With a squawk of outrage, Sister knocked me tumbling out of the nest, then landed on top on me, hissing. I squeaked and rolled abruptly to the side, dislodging her and somehow managing to smack her a solid blow to the side with my tail as I scrambled to my feet. Snarling, she fell over and I squealed in triumph as I pounced for the pin.

Silent chose that moment to arrow down from a nearby dirt mound to knock me from my flight. The rest of the pack had not wanted to accept him when my mother showed him to the rest, but they surely did not want to offend the alpha pair. So Silent lived. And even prospered.

Communication was a problem with Silent, since about 25% of raptor communications were verbal. but he managed, with over-exaggerated body motions and eye contact. It took a while to learn what Silent meant, but he could talk just as well as the rest of us when he wanted. Sister jumped up in the brief respite Silent bought her, and pounced on me, inadvertently knocking Silent flying. The males were so small compared to us, it was a miracle they managed to keep up. Tame could run faster than any of his clutchmates, but he was loath even to play fight and submitted almost before any of us jumped on him. No fun at all, that one.

I snapped at Sister, almost catching her forepaw in my teeth. She jumped back, peeping in surprise. I jumped up and attacked her again, noting the Silent was creeping back to the top of his dirt mound. Sister spun on one foot to smack me with her tail. It would have been a good move, had she not lost her balance and fallen over. I chirred in laughter. Suddenly I caught a familiar and well-loved scent. Food!

Mother appeared from the trees nearby, carrying something that was still struggling and kicking. I snorted in surprise, as did Sister, who had stepped up to my side. I think it was a baby Deinonychus, but I wasn't sure. Mother had evidently found it wandering around, because she wasn't scarred by claw marks, and her jaws had not hurt it that much. The creature was about half my size, and its little claws were sharp but not threatening. Mother had crushed one of its rear legs, and now it flopped weakly on the ground where it was dropped. I looked at Sister. She looked at me. We could see the confusion in each other's eyes. Food didn't generally move, and we were not precisely certain what was expected of us.

I stepped forward, and Sister followed in a step that almost matched mine. Mother stepped back. Silent trailed in an almost wingman position, feinting with his head and bobbing his step, unsure. Tame slunk behind, head and tail low. I reached a cautious muzzle out to nudge the 'nych, and was rewarded with a sharp hiss and a set of tiny claw-marks across my nose. I saw red. Literally. Sister, beside me, was so infuriated that the irises of her cat eyes turned blood red, and she attacked only a second after I did. I grabbed the chick by the neck and shook it as a terrier shakes a rat, splattering blood everywhere. It was big, considering we were both so small, but in my fit of rage it didn't weigh enough to be satisfactorily jerked around. Sister attacked while it was still swinging, and my head was jerked forward as her body carried it forward to the ground where she laded atop it, raking its haunch again and again with her killing claws. I snapped again and again at its neck and shoulders, bringing forth still more blood as the hatchling screamed. Silent dove between my sister and I to land on the 'nych's ribcage, there proceeding to rip away pieces of the ribcage, exposing internal organs as the still pulsated with life. My snout was drawn forward, mouth wide, to snatch away the heart while it was still beating. I champed once and swallowed as the hatchling's cries died away and it became another piece of meat. Tame crept up, slinking, but I bit at him and so did Sister, driving him away. Silent ignored him completely. Tame cringed back, making little eee eee eee sounds of submission. I growled and turned back to my portion of the carcass. Sister shoved Silent and he fell into me, where I snarled viciously at him and he snarled right back, then proceeded to bite at Sister's foreleg until she gave ground. We devoured it, and when I glanced up at Mother I thought I saw a glimmer of cold, calculating pride. I spun around and prowled the area, snapping up stray pieces of flesh while Tame groveled.