By Any Other Name (Saib)

[Razkar]

Continued from here

40th Day of Fall, 512AV

The sun was low in the sky when they stepped out the gates, and the Sea of Grass had gone from golden to brown with its descent. The two figures that approached its rim were certainly curious. One very tall, purple-skinned, broad and yet somewhat hesitant. The other was shorter, darker and seemed possessed with some cold, calm intensity.

Razkar began pacing around the short, trampled grass just before the Sea started properly, seven foot stalks sprouting everywhere. He talks as he moved, eyes fixed on the ground.

"First things first. We need to smell like the environment. You are clean. That's good, for Riverfall. Bad for here." He sniffed the Akalak and grimaced. "Soap. Not good. But... ahhh...!"

He picked up a handful of what appeared to be black balls... and then rubbed them on his chest. Then he proferred them to the Akalak as if they were some rare treat.

"Deer droppings. Better so smell like them. Piss would be better, but we don't have any. So..."

While he waited, arm outstretched, he turned to the ocean of gently swaying grassland and kept talking. His eyes were squinted against the setting sun, as if already searching.

"My mother taught me that a good hunter doesn't just know where his prey is; he knows where it's going to be. Animals are creatures of habit, for the most part. They seemed random and chaotic, but close observation and patience shows you that many of them have distinct and often rigid patterns. Deer here are no different."

He turned back to the Akalak.

"So, when you have this on you and smell right, we will go in, and look for signs. For tracks. For a trail. When we find it, we will wait."

With his free hand he patted his bow.

"Until something comes across us."

Looking back on that comment, Razkar would later think he had tempted fate most egregiously. But at the time, he just wanted the purple "Myrian" to take the damn droppings so they stopped steaming in his hand.

[Saib]

Saib took a deep breath and inhaled the dusk air. He eyed the grass and hoped his purple skin could be hidden within it. He blinked and blushed a little as Razkar sniffed him. He watched Razkar with a little bit of confusion as he picked up something off the ground. "What the shyke?" he thought in disgust as he rubbed the stuff on himself "He just picked something up and put it on himself? Gross!" When he discovered what it was he wrinkled his nose and cringed a bit. "Ewww...but you're the hunting expert..." He said and took the deer's...leavings and rubbed them on his chest like Razkar had hesitantly then dropped them. He looked down to Razkar and awaited his next instructions.

[Razkar]

"Ewww...but you're the hunting expert..."

Razkar tried hard not to make a face when he heard that tone. He failed. But it was not much of a grimace (by his standards), and once Saib had a decent smear on his chest, he actually smiled.

"Good first step."

Then he took off his bow, holding it in one hand along with two arrows... and handed them to his Akalak "brother".

"We will go in, now, and you shall take the shots. We will move cautiously, and carefully, and not too far into the Sea. Staying within sight of the walls is imperative, Saib. There are things in this grass that would give Myrian Tigers a run for their claws."

Once he'd said those comforting words, he turned to face the grass.

"Follow me."

And with that, the two men vanished into the undergrowth.

----------

The deer trail was fairly easy to find. The grass was trampled and parted, but not in the fashion of a larger beast like a glassbeak or human. About half an hour after they hand entered the Sea of Grass, the walls of Riverfall still visible and white above the tops of the grass, Razkar had held a hand up...

... and pointed down. Saib followed his gaze...

"Tracks. And a trail."

Razkar whispered, kneeling down slowly and running his fingertips over the distinctive two-toed steps on the rich black dirt. There were many of them, probably from doe and deer... perhaps a small herd of them.

But...

He frowned minutely. The edges of some imprints were still sharp... the deer had come recently.

"Looks like..."

But he did not finish. This was not for him, after all. It was for his new friend. He needed to learn. So, instead, he turned to Saib, squatting next to him, and gestured."

"Well, you tell me. What do you see?"

[Saib]

Saib took the bow and arrows carefully and listened to Razkar's words. He gulped and looked back at the safe walls then at the dangerous grassland. He took a deep breath and followed Razkar into the tall grasses. Saib stopped when Razkar did and looked down to the tracks he pointed to. He watched the Myrian as he examined the tracks and crouched down next to him. He frowned a bit as Razkar started to speak then trailed off and asked him for his opinion. He squinted at the tracks and said, "Well the tracks aren't really faded at all..." He said and poked at the tracks curiously. The ground was relatively soft. "And the ground is softer instead of hard, like the cold would make it. So they're fresh. Right? And...And if they are fresh we would follow the tracks quietly until we find the deer?" Saib guessed, trying to impress Razkar by trying to figure out what to do.

