"Hey dormouse, wake up!" Falconblaze dabbed Hawkpaw's stomach.
The sun was shining brightly above them and birds were singing in the leafless branches of birches and young oaks. A squirrel scurried up a pine tree with a bunch of nuts tucked away in its cheeks and a doe and her fawn were warily stepping out into a small clearing dappled with flowers and sunlight to graze. But despite all this the air was chilly, and Falconblaze could sense that snow was not far off.
Hawkpaw groaned. "What is it?" he grumbles, rolling around. Falconblaze twitched his whiskers.
"We gotta go. Now." he says. Hawkpaw opens his eyes into two slits.
"It must be before dawn!" he exclaims. Falconblaze sighs and sits down.
"Actually, it's not too long 'til sunhigh. So if you don't get movin' soon you might as well go back." he draws his paw over one ear, and Hawkpaw leaps out of his nest.
"I'm ready!" he says. Falconblaze smiles.
"Good! Let's go. we need to hunt well on the way though, before the snow comes." he starts walking through the forest, leaving Hawkpaw to catch up. Hawkpaw runs after him.
"When do we start hunting then? Didn't you want to reach the two-leg place as soon as possible?" he asks.
"Yes. That's why we don't stop to hunt, we just pick up any prey on the way." he pauses. "See that blackbird over there?" he points with his tail. "We didn't have to look hard for it, did we? Just keep all your senses alert while we walk and we can stock up plenty of prey without spending too long time searching."
With that said he quickly and quietly snuck up behind the bird, paused to analyze the distance and wind, shifted a bit to the side, then leapt. The bird barely had time to spread its wings before Falconblaze snappped its neck and padded back onto the trail beside Hawkpaw.
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The two toms kept hunting and stocking up on prey as they walked. Hawkpaw was worried that foxes and badgers would catch their scent, but Falconblaze told him not to worry. The sun was just beginning to set when the snow started falling. Luckily it was light and th distance to the two-leg place was short. Falconblaze glanced over to Hawkpaw, who was sagging a little under the weight of two squirrels on his back and a couple of mice and a shrew in his mouth. Falconblaze himself was carrying his blackbrid and a mouse, plus an unlucky pigeon on his back.
"Don't worry." he mumbled through the feathers. "We're soon there!"
No sooner had he said it when the woods opened up and they were able to see the two-leg place again.
"We'll be there by nightfall." he concluded. Hawkpaw sighed with relief.
"The sooner the better." he grumbled.
Quicker now, they hurried towards the distant nests. and just as Falconblaze had said they reached the first couple of nests. They settled down inside an abandoned fading red one, filled with dry golden grass and the scent of mice. At first Falconblaze was worried about the scent of rats, but when he saw one scurrying across the floor before he fell asleep the feeling disappeared like mist in sunlight. the little brown creature was barely bigger than an average mouse, and seemed more scared of the cats than a cornered rabbit.
With a content sigh he drifted off to sleep with Hawkpaw at his side.
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Back in the forest a long howl sounded. The pack crowded around the limp body of the fawn they had brought down. Vargos had already eaten and was watching from the shadows, slowly circling the rest of them. His yellow eyes was all that could be seen of him, glinting somewhere between the trees. He growled a command to a young black one, sneding it off to scout the area.
Vargos scented the air, catching something. He followed the faint trail, coming to a small spot between some bushes. Feathers. Blood. Cat.
He lifted his muzzle, searching the area. But the scent was faint, from around midsun. He called for the young black one, Spiritus.
"When they been here, where they go?" he asked. The young one was barely more than a pup but he was a good tracker, good scout. spirityus paused to check out the blood and scent, before pointing with his nose.
"Towards man place, maybe beyond. Meadows also past man place, before Mountains. Maybe they go there? If going to Mountains, they will stop at Meadow." he barked. Vargos nods.
"Good. Go eat, tell Denali I let you if big ones not done." he tells the young scout. With a gleeful yip he races for the kill.
Vargos turns to face the direction of Meadows. Cats, two cats. If we see cats on way to Meadow, we eat cats. he decided. No prey escape Vargos's pack!
He tunred and headed back to his pack. By now most had finished eating, and the bones were all that remained. The lowest ranking member was gnawing at a thigh bone, carving in the story of the kill with his sharp teeth. Denali, his Beta, was snarling to a young pup who strayed onto his tail and was quickly brought back by her mother. Spiritus was sleeping already with his littermates, a white one and a grey one.
Ferocia, Aquila and Anima were three of his other Beta's, though not as highly rank as Denali. Denali was considered second-in-command, but nobody denied Vargos the leader position. Denali was strong, big, but Vargos was all that and more. He was smart, cunning. He watched Ferocia settle down with her sisters. He liked Ferocia. She was like him, smart. aan verage sized gray one and not as strong as the males but smarter than most. Aquila and anima where both white, with a touch of gray around their muzzle and eyes. Very similar, all of them.
Leader Vargos padded back to his den-for-the-night. the only thing on his mind was hunting and killing for the pack to survive. the pack was big and needed food, but so far they were doing well. Every new pup was strong, which was a relief to most because even though the tradition demanded weak ones to be cast out, nobody liked killing a pup.
He fell asleep quickly, ready for the next day. Tomorrow they wouldn't need to kill, they had fed today. The low ranked ones would catch whatever little they could find on the way. Tomorrow they could run the whole day, maybe catch up with cats. Cat would make could gift for Ferocia. Vargos settled down into his nest, smug. Tomorrow would definately go in his favour.
