Closed Pilgrimage, part I

[Colt]

43rd of spring, 513 a.v
sunset

The sun was just reaching to touch the western horizon, casting the sky in shining red and gold as if it had been set aflame. The wind had lessened, as if unwilling to disturb the chorus of insects that grated from every shadow and yet showed none of its musicians. The creatures of the day were settling, and the creatures of the night were beginning to wake up.

It wasn’t really a copse of trees, per se; just two weathered things that leaned towards each other. The grass was thick around their roots, however, which suggested some source of water nearby. Beneath him, Akaidras’s breath was weary. He couldn’t really blame the creature; his own limbs felt heavy and dull, and he was fairly certain that he would not be able to feel his legs when he dismounted.

The hunter pulled to a halt mere strides away from the tree and turned behind him to let out a whistle for his traveling companions. This would make a fine resting site.

He slid from the horse gracefully enough, but his feet his the ground heavily. After a few seconds of regaining his balance, he guided Akaidras beneath one of the trees and bid him to stay. The horse seemed to be picking up the grassland sign of Endrykas and obeyed, allowing his rider to attend to the tack. The yvas was heavy in his arms, and he was as glad to put it down as the horse was to have it off. Almost immediately Akaidras began to prance in place and stretch his neck towards the open grass; he was hungry. The hunter let him go with a pat to the shoulder.

In another moment he was angling towards the Seme stallion and the travois that was attached.

“Hssthlrrr,” he choked out, pointing to an area just between the trees that erosion and animal activity had rendered a dusty clearing. “Firepit.” He then pointed to two areas on opposite sides of the clearing. “Your tent. My tent.”

The sound of fowl-wings deep within the grass drew the hunter’s attention to the lengthening shadows. There wasn’t much light left, and he wasn’t particularly interested in dried meat for the evening meal. He might be able to hunt something, but he would have to work fast. The Drykas turned back to Slither.

“I hunt. You dig pit, start fire, then we set camp.”

[Khida]

Syna cast long shadows across the grasslands as she descended towards the low horizon, tinting the sky in reds and the grasses in amber. Flying as she was, the falcon's own feathers took on a reddish hue, though she didn't look at herself to see it. Rather, her gaze roamed over the vista below, alert for its patterns and irregularities. Among the latter were the two dark streaks which cut across the grasses, great slanting shadows cast by two rather unimpressive examples of Cyphrus trees. Khida considered them for a moment as she soared, and noticed the hunter noticing them in turn; as he directed his Strider towards them, she inferred that he intended to camp there. The peregrine agreed wholeheartedly with that much, preferring not to travel by night herself; experience suggested the hunter shared that opinion. Though what the third member of their odd little party thought of traveling, and the proper time to do it in, she didn't have the first idea. The hunter rode over to the spindly things, and dismounted, proceeding immediately with unburdening his horses. As he went on to point to various parts of the earth, dictating the shape of their campsite to the snakeman, the falcon dropped down from her overwatch. Landing in one of the scraggly little trees, she canted her head to peer at the spaces indicated, giving them the idle inspection of one not the least involved in the matter. For her part, she expected to roost in one or another of the trees. Camping, as she knew of his habits, was usually followed by food; thus, Khida didn't settle herself too sedately into her perch. She peered down at the camp-to-be, shrugging her wings partly up and settling them back down, then shifted her regard to the man. The peregrine chirped at him, greeting and expectation but not impatient in tone. Not yet, anyway.

[Slither]

When Khasr stopped, Slither stretched, grunting. Even though he hadn't been the one moving, having to stand still in the same, slightly-too-small spot had worn him out, albeit in a different way than walking would have. The instructions he was given were no surprise, and he set to them immediately - first he gathered a bunch of rocks to mark the fireplace's circle, clearing out the surroundings from anything that could cause the fire to get out of control before digging the hole itself. When that was done, he put the flammable material he'd removed before, mostly consisting of small dry grass, in the center of the pit. Over them he put several of the larger plants around, forming a sort of tent, and then he hit the flint and steel together, causing a shower of sparks to fall on the tinder. He watched for a few moments until the fire spread to the plant pyramid, added the smallest piece of firewood they had, and then grabbed the tents. With the fire up before sundown, there was no hurry anymore, so he took his time with the tents, looking at the fire from time to time and adding more firewood as necessary. With his work done, he lay down next to the bright flames, enjoying the heat on his body until his Master came back. The whole time he'd been working mechanically, automatically - he'd been ordered to do a task, and so he did. Now, with some free time on his hands, he started to think about what came next, and how to cook it best.

[Colt]

Slither did not nod in acknowledgement, as another might, but instead immediately set about to his tasks. The hunter gestured approval, though he expected that it was lost on the Dhani, and left him to it.

The barest rustle of air alerted him to the falcon’s descent. She settled on her perch, but remained alert; she knew that there was still work to be done and perched in wait, and for that he was grateful.