[Razkar]

Razkar nodded approvingly at the astute observation. The Akalak was turning out to be sharper than he seemed, and he rewarded him with a smile full of sharp teeth. But he still held up a slightly chiding finger.

"Almost, but not quite..."

The finger moved down to the ground, pointing out other tracks.

"See? They're heading in both directions. This is a frequently used trail." He looked up, though there was nothing to see in the thick grass, but it helped him think. "They probably use it to go from where they bed to food or a watering hole. So... all we need do is wait."

His cold, critical eyes surveyed around the trail. He saw a comparatively clear line of sight maybe twenty yards away, barely big enough for them to see the trail, but they wouldn't miss three hundred pounds of deer waltzing past. Razkar turned back to his trainee and cocked an eyebrow.

"We'll need a place to lay up and shoot from, bide our time. Where would you suggest?"

[Saib]

Saib smiled, glad that he had at least been partially correct. "Well I'm doing good so far! Maybe I really will earn Myri's mark!" he thought cheerfully. He listened to Razkar's corrections and nodded, examining the tracks again and quickly realizing his mistake. "Ohh I see now..." he murmured. He followed Razkar's gaze and looked into the grass, not sure what he was looking at. Saib frowned at his next question and tilted his head. "Hmmm...this is a little harder... He mused. He looked around and tried to spot a good area, which should've beem easier for him since he's taller than Razkar. But he found it difficult to discern where it would be easy to see and still be hidden just by looked. So Saib slowly and carefully backed into the grass until he thought he was far enough away to be hidden but could still see Razkar. "Is this good?" Saib asked and jumped up so that Razkar could see him. As if it was that hard with the Akalak's purple skin.

[Razkar]

"Well I'm doing good so far! Maybe I really will earn Myri's mark!"

Razkar chose to remain quietly neutral on that point. The gnosis of the Goddess-Queen was not freely handed out. It was earned, through pain and blood and death. But he was not so close-minded to think that Saib could not somehow gain their deity's favor. Myri was, after all, the goddess of Victory, in all its myriad forms. In battle, on the hunt, in ones studies or business...

Victory by any other name.

Fortunately the Akalak/Myrian brushed past that without waiting for a reply, rubbernecking around for a decent lay up spot. The shorter Myrian stood still and silent the whole time, but a smile emerged on his face as the Akalak walked over the the same spot he'd already spotted in his own mind. The towering man turned, still visible thanks to his height and garish color, grin on his face that was infectious.

"Is this good?"

Razkar bit down a laugh and remembered himself. This was serious work, not a jape in the grass. They had prey to wait for, and a giant purple figure would not aid them in that. He nodded, walked over and giving the Akalak a long, slow look.

"Perfect. But we'll need to do something about... this. Stay low and behind whatever cover you can find. The deer aren't blind."

Then he lowered himself slowly onto his knees. Not the most comfortable position, but he knew how hard it was firing a bow from his haunches, and at least in this position he could get off a good shot. The Akalak mirrored him like a good student and Razkar took a deep breath. His bow and arrows were still with the younger man. He cracked his neck muscles and sighed.

"Now is the most important thing a hunter learns." He said, eyes flickering between the two ends of the trail visible to them from their little ambush away from it. "Patience..."

The sun was still in the sky, but dipping nicely. Soon it would be twilight, and those highly-developed senses that deer possessed would b frazzled by the contradiction of rising night and fading light. They had timed it well, and now just had to wait.

[Saib]

Saib smiled and crouched down with Razkar. "'Perfect. But we'll need to do something about... this. Stay low and behind whatever cover you can find. The deer aren't blind.'" he thought, turning it over in his mind. "Hmm...I need something to camoflauge myself so the deer don't see me..." He pondered this problem as he squatted and listened carefully then laughed when he realized the solution was, literally, right under his nose. Saib dug his fingers into the ground and scooped up a handful of dirt then spat into it, making a somewhat muddy substance. He wiped the mud-ish stuff on his chest and arms and continued until his chest, the front of his arms, his cheeks, and forehead were smeared with brown. He turned to Razkar and grinned, quite proud of himself for thinking of this. Saib turned back to the trail they were watching and set aside one of the arrows. He adjusting his footing some and fit the arrow into the bow, remembering the lessons he had been taught but never used as he crouched and sat as still as he could, ready to shoot.

