wall like last time, but she had immediately set off at an uneasy trot, looking for some kind of cover. The thundering from the sky meant that rain was coming soon, and she didn’t want to get caught out in that.

Marrah had intended on just ducking quickly into their old, abandoned birthing den. It would be safe enough, but she had gotten distracted. Amongst her hustle she had heard something strange, and against her better judgement had gone to investigate. A weird shuffling sound, hooves against rock, but also a strange scraping echo with every shuffle. Tilting her head curiously, her newly changing amber eyes landed on a tiny deer, but it seemed to only have three working legs.

The beginning of rain startled Marrah, and she jumped forward, towards the tiny deer. It was only with this movement that she became aware of another nearby, a normal sized deer who was now crying seemingly in panic. The smell of them caused the pup to realize how hungry she was, but she didn’t think she could take them down on her own, and the big one sounded so scared. Thunder crashed overhead.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Although Enera liked the nights she spent alone with @Rhaegara , she did enjoy the nights she piled in with her agemates - especially on cold, stormy nights. The body head was warm, and even though it wasn't Mama, it still felt like home.

Thunder rumbled overhead, waking Enera just enough to notice Marrah slipping away from the pile and hurrying away. She lifted her head, watching her friend's form disappear into the dark. After brief consideration, the young girl wriggled out of the cuddled boys and followed. Marrah wasn't fond of storms, that much Enera knew, but she wasn't sure why or how bad it was. Just that the girl avoided them.

So why was she wandering away from the safety of the pack?

Enera caught up just as the rain began to fall and Marrah was looking between a deer and a smaller deer. She came up beside her friend and pressed her side in what she hoped was a comforting way against Marrah's. "It's hurt," she realized, watching the way the small - baby? - deer held its leg. The distressed cry of the other, larger deer drew Enera's attention, and her gaze flicked between them as pity swelled in her gut. "It's hurt and it's mama's scared," she said quietly. Deer might be food, and yes, she had to admit she was a little hungry, but there was no way the two of them were going to be able to take even an injured baby deer, and really... she wanted to help them. But how?

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah pressed her side against her friend’s gratefully when Enera arrived. Maybe she had been the one that had snuck away of her own choice, but that didn’t make being out in the storm any easier, and she appreciated the other girl being with her. The whole situation was confusing, she was hungry, but they couldn't hunt alone, and also something about it felt so wrong. Lightning lit up the area, and the small deer cried, it’s mother answering it desperately.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek Marrah looked back and forth between the big one and the small again. Finally she answered Enera, ”What do we do?” They clearly couldn’t hunt it even if they wanted to, but Marrah didn’t know anything about medicine either, and would a small deer even let them heal it?

Looking at her light coloured friend, she could only hope that she would have all the answers, because Marrah certainly didn’t. She was more than happy to be a follower, being a leader seemed exhausting, and stressful, she would rather just do what she’s told.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Since the wotd feature on RoW is broken I looked it up on Dictionary.com and today's word is 'mickle' - great; large; much. Using for my bingo card.

Marrah seemed to appreciate Enera's presence, and the pale girl was glad she'd decided to get up. She licked the back of Marrah's ear a couple times to offer additional comfort before turning back to the distressed creatures. The baby deer seemed stuck, unable to get to its mother, who seemed nervous to approach with wolves nearby - even if the wolves were only small pups like themselves.

"We should help it," Enera finally said. It would be a mickle task, but if they worked together and the baby didn't fight them too much, they could do it. "We should try to get it to its mama." She eyed the scene. The baby appeared to be struggling with the rocky ground it was on, and any dirt that covered it was quickly turning to mud. "Maybe we can help support it?" she suggested, though her tone betrayed her misgivings about her own plan.

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah barely registered the licks that had been planted on the back of her ear as she was deep in thought about the present situation. She appreciated that her friend sister was here, because she was much more comfortable following in someone else’s pawsteps. Especially in a situation like this where she had no roadmap on how to act, or what to do. Her newly amber eyes flicked quickly between little deer and large, with each cry between the two of them.

Chewing on her cheek again, she nodded at Enera’s suggestion that they should help, they should get it back to its Mama. That’s what Marrah would like to happen to her, if she was hurt and lost and scared, she would like if someone brought her back to Ma, or even Auntie Woya. Looking at its spindly legs as it stood frozen, watching them, the pup was not sure that they could support it, but she wasn’t one to rock the boat.

Letting out a shaky breath as thunder boomed around them, she answered in a voice hardly over a whisper, ”Um, okay. We can try?” Marrah was soaked by now, and she half heartedly shook some of the water off her pelt and took the tiniest step forward, trying to test the idea. Even though it had been barely a movement, it was met with the mother deer absolutely screaming in panic and Marrah shrunk backwards. This wasn’t going to be easy.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Enera could tell Marrah was frightened. Every boom of thunder caused her sister friend to shudder, and Enera wished she could comfort her further. If it weren't for the deer problem, Enera would find somewhere warm and dry for the pair of them to huddle until the rain stopped.

