Predator and Prey

Continuing to follow the tracks, Fenrir catches a whiff of odor. "I think I can smell it up ahead." He whispers. "We need to take it a little slower, now that we are approaching our prey."

The other two nod their heads in agreement and follow his lead. Walking slowly one step at a time, they can finally hear running water ahead of them, signaling that they are getting close to the stream again. 

Fenrir raises his right hand to signal the others to stop. He crouches down and looks into the woods for any signs of their prey. When he finds none, he looks and Skoll and motions him to the right, then at Luna and motions her to the left. The two of them spread out, and move in opposite directions to cover more space. 

Suriel had taught the wolves basic hunting techniques and formations. This particular formation keeps their prey from running past them, ensuing that it only has one way to run, by circling around it. The second advantage that it has, gives them more opportunities to get a better shot, as long as they don't get into each other's line of sight. 

After several minutes of slowly walking towards their target, Fenrir catches a glimpse of the animal. Through the dense brush he can barely make it out, from this position he doesn't have a good shot at it, but the others might. 

Luna has managed to get close to the animal by keeping herself away from its line of sight and using the underbrush to her advantage. The deer is currently walking slowly towards the stream, scanning the ground for food and paying close attention to its surroundings, turning its head in the direction of suspicious sounds. Deer tend to move in the direction the wind is blowing, so they can easily pick up scents that might belong to predators. 

Looking past the deer, Luna can see Skoll following it as well in close proximity, waiting for a chance to get a good shot at it. It's now or never Luna thinks to herself, she needs to seize the best opportunity to shoot it before it reaches the stream. 'I have to aim for its neck. Going for its heart would be a bigger target, but it wouldn't kill it right away, it would have plenty of time to run away before it dies. If I aim high enough it will hit the spine in its neck and paralyze it immediately, it won't die from it but at least it won't have the possibility of running across the stream.'

Out of the three siblings Luna was the best at archery. Considering that Luna could hit the center of a target from fifty yards away with deadly precision, a shot like this would be considered easy for her. With the target only thirty yards away, Luna pulls up her bow and takes aim through a small window in the brush. 

Keeping her hands steady and exhaling, she waits for the right moment to release the arrow. Letting go of the arrow between her heartbeats, as to not allow the blood pulsing in her hands to affect the trajectory of the arrow.  This is an immense technique to learn especially at a young age. Through hours of practice every day after normal magic training lessons, her love and respect for the skill of archery have paid off. 

The arrow flies through the air a blinding speed barely missing the thick brush that stands in the way of the target. Within the blink of an eye, the arrow finds it's way to the target hitting the deer in the upper portion of the neck. The animal falls down in mid-stride it's large body hitting the ground with a thud. 

Archery may be a useless skill to learn in a world of magic, however, Suriel had told Luna about how she might be able to combine magic with archery.

While Skoll looked on in pure amazement, Fenrir did not waste any time rushing towards the animal. Seeing that it was merely paralyzed he kneeled down, pulled out a knife and stabbed it in the neck. With blood gushing out from it's wound, it only takes a minute before it finally does. 'There's no reason to have let this animal suffer more than it had to.'

Skoll and Luna had already made their way towards Fenrir. "Damn, I wish I was the one who shot, it but knowing my luck I probably would have missed." Skoll says. 

"It seems you need to practice more" Fenrir says to Skoll. "Your hands are still shaking from all of the excitement. Luna, on the other hand, is completely calm." 

"Archery was never my thing anyway. I would rather chase it down and kill it with my claws. While the two of you practice more on your skills, I have been working on my stamina and getting stronger." 

'What, does he think climbing trees and running around the forest is a good way to train?' Fenrir thinks to himself. 'If he would have learned anything from Suriel, he would know that mastering the basics always comes first.' 

"So, who wants to do the honors of gutting the deer?" Fenrir asks the two of them. 

"Luna was the one that shot it, she should be the one to do it."

"That's ok, I'll let Skoll do it, I've never liked doing this anyway."

"Fine, I'll do it." Skoll says with a tone in his voice. "It's better than not having done anything on this trip." He walks over to Fenrir and grabs the bloody knife from his hand. Spreading the deer's legs he starts to cut between the hind legs down to the pelvic bone.

While Skoll is gutting the deer, Fenrir grabs the rope that he was keeping in his satchel. Wasting no time, he wraps the rope around the animal's neck while Skoll is finishing field dressing the deer. 

After pulling the animal's guts out, Skoll quickly makes his way to the stream to wash the blood off his hands and the knife. After he finishes, he returns to help pull the deer back home. "I hate doing that part, next time Fenrir can do it."

"Doesn't matter to me, I'm actually surprised that you didn't ask me to do it this time." Fenrir says as he puts away the knife. 

"What do you mean? I thought you were asking which one of us wanted to do it." Skoll says looking at Fenrir confused. 

Luna grabs hold of the rope that is tied to the deer. "Let's get going before the two of you get into an argument. We should get back home as soon as possible." 

Fenrir and Skoll glance at each other and nod in agreement. Fenrir knew that spending unnecessary time this far from home could be dangerous. 'I've never felt so helpless before. Being out here in a world filled with magic and not knowing how to use it yet.' 

For the first time, Fenrir had become aware of how helpless they really are out here. He was beginning to feel angry that he couldn't use magic yet. 'What if we came across other humans? How would I be able to protect Luna and Skoll? Feeling helpless to do anything is the worst feeling in the world, what I need to do is find a way to secretly practice magic without Suriel finding out. Of course, I would have to be careful about the dangers she warned me about.'

"Fenrir are you coming or not?" Luna asks him getting a little worried that he is just standing there spaced out. 

Fenrir looks up and notices that Skoll and Luna are holding the rope ready to get going. "Yeah, I was just thinking about something." 

He walks up to them and grabs the rope, and they proceed to drag the deer back to their house.