The Cougar Hunt

by **Forah** on April 4th, 2012, 2:31 pm

Makia explained to him what Illish had told her, how they were being sent in pursuit of the beast, as it was deemed a threat to the whole city. He just hoped she hadn't claimed all the credit for scaring it away. Being the highest ranking she took charge, telling him to go back to his cave in the common rooms, to gather the necessary supplies, and how she would provide some supplies for the Dek.

She told them to meet at the Gate at Noon, Forah nodded, to show he understood. With that he left them, exiting the Infirmary and returning to his humble yet homely cave inside of the great Volcano. He threw some supplies into his backpack, not knowing how long they would be out of the city for. He one eating knife, soap, and a week's worth of food inside, before proceeding to strap a recently purchased one man tent to the side of his backpack.

He was about to leave when he realized he'd left his Winter Blanket on his bed, "Dammit" he whispered under his breath, backtracking his steps, then proceeding to stuff it into the remaining space in his backpack.
He slung his Quiver on first, then his backpack, over one shoulder, so he could then fit his Longbow over the one remaining shoulder, not too comfortable but it was the only way he could carry all this stuff.
He made his way to the gate, greeting Val as he stood there, he saw Makia and the Dek approaching.

by **Makia Ezio** on April 4th, 2012, 10:06 pm

When they approached the gate Makia saw that Forah was already waiting. Good, she thought, we can get started. She nodded at the Chiet and politely told Val they were ready.
“Be careful and good luck.” Wished the old man.
“Of course.” Makia replied.
He opened the gate and they stepped through. Makia lead them to the woods where the child was attacked. She saw a spot of red near the woods.
“Here, Forah shot the animal; you need to track it now.” Makia told the Dek.
“Yes, ma’am.” He replied and began searching the ground. He led them into the woods following drops of blood and footprints.
Makia forever kept her bow at the ready, and also searched along for game, knowing they would need some meat for the journey. They walked in silence for a few hours, only the sound of their footsteps and the Deks constant muttering. Soon enough the trail started the get harder, the blood from the animals wound had stopped flowing and as it began to get dark the footsteps were harder to see.
After a while Makia stopped the Dek and beckoned Forah to go hunting.
“Ari, stay here, don’t lose the trail, we will be back. Forah come with me time to hunt.” Makia ordered.
After a bit of searching they found a small elk traveling back home for the night, perfect prey. They stalked it, until the right time was near.

by **Forah** on April 5th, 2012, 12:01 am

Forah waved good-bye to the lovely, old gatekeeper as they made their way out of the great, mountainous city. Makia spotted a clump of red hair by the woods, blood, from where he had shot the Cougar. She informed the Dek of her new find and he immediately started tracking the animal, telling us to follow him into the woods, pointing to the drops of blood and following it's unique prints.

For all this time Forah had his shortsword drawn, though after a while he sheathed it and took his bow off of his shoulder, though on alert, admiring the great forest they were in, it's trees, just as ancient a the mountain itself probably, spiralling up into the sky, there branches sticking out like the legs of a Spider.

It was then that Makia tapped him on the shoulder, telling him they needed to hunt some game, it was best to be self reliant after all, instead of using up the little resources they had between them. They had tracked a lone Elk, not to far from where the Dek was waiting for them, Forah aimed his bow, not before explaining to Makia that the animal, if he missed, would most probably try to escape to the north, as that's the most probably location for it's herd, so told her to aim her bow slightly to the north, he was glad to had studied the geography of this region. With that done he aimed, and released his arrow, watching it fly through the air.

by **Makia Ezio** on April 5th, 2012, 1:27 am

Makia carefully aimed her bow a few feet north of the animal, following Forahs prediction. As his arrow quickly neared its target Makia tightened her bow, ready to let loose. The arrow from Forahs bow lodged neatly in the small elks shoulder. It shrieked and began to run north. Forahs prediction was right, but Makia didn’t have time praise this knowledge. She let loose the arrow from its hold and it hit the animal in its stomach. The elk fell, squirming in pain. Makia smiled, happy with the kill, and walked up to it. She took out her eating knife and quickly sliced the animal’s throat, not needing its fur this time.
She sighed. Though it was a small elk, it was too much for the three of them to carry and they would have to leave some valuable meat behind. She didn’t like this thought, knowing the village would put it to good use. She would have sent it back but she had no one on hand to carry it. She thought about maybe sending Ezio to notify someone to come get it, but he was not a homing bird and they had no parchment lying around. Plus, it was have been eaten by other predators by the time someone got there.
“We won’t be able to carry it all, but try to get as much meat as possible. Any extras we don’t consume on the trip we can use when we get back, but otherwise most of this animal is wasted.” She informed Forah. “Let’s just get the meat.”
They began slicing the animal and after a while they got the meat, wrapped it in leaves and headed back to where the Dek was waiting. Looking at the sky she determined that it was probably a good time to set up camp. She told this to the others and began building her tent. When she was done laying her bedroll out inside she looked around the small camp. Forah was busy complete his humble abode and the Dek was standing around, doing nothing.
“I am afraid there is no room for you in our tents, you will have to sleep outside.” She told Ari.
He shrugged and began gathering leaves and other cushion like plants for a small bed. Makia was terrible to Deks, but she recognized the chaste differences and knew an Avora like her would never share a home, much less a tent, with a Dek, nor did she want to.
She asked the Dek to make a fire and pulled out some nuts and fruit and began to eat. When thefire was raging bright she took out a few pieces of meat and began to cook them over the fire, using one of her arrows to hold it above the flames. She cooked the meal for all three of them, and added slight seasonings to the meat to make them have more flavor. She let them cool a bit then served them to her hungry companions, including a few small pieces to Ezio. She passed out some nuts and dried fruit as well, which Ezio also got a share of.
When they finished eating, Makia retired for the night and her raven flew up to a tree branch. She told him to wake her up early, knowing he would understand. Then she fell asleep surrounded by only the sounds of nature.

