vaya

She continues to pace behind the alpha wolf, curious now to see where she was going. The black wolf had mentioned food but Vaya wasn’t catching the scent of a carcass on the wind. After a short distance of walking, the black wolf led the young one to a clearing where the snow had all but disappeared in the spring sunlight. The black wolf stopped abruptly at the edge of this area and Vaya slowly creeps up beside her as the alpha wolf speaks again and she turns her ears to catch the quiet words.

She followed the older wolf’s gaze into the clearing and immediately spotted the fawn. It couldn’t have been more than a week or two old, an early spring fawn. Instantly her salivary glands begin to work and she quietly licks her lips. The alpha’s plan was good. Vaya wasn’t the killer of the hunt, but she had often participated in the chase and it was something she was good at. She was fast and smart which meant she could read the prey well and head it off when it tried to break.

Quietly she melts into the brush beside the black wolf, using the cover at the edge of the clearing to work her way to the opposite side of the clearing. She wants to get as close to the fawn as possible before it catches on to what is going on. The closer she is, the more panicked the fawn will be and the more likely it will run straight to the jaws of the alpha rather than leaping to the left or right. On her belly now, the small wolf creeps forward. The grass around her is young yet and barely reaches her shoulder even when she is pressed to the earth.

Nevertheless, the fawn is facing the opposite direction and the wind is pushing her scent at a perpendicular angle, not to the fawn. She manages to get quite close with the fawn seeming none the wiser. Sensing that her luck is about to run out, she suddenly lunges towards the prone fawn, snarling all the while. Her jaws snap at the air, where the fawn’s legs had been moments before. It is up and running, heading the right direction. Vaya stays behind it, watching carefully in case she has to head off any direction changes, but the fawn is heading right where she wanted it to go.