DONAI
The Leopard

I crawled through the gripping branches of the trees, my steps were slow and careful, but each step still a sharp pain of agony shooting up back leg and into my hip. My bones felt as though they were burning, or maybe I was finally just losing it? I figured if I was preparing to die I would first feel warmth then peace right? Neither was felt on this coldest of nights… I was fortunate enough my leg didn’t end up infected, but now it just seemed like dead weight to me anymore. I’m able to put more weight on it now than weeks ago, but I could feel my leg becoming stiff, almost as if I were to let my leg rest it could become frozen that way. But I kept moving… keeping warmer by moving, keeping my leg moving and healing. The painful process that felt like it was killing me slowly.

Brushing against a dead, leafless bush, the branches hissed against my fur as I passed, dropping rotting leaf litter and bark into the paw prints I carelessly left behind in the glittering white snow which illuminated the trees. Not that I was any easier to see of course. Occasionally I’d pass the glow of a lamp which lit the trail, but I ignored these. The dark didn’t bother me in the least bit, I’m a predator after all, lurking in the darkness stalking my prey is my specialty. My eyes flashed red briefly against the light of another lamp, but I paid the issue no mind. Why was I here? Hunger. I’ve managed to pull by eating rabbits that try to hide in the snow; voles, mice, birds. I was even lucky enough to find a rotting deer carcass closer to the mountains of the foot hills.
My tongue ran over my lips as I licked up the salivation which seemed to be drizzling from my mouth as the taste of that carcass came to mind. The poor thing hadn’t survived the winter, but in its death I lived to see another day. But now I hunger again, my belly cramping, clenching at me in plea for food.
So here I am… in the dead of night, slinking my way through the snow in complete and utter silence. Praying to the Gods something will cross my path and that it will be weak enough for me to catch it.

In fact something did cross my path! I froze to see the form of an animal moving just ahead of me. My pupils narrowed as I strained to see anxiously what it was, what ever this was, it’s big. Immediately I crouched into stalking position, my body sinking into the snow, my shoulders rolling above my back, my belly dragging through the snow. I crawled in its direction, my heart was pounding out of my chest. My prayers were hard that this was a deer… for a moment Irrydae flashed in my mind again, the bright light and then the pain in my leg. My front foot quivered with fear, I froze in the trees staring at the creature… if this was another foal I’m about to pounce, I may as well lay in the snow now and wait for the pounding of hooves to beat my skull into the ground. Just hope… that it’s not. It's now or never!
I burst from the trees and began a clumsy run at the animal, trying to carry or otherwise drag my weak and hurt leg begin me. CRACK! Then the breaking of limbs as I forced the trees out of my way.