Moon and the Monster

She slogged through the marshland, ears swiveling carefully. It was deep night, and the birds that made the estuary home were asleep, with only soft, sleeping twitters occasionally seeping through the air. Once, her family had made this place a temporary home, before Surreal had raised the standard of Celestial, now Valhalla.

One day, she pondered, she might spread the boundaries of her pack to include this place, dangers and all. The birds were a good first prey for young wolves to practice hunting on, just as hares and prairie dogs were in the plains, and other small creatures were in the moors.

But it would be a training ground where the presence of an experienced adult would be needed. For it wasn’t birds alone that made this marshy, soggy place home.

A hallow, reptilian hiss was her only warning before a pair of long, toothy jaws snapped on air, inches from her feet as the woman leapt high, twisting in the air to land several feet away from the large gator that had seen her pale form step too close to its camouflaged form.

True to the nature of the large predators in the last several seasons, the gator wasn’t satisfied by the space given, and surged forward in a trotting sprint, forcing Aurielle to dance aside, a pale ghost in the deep shadows, as she assessed the scaly, armored reptile.

Its back was too well protected to risk her canines in a bite for its neck. Perhaps if it were sent rolling—but its center of gravity was so low to the ground that she wasn’t certain she would be able to manage that feat alone. Aelloshir, alerted by the hiss, surged forward with a caterwaul, both challenge and call to arms, slapping a clawed forepaw down on the gator’s head to draw it away from his charge while she regrouped, coming in from the side as she saw a possible opening behind the forelegs.

She ducked low, twisting her head awkwardly to snap at the softer area behind the beast’s stubby forelegs, only to twist away again as the creature jerked and curved its scaly body around to snap at her.

It caught a few strands of her mane, and the glittering white hairs floated on the breeze as she lunged to leap over the beast’s back to the other side, teeth bearing in thought at this devil of a challenge.

Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think