Newcomers

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The muggy feel of a recent storm hung so thick in the air you could hardly seem to breath. In the midst of it all, Shade led her pack of three slowly and warily out of the largest cave system on the lands. They all moved stiffly and paused to stretch at the entrance to the cave before they took their first steps outdoors in almost a week. They had not even left the dry warmth of their caves to hunt, because rabbits and small game aplenty had straggled into their home for refuge from the bettering rains and howling winds.

Shade opened her reddish wings and stretched them to their full extent before she leapt off the ground and soared in the air in slow circles while waiting for her companions to work out their stiffness. She had no great to desire to trod along the ground, being still sore herself, while it was the mucky muddy mess that used to be green grass. First Haze, then Star, rose to join her. You could tell they felt the same. Haze shook his legs, which now resembled Star’s brown fur better than his normal whitish-gray hue, trying to clear some of the muck off. Finally he finished, and Shade spoke up. “We should do an aerial survey, see if we can continue to call these lands home, or if we have to leave and seek better fortune elsewhere.” They all quickly agreed, and split in three directions, each to examine their own portion of land and appraise it for it’s future value as a packland.
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A fea of pure black hue snuck silently across the miserably wet terra. A shadow fell across her form. She barely glanced up as she continued on. Hello Bullet, she sent telepathically. A grin flickered across her muzzle, despite the dreary conditions, and she quipped, What’s up?

Above her, the source of the shadow, a young American Kestrel, chuckled to himself before he fired off his reply, Oh, just me and some sparrows keeping the clouds company.

The fea, in mock-exasperation, rolled her eyes and sighed. What do you have to report?

Bullet spat out his report as he let his wings carry him higher on the thermals of warm air. No wolves spotted in the general vicinity. There are clusters of dense trees and several caverns scattered about where they could be. One large male grizzly was spotted, but it is heading in the opposite direction. No birds of prey, besides me. A herd of deer was seen off to the left. And a single moose is almost directly ahead of us. It looks like he got separated from his herd because he’s sick. Probably wouldn’t survive the night.

The fea nodded and licked her lips. Let's go. She took off through the underbrush, Bullet tailing her movements from the air. Her nares flared as she scented the moose.

Above, Bullet noted the bull moose swerve off to the side. Dusky, the moose is to your right and ahead by about three wolf-lengths.

Dusky altered her course accordingly and leapt out of the bushes to latch herself on the moose’s vulnerable throat. It never saw her coming and it went down – hard. She extricated herself from the moose and sat back, tassel wrapping around her paws as she watched the dying moments of her prey. She didn’t avert her gaze even when Bullet spiraled down from the air. He fluttered his wings and landed lightly on the ground, he settled beside Dusky to watch and shook once to settle his feathers properly.

The blood from the neck wound of the moose spread slowly out like spilt milk. It stained the nearby fur and spread out towards the two, not quite reaching them. The moose’s chest heaved three times and then its whole body seemed to shudder convulsively once, twice, then all was still. Still they waited, seemingly frozen in time, their breath the only thing that betrayed their continued life.

Then, as if by some prearranged signal, Dusky rose and took a step forward, and raised her clawed paw and sliced open the stomach of the moose. She tore a chunk off and stepped back, lay down with the meat in between her paws. She gnawed on it as she watched Bullet sideways.

Bullet hopped over the puddle of blood and carefully began to select small pieces of meat. Once he had a piece of meat, he tossed it up in the air and caught it in his beak. As they ate in silence, he was soon full. With a down sweep of his wings, he flew up to perch on a branch while Dusky finished a third chunk of meat.
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Meanwhile, the packmates had returned to their starting point. They agreed that the land would survive. Then Star brought up the news that he had seen a strange wolf on their lands. Shade looked up sharply and said, “Can you take me there?” With an affirmative reply, they were soon soaring above the unsuspecting Dusky and Bullet.
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Dusky looked up barely a split-second before Shade landed in front of her. She cocked her head in interest and watched her for a brief second.

Then Shade said, “Hello, I am Shade, Alpha Fea of this land. May I ask your name? And your intentions?”

“My intentions?” Dusky queried in a confused tone.

Haze and Star landed slightly behind Shade. Star eyed the deer before turning his eyes on the falcon. Haze glanced around briefly before he said, “Yes, she means whether you intend to join our pack or not. By the way, I’m called Haze and that’s Star.”

Star looked at her. “And who’s your friend here?” he asked, curiosity filling his words.

Dusky blinked once and then said, “My name is Dusky, that is Bullet, and I’d love to join your pack.”

Shade smiled. “Welcome to the pack. Can we carry this deer back to the den?”

Dusky felt warmth spreading inside of her. “Sure, I want to see the main den.”

Haze and Star bit into the moose and rose off the ground, starting to drag it slowly back to the main cave. Shade padded along beside Dusky and Bullet drifted silently behind them.

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