As it was, Marrah agreed to try to help the hurt baby, but when she tried to move towards it the mother's shrieks frightened the darker girl back. Enera pressed her nose against Marrah's shoulder in a hope to sooth her, then carefully stepped forward herself. The mother deer cried out again, and even though it grated on the little pup's ears, she pressed on, hoping Marrah was following behind her.

She carefully approached the baby, which began bleating fearfully and trying to scramble away. Its weird feet skidded on the slippery ground and it went nowhere but down. It struggled to get up again, but the mud didn't give it enough purchase.

"New plan," Enera called back to Marrah as she watched the small animal slide as it struggled. "We'll push it from behind, across the ground." It was still struggling to get its feet under it, after all; it couldn't really fight them.

All that remains is the faces and the names

As per usual, Enera was braver than the Macieo-Tainn girl, who had shrunk back at the first warning cry from the mama deer. With the touch on her shoulder, she was able to timidly follow in her friend’s pawsteps, although she kept her eyes trained on the big deer in case she made right of her threatening calls. A whole shudder ran down her spine as the thought of those hooves pounding across the mud towards them stuck in her brain.

Suddenly the baby was on the ground and Enera was announcing that they were going to push it!? Coming up behind her friend, she narrowly avoided a flinging hoof as the fawn flailed in a panic. Looking to Enera, fear plain in her eyes she nodded, but couldn’t help but ask, ”What if it’s Ma doesn’t like that?” Aka, what if they were signing up to be trampled by an angry mother?

But, she still saddled up and got ready to start pushing as soon as her friend was ready. Marrah didn’t think this was a great plan, but she hadn’t come up with anything better and she was always going to have her sister friend’s back, no matter what.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Enera sat back and studied the baby deer for a moment, shaking her head to get the rain out of her eyes. She didn't like the way it was flailing about, but thought if they could get behind it they could avoid the hooves. She glanced at Marrah and her face softened at the fear in her friend's eyes. "Maybe it'll see we're helpin'?" she suggested. "We can run away if she comes over; then they'll be together."

Part of her hoped this would be the case, as it meant the two girls could get out of the rain and find somewhere warm to wait out the storm that much faster. Enera pressed against Marrah's side as thunder rumbled overhead. It hadn't been too loud, thankfully, but Enera knew her sister-friend didn't like it.

"Come on, let's do this!" She skittered around the crying baby deer and quickly tucked her shoulder against it's rump and started pushing, hoping Marrah was quick behind her. The mud helped the poor creature slide easier, but Enera certainly wasn't strong enough to do this on her own.

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah wanted to be brave, she really did. Especially in situations like these where she had her sister friend as a role model for what bravery really looked like, but it was not in her makeup. Still, she felt bad for the baby deer and its mama, and Enera was strong but she wouldn’t be strong enough to fix the problem on her own. After chewing on her lip for a minute in conflict, she let out a steadying breath and stepped into position, avoiding flying hooves.

Looking at the light pup one more time to try and muster up a little more courage, Marrah felt her stomach twist as lightning cracked across the sky. All of this seemed like it was the world trying to tell them to step away, but Marrah wasn’t going to leave Enera like that. Pressing her shoulder up against the fawn’s surprisingly slick flank, the child began to push, gritting her teeth in surprise at how much it weighed, it was slow going.

They managed to shove it about halfway towards the Mama before the doe decided that she had enough. Marrah looked up in time to see the big deer leaping towards them and cried out, ”Enera, run!” Before taking off as quickly as she could over the mud slicked stone, paws groping wildly for purchase. She didn’t stop until she couldn’t look back and see the deer anymore, and then she collapsed into a soaked pile on the ground, gasping for air and trying to slow her heart rate.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Enera felt they were making good progress, thanks to Marrah's assistance. She knew the storm was frightening her, and it would only get worse the longer the storm went on, so she was eager to get the baby back to its mama and be done with it. It was working, and Enera felt the surge of joy that came with a plan executed successfully. They were doing it! They were-

Then Marrah was screaming for her to run and Enera looked up in time to see massive hooves coming towards them. She scrambled back in the mud, tumbling and sliding a good way before she could get any traction beneath her paws. That she managed to avoid getting trampled was a miracle. But she was hot on her sister-friend's trail and that was the important thing. "Marrah wait!" she called, and when the darker girl finally stopped and collapsed, Enera slid right into her.

They lay there gasping and trying to calm down, hoping the deer wouldn't come after them, while Enera kept a close watch in their general direction. When her heart finally started to slow down, she looked at Marrah. "That," she said, "was a terrible idea." she glanced back again, gut churning. It had been her bad idea, and she'd led Marrah, sweet trusting Marrah, into it.

She could have gotten hurt.

But they didn't. They didn't and it was okay. "Come on, lets go somewhere warm and dry." she nudged her sister-friend and started looking for a good shelter for the night.