Wolf and Deer - Part Two - Reborn
#3 of Wolf and Deer
The story of the deerwolf's parents continues. Again, any kind of feedback would be most welcome!
Hunger. Reborn had been searching, searching for food more than a quarter of Brightface in the sky. Her stomach threatening to digest itself; her legs, bloodied by the frozen snow, almost too weak to carry her. Winter had been harsh upon her herd, but not not as harsh as the judgement spelled by Herdleader. Childless. Fruitless. Useless. The laughter of the herd still echoed in her ears, weak as it was even then. They got rid of her, one useless snout to feed.
When she heard the soft paws approaching over the frozen snow, she did not even try to run. Better to end it now, quickly, than to waste away in the wilderness. She would even have welcomed the bite of one of the two-leg's throwing sticks in her heart, for what reason did she have to carry on? Reborn waited for the inevitable. Her muscles tensed as she felt the final leap of the approaching Fang, yet she remained. Standing. Waiting to die quickly. Then, the Fang got her.
Rolling in the snow. A brief, but not too unpleasant pain between her shoulder blades. And then there was... not nothing as she had expected, but a sense of warmth and muscle upon her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable, yet she couldn't help opening her nostrils, gasping for one sweet final breath. Then, she caught the Fang's scent.
A world of emotions washed over her in that moment. Some all too well-known, telling her legs to try and run that instant. But there were others - new ones, burning a path down her spine, filling her with a desire unknown, tingling ever further down. Reborn felt ashamed for a second, as she knew that this feeling would have been expected of her when she stood for the son of Herdleader, where she only felt pain and boredom. She had never born fruit then, which had led to her exile.
Reborn struggled to look around, trying to get at least one look of the Fang that would surely kill her in the next few moments. As she did so, gasping for air, his smell filled her nostrils even more, making her sink deeper into the snow under him. She told herself it was her wish to die. Finally, she managed to get a look of the Fang she had so willingly been caught by. His hot breath filled her entire world, and his eyes were her heaven. Summoning what little remained of her strength to speak, she said: ''You have beautiful eyes''
There. Reborn had written her own death sentence. Never before had Fleetfoot spoken to Fang. Not that it mattered; Herdleader was too far away to know or care. She wasn't even sure whether the dumb Fang lying on her understood, nor did she know why she had even bothered to speak. It would be all the same anyway in a few moments. She closed her eyes and prepared to go beyond the dark river.
When she opened her eyes again, she found Fang's face but a few inches away from her own. He opened his mouth, showed her gleaming white teeth which somehow failed to puncture her jugular vein, but said: ''You too.''