by **Forah** on April 5th, 2012, 10:04 pm

Forah felt a sense of self satisfaction as his prediction came true, after his arrow hit, the Elk did indeed run north, straight into Makia's arrow. As the drew nearer to the little animal Forah could see his arrow was lodged to firmly between the animal's shoulder blades to be retrieved, no matter, he though, as it had played it's part in providing them a meal tonight. They didn't have enough man power to carry all the meat back themselves, when Makia realized this he could see the dismay in her face.

She told him to cut as much meat off as he could carry, and they would retrieve the rest on their way back, though Forah thought to himself that the small animal may be eaten by other predator's. They wrapped what meat they could in leaves to keep it from getting to dirty, and proceeded to make their was back where the Dek was waiting for them, Makia told them it was a good place and time to set up camp, and that the deck would have to sleep outside.
Forah fumbled around with his tent at first, before finally setting it up correctly, he placed his winter blanket inside, whilst she cooked the meat on a fire the Dek had made.
She shared the meal between the three of them, and gave some to her small bird to before entering her tent for some sleep, as did Forah, taking off his equipment.

After what he assumed had been a couple of hours Forah got up and went outside, telling the Dek he could sleep in his tent if he wanted, the Dek seemed reluctant at first, but Forah having a basic understanding in persuasion got the man to do what he wanted, as he was on guard duty.
He only brought his Bow and quiver with him as he patrolled the area, perching himself on a rock, looking around for any danger.

by **Makia Ezio** on April 6th, 2012, 2:51 am

When she awoke in the morning she saw that Forah was already awake and guarding. The light was still dim, but brightening by the minute. Looking at the suns location it was a little after 5 in the morning. The fire had gone out, replaced by dark embers and the Dek was missing. She had a moment of panic, thinking he had run away when he emerged from the Chiets tent. She looked at Forah puzzled, but he just shrugged. She proceded to pack up her tent and bedroll and asked the Dek to pass out the some fruit that was in his bag. They all eat quickly, with little conversation, but the talking that did take place was this:
“How far do you think the animal is, Ari?” Makia had asked
“I am not sure, but I don’t think it could have gotten hat far with it’s injury.” He answered
“So we should find it today maybe?”
“Possibly, but maybe not.”
“Well, then let’s get going.” She concluded
She waited as the Dek helped Forah reclaim his tent and during this, Trean awoke and flew silently to Makia’s shoulder. Then they set off with Ari in the lead. The trail was becoming easier to find, with more broken branches and the tracks were larger, as if the animal was stumbling. A few hours later the Dek stopped.
“What is it?” Makia demanded
“The tracks, they have become more spaced out, as if it were running from something.” He said, puzzled.
“He was probably hunting.” She reasoned.
“Maybe, but with the injury, it would try to catch something small. This doesn’t look like he is chasing something easy.”
“Just keep going.” She said no reason to dwell on the unknown.
After a few more minutes the Dek stopped again.
“What?” Makia said, annoyed at the constant stalling.
“There was a struggle, with the cougar and something else. Looks like a human, there are footprints. Maybe one or two men?”
Makia stepped over to where he was looking and examined the ground. Sure enough the dirt was disturbed and there were cougar and human footprints mixed up in the fight, plus some blood. Makia drew her bow, cautious now, of the unknown. Forah did the same and the proceeded.
Another few minutes they stumbled upon quite a shock. There was the animal, right there in front of them lying on the ground. It was slaughtered, multiple wounds that had just stopped bleeding as it died. The wounds look like they were caused by blades of some kind and she identified Forahs arrow lodged into its dead skin. The arrow was broken, just the tip and some wood still connected. She looked around trying to spot the murderers. Well she couldn’t call them that could she? They were sent here to do the same, but she felt the need to find out who killed it. She told Forah and Ari to look around, but stay together and be wary.

by **Forah** on April 7th, 2012, 2:08 am

They departed early in the morning, Forah having slight problems disassembling his tent, the well built Dek having to help him out.
They continued following the trail for a few until the Dek stopped explaining that there were more prints, and there had been a struggle here. Though this was evident, you didn't have to be a tracker to see that.

