Leaf it up to the Elks

How might they sneak up on their quarry over these rasping crackling leaves? Ultyr would move one massive foot and the crispy leaf litter would practically shout through the woods his location. He swished his tail in annoyance, the mild gust of wind lifted a few of the leaves as well rubbing them harshly together.

Could they navigate through the woods along logs and stones? Keep to the creek while they snuck up on the beast? Hmm... He saw the lithe and leggy boy creep over the leaf litter. Ember gaze would cling to that brush of blush over the youth's shapely shoulders. He held himself with the nobility fitting his birthright. He may have been captured at one point but really didn't seem like he had ever been broken in as a slave. Focus Ultyr! He brought that ember gaze back to the task at paw. To hunt the elk and sneak up on through this ocean of noise.

What if they moved when the wind moved? Would their motions along the ground match the gentle breezes rustling through the leaves? He waited for a moment to see if the wind would pick up again.

It did. The wind picked up a few straggling loose leaves but barely lifted a wave of the golden, red, and brown leaflets. No good and unreliable.

His gaze lifted to the pale boy again. He watched as he stalked elegantly forward, his white belly barely brushing over the leaves. Dainty pads on long legs seemed to disturb the leaves less than his own dark massive mitts. He almost felt clumsy next to the young man. Setting his jaw, he aimed to carefully move over the leaves in the same elegant fashion, daring to disturb the bare minimum of fragile ground cover as he stalked forward.

There! Just a couple leaps ahead a doe was leading them to the buck. The buck was still uphill from them. maybe if Ganymede altered his course to come up behind the ungulate he could sneak over the ground better than Ulytr could.

"You disturb the leaves less. Circle it and launch it at me. I'll stay and wait here to grab it as it passes." he was used to issuing commands to a silent servant, overexplaining to the unschooled and mute. He had much to learn of his own.