Blaze: Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Blaze awoke the next morning to a small shaft of sunlight entering the cave where he and Rapid slept. For a moment he lay there trying to think about a better position to get his eyes out of the light, but he could not figure out an easy way since Rapid had his head nestled on his back and he was sleeping so peacefully. Finally Blaze covered his eyes with his paw and dozed for a few more minutes. He wasn’t worried about traveling at the moment, it was sunny out but there was probably a lot of snow on the ground, he could wait a while to let the snow melt so he and Rapid could travel easier.

He loved these kinds of mornings; he remembered when he was with the pack how they would all take their time getting up after the first big blizzard. It was a good time to think about the beauty of nature around him and think about what the day might bring. He knew he would have to hunt sooner or later that day, his stomach was already hinting at that fact.

“Do you need me to wake up Rapid?” Scree’s voice called from a rocky wall.

Blaze looked up and quickly found her, perched alone and all fluffed up as if she was still trying to stay warm.

“No, I can wait for a while, I’m just enjoying the silence for a bit,” said Blaze with a small sigh.

Scree only nodded as she fluffed up her feathers and bit more and dug her head closer to her breast. She wasn’t too interested in moving either; she knew that waiting a bit, the day would get warmer, it was still too cold outside.

Blaze continued to think about his future, how much farther was he going? How much snow would be falling in his travels? Would he meet any more wolves? A lot of thoughts were swimming in that mind of his and surprisingly, he did not think about Cottonwood until a bit later just before Rapid started stirring. His thoughts about her quickly disappeared when Rapid called to him.

“Blaze, I saw your ears move, are you awake?” he asked.

“Yeah, just waiting for you and waiting for it to get later in the day,” said Blaze with a yawn as he adjusted himself now that Rapid was awake.

“I like this cave, it’s so nice and warm, we could live near here,” said Rapid as he sat up and stretched.

“That would be nice Rapid, but I believe there is a pack in these parts. I scented them before the storm hit, not sure if we are in their territory or not so we do have to be cautious when we go out today,” said Blaze.

“When do you think we should go?” asked Rapid as he made his way to the entrance and took a peek at the landscape before him.

“Well, how much snow did we get?” asked Blaze as he made his way forward and looked outside as well. The snow was deep, but not as bad as some snowstorms that had passed before. This one could easily be traveled without causing them to tire too much.

Blaze set his paw into the snow, it was crunchy and hard, good hunting snow. They would have some trouble moving about to catch their food but not too much. At least it was not soft where they could easily melt into it and get some snow stuck in their paws making them tender and sore.

“I say we can start traveling a bit if Scree is ready and so are you,” said Blaze.

“I’ve been ready for a while now, I woke before you both did,” said Scree.

Blaze looked at Rapid who thought for a moment, but his decision was quickly answered by his stomach which growled. Rapid looked down at it before grinning at Blaze.

“I guess that was a yes,” said Blaze with a smirk.

Together, the trio made their way out into the snow, Blaze was first and walked slowly through it as they sniffed about and tried to find any scent of his prey that he liked to eat. Scree was right behind him, flying just above him and looking around already for a mouse or a rabbit. Rapid soon made his way out. For a moment he followed Blaze’s tracks so he could move about easily, until he heard something moving in the bushes just to the right of him. Rapid perked his ears up and listened intently waiting to see any signs of movement. A bush nearby stirred, something was under it. Rapid slowly made his way over to the bush wondering what the creature was and also wondering if he could catch it before the creature saw him.

For a moment he stood still, waiting for a good opportunity to strike. Blaze stood nearby, noticing that Rapid had found something and hoping that he could catch what he was stalking. Finally Rapid leapt forward, but he had miscalculated the leap and instead landed right in front of a bush that was covered in snow. A second later, a rabbit leapt out of the bushes while Rapid was covered with snow.

Believing that Rapid could handle his problem on his own, Blaze ran after the rabbit. Rapid dug himself out of the snow and shook his head to get rid of the dizziness from hitting his head on a tree branch. Once he regained his settings, he ran after Blaze and the rabbit, hoping to find a way to get ahead of Blaze and take the rabbit by surprise.

It wasn’t long before Rapid caught up with Blaze; the rabbit was far ahead making its way into a nearby meadow. He could hear Blaze huffing and puffing as he made his way down, trying to catch up but failing miserably.

“He’s faster than I thought,” Blaze panted.

“I’ll try to get him,” said Rapid as he moved forward a bit faster, kicking up snow behind him.

But before he could go any farther, Scree suddenly came out of nowhere, swooped down and grabbed the rabbit before it could get out of the reach of her talons. Blaze and Rapid stopped as they heard the rabbit let out a squeal of pain while Scree flew off with it.

“I hope she shares,” said Rapid as he panted from exhaustion.

“You know Scree, she will keep it to herself and just ignore us,” growled Blaze and he bent down to grab a mouthful of snow to rehydrate himself.

Rapid snorted in annoyance as he realized that Blaze was right, Scree was probably hiding in a tree now enjoying her meal without caring what they thought. He scanned the meadow, looking for any signs of life, it seemed so barren and quiet, all he could hear was the wind blowing through the nearby trees. The clouds were still moving about so the sun kept hiding behind the clouds, leaving the land looking gray and desolate.

Suddenly, something caught Rapids eye at the far end of the meadow, something was moving and it looked bigger than any rabbit.

“Blaze, do you see what I see at the end of the meadow?” asked Rapid as he pointed with his nose to the far end.

