Closed Hunting the Hunter (Scorn)

[Poison]

Summer 78, 513 AV

Nedra Foxglove was in a bad mood. After Silenva Hyacinth, the daughter of the ruling couple, had dumped him he had begun to date Soraya Orchid. She had been chosen as Moth Queen in 512 AV, she was a dancer, she was beautiful and belonged to one of the most influential families of Kalinor, but by Viratas, she was demanding!

Nedra, she had said, I want fresh meat, she had said. So he had offered to buy her some at the market. No, Nedra, she had said, I don’t want you to buy meat at the market. I want you to hunt, like a real man. I’m not a hunter, he had reminded her, ignoring her comment about „real men“. I’m a gambler, a playboy, a lover. He’d attempted to kiss her like he had done dozens of times before and distract her, but she had pushed him away and pouted like a little girl. If you don’t hunt for me, she had said, you will have to sleep alone tonight, and you don’t want that, do you?

No, he didn’t want that, he had realized. Soraya was demanding, she was arrogant and about as intelligent as a six year old girl, but by Viratas, could she kiss! So he’d grabbed a spear and a shortbow, filled a quiver with a few arrows, put on his armor and climbed out of the hole that was the entrance to Kalinor. How hard could it be to kill an animal? She hadn’t specified which animal she wanted. Maybe something small would suffice. Or maybe he could just buy something from the market, stick an arrow through it and pretend that he had killed it himself. She wouldn’t notice the difference.

As Nedra looked up he could see that grey clouds were beginning to cover the sky, a sign of bad weather. He hoped that it wouldn’t begin to rain until he was safely back in his cave again. Nedra hated rain. He climbed over the rocks that surrounded the entrance to Kalinor, looking around, but he didn’t see anything apart from what seemed like a part that was high in the sky. He didn’t think he was good enough to shoot a bird. On the bright side, he didn’t see any predators either. He was pretty sure that there were things that considered Symenestra a delicious meal somewhere in those mountains.

With a sigh he continued to climb. Why couldn’t Viratas just drop some petching animal in front of him so that he could go home to Soraya? Maybe he should have asked one of those Zith that he had seen on the way to the surface for help. Kalinor had seen an unusual influx of Zith recently. They were excellent hunters. They would have been able to kill an animal within a few chimes whereas he would probably be stuck here for the rest of the day.

[Scorn]

Scorn was beginning to despair of ever finding anything she recognized. She was used to being lost, but somehow she had flown into these giant piles of rock and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find her way back out. It wouldn't be so bad except it was such unfamiliar terrain, she had trouble finding water and shelter, and she hadn't learned the patterns of prey in this area. She had managed to keep herself fed so far, but it was a constant effort. The worst part was that she had been chased out of a cave she found by some predator too big for her to take on by herself, so in addition to being sleepy and annoyed, she was also forced to be flying around during the day. The only good thing about the present moment was that the evil glaring sun was obscured by nice grey clouds; clouds which had the added bonus of being roughly the same color as Scorn herself. That might just be the edge she needed to take down some unsuspecting prey. Speaking of unsuspecting, she heard something somewhere below her. She struggled to see through the glare of daylight, but at best she could make out a vague shape, just enough to target but not enough to identify. The smell was entirely unfamiliar to her, but she could hear its heartbeat (entirely too slow, but she could fix that), and she was just hungry enough that any warm body would do for a meal. She went into a dive, keeping quiet, hoping she could have her prey killed and eaten before it even knew she was there. She was so focused on her target that she didn't even see the black form that tackled her from above, inches away from her prey. Furious at being interrupted in her hunt, she instantly turned on her attacker. She flapped her wings furiously to adjust their momentum before she crashed into the side of the mountain, and then prepared to unleash claws and teeth. But then she recognized the scent, of her attacker. The most familiar scent in the world. One she hadn't smelled for over a year. "Scourge!" she shouted, unable to contain her joy, or her disbelief. She embraced her sister in midair, wondering how she could have searched everywhere for her twin, only to stumble upon her out here in the middle of nowhere. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? What happened after the storm took you away?" Scorn couldn't stop the stream of questions. After searching for so long, she still couldn't believe that this moment was really happening. Scourge laughed, as happy to see her sister as Scorn was. I'll tell you everything later. First I want you to meet someone." Scorn, puzzled, followed her sister back toward the creature Scorn had assumed was prey. Given that Scourge had stopped her from killing it, that obviously wasn't the case, but Scorn frowned, wondering how alone Scourge must have been to be forced to befriend something that was not a Zith. "It's really not so bad," Scourge was saying, as Scorn followed numbly, overwhelmed from the combination of joy and pity. "I help them hunt, and they give me shelter. It's not so different from having a real colony." Scourge tried to sound optimistic, but Scorn knew her sister too well. Nothing could replace the bonds of family. The pair landed as one in front of the skinny creature. (Upon reflection, he probably wouldn't have provided much meat anyway. Scorn supposed not eating him wasn't too much of a loss.) Scourge grinned and said, "Hi! Meet my sister, Scorn!"

[Poison]

Nedra was not a good hunter, at least as far as hunting animals was concerned. He excelled at chasing the various Symenestra ladies in Kalinor, but this here was an entirely different matter. He wasn’t very observant either, and so he didn’t notice Scorn until she was directly above him and blocking the sunlight. He let out a scream and reached for his spear, but before he even held it in his hand something else happened. At first he thought that two … monsters were attacking him and that the end was near, but then he realized that they were fighting each other.