He remained for a few moments longer; though Slither was observant and had demonstrated himself fully capable of what was expected of him, this was their first night. A pattern needed to be set. As the Dhani attended to the firepit, the hunter began to unstrap the travois from Drelah; though not as demanding as Akaidras, the Seme gelding whickered in gratitude and trotted to join the Strider in his fine dinner of delicate new spring grass.

When Slither started to gather materials for the fire itself, the hunter knew that he had nothing to worry about. He left the snake-man and turned to the falcon. A gentle chirp of greeting, a second, louder one to mark the start of a hunt, and then he turned and forsook the campsite-to-be for the whispering grasses.

His ears had not deceived him; there were a multitude of tracks crosshatching the earth. Hare, jackal, even antelope, suggesting that the water source—wherever it was—was used by virtually all of the animals in the area. Though some of the tracks looked fresh, he passed over them; he could not spend precious time hunting rabbits. The sun was fast fading, and would provide just enough light to slay a bird if he and the falcon did so together.

It took the better part of a minute, but eventually he caught sight of little clawprints. He angled after it, smoothly drew a javelin and lowered himself to a brisk and semi-quiet slink. He heard coos as he came nearer to where the groundbirds had decided to nest for the night, gentle croonings as the creatures settled down for sleep. They had had their evening drink, and they predicted no more worries for the night.

The hunter was able to control his wobbly legs enough to come within five yards of the patch of sagebrush, and he fell into a deep crouch to let his partner know that he had found quarry. He took a calm, unhurried breath and shifted his grip on the javelin. At this distance, he would probably be able to spear a hen, and the disturbance would send the rest fluttering. Two would be enough to feed all three of them, and if he set up the traps afterwards then there might even be enough fresh meat in the morning for a breakfast that did not involve anything preserved at all. He wanted to keep that as untouched as he could.

Tense.

Breathe.

He let the throwing spear fly.

A startled and affronted squawk erupted from beneath the closest sage, followed by distressed flapping and a large cloud of dust. The rest of the birds, alerted to danger by their stuck friend, hurriedly abandoned their hiding places to escape the danger. Higher and higher they rose, separating in all directions, completely unaware of what dwelt above…

[Khida]

The snake-man went about readying the camp, in a pattern Khida recognized -- fire, then shelter, as the hunter would do himself. All it wanted was food, and that would either come out of the horses' gear or from an evening hunt. The hunter lingered, though, without doing either; he watched the snake-man instead, and in turn the falcon watched him. He didn't seem to be debating choices, which suggested he wasn't thinking about the food -- just about the other person, and whatever his concerns were, the peregrine didn't share them. She was saved from growing impatience, however, as the man finally turned away and regarded her, chirping in return. Twice, both signals she was well familiar with; at the second cue, she willingly leapt from her perch into the air, beating for a respectable altitude. She flew out, and around, and back again, coming about to flyover that which caught the hunter's attention. Or something which caught his attention, anyway; from her elevated perspective, and with her focus more on her partner than the earth proper, the tracks on the ground passed beneath her notice. Khida didn't know what he examined, but his posture suggested that however interesting it may be, it wasn't itself prey; she flew on through another circuit, ever in motion. The peregrine came about again, and found the human settled into a low slink, making his way through the grass in a way that indicated sign, not quarry. But quarry soon, that must mean, and she tightened her circling in order to keep a very close eye on the hunter's cues. Khida heard, then, the covey of fowl that must have piqued his interest -- the sort of birds they most preferred to hunt, large enough for him to strike and also easily flushed into the air. He crouched, orienting on a clump of brush, and she stretched her wings to hang in the air for that moment, poised to take advantage of his action. He launched his spear, and the brush exploded into motion and noise, the covey attempting to confuse their predators into striking anyone else, or none of them at all. As they ascended, the day's last light painted their feathers amber-bright, or on the far side left them inky blots of shadow; both sides were bold contrasts to the constant orange-green below, and Khida had no trouble choosing one of the many to target. Tucking her wings in, she arrowed down towards it, making minute adjustments to her course with a tilt of her tail or a twitch of primary feather; but this fowl was not a spring hatchling, and it knew danger from both land and sky. It thought to look up as well as down, and attempted to evade at the last moment -- but for all that, left evasion late. Perhaps worse still than a clean strike, it proved unable to entirely clear her attack. The peregrine's fisted talons collided with its wing instead of its body, sending the fowl in a twisting, wide-winged spiral towards the ground, while she half-shied off, faltering and then regaining level flight, arcing up and back around to take stock of the situation.

[Caelum]

Thread Award

Shahar

Skills
Horsemanship +1
Hunting +1
Tracking +1
Weapon: Javelin +1
Wilderness Survival (plains/grasslands) +1


Lores
Wilderness Survival: Setting Camp
Hunting: Prey Attracted to Water Source

Khida

Skills
Detection +2
Hunting +1
Observation +1

Lores
Detection: Shifting Patterns & Irregularities
Hunting: Falcon Stoop Adjustment

Slither

Skills
Wilderness Survival +1

Lores
Wilderness Survival: Starting a Fire

Notes

Descriptions are beautiful as ever. Please edit your post in the grade request thread to reflect completion and don't hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Write on.