Flare was definitely focused on the prize but Cuirass didn't take into consideration that she wasn't well acquainted with Iromar's terrain just yet. She didnt' know all the soft areas and places that looked like solid ground but would eat you up like quicksand if you stepped that. He chose his own steps carefully but he was much more efficient about it now that he'd been patrolling these pack lands for some time now. He had learned what to look for. Flare was a good hunter and a good follower, something he had never seen her as until now. As a pup, she was always seen as strong and capable. She was the one to lead Tobias and the Monster into Taviora after someone, after all. She went and they followed even though Tobias was the alpha. So to see her in this position, following his lead. It gave him a sense of power to knew she would choose to follow his lead after the ones she had followed in the past. Now he would just have to live up to his new position with her and earn it. She seemed comfortable with where he put her, moving into position smoothly by the trees as if she was used to being the one to cut off the prey's escape. When Cuirass launched himself after the deer, the buck cut toward where Flare hid and she moved perfectly, cutting off his escape into the trees and pushing him toward the mud pit. Only here was the new challenge because Flare didn't know the lands so she didn't know where the mud pit was either.

Cuirass grinned in triumph as he raced to where the buck had ended up, struggling madly in the mud and crying out for help. The other deer had already scattered and left him as dead though, knowing they wouldn't be able to fight off the wolves and save him from the mud. His fate was literally in their hands now. But Flare had ended up in the mud pit as well. Cuirass applauded her heroics, diving after the buck's leg even as she was sucked lower in the mud and he knew he would have the challenge now. He had to get her out and the prize before both were lost to the deep. He knew the more the deer struggled, the deeper it would sink and the harder it would be to get him out. So he raced to the deer's head, where it was still coherent enough to thrash its antlers around, trying to hit him even as he danced and growled on the drier land. He waited till the deer turned its head to pay attention to the new pain of Flare grabbing its back leg and then he dove in, letting one paw in the mud so he could lunge under the deer's head and grasp onto its throat.

The deer cried out but it soon turned into a gurgle as Cuirass sank his fangs in and pulled back, struggling to free his paw but it came out with a wet sound as he pulled out the buck's throat. It wasn't but a minute more before the buck quit struggling and let its head fall slowly onto the dry bank. Its body stopped sinking and Cuirass sighed in relief. Now he just had to free Flare so they could pull out the deer together. He knew there was no way he could do it himself. Moving around to her, he mapped out the width of the pit. It had gotten wider since the last time he had used it and he couldn't get to her without sinking in himself and that would get them nowhere. Coming to a quick conclusion, he ran and grabbed a thick branch, dragging it back to the mud pit. He yanked off all the small branches on it and then held it in his teeth, swinging it out over the mud pit and nudging his head in an effort to tell her to grab onto it. He would wait till she did and start pulling, hoping to slowly drag her out of the mud pit. He knew he could totally be facetious about this and make all kinds of jokes but somehow the safety of Flare meant more than just an opportune moment to crack a joke.