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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:13 am
The owlcat runs ahead. The owlcat always runs ahead. The owlcat in front, the crane above. That was the way it had always been, the barred owl hidden like a spectre amongst dead trees.

That was the way it had always been. It had not been that way for some moons now. The barred owl now kept pace, a swift, silent slash, leading hoof glancing stride after stride just where the shadow of the crane met ground. And right behind the owlcat, a modest way to the side, there roiled a snake - a great snake, a massive winged serpent, slick through the mud like an eel. And behind that...the darkest of their party.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:15 am
 It had been this way for some moons now. He had since gotten used to a complete lack of camouflage amongst the party, ceasing to stalk and starting to truly hunt instead - his head high, hooves lifting firm and steady alongside the owl.  " Must you travel with an entourage?" he teased out of habit, voice low and drifting over the whistle of the wind to his target's ears. " We're terribly unstealthy, Who."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:15 am
The barred owl paid no mind. In the beginning, when this had been new, a jibe like that would have made him pause. Stop at once, eyes on the ground, awkward and unsure of how to proceed. It was hard to read another’s words when one had been alone save the company of beasts an entire life to date. And what words the other had, black, sinuous cords that crept and bound. He had not understood teasing then. He barely did now, but he understood enough to know to pay no mind.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:17 am
He watched him for a few moments then laughed, quiet and just that touch ominous. His legs had remained in constant motion throughout the one-sided exchange, effortlessly keeping up with the pack as he contemplated the dark-eyed buck. A brief nod, and his head swivelled back to the front as he remarked again, tone dismissive, "You're not as charming as you used to be."
The play would soon cease...or at least, take a different turn. The scraping noise, the shuffle of a creature large and hefty along the swamp floor was evident to him (and had likely been to Who for the last few seconds) and it was time for silence.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:17 am
If the dismissal struck alarm for a moment, a shocking squeeze of some internal cord, it showed outward only in the infinitesimal misbeat of a quick hoofstep. No sound. There was no point. They were coming up to prey. It might have been a test. For all he knew, it was a test. And if it wasn’t, there was nothing for it - nothing was ever the right answer with him. But they were coming up to prey, and that was right. A faint click in his throat - the crane swooped forward. The returning call was brief.
"Crocodile," he affirmed, "large."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:18 am
"Come," he stated, and the serpent surged forward with a savage hiss, urging the party on. Crocodiles were the closest to a proper challenge now - it was a little easy with two hunters and their well-trained pets. Honour and fairness had never been in the equation, it was but pleasure that he was concerned with, and that, perhaps, was why he ran with Who.
It was a pity the menagerie came attached.
Soon they sighted the beast - the beast and another figure, meandering dangerously close. Blood-red eyes narrowed. "Kimeti."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:19 am
Another click. Another swoop - further, lower, almost perilously so. But the crane was clever enough, careful enough, to avoid the beast; even so, the intended target barely moved. The crane circled twice, wide rings, before swooping again.
Who watched, ridgeless brows creasing. "He can’t see...well," he announced, after the second trial.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:19 am
There was a disdainful pause, and there came the laugh once more, but darker and derisive. "He's blind." Break said, cutting to the chase. "It would be bravado or foolishness. In which case," and his voice slowed from a clipped pace to one much more deliberate. "Let us guide him into the jaws of the creature. It will be advantageous to spring while it's satiated."
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:19 am
Once he would have thought it a joke. By now he knew it was not.
"Not blind," he said, as if it would make a difference (it would not).
"No," he said, as if it would make a difference.
He stepped ahead, tensed; he did not look at Break.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:20 am
Neither did he look at Who, nor did he listen - Break was highly pragmatic about these things, and in his esteemed opinion, the blind buck's purpose in life was to be fulfilled now, within the belly of a very large caiman. Wordlessly, he stepped further ahead, steadily making his way to advance the natural order of the swamp, feathered serpent trailing obediently behind him with wings folded back for stealth.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:20 am
He watched. That was his secret shame. He watched. He watched till it was nearly too late - then he arced an eagle’s cry across the plain and leapt -
For a moment, he soared, sleek feather - then he was on the reptile’s back, owlcat and crane alongside, dancing with death.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:21 am
It would be foolishness. With a savage hiss not unlike that of his monstrous pet, he veered sharply off-course - dark pelt and scales slid in unison towards the burdened crocodile, splitting to flank the beast with a flurry of teeth, horns and hooves. Break's approach was consistent and brutal: there would be blood.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:21 am
He fluttered back on the wind - and struck with talons. Back and forth, back, forth. Subtly, he had turned the creature where he needed it; subtly, he was guiding it into the jaws of death.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:22 am
The serpent's magnificent maw unhinged, stretching as it rose with a single beat of its wings and plunged to close around and sink into its brow and cheek. The subsequent rip and the cry it rendered was cut short by the precise strike of a hoof, followed by another, and another - until the black hooves were coated in a crimson that could not be distinguished from his fur, until the caiman's body ceased to struggle.
With that, he extracted his legs from the crushed skull, and turned a significant eye to Who.
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Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2012 8:22 am
Still, he watched, as the ground ran red - and then he watched no more.
He galloped to the hapless buck, barely paces from them now, rooted, a lost look upon his face.
"You shouldn’t be here," Who said, in his snowdrift voice, as the owlcat stalked his heel and the crane furled wings to a side.
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