Chapter 13: Return of the Deer

Twig poked her head out of the bushes and scanned the area. She stepped out from the bushes and sniffed the air. Her whiskers twitched and she whipped around, growling slightly. "Enough, guys! You're not going to be killed by the Firebenders." She then snorted and murmured, "yet."
Rusty and Dust both bowled out from the bushes and looked around with wide, round eyes. "Are you sure?" Rusty whimpered, slowly getting to his feet. Behind the twins came Twister and Akumu, followed by two barn owls, one big and one little. Rusty jumped, hitting Dust as the two owls came through.
The owls exchanged glances, and the bigger one looked at the others. "Are you hunting or not? Get to work," she snapped.
"Um...what's your name again?" Dust asked.
"Nyra," growled the owl, "must I repeat myself?"
"Apparently yes," muttered Twig, low so Nyra wouldn't hear.
Rusty sighed and got to his paws. He trotted away, and Dust ran after him, looking nervously back at Nyra and the other owl before following. Twister trotted after them. "So what are we hunting?" she sniffed the air. "There's not much around...but there is two rabbits together over in the bushes." She nodded toward some bushes.
"I got it," Rusty and Dust both said at the same time. They looked at each other, shrugged, then slowly crept towards the bushes. They peered through it, seeing the two rabbits. Twister was right; they were both there. Rusty and Dust both pounced at the same time, bowling into the rabbits and quickly biting them, killing them. They carried their prey back to Twister. "Done," Rusty said through his mouthful of rabbit.
"Alright then," Twister nodded, "let's--" she froze and sniffed the air. "There's a deer nearby!" She looked to the right. "It's by Ice River. If we catch it, the Firebenders might reward us by letting us eat something!" She turned to Rusty and Dust.  "Let's go get it!"
The three wolves trotted towards Ice River. They stopped behind the bushes nearby, and indeed, there was a male deer there. It was laying down by the river, looking around. Its head was down low, so the antlers weren't visible. Rusty snorted, "That thing looks so small! This should be easy!" he stepped through the bushes, and flinched as the deer perked his ears and began to rise his head.
"Oh snap," Rusty whispered. The deer had at least thirty antlers. It got to its hooves and gave Rusty a glare. Boy, if looks could kill... Rusty thought, taking steps back. The deer snorted, and on its feet it looked bigger than Goldwing himself. The deer then grunted and put its head down and charged for Rusty. "RETREAT!" Rusty yowled, and turned around and crashed through the bushes. Dust and Twister both gave one look at the deer and both at the same time turned around and darted after Rusty. Twister, being much faster than both of them put together, easily darted ahead.
"Get back here! Don't leave us!" Dust snapped, moving faster as he felt the deer gaining on them. He watched as Twister fell back and began running alongside them again, a bit more slowly.
"Sorry! I forgot you two were slow," Twister apologized, jumping over a fallen tree.
"Hey!" Rusty said, and the three all crashed through the bushes and made it into the clearing, where Akumu and Twig were both carrying rabbits. They looked at the three, who were all panting. "The deer must be trying to get through the fallen trees," Rusty whispered.
"You two look like you were running down Mt. Upepo!" Twig snorted. "Why are you so out of breath?"
Rusty was about to speak, but just then the deer crashed through the bushes, and snorted at them again, aggressively pointing his antlers at them. Rusty, wide-eyed, yelped in fear. "What do we do?!" he said, turning to Dust and Twister, who were giving the deer horrified looks. It charged, and all three of them dodged to the side. Akumu and Twig were frozen in fear, looking at the deer with wide eyes.
"Attack it!" yowled Twig, dropping her rabbit and lunging at the deer. Despite she was a small cat, she seemed determined to take the deer down.
"Twig! You're gonna get yourself kill-- ugh!" Akumu grumbled, lunging at the deer and sinking her claws in. The deer snorted alarm and began bucking all over the place, making Twig fall off and get slammed into the earth. Rusty heard her moan and she closed her eyes. Akumu fell on top of Twig and looked at her. She put her ear next to Twig's heart. "She's alive," Akumu murmured, jumping as the deer charged at her but missed, putting his antlers into the tree nearby.
Rusty and Dust both lunged themselves onto the deer at the same time, biting down. The deer roared in surprise and hit the tree with his back, crushing Dust. Dust slipped off the deer's back and moaned. "Ohhh..." Dust shook his head. "Guys, we need to retreat..."
Rusty nodded agreement, blood coming from his shoulder. "We can't take on this deer alone. Forget the prey, we need to go back to The Bending Tower and let Eclipse look at our wounds." He began to run back to The Bending Tower. Dust followed, not running very fast, and had Twister by his side to help him run. Akumu picked up Twig and darted off. The deer however, kept rampaging and running around, not noticing the others slip off.

Back at The Bending Tower, Twig, Rusty and Dust were laying in the healers' room. Dust was asleep, and so was Twig. Rusty was sitting by Eclipse, and she was putting a leaf on his injury. "Rusty, I want you to lay down and just take it easy," Eclipse nodded. Rusty nodded back and laid down next to his brother. He sighed; Twig had a concussion, and Dust had a headache, and Eclipse had simply said Dust needed rest. Twig, however, would be in the healers' den for quite a while.
Akumu was lucky, and escaped without injuries; same with Twister. They were both standing by Eclipse, looking down at them. "Are they going to be okay?" Twister asked, exchanging worried looks with Akumu.
"They'll be fine," Nightgale assured, who was walking over to Twig and putting an herb by her. "They just need some rest, and won't be able to perform their duties for a while. Except Rusty, though. He'll be back on his paws soon."
Dang it, Rusty thought, knowing he'd be embracing the Firebenders treating him as a slave while Dust got to sleep for the rest of the day and Twig resting for the rest of the moon. Rusty checked his injury. He could see blood stains on the leaf. "So, you were chased by a deer?" Nightgale asked, giggling. "You must be pretty weak to be chased by a deer."
"Nightgale, that was Ironfang in hooves," Rusty narrowed his eyes, "it was like the leader of the Darkbenders in a deer's body! It had at least thirty antlers, and it was big and scary!" Rusty looked at Eclipse. "I'm frankly surprised we have survived!"
Eclipse looked confused. "Hm. I remember back when we were apprentices Ash was harmed by a deer that sounds quite a lot like this one. Except when he was knocked out, some animals in our patrol went out to kill the deer. That deer is supposed to be dead. Were they not successful?"

Author's Note:
The return of the deer... o3o