Blaze squinted a little trying to adjust his eyes with all the snow around him. But once his eyes had the correct vision, he saw them. It was a small herd of about five deer standing alone by a creek bed. He did not know if the deer had seen them and he wondered if he could find a way to sneak up on them.

“Do you think any of them are weak?” asked Rapid.

“We’ll have to find out, won’t we,” said Blaze with a smirk at the thought of finally catching some real prey. He and Rapid had only been catching small game throughout their travels and he was craving deer. He hadn’t had a decent meal in a long time, one where there was more meat than bones.

“How should we sneak up on them then?” asked Rapid as he looked up at Blaze who was concentrating on how to move in.

“I know we can’t move toward them, they will see us, the wind seems to be moving to our right so we won’t scent them and they won’t scent us, so it sounds like we can get these guys without too much trouble,” said Blaze as he turned around and made his way toward the trees. Rapid quickly followed behind.

Blaze moved through the trees, trying to find the best route toward them without making too much noise. For a while, he and Rapid moved quickly knowing that they had not been scented yet and the deer would probably not hear them until they got closer.

Finally, once Blaze knew he was close, he slowed down and stepped lightly in the snow. It cracked beneath is paws but he knew it was such a low sound that only he and Rapid could hear it. Rapid slowly followed suit, walking in the same footsteps as Blaze, sometimes sinking into the snow a little bit more and getting stuck for a moment in the process.

Blaze would only turn and stare at him for a bit before continuing on, Rapid was still young and he was still learning to move through the snow. Blaze knew he should help if the need would arise but for now, Rapid could handle himself.

Finally Blaze found the creek the deer had been standing by; slowly he made his way toward a nearby bush and sat there for a moment. There were seven deer, two of them fawns that had already lost their spots and were getting to be a nice size. They looked healthy though so he decided to ignore them. There were three does, either the fawns were twins so one of them was a mother or they were not siblings and there were two mothers. Either way they looked healthy as well and it was probably best not to go after them. Finally he turned to the bucks; one was very healthy, a nice set of antlers on him probably about six or seven years of age. The other had larger antlers but he seemed older and there was some gray around the muzzle.

“Keep an eye on the older buck, watch for any faltering,” Blaze whispered into Rapids ear.

“Will do,” Rapid said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. Rapid had hunted before, but it had been so long he was unsure if he could do it again.

Twenty minutes had passed since Blaze had stood there watching them, still on the alert and making sure that the big male was an easy target. So far he had seen him limp slightly but he was not sure if it was from the snow or from a gimpy leg so he continued to wait. Rapid on the other hand was getting bored. So far he had found a tree branch to play with, but after five minutes of doing so, Blaze let out a growl in annoyance. Rapid quickly stopped and lay in the snow, waiting for any news from Blaze; he was still young so his attention span was still not the best.

Suddenly Blaze let out low yip that seemed both excited and determined. “Rapid he’s moving and that leg is definitely slowing him down,” he said.

Rapid looked up to watch the old male, sure enough he was hobbling but staying close to the younger male as if he was in need of protection.

“Do you think we can get him?” asked Rapid.

“I think we can, I’ve done this before, deer scatter when they see a wolf, most of the time they won’t fight back until we bite down on them,” said Blaze while watching the deer the entire time.

“So when should we get them?” asked Rapid.

“Just give him a few more seconds to move a bit and……………now!” Blaze yelled as he leapt through the bushes.

Rapid was on the alert when Blaze paused as he waited for the right moment and when Blaze leapt forward, Rapid quickly balanced himself and jumped through the bushes right behind him. It wasn’t long before he saw the deer scatter in all directions just like Blaze said. He looked around for Blaze and soon found him following the old buck as it ran as fast as it could through the snow in the meadow.

Rapid ran forward, he sensed that Blaze would go for the buck’s throat. Knowing that Blaze could handle that part, Rapid decided that he could easily go for the hind leg. Hopefully he could slow the buck down so Blaze could get at him without much trouble. Rapid ran forward, keeping his mind on the prize, nothing else mattered at the moment.

Blaze sensed that Rapid was staying at the rear of the buck, he was glad there would be no problems telling him where to go. Blaze ran in front, listening to the bucks tired grunts as it tried to run as fast as it could to save its own life. Sooner or later he would slow down and then Blaze could get at its soft neck and bring it down. Blaze was starving and he wished he could bring it down right then and there, he knew patience was important though, it was part of the success of the hunt.

Suddenly Blaze heard a low growl and at first he thought it was Rapid ready to bite down on the buck’s leg. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a wolf, and then shortly after another one, and then another. Blaze knew that he had strayed into another packs territory, and he knew he had to be careful hunting through there especially since you needed permission to do so especially if any wolf was nearby. He had not asked for permission, now he was in trouble and knew he had to stop before he was given an even worse punishment than what he was most likely going to get. Blaze quickly backed away and stopped running.

He was about to yell at Rapid and tell him to fall back, instead he saw the old buck kick out at Rapid. Before Blaze could even let out a gasp, Rapid let out a pained yelp, flew through the air and landed heavily in the snow.

Blaze stood there, unsure what to do, he knew the wolves would make their way over to him shortly, but he also needed to make sure Rapid was okay. Blaze looked around for the wolves, they were not making their way toward him, instead they were bringing down the buck as if he was not even there.

Cautiously, Blaze made his way toward his injured friend who he knew was still alive, he could hear him whimpering as he lay there in the snow. Blaze hoped that Rapid would be alright and that they could both get out of the packs territory without a fight.