Legacy the lynx was out on the moors, trying to hone the hunting skills she found most difficult... hunting small prey. Rabbits were becoming easier for her as Bluebell showed her more tricks and tips, but she still felt huge and clumsy as her mentor tried to teach her to stalk birds, voles and mice.
Her head suddenly shot up, and a pair of spoarrows took flight, startled. Legacy had caught the scent of something... something that made her whiskers curl and her stomach twist.
Was that a dead... cat?
She crept closer, instinct warning her to stay quiet, impossibly trying to make her unique grey and white fur blend with the green grass. When she caught the fear-scent of several clanmates and saw blood - a lot of blood - spotting the grass she grew more nervous. Now and then she made out individual scents - Scarredstar's, and was that Zinniapaw the medicine apprentice? Gravelstorm had been here too, and that big red warrior, the one who spend so much time in the nursery.
Legacy topped a small rise and blanched. A blunt, burly creature that reminded her a of dark brown badger was crouched over the remains of a cat... she could tell only because the head was largely intact. The body was... gone. Even the bones were crushed, cracked into fragments to get at the marrow within. Legacy emitted a low noise of shock and instantly it turned to face her.
Xander was certainly surprised - he hadn't expected any lynxes in this area. Though his kill was finished he lifted a forepaw and swiped the air in threat, adding a spine-chilling snarl that Legacy felt all the way to her short tail.
She began to shake. This monster was a menace to cats, clearly the proof was right in front of her. Her clanmates were in danger... and she herself, at ten moons, was larger than the brown beast. She should he driving it off... but it terrified her. She'd thought it was only wolves she was scared of but... this... this was something hazardous. Every nerve screamed at her to run.
She wasn't a true warrior at all. Maybe she never would be.
Xander, satisfied he had scared her, turned and lumbered away down the hill. It was time to move on. He would remember how the cats had bunched together for defence, fought as one. Next time he would find ones and twos to ambush. He would not forget the claw marks that had found their way under this thick coat.
Legacy nearly collapsed when the thing left. She was quite certain it had done so of its own accord and not due to her appearance, but it meant she didn't have to fight it. Holding her breath against the unpleasant, musky scent she followed at a very safe distance until it crossed the border and headed towards Highstones. She stopped after it had gone, letting out a huge sigh of relief.