They proceeded forward, Forah saw something ahead of them, rushing forward to see what it was, a dead cougar. He wondered if it was the same cougar that had attacked the child? It was, he confirmed this checking the hind leg of the beast, which had a snapped arrow lodged in it, Forah bent down, closing the animal's eyelids whilst muttering a prayer in Nari, though the beast had attacked a young-ling, it was clear it had died in pain, no animal deserved that.
Forah noticed the blade marks on the animal, realizing something was wrong, he looked around, warily. Makia and the Dek had split apart from him, though not too far, as he could still see them.
He turned, looking for anything suspicious, they were in what appeared to be a camp of some sort, perhaps some travelling merchants? He noticed a camp fire, the embers still crackling to themselves, smoke drifting into the sky. It had recently been used, he then noticed several pots and pans on the floor, surrounded by other dead animals. A shriek made him jump, rather high pitched, definately not being made by the Dek. Then he heard a cry for help. Makia! he though, turning on his heels running towards the origin of the sound.

by **Makia Ezio** on April 7th, 2012, 4:28 am

She noticed the camp that they were near, and instantly she was on guard. The camp was occupied recently, very recently, yet they saw no sign that the people had left. She was no tracker but she could not hear anyone in the forest around them. With her bow at the ready she slowly walked around the small camp, listening.
Suddenly she screamed out in pain, something had hit her shoulder, something very sharp. She turned quickly turned around and shot her arrow, not waiting to see what had stuck her. She yelled for help, knowing nothing good as going on. Then she fell to the ground, dropped her bow and gripped her shoulder, crying out in extreme pain. She drew back her hand and saw it covered in her blood. Then she felt her shoulder for the source of the bleeding. A small dagger was lodged in her skin and she winced as she carefully pulled it out. This was her bow shoulder, she couldn’t fire with this, and she would be out of hunting for weeks. She dropped the blood drenched dagger to the ground and put more pressure on the wound, thinking it would help.
She looked around and saw that beside her was a dead man. He was human around forty years of age, light blonde hair, his eyes were closed. On his belt was a hilted sword, gleaming in the afternoon sun, it has dried blood on it. Her arrow had pierced his chest and he was still bleeding, but that was not what killed him. A large laceration had been cut onto his neck. It didn’t look like a short sword cut, more like a small knife.
She looked up at the sound of commotion near her. The Dek and Forah were taking on another man. He was younger than the one dead with brown hair, and more built. Ari was stabbing, or trying to stab, him with his small eating knife and Forah was fighting with his short sword. That’s when she realized that it had been Ari who killed the man and saved her life. She felt gratitude for him and tried to help in the fight. She tried to pick up her bow and an arrow, but she cried out again as she moved her shoulder. There was nothing she could do and she felt terrible and useless.
She watched the pair fight, it was quick and brutal, each man getting small cuts on their arms or legs. Then the second human seemed to have gotten fed up with Ari’s small, quick jabs and he turned to the Dek and flung out his sword, slashing him deeply across his chest. Ari fell and it was all the distraction Forah needed to finished the human off. But Makia didn’t see the end of the fight because she was staring at the dying man on the floor, knowing that just minutes ago he had saved her life, and now she couldn’t save his.

by **Makia Ezio** on May 5th, 2012, 1:53 am

If Makia had been looking at Forah she would ave seen him take advantage of the weak spot and he quickly stabbed the man deep into his stomach. The man instantly fell to the ground, making little sound as he quickly died. Then

Forah ran over to her and ask her how she was. "I am okay, but you need to go back and get the Eagles to come and help me and Ari." She looked back at Ari, dead Ari, lying on the ground. It didn't matter to her now that he was just a Dek, he had saved her life and she didn't hide it when one small tear escaped from her eye. "Just, just run back and tell the Eagle riders to get here and then we can bury Ari..."
Forah quickly ran off into the woods from which they came. Makia signaled Ezio to guide him. It was about 4 more bells when the Eagles came. Just enough time for Forah to run back and have the large birds come here quickly. Forah was not with them and the Endal rode Makia safely back to town where her brother, a doctor, stitched her up nice and neatly. The Endal told her they had buried Ari within Wind Reach, but in the back of her mind she didn't believe them. Endal didn't have the kindness towards Deks and it was more likely fro them to leave him there, maybe throw a couple of inches of dirt on him.
She tried no to think about it, but now she had a new found respect for the Dek caste. She didn't think that would go away anytime soon.