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Art
03-13-2021, 09:42 PM
Rudy had followed the scent of a creature he had never seen nor hunted before. He had been in the plains but now traveled to the forest where icicles hunt from tree’s making soft chiming sounds whenever the wind blew even a bit. The forest floor was dry and ice lay on top of leaves that made it impossible to make any noise. The sun was setting and shadows cast by trees and brushes littered the landscape, it was times like this Rudy was at the best for hunting. Hid motley gray coat blended well with the shadows, and as long as Rudy moved slow and measured his time to the shifting of other shadows he could make himself hard to see. Occasionally a tree branch could no longer bear the weight of the ice and you would hear a soft crack as it broke from a branch for the icy stick to land on the frozen ground. Further in he spotted what he had smelled. It was kind of deer-like but definitely not a deer but Rudy had no other name to give the Okapi. The stripes on the legs, the way the back angled, long neck, and well, it was all wrong. Well, did meet need a name? Faded scars could be seen in a variety of areas on the creature, proof of a long life of winning fights. However age and injuries had slowed the creature down, it could surely still put up a fight and was worthy of caution, but not as dangerous as one in its prime. Rudy had waited patiently until the creature was less on its guard, the shadows darkening the landscape more. When Rudy charged it started off as a chase but when the Okapi acknowledged it would not outrun the wolf it attempted to fight, hooves striking out but Rudy danced around them. It was not a quick kill and more than once Rudy missed a vicious kick by a few hairs but he won. Eventually, the old Okapi fell and lost the strength to get up. Rudy stood over his kill, panting out deep breaths of frost, pride swelling up as he imagined dragging the kill back to show off to the family. He’d be sleeping a long time tomorrow. He planned to of course eat some of it for himself before taking it home but even as he recovered his breath he heard ice crackling under other paws, and smelled the scent of coyotes. It was a pack of three and they were observing him as surely as he looked over the situation. Rudy was tired from his hunt, they were fresh and more of them. Rudy snarled viciously at the lot of them, standing tall with tail up high aiming first to go for showing off and hoping they would just leave. He was young but still a wolf! They didn’t come in right away, clearly considering the warning. After a moment one came in with the intent to snap at his haunches. One coyote Rudy could handle! He spun around and lunged in only to meet air as the coyote leaped away. When Rudy’s back had turned around though he saw another coyote heading towards it. Rudy saw the bad situation as the coyotes proved they could work as a team. Just defending wouldn’t work well. Rudy charged one of the coyotes and even as it jogged off Rudy grabbed its tail for a harsh bite, the animal spun around and scored a bite on its neck. Behind him one of the coyotes was going for his kill, the other was coming to back up its friend. Rudy ran at it, aiming again to be confident and vicious enough to chase them away. Even as the coyote turned to run away Rudy scored a slash on its haunches. Unknown to Rudy his hawk Reddy left at this point, flying off to find help. It could have helped itself but had determined alone he might not be enough aid. He jumped away in time as the one behind going for his legs and charged the one that was near his kill. It loped off but one of the two coyotes who were fighting came in towards the side and the other from behind. They worked well as a team and even as the one clipped his leg with a paw the other bite at his neck. Fortunately neither were bad, his scruff was thick and the claws did little damage. Still, he let out a bark in surprise. Things quickly turned worse. The third coyote joined in. Rudy couldn’t avoid them all! Rudy got in a good snapping bite at a muzzle of one but felt another bite his back leg and the first had risen up, teeth aiming for a better bite into his neck and claws slashing across his face. Blood was leaking into his eye to cloud vision on the one side. He shrieked out in admitted fear and need for help but, he was farther away from his pack. Things didn’t look good. "Rudyard"
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