Rose wagged at him, grateful beyond words she would have some time to get herself back together. "Sometimes I find one dead near the shore, but not often." She replied. "It's been a long time since i have tasted deer." She lifted her head and her eyes twinkled as her mischivous nature showed up for her next response. "Good? When am i ever good?" She snickered. "But I'm fine on my own, thank you. Been like that a long time actually." She said while she had the rush of words in her veins before the short burst of whatever that was faded away and she began to question her choice of words. But only for a moment before she dismissed the thought. "I have some things to do while you hunt as well." She was thinking of finding the ducks. They should know if the other wolves were close behind them or not. "Meet you back here in an hour?" She asked, her head tilting to the other side this time.

Raven flicked an ear as she talked before nodding, "Meet you back here in an hour. And I'll bring you some deer if I find some." He said before padding back to the deer tracks. Sniffing, he started trotting down the trail. After a couple of minutes, he froze, dropping into a crouch as he spotted a head come up. Stalking forward, he counted five does and one buck with a fawn. Leaving the fawn alone as this was a smaller herd, he circled around towards an elderly doe. Staying low to the ground, he crept forward until he ran out of cover.

Flattening his ears, he put his weight onto his hanches and burst out of the bushes. The deer immediately scattered but his jaws closed around the elderly doe's hind leg. The doe stumbled giving Raven enough time to jump onto its back. Snapping at its neck, it bucked at him before he tumbled off and sprang straight up, fangs slashing into its throat. It fell, kicking out a little bit before going still. "Thank you for giving your life so others might live." He whispered to her, something his mother always did. The rogues would simply tear the deer apart, but Raven hadn't been raised that way. Yet another reason he needed to get off this island. He wondered how the main land would be. Tearing through the skin, he ate until he was full, leaving some tender meat. Shaking out his fur, he picked up the tender pieces, wrapping them in some leaves before picking out a few of the deers leg bones. Picking them up, he picked up the meat and headed back towards the deer tracks to navigate his way back to the river.

"Thank you!" She called out to him as he walked away, and then proceeded to finish her water dipping job. The soft sounds of the water drops dripping from her jaws and the bubbles poping at the surface of the water from air escaping the mud seals calmed her jumpy nerves. She gazed at her reflection and pined her ears, then pricked them, then cocked her head from one side to the other. She hated the way she looked right now. She wanted to be a beautiful she-wolf and was determined to be that some day. Once she had filled and sealed all the shells and laid them on the moss to dry, she rose to her paws and began searching for the ducks. She desperatly wated to clean her fur, but figured she could do that whie the ducks chattered on, if she could get them to speak to her. Ducks liked to never shut up. She nosed her way along the creek, herb seeking at the same time so she could dress Raven's shoulder once more. Burrs snagged her fur and exasperated, she sat down and plucked them off. Letting out a growl, she proceeded to clean her fur off. Forget the ducks. She couldn't stand a stiff itchy pelt for another second. By the time she finished, however, she had to head back, so that way she could meet Raven. Growling in frusteration at the watsed time she turned back, still seeking herbs as she hadn't found them all yet.

Raven found the tracks before padding back in the direction of the river. Getting back to the spot where he had left Rose, he noticed the shells on the moss drying off. He laid the meat next to it before laying down nearby, setting down the bones next to him. He took one, running his tongue down it before starting to gnaw. His mother had been great at putting certain words onto her bones, in a pattern that she never taught him. His teeth settled into the groove, small indents appearing along the side. One of his mother's favorite sayings that she did explain to him. "When the world seems to be against you, run like the wind for home in you heart," Raven murmured to himself before laying his head onto his paws. He missed his mother, but most of all, he wanted off this island and hundreds of miles away from that wretched pack. He sighed before getting up to pad over to the river. He stared at his reflection for a moment before plunging in, his head going underwater for a couple seconds before he emerged sputtering. Okay, maybe not the best idea. Trudging out, he shoook off his fur, which looked a little bit better now. Laying back down, he waited for Rose to return.

As she walked along, nose scenting along several inches along the ground, she realized she would need to wander along not just the creek, but out into the woods as well. Looking down the bank as far as she could, she let out a shrill sharp howl to let Raven know she'd be late in returning, then twisted her way through some bushes and into the woods. She only had a small amount of herbs to finish her bundle with, then she needed some rocks, vines, and large leaves. She figured she'd get rocks from the creek after she returned. She was quite uneasy in the trees, it seemed to have gotten quieter then when they first entured to look for water, and she knew that was never a good sign. She needed to hurry, yet she couldn't rush herb foraging in unfamilier territory. And Raven had to have his shoulder dressed before continuing. She refused to leave it untreated. She had seen firstpaw how many animals were taken down by one infected bite poisening the bloodstream. Suddenly she stumbled right across the scent of the herbs she was seeking, and broke into a broken trot, rushing to get to them, and find the rest of what she needed and get back.

