Tainted & Rotclaw

The last of the evening light had left and the sun buried itself on the horizon. A sliver of moon hovered above the ranch, bathing it in faint, cold light. A human would lack the sense of sight to navigate; the three canines and their vulture guide had no such trouble. Rotclaw’s wings carried her silently over the landscape, leading her hunting crew to an opening in the fence before taking a sharp turn towards the house and leaving Tainted to lead the rest of the way.

Tainted - or Nightingale, as her new friends knew her - squeezed under a rotting section of the wood fence that corralled livestock. Tainted guessed, based on the scent, that it was either sheep or goats. Perhaps some chickens mixed in? Whatever they were, they were here recently, and they were now likely spending the night in a small barn on the far side of the corral.

“Rotclaw has descended.” Tainted gestured for Speara and Renani to follow her towards the barn. “She’ll distract any dogs that would ward us off. We do this quick, and we do this quiet.” The coywolf’s voice was but a whisper and her footsteps were nearly silent. The hunting group was downwind from the barn and the house, giving them the element of surprise. “Let’s check it out - see what prey we can find and make a plan from there. Speara, stay behind me and-- what was your name?” She wasn’t sure if she had caught Renani’s name yet, but regardless, she continued. “We’ll show you the ropes. Stay low, go slowly, and make no noise.”

Near the farmhouse where Rotclaw expected the guard dogs to be, the bearded vulture came in for a landing. She cried out in a convincing squawk of pain to gather their attention upon her. She feigned an injury, letting her wing droop and hobbling down the pathway further from where Tainted led the hunt. It seemed that she was experienced in trickery. Time would tell whether she was successful at her performance.

Speara

Speara was silent as she followed right behind Nightingale. One ear back the other up and listening as she was keen to learn, seeing as she wouldn't make it out here unless she learned to hunt. okayShe said as she got low after the crossed the fence line.

Renani & Teucke

Renani's senses were on overdrive now as they entered the land where Aiden had once lived, the rogue Lurker who had been taken in as a pup by the humans and ended up living with them to create a new branch of the hybrid family tree. Or so the story went, as she was told. The wolfdog had since passed away, but his legacy lived on in some of the guard dogs that roamed the property, distant relatives of Renani, though she knew none of them personally. But that mattered not; the Ranch had always been open to hunting for the Lurkers, so Ren had no qualms about coming here now to score an easy meal, so there were no words of protest as she followed the ragtag group. Renani easily slipped beneath the aged timber and into the corral, following Nightingale's instructions. "Renani - call me Ren if you want." Orange eyes, looking almost brown in the darkness, flashed to the other, then back to their surroundings. "Definitely sheep here, which should be easy prey for us; there's lambs too, if I'm not mistaken." There weren't any out in this particular corral, but as Nightingale suspected, they were concealed in a smaller barn at the other end of the small pasture, and across from that and closer to the house, the scent of chickens drift from a large coop.

---

What looked like a pile of snow on the end of the porch suddenly rose, giving rise to the form of a thick-coated wolfdog with butter yellow eyes, and just a tinge of yellow-tan spread across the fur on his head and back. He looked strongly like the Akbash, but there was a feral tint to his eyes, and a pair of rather large, upright ears that spoke of something much more wild in his blood. This big boy, an unknowing relative of Nightingale herself, was the first of the canines to respond to Rotclaw.

Teucke gave a short, bellowing howl before taking heavy steps down off the porch. "Buzzard, what's wrong with you?" His gravelly tones were suspicious, but not yet aggressive as he started to draw closer to the bird, "If you've come for a midnight snack, you'll find yourself at the wrong end of that food chain."

Nightingale & Rotclaw

Nightingale made her way towards the barn, all the while keeping a look out for trouble. Should a sheep or chicken be up late, that night owl would surely alert the guard dogs and spoil the hunt. “We should try for a lamb, two if we can. One or two lambs can give all of us the energy we need for now, and once we’re back on our feet we can find ourselves some prey in the wild.” She neared the entrance to the barn, listening for any movement. “I think the lambs must be in here. Watch out for the sheep, though - they’re mean when they’re threatened.” Slowly and carefully, she peered into the doorway to see what she was dealing with. “Speara, here is where we take it slow. Sudden movements will alert the flock. And when you launch an attack, go for the neck. That’s the weak point.”

