Deer

Dad stayed with me the following day as well, but I didn't progress much. Around noon he told me to stop the training and save my energy for the next day. The rest of the day was spent playing with the rest of the family and lounging around.

All the leftovers from the previous hunt were long gone and the ones who weren't lucky getting the last of them for themselves were starting to feel peckish.

"We're getting up before sunrise, be ready, and don't stay up too late," Mom told us as she and Dad went to sleep.

"Don't worry, we will." Lyara yawned.

"I'm going to sleep." Tielter scurried off.

"I'm going too." Trumpet stretched and disappeared.

"Me too." I yawned and ran to secure the spot under the hazelnut bush for myself. Janym and Xerio also wished Lyara good night and went to find sleeping spots for themselves.

Everyone was very tired after the whole afternoon full of games and running.

***

We were loping through the forest all morning, searching for fresh tracks. It was tedious as the forest is full of life but most of the animals weren't worth bothering with for us due to their small size.

"It takes a lot of experience to tell the animals from the tracks." Mom encouraged us, seeing our confusion as we tried to decipher the mangled mess of smells they were investigating. "Without the experience, you can only slow down."

"It's not hard to find a track, it's hard to separate it from all the other tracks there and tell how long it has been since they were here," Dad added. "Let's go, we should find them soon enough."

With Dad in the lead, we rushed through the old forest, our footsteps muffled by the permanently moist moss as we evaded the trees and low-hanging branches; some with more grace than others.

It truly didn't take long and Dad slowed down, sniffed the air then turned to the side to get downwind.

The weak sound of cracking branches and rhythmic rustling of leaves reached us and as we walked I caught a whiff of a scent I didn't smell before. I could tell it was deer but they weren't like the ones I ate before.

"All right." Mom's commanding voice alerted us. "Harukaze and Lyara with me, Janym and Xerio with Asher, Tielter, and Trumpet on their own. Asher, can you break up the herd on your own or do you want help?"

"I should be able to do it alone, but be ready, please. At least herds rarely run away the moment they spot us." Dad said.

"Why aren't you..." I began to ask.

"Because they are not large enough so that one would be enough for all of us. we would have to track down the herd again and they would be way more alert the next time." Mom explained.

"Also, hunting in large groups is tedious and it does get tiring trying to keep it organized, when it's not organized, the prey has way more opportunities to escape than if you hunt alone. If we can, we avoid it. Splitting a group up is easier than getting everyone to reconvene since you tell everyone you are hunting." Dad added. "Time to go."

With a flick of his tail, he turned around and ran through the ferns and towards where the deer were. Everyone else followed him and the sounds of the deer grazing grew stronger. It only took a moment and I spotted them. On a small clearing littered with uprooted trees, there was a herd of over fifty deer, grazing in the tall grass and chewing on the young saplings that replaced the fallen trees.

The moment Dad appeared in the clearing the deer became alert, swiftly forming a circle and shuffling the young into the middle. My eyes were almost going blurry from their running. I couldn't follow a single specific deer, but they were eying us, ready to use their antlers and hooves at any time.

"Why is this always the first thing they do?" I heard Dad complain from the other side as we surrounded the deer whirlpool. I stayed further back to not get in Mom and Lyara's way, I wasn't allowed to take part in the hunt yet, I could only watch and learn.

"They want us to pick out targets at our own pace perhaps? They keep forgetting we're not wolves, we won't bother with fawn. Wish we had Yalo here, he could pick out the best targets and not bother with this." Mom replied, but she also sounded annoyed. "Trumpet, Tielter make way towards the south for them." She ordered.

"Done!"

"Let's get them running," Mom growled.

Lyara ran to the north while Mom dove next to the herd. They were startled, some tried to strike her with their antlers or kick at her but she nimbly dodged. Nipping and biting at their sides and legs wherever she could she tried to get them to abandon the whirlpool and run. Dad was probably doing the same on the other side and Lyara was trying from the north too, she wasn't as successful, instead, she was running back and forth so the deer wouldn't want to run in her direction once they do start running.

***

Mom and Dad finally sowed enough pain and chaos between them that they gave up and started running. All of the deer that made their way to the outer edge of the twister had at least a few nicks and bruises from the probing attacks.

"Take the center group," Mom told Trumpet as she was running past, he was a bit startled by the sudden shift in their behavior and the following stampede, even if he knew it was coming. She then dove into the herd to separate a group from which she and Lyara would pick out prey. Dad did the same on the other side.

Panicked and hurting, the herd quickly broke down into small groups to evade the teeth that hurt them before as Mom and Dad skillfully avoided all attempts at retaliation. I ran behind, trying to see everything Mom and Lyara did while evading trees, as they let, or rather forced, individuals separate. When there were only five left of the fifteen Mom and Lyara hounded I could pick out the one they targeted.

It was a large male but I couldn't tell any weakness from the way it moved. But these deer being stupidly fast might have been the reason for that. I had to sprint to keep up with them. Mom and Lyara weren't far from sprinting either.

Lyara started to move in for an attack, while Mom moved in closer as well. This gave the four deer they weren't targeting an opening that was instantly taken, they knew by now that they couldn't fight Mom head-on. But that was a mistake as it left the targetted one open.

Lyara pounced in full sprint and sank her teeth into the deer's thigh. He screamed in pain and tried to swipe at her with his antlers. She wasn't greedy and dodged, not without ripping out a large chunk of the muscles.

Seeing the success Mom slowed down, and so did Lyara. "With this much bleeding, we don't need to bother. Nice work." Mom praised Lyara who scarfed down the chunk she tore off while slowing down to a trot. Now we just didn't let it rest, letting the wound do its job, even me and my littermates could take over from here.

***

The deer soon died of blood loss, we didn't need to put much effort in after Lyara's very successful attack. When we were trailing it, easily thanks to all the blood trail, Mom told me it would usually take ten or more bites to get strong enough bleeding.

Mom confiscated the liver for herself and after that, we all ate. It was barely, but there was more than enough for all three of us.

"How did you pick this one?" I asked Mom between bites.

"He was sick, smelled pretty bad."

"I can't tell anything." I sniffed again, it simply smelled like a deer, slightly different from the rest, but not as different as Trumpet and Tielter.

"Once they are really sick with this they start smelling a bit bitter-sour? Is that the right description? You learn to recognize it it's the same as with the tracks, it's hard to get just that one smell. He also had issues with his joints, it limped a bit before we broke the group apart." Mom explained.

I sniffed the deer again searching for the bitterness and while it was faint and covered by the smell of blood I did find it there. I made sure I remembered what it smelled like before getting back to the food.