Page 87 of Blacktail

The two-legs wasted no more energy in screams. It pounded on Chester as best it was able, starting with just its good paw. After a few moments it began using the ruined one as well. Chester’s blood was high now. He snapped at the blows with a ferocity that surprised him. Wasn’t I dying just yesterday? he wondered. At first he was losing the fight. He felt hope slipping away. He started to think, Surely Blacktail will save—but cut the thought off.

No. This hunt is mine.

Just then the two-legs, perhaps tiring, moved a little slow in drawing back its wounded paw. Chester sank his teeth deep into the shredded flesh, whipped his head from side to side. The two-legs’ good paw pounded against his ribs for a time, but the blows were weak and ineffectual. The pain will soon make it sleep, Chester thought. I’m doing it!

Then something hit him very hard in the side, and he went flying. He came to rest almost two bounds away, and looked up, a little dazed.

The female stood by her mate with a thick stick in her hand. Her scent was like nothing he had ever smelled on one of them, a hot, killing rage. Blood dripped from a sharp knot on the stick.

Chester scented the air and realized with surprise that the blood was his own.

It hit me! he thought dazedly. Then, This one smells a bit like my mate. I wonder if she might want to play chewtoy? Probably not. He was seized with a sudden urge to crawl to her, to lick her paws, to subjugate himself.

The two-legs bared her teeth and stepped toward him. When its shadow was close enough to block out the setting sun, it raised the stick over its head.

Chester snarled and struck at its legs as best he was able, bracing himself for the final blow.

The next thing happened so fast it took him a moment to sort out what happened. One moment he was striking at the low parts of the two-legs, enthusiastically but without much effect. The next moment his teeth snapped on empty air.

Chester panned his head from side to side. There was the blood trail. It led to the male, who lay unconscious in a spreading pool of blood…but the female was nowhere to be seen. Chester twisted his head left, then right. What, did it fly away?

Only when he had turned all the way around did he see. There, a full four paces away, Blacktail stood over the female. She lay on her back with her paws in the air. She was pounding at Blacktail with her front paws and kicking the air with her rear, her screams echoing back and forth among the stones. Then came a popping sound as some bone ripped loose. A red stream flew into the air. A moment later the screams stopped, and she fell still.

Blacktail raised his head. His muzzle was stained bright red with blood. He licked his chops and grinned at Chester. “That wasn’t bad, for a first attempt,” he said. “I had a feeling about you. Come, Chester. One for you and one for me. The feast awaits.”

Chester, grinning, set upon his kill. He ate until he thought he might burst. The feel of hot meat slipping down his throat was sweet beyond description. When it was done, he had eaten an amazingly large portion of the male’s body, perhaps half. Perhaps even a bit more. He sighed and lay back on his side. Blacktail was sitting on his haunches a few paces away. He looked as though he’d been waiting for more than a few breaths.

“I have never seen such an appetite,” Blacktail said.

“I have not eaten a true meal since the winter,” Chester said. His stomach had inflated visibly. It looked like there was a melon between his ribs and hindquarters.

“Perhaps you should not have gorged yourself so. That wound is deep,” Blacktail said.

Chester looked down at his side. The hole where the two-legs struck him had stopped bleeding, but it was wide and bloody. One flap of fur hung loose. Underneath that he saw a glint of white rib. He looked from it to Blacktail. “Do you think I’ll die from it?”

Blacktail sniffed the wound. “Perhaps not,” he said, but his tone was grim.

“But perhaps so?”

“Yes. Perhaps so.”

Chester thought about it for a time. “Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we? At least I’m not starving anymore.”

Blacktail wagged his tail. “I suppose you’re right. Take care to clean it as well as you can.”

“I will. Could you use a rest? I’m about to fall down.”

“Yes. Me as well. A good hunt will do that.”

“We’re not far from the creek—it curves back upon itself in these rocks. The sands are soft, and I think the sound there is pleasant.”

“To the creek, then.”

That night they slept on warm rocks sheltered by a cliff. The sound of the running water carried them off to sleep.

iv

Chester woke well before Blacktail, perhaps because he had done little but sleep since the last full moon. Even with the wound in his side, he felt better than he had in a long time. He felt little urge to move. He lay still with his eyes open for a long time, watching the sun of this new day rise.