[Trade] Food for those who take it

Ceallach strode confidently through the undergrowth, shoving through branches as he ran full tilt after a deer, his chest heaving with pants, the juvenile acro had been on his own for over a month and this deer, injured. Bleeding. It was a chance at life he couldn’t turn down. So he ran as fast as his burning muscles would carry him.

Life had been good in the city, his mother attentive, always bringing him food and Goja, his teacher, had become a father figure to him during those months together. Hours upon hours spent trailing the big blue acro and learning how to fight, watching each territory challenge Goja went through had been mesmerizing and Ceallach had felt almost like this male was his father. Maybe he was, Goja never said if he had taken a mate, but his mother stayed at the edge of Goja’s territory undisputed by the male acro.

She only told him that Goja was a peaceful male towards her and his existence and never caused them harm so she’d chosen to stay there.

Until Goja left him. The blue male had barely given a warning and just stated he’d found his ‘mate’ and disappeared from their shared city.

It had left Ceallach and his mother with no friendly neighbor and taken Ceallach’s friend and mentor from them. His mother didn’t know what to do when the massive pack of albertos moved through the city, his mother could handle two albertos no problem, she was a beast in her own right, after all, but when the 6th alberto showed up and began to get involved in the fight, his mother called their loss and they ran.

They had traveled into the wilderness for a few weeks before Ceallach decided it was time to leave. He was old enough (in his opinion), and his mother was injured from the fight with the albertosaurus pack and only slowing him down now. So he’d struck out, traveling far more quickly through the dense jungles and forests now that he was moving on his own. The days had been long and he’d rapidly learned that finding food was more difficult than he’d anticipated. At his size, he had to hunt medium prey that stood almost as tall as him. Frustration quickly began to eat at him as he realized in leaving his mother, it was far harder to hunt deer and such. There was no one to do ambush tactics with


Mice, voles and the birds no longer filled him up, and often left his stomach aching in starvation.

The days were growing longer as summer reached its peak. The heat didn’t help with his hunting skills either, another long day that had ended in near disaster. Ceallach was currently laid in the shade of a giant tree, his nostrils flaring as he panted, trying to sleep through the worst of the heat.

Until something new reached his nose, first the acidic scent of a fire in the distance, the young acro had been learning about those within the city from Goja. Ceallach’s head slowly raised as his massive head turned one way, then the next trying to pinpoint the smell of the blood, he was starved and whatever was hurt, could be his next meal ticket.

It set his entire body on edge as he hauled himself up, looking around before making his way towards it. His stomach ached with desperate hunger, before he scented something else.

Another acro, the heavy musk of another male filled his nostrils and he gritted his teeth, the scent was a twinge of familiar but he couldn’t quite place why.

Slowly Ceallach made his way down the hill, until he found the carcass, a deer that had been running from the fire and had collapsed, only to end up in the jaws of a grey Acro.

It couldn’t be far from age to him, actually it looked a little younger, but the young acro had bulk to it. The brown eyes turned to him as its nostrils flared and it let out a low growl.
The grey feathers on its back stood up and Ceallach stopped, his own feathers rearing on the back of his shoulders before he lowered his head, defensive. He let out a lower growl in return.

Goja had taught him how to bluff out an opponent if possible, and the brown feathered acro was going to use that to his advantage. He moved forward slowly, his head low while the grey acro snarled before charging him head on. Slamming his shoulder into Ceallach, but Ceallach had already set his feet, spreading his legs to take the ram full force and barely skid on the dusty earth beneath them.

Ceallach barely paid attention to his surroundings as his instincts flew into gear, starvation. Hunger. A desperate need for FOOD, and like hell if he backed down and didn’t prove he was stronger then this younger acro. Ceallach brought his teeth up and grabbed on underneath Baron’s neck before jerking them to the side, throwing them clean off their feet. They landed hard and what seemed like fireflies flew up around his opponent.

Before backing up and letting out a low hissing snarl, his fangs bared as he shook his feathers. The grey acro let out a protesting wail, before it rolled onto its feet, Ceallach could see the orange glow off its patched pelt. His nostrils flared as smoke filled his senses.

There was a moment of silence before the two acros clashed into each other again, Ceallach rammed Baron hard into a tree this time as he took the roll of attacker, before spinning while Baron was still off balance and slamming it into his opponents ribs, Baron let out a sharp, hatchling like squeal as he hit the tree. An Ceallach could tell he was shaking off the pain from the blow.

The grey acro let out a low protesting moan, before he turned his head to roar in anger, refusing to give up the kill.

When a burning branch dropped directly between them, making both acros jump backwards in surprise. Cealleach’s eyes went wide as he suddenly looked around.

The forest was burning, the pale yellowish grass and leaves suddenly nothing more than tinder. Fire had surrounded the battling pair while they weren’t paying attention. Ceallach scrambled over to the carcass despite the fire. And wrapped his teeth around its shoulders. The deer wasn’t massive, probably a few months old at most, but it was fat. An would barely fit in his maw.

The deep brown acro ran through the forest, his feet hurting as sparks flew with each stomping step. The grey acro surged after him, deep bellows of protest filling his ears as it snatched at the legs of the deer carcass but he ignored it. Even as the grey acro managed to rip one of its legs free which caused the grey acro to stumble and collapse, its body tumbled back into the smoke, disappearing as Ceallach kept running from the deadly fire as it roared behind him.

It was a miracle he hadn’t caught fire himself, his chest hurt from the smoke inhalation he hadn’t even noticed before. His eyes darted left and right as he ran, he could see small things running along with him. A utahraptor surged past him, far smaller, far faster, but he watched it veer off in one direction, and his head followed it for some reason, before he heard a splash.

Water.

The big acro didn’t hesitate before he leaped forward, in the direction of the utahraptor, he slammed into the pond just as he felt the feathers along his hip catch fire. Instantly putting out the fire on his body before it could catch and leave any true damage other than an intense smell of smoke on his pelt.

Ceallach’s body was weighed down in the water by the deer carcass in his mouth, but he pushed his feet hard off the bottom and surged back to the surface, his nostrils flaring as his feet kicked the water. He could barely see the other side, but he pushed himself, his legs pumping rapidly before he slowly hauled himself onto the other side. He collapsed snarling softly to himself before he looked down at the carcass.

Comfortable with his prize Ceallach, kept a sharp eye on the fire as he dug into his meal despite the exhaustion tugging at his body.

No telling when something else might come.