Bears in the Mist

Atreus was patrolling the remotest part of their forested territory early one morning. The chill of autumn in the air made his breath fog in front of his muzzle, and a pale mist swirled through the trees, lowering the visibility to only a few feet in front of him and muffling both scent and hearing. Despite the weather and his youth, he moved along alertly. It wasn't the first time he'd been on patrol here, or even in bad conditions, but it was usually with his mother rather than alone. Pausing at a scent marker, he sniffed to be sure it was fresh enough, but before he could move again a sound caught his attention even in the weird muffling fog. He flicked his heavy ears towards where he thought the sound was coming from. It sounded like something heavy - heavier even than him - running. No, not just running, sprinting.

Atreus took a step forward... and suddenly out of the mist loomed a huge shape, nearly on him already! He sprang aside with a snarl as the shape continued towards him, but there was only a small amount of room between the trees here. Even if he pressed as closely as he could to the trunk, whatever it is would likely still hit him. So instead, he unsheathed his claws and sprang to the attack, hoping to stop the creature or drive it back. He struck in a confusion of brown fur and bellowing snarls, and was flung back. The brief tangle had revealed the creature to be a grizzly, and he'd succeeded in stopping it at least. Though he'd also managed to gain its complete attention, it seemed, as it had fastened its beady black eyes on him and bellowed in his face. Luckily he'd been too close and at a bad enough angle that the bear hadn't been able to claw him, or hit him full force, so though he'd been thrown back he wasn't even bruised yet, and managed to land heavily on his paws.

With the bear stopped, he could have - should have - taken the space afforded to him and escaped. The bear was a good foot taller than he was, or more, and outweighed him considerably. But his blood was up, and more than that, having a rampaging grizzly in pack lands that he was supposed to be protecting was a no go for him. So instead he darted back in, swiping his claws across the bear's snarling muzzle and drawing blood. The bear reared up in pain, but was quick to retaliate. This time Atreus didn't escape unscathed as the bear's paw struck him, and was sent stumbling sideways into a tree trunk with a laceration across the front of his chest and a bruise on his shoulder. He threw himself back in regardless, snarling and barking big booming barks to drive it back.

Drive it back he did, surprisingly. The bear seemed to have more important things on its mind, like whatever it was fleeing initially, and didn't seem interested in adding an annoying wolf adolescent to its diet however much it had initially seemed interested in running right through him. Instead it backed right out of the narrow corridor of trees, though it sent angry claw swipes at him with every step, until it could turn around and take off running perpendicular to its initial path in that same blind sprint that had taken it into the territory to begin with.

Panting, Atreus stopped to pant, watching it go. He'd have to go get the wound taken care of as soon as he finished the patrol, and probably report what seemed like a really weird way for a bear to be acting.