After another bite to the neck, the creature turned its attention back to her, lunging forward with fury, its horns at the ready to skewer her to the tree.
The fierce momentum of the creature's charge pulled it forward, but it was quickly distracted by another painful bite on its opposite leg from the male guard, earning her time to get out of the way, and it slammed into the tree.
Poisoned, disorientated and its horns temporarily embedded, the creature grew more enraged as it tried to free itself. But the female guard was not letting go of such a perfect opportunity. She quickly struck it from above with a poison filled bite while her brother circled it from behind.
He clamped down on the creature legs, pulling with brute strength until it fell to the floor. Caught off guard, the creature struggled to defend itself but its recklessness in those few seconds made it completely vulnerable against their fierce attack.
It was once again struck by the male guard who kept it from rising to its feet, while the female guard leapt down from the tree and tightened her [Grip] around its limbs like a restraint.
The two snakes' combined attacks quickly became a blood frenzy, tearing through every bit of the defenceless creature's exposed flesh. Before long, it was too wounded to fight and locked in a constriction hold by the male guard, its neck bones were shattered, ending it's pitiful struggle.
With the short battle at an end the two snakes dragged their prized corpse home. They both knew the dangers of hunting alone so they always worked in pairs and targeted the creatures they perceived as weak. And so far they have done this several times without any casualty.
But after entering the cave, the female guard immediately noticed that something was wrong. A strange silence filled the usually bustling atmosphere and all the nestlings looked defeated, some even with fresh cuts on their bodies.
Looking around, she counted and realized there were fewer snakes than usual. And the remaining all shied away from her gaze like they were hiding something.
Her eyes fell on Sprinkles who appeared even paler than usual and cowered away from her like he was expecting a beating.
[What happened?] She growled, trying to maintain her temper, lest she scared them all.
Sprinkles immediately fell to the floor with a bow, looking incredibly pitiful. She noticed he was bleeding from a cut above his eye.
[I couldn't stop them.] He cried out. [They left the cave saying they would return after their hunt. Everyone who tried to stop them got beaten. I'm so sorry.]
The female guard was immediately furious. [Those fools.]
Her brother beside her didn't have much of a reaction. He always held a firm opinion on trimming the herd, and now that an opportunity presented itself, he was more than pleased.
[If they choose to die so quickly, let them.] He said with a cold snort.
[We can't. We promised to take care of all of them.] The female guard disagreed. However much that troublesome group of nestlings annoyed her, they still held a purpose for their leader.
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She turned to the defeated Sprinkles and asked. [You must have followed them. Which way did they go?]
Sprinkles fearfully raised his head and without meeting her eyes, the three snakes exited the cave, with him leading the way.
Despite his initial reluctance, the male guard accompanied them since their leader indeed left those snakes under their care - their life and death was still their responsibility.
Outside the cave, Sprinkles led them through dense undergrowth, cutting a crooked path through the dark forest. The overgrown leaves scattered across the path hid the trail, and he would stop occasionally to regain it, looking at the odd shapes of tree trunks as a guide.
He had yet to grasp the use of [Scent] but the two guards following on either side of him treated this more as a training exercise for him and did not try to assist. Until Sprinkles stopped.
The trail had come to an end but the missing snakes were nowhere to be found.
[This is as far as I came before they discovered I was following them.] Sprinkles said with a downcast look. [They forced me to go back. But they promised not to go far. They were supposed to be somewhere around here.]
Sprinkles turned to the two guards and was surprised to see that neither of them were listening to him. The female guard was looking around for traces of the snakes, while the male guard was on extreme alert as he scanned the area for any attacks.
Sprinkles grew worried something had happened. [Is something wrong?]
The female began to go in another direction as she ordered. [Follow behind me. And stay close.]
From the scattered trail the missing snakes left behind, she guessed they had followed the scent of another creature from there, moving quickly without even bothering to conceal themselves.
Unlike she and her brother, they were just as naïve as Sprinkles and had not acquired [Stealth] or learnt to move with [Silence]. She had no trouble tracking them, but it was the additional traces of predators that worried her.
[Scent] picked up the traces of many wolves and although [Heat Sense] was active it would not detect them until they came into range.
They followed the trail and soon found the battleground, it seemed they had caught the creature. But rather than kill it immediately, it seemed they'd decided to play around with it, as there was too much blood in the air.
[Those idiots.] She hissed in anger.
Hiding under the smell of blood was the first true sign of danger - the faint scent of a predator.
The male guard found an imprint covered by dirt and leaves not far from where the snakes had killed the creature and the size and depth of it suggested a big and powerful creature they couldn't possibly win against.
It was stalking them, and had been for a while.
Following the trail further, they found signs of another bloody battle. It seemed just as the snakes ate their fill, they were attacked by the creature stalking them, but there were no bodies.
The female guard was disheartened, but the absence of their bodies gave her hope they could still be alive and she began to observe the area for clues.
She noticed another paw print steeped in blood and her heart sank, but suddenly the male guard rushed towards her and Sprinkles. Without sparing her a word he hurriedly shoving them all into the lush thicket.
Suddenly under the cover of leaves, she stared up at him accusingly, but the apprehensive look in his eyes made her fall silent.
He anxiously surveyed the path they were just on and a few seconds later, a huge shadow fell across it, followed by the low growls of a creature.
Appearing before them was a monster shaped like a feline, with deep black fur, devilish red eyes, a bristling white mane and vicious teeth as yellow as sunlight. A monster over 6ft tall, whose powerful strides were completely silent despite the weight of its body.
It crossed their path, and with each claw the size of a snake's head, it missed their hiding place to prowl over to the seemingly innocent trunk of a tree, which it began to attack with relish. It seemed intent on ripping it to shreds and repeatedly struck the tree, tearing off chunks of bark with its claws.
Just as they were relieved it didn't notice them, the female guard looked closely at the tree and was shocked to see four snakes scrambling over each other to escape from the creature as they crawled up through an opening at the base.
Three were ahead, and the last of them looked injured and was falling behind. Set in the sights of the monster hunting them, it was difficult to escape, and each second it wasted more of the tree was destroyed, bringing it closer to its demise.