Reindeer Are Better Than People

Kyren had watched Oscar leave and thought to warn him of the coming storm.  Oscar was a mule-headed stubborn ass but the reindeer was sure Oscar knew what was coming also.  If the donkey wanted to head off farther alone then no suggestion of common sense was going to stop him.  Oscar wasn’t that dumb anyway so he’d probably be back before things got worse.  

It had taken time but the large reindeer had finally grown accepting of Taiga, accepting her nearby without keeping his guard up.  Everyone else had seemed fine with her before Kyren but one of them had to be a voice of reason.  Even if the giant cat had turned out to be true to her word it was foolhardy to rush into trusting such a dangerous predator.  Faith was all well and good till you were just another bit of meat in some predator’s belly.

Looking at the sky Kyren could see a haze farther off in the direction Oscar had gone in.  It was the snow storm that would most likely be upon them in a bit if the wind didn’t change. “Stubborn ass,” Kyren muttered, hiding worry in false agitation.  “I think we should make sure Nugget’s ok, it’s the one of the pair with a lick of sense.”  

Kyren’s raven glanced down at him from a tree, “Not going.  Strong winds.”

Kyren moved at a measured jog in the direction of the storm, still only somewhat concerned until he heard a braying call for help.  Kyren’s brows narrowed and he charged forward at full stride, a deep base of a challenging call to whatever threat Oscar faced.  The wind slaps him in the face, frosty ice flung on his face but Kyren snorts that away in disdain.  Ahead of him the reindeer spots the reason for Oscar’s call for help.

Bear!  Kyren lets out another challenging call, doing a perfectly fine job of having the polar bear turn to face him.  Lowering his head and rack of antlers the reindeer charges.  The antlers won’t be on his head that much longer but for now at least they would be put to use.  Kyren doesn’t try to actually land any blows but the fact of a reindeer even charging seems to have the polar bear at least pause for a moment.  The idea of prey attacking seems to be a confusing concept.  

Kyren’s large hooves do a good job of keeping him mobile even in dense snow, his only real issue at the moment is the distortion of watching the bear’s every move with the snow and wind playing tricks on the eyes.  Well, the other issue is Kyren really had no desire to try and fight a bear if he didn’t need to but the bear didn’t need to know that.

When the bear seemed to get over the surprise it charged towards Kyren and the reindeer lept aside, twisting his head about so that the upper tines slashed at the bear’s shoulder as it came in range.  Kyren shook his head in threat, “Oscar! Damnit all.  What did you get us into? I was worried about Nugget.” Despite calling out to Oscar his eyes stay fully locked on the bear, working to keep up with where it is as the snow acts as a sort of veil.

The good news is Kyren actually believed the bear was in a lot of trouble.  He didn’t need to get in a real fight with it.  The cat could do the dirty work, he just had to distract it and make sure Oscar was safe when the chance came.

WC 605
Total WC 1094 / 1500

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