Sirius left Zee in charge of the place, and took Io on his hunting trip. He would have taken his Wife, but someone needed to stay and keep an eye on things, and there was no one he trusted more then Zee. besides, it was good to sneak Io away from Deathbelle for a bit. He was still having jealous feelings about what was growing there, no matter how much Io attempted to placate him.
It took them a day and a half to make their way down to Auster, tracking the herd of Ox to where they had camped out in the wake of the earthquake. The squeaking of the cart behind him had accompanied them all the way. They had left it behind once they got a little closer to the herd, no point scaring away their quarry. The two of them huddled in the bushes, in sight of the herd, but out of hearing. Bast was at his side, and Marshal sat in the trees above them.
Now that they were here, it was time to make a game plan. Running still wasn’t easy for the brute, but standing his ground in a bull-headed way had always come easily to him. “Okay, that one to the left would be easiest to cut from the herd. You flush him out, Marshal and Bast harry him from the sides to keep him on the path, as you chase him right to my hiding spot, i’ll take him down from there” he said, looking to Io to see what she wanted to add or change to the plan.
Bloodletter