Rotclaw was taken by surprise when a white pile of fur rose from the porch and howled. She took a step back, still feigning a wing injury. “I-I ran into one of the black ropes that humans string between poles when I took to the skies to escape a wolf pack,” she explained, describing an encounter with power lines. “I don’t mean harm to you or your humans. I just need a little help is all, or just a safe place to rest. I don’t think anything’s broken but… I’m not sure if I can fly tonight.” Rotclaw was genuinely afraid for her life at this point. This wolfdog could easily end her life right then and there.

Speara

Speared stayed close to Nightingale and listened carefully as she explained how to hunt. okayShe Lowered herself a bit and moved slowly as she followed Nightingale's lead. As they entered the barn the smell of sheep was much stronger. She began to stalk toward where there might be a lamb. Probably the easiest prey for herself anyways. Even if she had the energy for something bigger this was her first time hunting.

Renani & Teucke

Renani held back a few paces, allowing Speara to travel ahead of her so that she could trail the small group and ensure that they weren't followed or ambushed by anyone. As Nightingale and the starving Speara slipped into the barn, Ren lingered outside, her eyes scanning their surroundings while ears perked at the deep voice that bayed from somewhere near the house. Neither hearing nor seeing any other canines in the immediate vicinity however, she finally dipped her head and slunk into the shelter.

Once inside, the heavy scent of sheep filled her nares and caused her mouth to water with anticipation. The sheep and their lambs were mostly clustered at the far end of the structure, though a few bright red lights hung over three small stalls, where pairs of weakened mothers and their lambs were being given extra care for various complications, including one ewe who had triplets. Renani considered these easy targets, but hung back to allow Nightingale and Speara to make their moves; Ren would assist, but her first priority was to continue providing sentry for the trio.

----

Teucke moved closer to the vulture, his gaze as sharp and piercing as the claws of the many cats that prowled the farm. "Luckily for you, you're not a hawk." His pale head came down, sniffing about a foot away from Rotclaw, "And no eagle." A growl underplayed his words while he continued to size up the bird, trying to decide whether he believed her, or whether she was playing him. "What do you eat? That is a sharp looking beak you have there."

Nightingale & Rotclaw

Nightingale kept her body low as she crept through the barn. She resisted the urge to pounce on a sheep right then and there. That would be certain death. Instead, the attack must be tactical and coordinated. “Ren, I see you eyeing that stall there…” the coywolf mused, her snout pointed in the direction of the triplet lambs. “That would be a good catch - go in quick and easy, grab the lambs, and get out before things turn too ugly.” Rotclaw’s safety crossed her mind more than once, but the crafty bird had a way of talking herself out of sticky situations. “Speara, when we go for the kill, do exactly as we do. Quick and clean, a bite to the neck.” She padded forward ever so quietly, knowing that soon, the sheep would catch the scent of wild canines and give the alarm.

-

The guard dog was too close for comfort. Rotclaw ducked her head away, averting her eyes in a show of submission. Whether it was genuine or not was anyone’s guess. She winced when Teucke came in for a sniff, knowing well enough that he could bite her head off. “I’m a vulture. A bearded vulture. I eat carrion and bone marrow. My beak is not for attacking, but for rending the flesh from a corpse nobody else wants.” It was only partly true - the bird’s diet consisted primarily of bone marrow from bones swallowed whole, and very little meat, but she felt that eating bones would be too unbelievable for somebody not familiar with her species. “Please, I just need some help. My wing needs tending to. Do you have a human here? I was once a human’s pet before he passed away and I had nowhere to go but the skies.” Yet another lie, but Rotclaw’s mournful expression, perfected after years of embellishing the truth, hid that from Teucke.

Speara

She wanted to live and that drove her to listen to Nightengale intently.alrightShe said softly as she now positioned herself that when the other would drive the lambs out she would be able to copy what the two did and kill the lamb quickly.