Coyotes Tip Toe In The Snow After Dark

Snow fell silently around him as he climbed the Maw for what must have been the hundredth time since his meeting with his father. It had not gone well, the demons had taken his father’s mind and driven him to kill his own child. He was reminded once again, more poignantly, that he had intended the same fate for Rain, and for much of the same reason his father had killed his child, but once again his pride refused to let him feel remorseful.

Tyranis had moved northward, although the south of Boreas was still temperate and hadn’t seen much snow prey had become scarce all the same. He was no great hunter like his brother, but he could at least feed himself and fully intended to while food was hard to come by. Tyranis moved through the maw with fleet paws, already familiar with the terrain, his eyes searching for any movement aside from himself. The sudden dart of a ram from where it had been hiding, camouflaged against the stone of the cliffs caught his eye and the wolf took off in pursuit of it. The sheep was agile but Tyranis had endurance on his side and once he had gotten close enough he sank his fangs into the ram’s flank and brought it down. It squirmed and bleated feebly, trying to escape but once Tyranis had gotten ahold of its jaws the ram quieted and slowly died in his jaws.

Tyranis had just torn into the sheep’s belly when a piercing shriek of a howl echoed around him. Coyotes. He rose with a snarl, standing over his kill while the cobra around his neck unfurled itself and opened her hood menacingly. From a line of trees Tyranis could see the glowing eyes of four coyotes as they slowly stepped toward him with bristling fur. There were four in total; what he suspected were two mates and their two yearling cubs. Slowly they began to form a ring around him, yapping and shrieking at the scent of blood and the promise of a meal. Tyranis was considerably larger than they were and bristled his hackles in an attempt to frighten them off before they did something they regretted. He could see the ribs of the four canines as they circled him and knew they would be desperate. Desperate and weakened.

With a shrill cry one of the yearlings at his back charged for him, and was hastily met by his companion who landed a venomous kiss between the cub’s eyes. It yowled in pain and backed away, pawing at the wound while Tyranis turned and seized it by the neck. The rest of the pack moved in but the cobra managed to ward them off with furious hisses and false charges. Tyranis gripped the coyote’s lower body in his paws and with a flick of his neck broke the cub’s neck. With a shriek the adult female charged forward, vengeance her main priority rather than revenge. Tyranis flung the lifeless corpse of her own child at her, the head jostling erratically now that it was separated from the neck. The coyote was hit dead on and lost her footing, giving the lightning king enough time to pounce on her and sieze her exposed throat. The coyote screamed and howled, trying to free her neck and even managed to plant her fangs against the side of his head. Tyranis simply tightened his grip until her own bite went slack and her body became limp. Tyranis dropped her body with a dull thud and with a low and foreboding snarl he advanced on the remaining male and cub. The two looked at him with absolute horror, a shot of urine puddling at the cub’s paws as Tyranis stepped closer toward them. The cobra weaved between his paws, hood still raised and feigned a strike at the male’s face.

The cub was quick to abandon its father and turned to bolt away while the male remained seemingly frozen in place. Blood oozed from the side of Tyranis’s head where the damned bitch had bitten him and dripped onto the rocky floor beside him. The coyote, either foolish or simply too desperate, shot toward him with his jaws parted, attempting to seize the wolf by the thick fur on his neck. Before he could however Tyranis sank his teeth into the coyote’s skull, his grip tightening as he struggled to free himself. Tyranis could smell the panic rolling off the smaller canine and slowly began to clench his jaws tighter. The coyote shrieked and pawed at his chest, attempting to scratch him or push him away but to no avail. With a final crack Tyranis broke open the coyote’s skull, the bitterness of grey matter and the sickly sweet taste of brain filling his jaws as he ended the male’s life.

He dropped the coyote apathetically and turned to return to his kill, his raven companion perched on the Ram’s curled horn as his long beak pecked at the ram’s eye.