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Swift stood calmly in the dew moistened grass, muzzle lifted into the soft breeze, sniffing hopefully for a hint of prey scent. The moon shone soft and pale over the meadow, starkly illuminating every dip and hollow. Trees surrounded the field on all sides, offering a dark wall of protection.
Swishing her thick black tail, Swift turned, slightly crestfallen, having scented no prey. When she had first found this meadow, she had been certain that prey could be located there, but her instincts had deceived her yet again. She stared into the shadowy depths of the forest, and after casting one last searching look into the tall grasses of the field, she crept towards the nearest group of trees.
Stepping carefully over a thick tangle of brambles, Swift pricked her ears, quickly picking up soft rustling coming from the base of a nearby oak tree. She slipped closer, taking great care not to set her paws down on anything crunchy, and at the same time, staying downwind of her potential prey. The musty scent of vole bathed her tongue, and she could now see the dark shape of it, nosing about in the dead leaves, its head completely buried in them. She silently inched closer, just a few more paw steps, and she could- a cold wind blew through her fur, coming from behind her, and carrying her scent towards the vole.
She saw it stiffen, and sit up, twitching its snout. Then it bolted, heading for a tight packed thicket. "Hare dung!" Swift muttered, and sprang to her paws, stealth forgotten. She surged forward, and with a mighty leap, landed squarely upon the vole, its shrill squeaks of terror quickly being cut off, as she bent forward, and delicately bit through its spine. She poked the now limp body with a paw, examining it critically. It was entirely too small for her to get much nourishment from, but she knew vole was Maple's favorite. And Maple needed to keep up her strength.
Picking up the still warm vole, Swift started to head towards the makeshift den she had left Maple. It was deeper inside the forest, located in a sort of monster graveyard. At first, when she had seen the group of large creatures, she had thought that she and Maple had stumbled across a den, but they soon realized that the monsters were all long dead, some were missing some, if not all, of their great round black paws. Their massive glowing eyes were dark, some with empty sockets, others cracked and jagged. Even their vivid unnatural colors were muted and peeling.
Swift had explored the entire graveyard thoroughly, and finding no fresh scents, and seeing that the skeletons of the monsters were unnaturally solid, she realized that a den could be made inside them. Maple was reluctant to put this idea into motion, stating that if this was where the monsters brought their dead, then surely this was a foolish plan. But Swift had replied that she had not seen or smelled any evidence of recent monster activity. It seemed nothing had been here for seasons.
After discovering a monster skeleton near the middle with a fallen tree trunk butted against the side, Swift had clambered up, and into the skeleton, and was delighted to discover that there was some sort of soft, flat objects inside, five of them, with the last one being at least two fox lengths long. Each of the objects, which Maple decided to call "soft stones" had a back, shooting straight up, like a tree, but short enough not to touch the top of the monster skeleton.
Maple was finally convinced that it was worth staying, at least for a time, when Swift had discovered that a number of mice lived inside each of the skeletons. They had been staying in the graveyard for a little over a moon now, and Swift had ventured outside to hunt, since the mice supply was almost exhausted.
She really hoped she could catch a squirrel, or even better, a juicy rabbit, before she made it back to their den. She shivered, as another chilly breeze wove through the trees. Leaf fall was setting in, and leaf bare would not be far behind. Swift wanted to find a more permanent den for her and Maple, the monster skeletons might be solid, and keep out most of the rain, but they were incredibly drafty, she had spent more then one night, being awoken suddenly by a chill wind whistling through her fur.
She was intending to spend most of tomorrow searching out a nice place to last out leaf bare, and to get it ready, so that as soon as Maple was stronger, they could move right in. Maple was still such a young cat, and Swift was worried that leaf bare would be hard for her. She knew from experience how cold and unforgiving leaf bare was. Sometimes the snow fell as tall as Swift stood. And prey was almost always scarce.
Swift paused, suddenly alert, her eyes trained on a large round rodent that sat, chewing a acorn daintly, at the roots of a huge oak. Swift could hardly believe her fortune, it was a groundhog! She had only seen these creatures in fields from a distance before.
She set down her vole gently, moving with care, so not to disturb the thick layer of leaves. She would have to try to get as close as she could possibly get, since she had seen how fast a groundhog could move. And she would likely only have one chance at this. Putting all her stalking skills into practice, Swift slowly moved forward, placing each paw with quiet precision, and holding her tail above the ground, so not to drag it through the leaves. She reached a large root, and crouched behind it. The groundhog had not moved, it still nibbled obliviously on its acorn.
Tensing her muscles, Swift paused a moment, then sprang. She flew through the air, just as the groundhog looked directly at her. It uttered a piercing whistle of alarm, and fled straight up the trunk of the oak tree.
Swift landed somewhat awkwardly, skidding to a halt through the leaves. She turned, and stared up the tree in disbelief, just barely able to make out the dark shape of the groundhog. She had no idea they could climb!
Well...she backed up, and charged forward, leaping as high as she could, latching onto the tree trunk with her claws, and hauled herself up to the nearest branch. She could climb too.
As Swift clumsily scrambled onto to next branch, she kept her gaze fixed on the groundhog, daring it to move. So far it hadn't shifted a inch, beady black eyes fixed upon Swift as she struggled higher up the tree. She could smell its fear scent.
Swift had a moment of panic herself, as a chunk of loose bark slid off under her hind leg, leaving it dangling over the edge of the branch, she couldn't help but watch as the bark plummeted down to the ground, breaking into pieces on impact. She tucked her hind leg under herself, and proceeded far more cautiously. When she reached the branch below her prey, she saw that it was about to climb back down the trunk.
Abandoning all caution, she lunged for the next branch, and seized the groundhog by the back of the neck. It flailed, trilling desperately, but with a twist of Swift's head, there was a sudden snap, and it fell limp.
Swift stood for a moment, regaining her balance, then started to make her slow, careful way down the tree, making her best attempt not to trip over the groundhog dangling from her jaws.