It only took a moment for her to dig up the roots, and then find some wide flat leaves and some vines. Eyes wide with relief and ears flat in concern, she began loping back to Raven, feeling pressured to get off the large island. She hoped they'd be off by nightfall.

Raven heard the howl and sighed to himself. Hopefully it wouldn't take much longer. He wanted to get moving before dark fell. He stretched before padding out towards the ocean for a moment, looking over the waves before scanning the beach. He was about to turn back when something caught his eyes in the woods. Scrawny form, ears pinned back as it stared at him before bolting into the woods. Lunging forward, Night caught it by the tail, pinning it down in a heartbeat. The rogue scout growled at him before trying to go for his throat. Night snapped at it, breaking its spine before it went limp. Great, scouts were closing in. Not good not good. They might have to run through the night then.

Night scraped leaves over the body and dragged a branch over it. It should shelter it for a little bit, enough to gain them some more time. He turned, loping into the woods again and this time rolled in the water to get rid of the wolf's scent. Shaking out his fur, he howled back to Rose to hurry up. They needed to move before the other scouts came searching for their comrade.

Rose heard the howl and broke into a flat out run. That howl sounded urgent and she feared what may have happened in her absence. She ignored the tug of burrs and some fur ripping out as it caught on thorns as she ducked down narrow tunnels and paths in between bushes and clumisly jumped downed limbs. More then once she fell flat on her face and she felt some blood trickle down the side of her face as she gashed it open on a rock, but she didn't have time for such nonsense. Raven needed her back and needed her back now. Her mind spun with worry as her lungs began to beg her to slow down and her rear paws ached in pain. She cursed at herself as she finally neared where she had promised to meet him and slowed down to an uneaven trot. At last she saw her companion and came to a halt near him, sides heaving and eyes wide with apprehension as she spat the herbs out onto the moss by her water shells.

Raven looked over at her, seeing the small trickle of blood running down one side of her face. Oh dear. He nudged her into the river saying hurriedly, "Wash off and then get the ocean. We're not stopping for the night. Scouts are starting to catch up." He grabbed the shells, putting them into the makeshift carrier before waiting until Rose was done. Once she was done, he wrapped it around her before gathering the herbs in the large leaf containing the meat. Wrapping a vine around it, he pulled it over his head, making his own half carrier to keep the herbs and meat with him.

Raven turned, brushing his tail over the pawprints leading towards the beach but kept the ones to the river. Let them try to figure that out. "You can check my shoulder later. Let's go," Raven barked, checking over his shoulder quickly before going into a slow trot towards the beach. Surprisingly, he was getting the hang of running on the beach even though he still preferred the forest. Getting to the beach, he looked over his shoulder for Rose who was hopefully behind him.

Rose's eyes widened in horror hearing that wolves were catching up. Quickly she washed her face and stood still while he wrapped the carrier around her small body. She nodded as he instrusted them to head out, flicking her ears back in annoyance about having to check his shoulder later. But she understood why. She had ran so many times so often from packs. She dimly wondered if there were any of her former packmates in the group chasing them down. She hoped not. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she found herself running on pure instinct, paws flying in front of her as she booked it towards the sea. She saw Raven glance back and gave him another nod as she put her head down and tried to run faster. Her weakened body protested, but she had another wolf to worry about, not just herself, and so she pushed on into the water and struck out , keeping abreast of the larger male wolf.

Raven ran through the woods and burst out onto the shore, seeing Rose stride ahead of him and plunge into the ocean. He hated to rush her or himself but there was no time at this point. He could only hope that the rogues would stop for the night due to panthers, but if he kept running he should be fine himself. And with Rose in the water, that was one less wolf to worry about with panther fights. Leaping forward into the sand, his claws stretched out, boosting his stride as he raced across the beach.

His shoulder groaned in response but he ignored it, staying at the sprint for a mile, checking to make sure Rose was keeping up. Sprinting was normally a hunting maneuver but he had learned how to keep the pace up for a good bit before slowing down to a lope which he did after a mile. Staying with a fast lope, he panted only slightly and his ears flicked back to check for scouts. A distant baying howl told him that they had found the dead scout and the footprints leading to the river but it only made him quicken his pace slightly. His mind whirled, if he remembered correctly, after at least 30 more miles they would come to the point of the island where they would have to start the crossing to the mainland. Still a long way to go before swimming but he was already worrying about the Sea Wolves. A few of the middle islands crossed right into their territory. And they were one of the packs that had put the rogue Forest Wolves onto this island in the first place. Raven shook his head, still running as his mind was still stuck in thoughts.