Fowl Play

Chade had left his brother sleeping once more to attempt to get them a good meal.  He did occasionally manage to catch prey but even more so he managed to fail.  The blue wolf pup needed food to get energy and the energy to get that food.  There was no point complaining to Ricin as they were both always hungry.  Getting by, surviving yet just barely.
They had just turned six months which meant for a little over a month they had been alone.  Both were growing fast, both in size and knowledge.  Everyday seemed to be a new lesson and with three siblings dead from ignorance the two were sure to soak up any knowledge they gained.

Chade had caught the scent of prey and quietly followed it.  He kept downwind, stepped silently and kept to the shadows.  Fortunately there were lots of shadows these days.  What he came across offered a flicker of hope and lack of hope all at once.  A doe mule deer was eating grass while a fawn drank milk at its side.  It would be a great meal if Chade could bring down the fawn but both looked healthy which limited his odds.  At least the fawn would be slower but it had mom to protect it.  Chade was growing fast and surely was going to be quite tall someday but for now he was lanky with growth still to go.  

Could he separate them somehow?  Chade watched them for several minutes and then with a sigh turned away.  Chasing prey he had almost no chance of catching was stupid and stupid wolves died.  The boy went back to hunting and eventually spotted some type of ground bird.  He didn’t have a name for the specific species but food doesn’t need a name when you are eating it.  There were several of them and surely they couldn’t be as fast as the rabbits?

Chade sat in the shade of some ferns and watched the birds for a time, getting used to the way they moved.  Once the boy thought he had a feel for what seemed like simple enough prey he crept out of his hiding spot.  He hadn’t seen any one to be particularly weaker than another so chose to get the fattest looking of the bunch.  Hopefully, he’d be able to get more than one but what were the odds?  This would hardly be anything between the two brothers so he’d have to find something else once this was done.

Chade got as close as he dared before springing for his hiding place.  The fowl scattered and he kept his eyes on the fattest one.  A problem quickly became apparent as it turned out the birds could actually fly!  They didn’t fly for as long or go as high up as the normal birds that stayed in tree’s but none the less they could take to the air to escape.  When the fat one took off Chade jumped in the air to try and bite it but alas the jump wasn’t high or fast enough.  The birds had scattered but more so just spread out than fully leaving the area.  They were wise to him now though and keeping an eye on the wolf pup.

“Think I’m not worth fully leaving for huh?” Chade growled in irritation.  There was no way he was going back to Ricin with a story that he couldn’t even catch a small meal.  The fawn was starting to look all the better in his mind but the doe was a problem he couldn’t imagine getting past without risk of injury.  Chade knew if he got injured and couldn’t hunt Ricin and he would just be two more dead bodies.

Chade slunk off as the birds clearly weren’t going to let him just charge in.  The boy went out of sight and made a wide turn in the foliage hoping for them to think he was gone.  How much longer would Ricin be asleep?  His brother was bound to wonder if Chade wasn’t back by their set time.  Chade waited several minutes once he’d found a new hiding spot.  Dumb birds were slowly gathering closer together again.

Saliva was dripping from his jaw and his stomach was reminding him how the few fish they got yesterday hadn’t filled them up nearly enough.  Clamping his jaw he charged back in for the closest bird, once more leaping in the air after it and landing without even a feather to show.  In frustration, he lunged after one bird and then another before he stood there breathing and glaring at the lot of them.  It was wasting energy!  Maybe he should of kept looking till he found a rabbit but these things had looked like an easy meal.

With head lowered in defeat, Chade headed back to ricin to tell his brother they’d have to try fishing for their food once more.  Hopefully, they could catch enough to satisfy their stomachs till tomorrow.

Word Count 833

"Speech"