[Razkar]

Waiting is always boring. Only those with an overdeveloped imagination or not imagination at all think otherwise. Unfortunately, most beings are somewhere in the middle, and Razkar was no exception.

But there was much to marvel at, out there in the Sea of Grass. So many sounds. The soft rustling of swaying plants... the distant calls, hoots, hisses and gallops of faraway creatures... the slow sunrise that painted the sky in purples and reds and yellows.

Razkar liked that most of all. He grew up his whole life under a canopy so thick that even the sight of the moon was a rarity. But now he was in a place where all he need to would be tip his chin, and...

Eternity spread across every breadth of his vision.

Then his nostrils twitched.

The smell of deer. A familiar but hard-to-place scent that he knew well. Fresh yet earthy; lingering yet brief. He heard the tiny movement as Saib turned to him, but put up a warning finger before the Akalak could speak. Then he listened...

Slow, measured footfalls on the trail. Deer didn't naturally bound and leap and run like most people saw: they were practical creatures, like most wild animals, and most of the time conserved their energy by walking. Just like this one was. His eyes flicked to his side and noted with approval that Saib was already raising the shortbow.

Both men squatted in the long grass, cramp burning in their legs, and watched the gap...

He was beautiful. Graceful, elegant and powerful. Tall as Razkar's shoulder and with legs covered in ropes of muscle under thick brown fur. Antlers that ended in a dozen pointed crowned his head, watery eyes unmoving as it walked unhurriedly down the trail.

Razkar moved so slowly it was like he was encased in syrup. He bought his mouth close to Saib's ear, whispering so low he was barely audible and every word sent a pulse of hot air into the Akalak's ear.

"Raise the bow... and follow his movements. Imagine his heart in your breast. Feel his movements..." He felt the Akalak tighten, as if some private war were being waged in his head. That, they did not have time for. "Strike, brother. You are Myrian, and we are born to slay. This creature will not be wasted. His meat will nourish us and his fur warm us. But you must strike. Now..."

The deer looked up in a quick jerk of movement followed by utter stillness, and it was looking their way.

"Choose."

[Razkar]

OOCSince it's been nearly a month since my last post and there's been no reply from Saib, I'm going to wrap this up.

It was foolish, Razkar would later reflect, to think they were the only ones stalking the grasslands that day. The Sea was filled with animals of every kind, from lizard-headed birds to packs of glassbeaks. Everything was food for something else. So a deer, wandering alone, even on a trail, would attract attention from more than just a couple of "Myrians".

"Choose..."

Razkar's lips closed around the last letter of that word, and everything happened in a frantic, impossible moment.

The arrow flew from his bow in Saib's hands. The fletching feathers made the tiniest cut into that blue cheek as he let it fly, arrow streaking towards the deer, whose head was up-

-but not at them. At the thing to it's other side-

-the yellow-and-black creature that sprang from the wall of tall grass with an open maw of a mouth and claws the size of daggers-

-and arrow and beast hit the poor, doomed deer all at once.

"Shit!"

The deer's haunches dropped for a bound as the leopard crashed into it teeth first, bearing it to the ground in a spray of blood. The arrow slammed into the side of the deer, piercing its lung. Not that it mattered. The leopard snarled as its flawless fur was suddenly bathed in red, rows of teeth designed for ripping and tears destroying the deer's throat.

Saib and Razkar could see the black, terrified eyes die, inch by inch, as the leopard fed. Then the monster looked up at them with gore clotting its face.

"Another arrow." Razkar managed to rasp, sliding his hand ax out of his belt as slowly as he could, not taking his eyes off the massive feline. "Saib! Use the other arrow!"

But the massive blue male crouching next to him was too stunned, too terrified to even respond. Saib had never been in a situation like this, with painful death squatting twenty yards away and eyeing them hungrily. Razkar had only faced it once or twice, but...

He hoped that would be enough.

"Brother," he whispered, as the leopard twitched its tail from side to side, slowly rising from the dead, butchered deer, "You must act soon... or we are both dead."

Razkar rose to his feet, almost in tandem with the leopard, bringing his arm up and back as he did so. By the time he was upright, his hand ax was cocked back and-

-the lion charged them.

"NOW, SAIB!"

-Razkar flung his hand ax at the roaring monster.