Like the wolf and the fox he cringed down, hugging the earth.

But it was no longer with the whimpering fear of the pup.

His muscles were drawn tight, and with a snarl he bared his fangs when one of the owls swooped so low that he felt the beat of its wings.
Neewa responded with a sniff that a little later in his life would have been the defiant WHOOF of his mother.

Bear-like he was standing up.

And it was upon him that one of the shadows descended--a monstrous feathered bolt straight out of darkness.
Six feet away Miki's blazing eyes saw his comrade smothered under a gray mass, and for a moment or two he was held appalled and lifeless by the thunderous beat of the gargantuan wings.