To get to the garden gate nearest the fields where she could catch musktoon, Hepbeth trotted toward the opposite end of the garden from where she'd had the conference with Theor and Jozlyn. Seeing the pond, she gathered her feet under her, took a flying leap and landed in the center of the large pond. A shockwave produced by her forceful entry into the water sent water splashing all over the place, caused all the frogs to plop back into the water seeking safety in the mud on the bottom and the few wading birds to flap clumsily up into the garden, squawking loudly. Paying them no heed, the tabbi swam to the far side and climbed out. She shook herself vigorously, then sat down for a good licking session. After she'd licked her fur to her satisfaction, she proceeded out the garden gate and bounded across the fields into the edge of the woods.
Adopting the slinking, slithering, stalking walk tabbin used when hunting, she sniffed the breeze to learn what odors drifted past. Keeping eyes and ears alert, she moved deeper into the woods. Finally she smelled an enticing odor coming from the stream not too far away. Gizen! At least two of them. If she could catch one, it would make a great meal. She might even share it with Tragar and Roshel.
Very, very slowly and stealthily, Hepbeth slither-slinked closer and closer, then stopped. There they were--two gizen just wading along her side of the stream's edge, stopping to dip their bills into the water to scoop up long stringy dark green plants. The big birds were slowly approaching a bank where the curve of the water had undercut a fairly large area. She reasoned that if she could get to the other side of the stream without alarming them, she could rush them and catch one against the bank. It wouldn't be able to fly up high enough, as the tangle of tree roots at the top of the bank would stop it.
Putting her plan into action, she used a log lying partly across the stream to shield her body. Fortunately for her, the rest of the stream's width here was shallow enough to wade through and was also in the shade. If she moved slowly enough, the gizen wouldn't notice her. Putting one paw ahead of another, paw by paw the tabbi waded past the log into the exposed part of the stream. She'd crouched to make her profile as low as possible and clamped her ears flat against her head, trailing her chin and tummy in the water.
Suddenly she froze. One of the gizen seemed to be looking her way. For what seemed like an eternity, she crouched motionless until finally the bird looked away. She was still downwind of her prey. Finally both gizen wagged their short tails and waded on further. Hepbeth knew she must be extra careful now, as both birds sensed that somethig wasn't quite right. They were nervous.
So she held her crouch, waiting to move until the birds were out of sight around the bend. Quickly, silently, she crossed the rest of the stream and slinked into the bushes. Keeping under cover of their branches, she stifled her desire to shake the water out of her fur. Uncomfortable as the dripping water felt, she stalked silently on toward the gizen until she had them in sight once more. Now they were almost at that undercut. She moved into a good position from which she could dash at them when they got to the right spot. And then she waited some more.
Now Hepbeth had never had any success catching a gize by herself. These large water birds had irridescent dark green heads and long necks, yellow bills and short yellow legs. But what usually bamboozled predators was the way the birds could rotate their irridescent black body feathers so that the irridescence disappeared, thus rendering them almost invisible in shadowy areas.
These two were nervous still and the male continued to be on the alert while the female fed. Suddenly just at the time when the tabbi figured they were going to wade right into the place where they'd be most vulnerable to her rushing attack, the male honked a quiet warning to his mate. Her head came up, both birds went still and they seemed to disappear from her sight. She waited. And waited. And waited some more.
The wind shifted. She was no longer downwind. Realizing this and also knowing the gizen hadn't really moved or gone invisible and that if she didn't charge them now, she'd lose her last chance at them, she shot forward in as silent a charge as she could muster under the circumstances. One mightly bound took her long lithe body across most of the distance. As she gathered her legs under her for her last leap onto the fowl, they squawked, one exploding downstream, the other upstream, momentarily confusing the tabbi. Just enough time for the birds to make their escape.
Hepbeth raged a defiant roar from under the overhanging tree roots. |