Lenore/Cynrik: Scavenging Gone Wrong: Scavenging Gone Wrong

 

Even in the late evenings of spring, the prey was slowly emerging. Migration, predators, and food drove prey animals out of hiding, returning a once barren snowy landscape into flourishing greenery, only to still have the icy tinge of winter hanging around that would befall wildlife and Stryx alike. Flowers and tree blossoms slowly came to life in buds escaping the chilly grounds covered in a light blanket of snow. 

 

Lenore and Cynrik were no exception. The young birds were on a quest to find food, and evidence to prove themselves. The two had stumbled upon a group that shared their interests and wanted to join. However, they were sent on a quest to find the biggest, greatest prey animal to bring back to show their worth. 

 

Lenore took the lead for the couple, the black and white corva soared elegantly above a thicket of trees. Her yellow eyes scanned below her, keeping track of any sort of movement. 

 

Her partner in crime, Cynrik, a brown cladded corva, trailed behind her, every so often fluttering off into one direction into the next, using his own sight to improve their range for encountering prey. 

 

Between the two corvas, they had scanned 1 mile's worth of thicket by the time the two returned to flying alongside one another, slowly gliding past one another in a silent exchange of passing. Despite it being the early morning, the pair were very much eager to find something, something big and bad, worthy of dragging home to their new friends.

 

It was Cynrik to dive down into the nearest clump of trees, sheer boredom and lack of activity drove him to further investigate their surroundings. The trees were a blur for the brown corva, zooming through the forest.

 

Lenore took a dive after him, cawing loudly, folding her wings back, and racing after her partner, racing after him with an eagerness to match Cynrik's for action. She blended well against the darkness of the trees and shadows, only to be recognized by small white marks on the tips of her wing and her throat. 

 

The two soon came across a moss-covered cave, glinting with many geodes exposed to the air. What an unlikely sight! The two merely grinned at one another, because if you know corvas, they really love shiny objects. 

 

“Let’s go get them!”, cawed Lenore, the nox colored corva hopped over to the cave’s entrance, her wings unfoiled to get a better lift from her hops. She nervously hopped inside the dark and brooding cavern among the rocky entrance of the cave. As she descended into the darkness, her mate, Cynrik, the brown-colored corva, landed silently from where the darker corva had landed, promptly following in her footsteps. 

 

Water echoed within the cavern, gems, and minerals glistening and glinting in slow fashion, almost crying out to be noticed. . . .or to be taken. 

 

The two birds, drawn to the shiny affection of the crystals and gems, slowly took their first steps towards the lovely shinies, both almost forgetting their task, or even noticing the greyish brown figure moving in front of them. 

 

The lumbering animal grunted awake from its nap, disturbed by the clattering of the stryxs’ feet and talons along the solid rocky ground. One could even see the pebbles scattered from underfoot the birds. 

As both Cynrik and Lenore reach out to grab a different gem for themselves, the figure rose on its hind legs, a disgruntled roar announcing its presence to the dragon birds. Both the corvas looked towards one another before slowly turning to glance at the bear behind them. A large, scarred grizzly bear with the right part of its face bald, its milky right eye staring into the very souls of the two stryx.

Cynrik puffed out his feathers to appear much bigger than the bear, with Lenore slowly backing towards the gems encased in the cave’s walls, trying to distance herself from the creature. The grizzly swiped its right paw towards Cynrik, taking the corva’s display as one of aggression. Cynrik was going to swiftly move from the paw, only to have it collide with the side of his body. A screech came from the male stryx, fumbling to the further side of the grizzly.

The bear continued its roaring, swinging its paws in full to attempt more of its attacks upon Cynrik. Lenore saw what had happened to her precious mate, only to suddenly launch herself into the air, a screech-like battle cry, striking the grizzly bear with her yellow taloned feet, her attack more so shoving the bear away from her mate.

The male stryx of the pair soared right behind the bear, using his talons to snatch up as many of the precious finds before the bear could even get a hold of Cynrik. The bear missed a feather length from reaching the brown stryx, while the female stryx strikes the bear with sharp talons that only further anger the beast. An alarm call was utter from Lenore, signaling for her mate to get out of the cavern. Taking the warning from his mate, Cynrik banked quickly, flapping his wings at a fast pace to gather more speed and altitude, quickly escaping the bear’s cavern from the side.

The bear swats at Lenore, who was keeping her left eye on the direction of where her mate went. A jab of her beak went straight to the bear, using the motion to further ward off the bear, before her own talons let go of the tough hide of the creature, flapping her large wings to gather up speed and rejoin with her mate.

The best was left minorly injured but still enraged from the trespassing to its territory. .Both stryx soared overhead before slowly descending themselves to land upon a cliff outcrop nearby, the warm air offering a breeze to the tired stryx. From Cynrik’s talons, glinted their prize..A large chunk of mineral ore, which he proudly held up to Lenore. The female took a moment to catch her breath before glancing over the object, offering a smile to Cynrik.

They had done great for their first outing this season..Because wowee this mineral ore was just as big as a large stryx egg! No doubt they could score some food from trading it with the humans.