Silence before a great fight

The low whisper of the fire surrounds us. Flames are flickering, sparks ascending to the sky. The heat is only an omen of what will happen. I’ve never heard such a deep silence. Despite of the moaning and wheezing of the fire the silence was overwhelming. Tensed muscles near bursting under shaggy and wet fur. The heat nearly burnt our lungs, but that wasn’t important anymore. The only thing that counted now was the determination in our eyes, our vitriolic gaze, the low rumbling of dry throats. No words where between us, no sounds was around us, just the quiet cracking of dry wood and the low crackle of sparks. This wasthe calm, the calm before the storm.

My original idea for aikdingo's "Calm before the storm" contest. I titled this pic different, I thought it fits better. Hope you don't mind, Aik.

Uh, and the text was original in german. But the english version sounds much better, but it shows too how bad my english is. Bear with me.

Closeup can be seen here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/58423600/
A good example how bad I am at gradient shading. *sigh*

Image, other char and poem(c) Yedaji "Ses" Nikopol
Aik (c) aikdingo