He trusted Aisha's skill and strength, have already seen her hunting ability first-hand on another, warmer day when she had brought down the buck. He knew the boars were no match for the jaunty leopardess, but he had been ready to provide back up if the three had tried to overwhelm her.
He had hoped they would all run towards her hiding place, giving her a choice of bacon on the hoof, but the big male did exactly what he and Rory had been worried about, throwing caution to the wind and getting its dander up to charge the approaching apparition in white, and never mind how much larger the horse was compared to the hog.
While Aisha dispatched the sow, Jigano was forced to dodge her mate, clumsily bounding to the side through the hobbling drifts, and snorting and shaking his head in surprise, neck arched and tail flagged as he readied himself. Sure as the sun would rise after LongNight, the boar skidded to a halt in a drift and turned, shaking the snow from its head as it set itself and charged again.
Only this time the stallion was ready.
Jigano pivoted, twisting his hindquarters around and waited until the last second before lashing out with both legs, hooves connecting with a solid crack of snapping bone as the boar's thick neck snapped from the impact and it was flung back.
In the time Aisha had taken to make her own kill, the boar's attack had been thwarted and now they had two large repositories of ham on their hands. Jigano pranced a little, proud of himself and not ashamed to show it to his fellow huntress as he winked a blue eye at her. Two for the price of one! Not what I'd intended... but it's nice to have a little luck on our sides for once. If you want to put your clever human hands to work attaching them to the harness I can drag them back, he suggested cheerfully. The rope harness wrapped around him had plenty of extra length tucked into the back for wrapping around a beast or two, and the snow would cushion the drag of the beasts back to town.
He had hoped they would all run towards her hiding place, giving her a choice of bacon on the hoof, but the big male did exactly what he and Rory had been worried about, throwing caution to the wind and getting its dander up to charge the approaching apparition in white, and never mind how much larger the horse was compared to the hog.
While Aisha dispatched the sow, Jigano was forced to dodge her mate, clumsily bounding to the side through the hobbling drifts, and snorting and shaking his head in surprise, neck arched and tail flagged as he readied himself. Sure as the sun would rise after LongNight, the boar skidded to a halt in a drift and turned, shaking the snow from its head as it set itself and charged again.
Only this time the stallion was ready.
Jigano pivoted, twisting his hindquarters around and waited until the last second before lashing out with both legs, hooves connecting with a solid crack of snapping bone as the boar's thick neck snapped from the impact and it was flung back.
In the time Aisha had taken to make her own kill, the boar's attack had been thwarted and now they had two large repositories of ham on their hands. Jigano pranced a little, proud of himself and not ashamed to show it to his fellow huntress as he winked a blue eye at her. Two for the price of one! Not what I'd intended... but it's nice to have a little luck on our sides for once. If you want to put your clever human hands to work attaching them to the harness I can drag them back, he suggested cheerfully. The rope harness wrapped around him had plenty of extra length tucked into the back for wrapping around a beast or two, and the snow would cushion the drag of the beasts back to town.
