Deer Trap

Before they left to track deer, Equinox moved the branches and tossed the dead rat into the pit. It landed with a soft thud in the dirt below and he covered the pit over again, smoothing out the leaves to make them look less obvious.

"Backup plan," he explained when both twins scowled at the wasted food, "If we can't get a deer in here we can probably lure something in with a free meal." 

"It's starting to seem like an awful lot of work," Piper said skeptically.

"It's work, but it's safe work," Nox reasoned patiently, "You have to wait longer but not as long as you'd have to wait for a broken leg to heal. If it heals," he added. Sparrow gulped nervously, remembering his fall into the pit and how lucky he had been to avoid a break. 

"There's no harm in trying it once," he tried placating Piper but she shot him an incredulous look. He could understand her hesitancy, they weren't getting any less hungry standing around and following some old fool's advice. They were in the gangly stages of adolescence now, needing more and more food with every hunt to satiate their hunger. He saw an opportunity to take down bigger prey safely and she saw a waste of time. "If it fails we can always eat the old man," he joked, making Piper snicker and their new guide huff indignantly.

"Old man... I suppose everything looks old to someone who just fell out of the egg," Equinox snarked back. The tension had been eased now though, and Piper seemed willing to humour the endeavour a little longer so Sparrow seized the opportunity.

"So, deer by the river you said?"

Equinox had been right, there were deer near the river, elk to be more specific. A small herd, does and older fawns taking turns drinking while others stood guard, watching the trees for an ambush. Their ambush, unfortunately for them, was coming from the higher ground along the river bank, hidden in the dark green bushes that masked brightly coloured raptor feathers. They couldn't communicate verbally any more without startling the herd but Equinox had briefed them well enough on the plan beforehand. The idea was to pick a target, startle it from the herd and then chase it to where they had dug the pit. The path of the river would do a good job at funneling the herd into the general direction, they just had to make sure at least one of them ran over their trap. With a soft exhale, Nox turned to the twins and nodded.

The three raptors burst from their cover, sliding down the steep bank to the river and clearing it with a powerful jump. The elk had started to flee by the time they crossed the river but the raptors had enough of a head start to have them snapping at their heels. Piper ran around the left hand side of the herd, blocking their path on one side while the river blocked the other. Only a few elk braved her jaws to escape into the woods but the vast majority of them were obediently directed towards their trap. Equinox and Sparrow continued to chase them from behind, driving them on and increasing their panic even more. With a few of the younger animals stumbling and nearly falling, it only added to the chaos and gave the raptors the upper hand they needed. Equinox started to pick a doe from the crowd, one hanging near the back and having difficulty keeping up with the others. He knew the twins wouldn't have much left in the tank to chase them for another loop around the meadow so he began to signal to them both that they had a target. Sparrow clued in straight away, speeding up to cut the doe from the herd and shouldering a smaller calf out of his way. The elk tried to kick out sideways at him but it only made her slower as the young male ducked out of the way and closed in again, closer to her head this time. Piper fell back to let the doe flee to the left, towards their trap. Equinox followed behind but allowed the twins to do the majority of the herding, knowing it would be good experience for them and that he could intervene if they started to struggle. To their credit, both Piper and Sparrow were naturals for their first time, lunging and snapping just enough to spook the elk in the direction of the pit, culminating in them managing to direct her straight over it.

The elk's hind leg punched straight through the branch cover, staggering and scrambling with her front legs to try and pull herself out.

"Now! Go! The dangerous end's in the pit," Nox barked at the twins. They fell upon the struggling doe, Piper grabbing her head and pulling her neck taut while her brother tore into the windpipe. The elk could barely manage a few pathetic honks through her shredded throat before falling limp, her back legs still stuck in the hole.

"Like a couple of old pros!" Equinox crowed, throwing his arms around each of them and pulling them both in for a half hug. "Nice work, kids, now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour!" He withdrew and started to walk away, only stopped by Piper tugging on his tail.

"You're not having some?" she asked, gesturing at the carcass. 

"Oh nah, I don't need it, you two have fun," he waved her off, "I can catch my own dinner, you earned this one." He hid the growling in his stomach with a chuckle and jogged away, feeling like he had earned his karma for the day. The twins watched him go in mild disbelief, before shrugging at each other and tearing into their kill. The meat vanished down their gullets and they barely stopped to breathe, finally feeling the gnawing hunger quenched under the sheer volume of food. When they were finally full, they stored the remainder of the carcass in the pit and covered it over again.

"So, we're definitely doing this again, right?" Piper asked, picking the scraps of flesh out of her teeth.

"Oh absolutely, we can even watch this pit for a while and see if we get a bite from that," Sparrow jerked his head towards the hole. 

"Good idea, maybe that old guy was onto something," Piper admitted. She stifled a burp and rolled over onto her back to take a nap. Sparrow flopped next to her, elbowing her in the chest as he did so and earning himself a sharp nip.