Rawhide [PACK HUNT!]

Kassander listened carefully to the youth as he gave them a vague plan to follow. Vague by necessity, he knew from his own experience. You never could really KNOW how a herd would react, so a detailed plan was really only going to get in the way. Once you took that first step towards the herd, you set so many variables in motion that any plan was moot. Wolves would only get confused trying to continue to follow a plan that had already been outdated from the start.

He and Rommel separated off from the group a little to keep from getting in anyone else's way, though once the wind shifted to bring their scent to the bison and they began to bunch up Rommel then separated further so he and Kassander had room as they circled wide of the herd. Circled up as they were with as few wolves hunting them as Abaven had... They'd be a tough nut to crack, unless someone did something... very stupid.

The little yearling female induced a charge out of an overeager group on the outside of the group, and Kassander took that as his cue to fulfill that "very stupid" requirement. The males had already realized their mistake and were retreating to fill the gap they'd left. If they were allowed to do so, the hunters might never get the herd moving. Thus - something stupid.

The sturdy auburn male took a deep breath, pivoted, and raced back to plunge directly into the small gap they'd left. Rommel was at his heels, but the fox broke off to the right, behind the outermost rank, while Kassander plunged straight towards the center. A series of high, staccato barks issued from the fox, then that eerie screaming fox-howl that put even Kassander's hackles up in alarm despite all the time he had spent hunting with his friend. The fox was nipping at ankles and hocks with his needle-sharp little teeth, howling and skipping about to dodge stamping hooves and the threatening horns of the second rank. A particularly large fox, he was the size of a small wolf but much slimmer, and with a much lower hunting crouch that allowed him to squeeze under the bison much more easily.

Kass on the other hand was much taller, much bulkier, and had a wolf's naturally more-upright hunting style, so rather than sliding under and slinking, he bulled his way right in. He was no match for the strength or bulk of a buffalo of course but with the momentum he'd built up he was able to slam through the gaps between the second rank before they could close them up to compensate for the missing males, and then he was through - right into the center with the young buffalo. Right in the middle of all those tossing horns and stamping hooves.

With slashing teeth and snarls he drove the bawling young things away from him, the weight of their fearful jostling bulging the circle of bison out away from him, until like an overflowing dam it burst. Between the teasing yearling drawing off part of the ring, the attacking males, the yowling fox nipping at their heels, the herd's nerve broke.

The sudden surge of bison away from him carried Kassander dangerously along in their midst, threatening to crush him as the bison jostled against one another, until Rommel appeared to scream in the face of one of the bison closest. The elderly cow shied sideways away from the startling sound, opening a gap for Kassander to drop through to get behind the herd and keep them running.

He almost made it out unscathed, but a big, angry bull swung his head to the side as Kass dropped back, and in dodging he came barely into range of the bison on his other side, earning a glancing kick to his shoulder that sent him rolling. Had he still been in the middle of the herd, that would have ended it for him right then, but the last of the herd was passed him now and he had some space to roll without going under hooves, but he lay dazed for a moment.