After he had recovered from the shock somewhat he also noticed that they weren’t some random monsters, they were Zith and one of them looked vaguely familiar. „Scourge!“ he said as he recognized her. She was one of the Zith that had recently settled in Kalinor. She must have left the cave directly after him. He had never been that happy to see a Zith before. „I think you just saved my life. I was convinced that she was going to kill me.“

As the two Zith talked, he got the feeling that they knew each other. They also looked somewhat alilke. Was the stranger one of Scourge’s relatives? Had she come to visit Kalinor?

He was still shaking a little as they were done talking and approached him and held his spear in his hand just in case. „Oh“, he made as Scourge informed him that the other Zith was her sister. „Welcome to Kalinor, Scorn. Are you moving here and helping us hunt or just visiting your sister?“ Zith had strange names, he thought, but he didn’t say it out loud so as to not offend her and make her want to eat him. „I’m Nedra by the way. Nedra Foxglove.“

[Scorn]

Scorn glanced back and forth between her sister and the stick man, feeling a mixture of concern and disgust. What had happened to Scourge that would lead her to treat this creature like...like Zith? And how long had she been living among them that they had learned not to fear her? Maybe...maybe it was all a clever ruse. Lure the prey into a false sense of security so that, when Scourge finally had a colony at her back, they would be that much easier to hunt. Yes, that must be it. When the meat addressed her directly, her eyes flicked to him in barely disguised contempt. He spoke too quickly for her to understand all of the words. Her grasp on the slave language was still only at the level of barest necessity. She suspected that the word he spoke twice was a name. She grudgingly decided to remember the meat's name. Maybe naming it would make it easier to remember that it was off-limits. "Nedra," she repeated, the syllables slithering off her tongue like slimy intestines coming back up. She made no effort to hide her displeasure. She also heard him say one of the few Common words she knew by heart without even having to think about it: 'hunt.' "I hunt. I hunt well. Better than you," she sneered. Scourge jumped on Scorn's back then, yammering excitedly in words only Zith could understand. "Isn't this great? We can hunt together, just like we always used to! And then we can share with Nedra, and it'll be just like being home!" Scorn felt a complicated pang in her heart. She was happy to be back with her sister, but how horrible must it have been for Scourge, so lost and alone that she had given up on ever having a real colony again. In their childhood, Scourge had always been better at everything, even being the first to bring home an impressive kill. But now, Scorn was overcome with a powerful desire to protect her sister, and teach her what it meant to be Zith again. She hated the creatures who made Scourge act so strange, but she would work with them as her sister wished until Scorn could bring Scourge back to herself. Scorn addressed Nedra directly, suddenly feeling much older than she ever had before. "You want me to hunt for you? Fine. Name my prey and I will kill it."

[Poison]

Nedra could tell that Scorn didn’t like him. He didn’t really expect her to, not with such a name. He debated on whether he should run and hide somewhere – she had been attacking him just a few moments ago – or not. He decided not to, but crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her as well. He was skinny and had brittle bones, but he also had red eyes. He remembered that the human traders that sometimes came to Kalinor were always a little unnerved by all the red eyed people there. Hopefully his stare would have some kind of effect on the Zith.

„Probably“, he agreed as she claimed that she hunted better than him. „I’m not really a hunter, Scorn. I was just sent here by … ah … but that’s a story for another occasion.“ He didn’t like the tone in which she spoke. It was unpleasant and sent shivers down his spine. Staring at her and trying to fake a little courage had probably been a bad idea. She didn’t seem to be a happy Zith at the moment.

Since he didn’t speak Zith, Zithonian, Zithanese or whatever Scorn’s and Scourge’s language was called, all he could do was stand there and stare stupidly at them as they talked. Whatever Scourge had said, it must have had an effect on her sister. As she adressed him again, she sounded a hint less hateful.

She wanted to hunt for him! Despite the earlier shock, Nedra smiled now. He could let the Zith hunt for him and then give her prey to Soraya! The day was suddenly looking up. He thought about what he should ask her to hunt, and then he wondered, „Can you kill a large bird? If you can’t kill something that flies, any big animal – like a stag – will do.“

[Scorn]

Scorn was unaffected by the eyes of the stick man. His expression came across to her more sulky than intimidating. She could sense no real threat to back up his expression, just the posturings of an animal who was both too proud to admit fear, and too frightened to cover it up properly. She could shred the Symenestra in seconds, and she would too, if Scourge hadn't stopped her. Nedra seemed to realize this eventually. The daylight was making her irritable, and her sister was making her confused. She latched onto the only familiar thing, and that was the hunt. Well, that and contempt. "Is there even worthy flying prey in this place?" she scoffed. She may not have been flying these skies more than a couple of nights, but surely if there were anything of note, she would have noticed it by now. Without bothering to wait for an answer, she nodded to Scourge and took to the air. She felt the wind of Scourge's ascent, following her, and it felt at once strange and good to be hunting alongside her sister again. And now, there in the sky, alone together, there was nothing between them and the hunt. As long as she could ignore the easy prey right below them, she could pretend that everything was normal, and they were back home, partners in the hunt. Scorn cleared her mind of distractions and focused her senses on the world around her. She closed her eyes against the harsh glare of daylight. Her eyes would be much less useful than normal, hunting at this awful hour. Instead, she listened, letting her ears track the heartbeats of the creatures of the mountains around her. She found Scourge's heartbeat, and set it aside in her mind. She filtered out the abundant tiny, rapidly fluttering heartbeat of small mammals. They were usually too fast to catch easily, and not enough meat to be worth it. Besides, today she was after bigger game. She listened for the sound of a deep, powerful heart, thumping steadily with the confidence of something that doesn't know it's prey.

OOCYou're the mod, which means you get to play NPC animals too

[Poison]

„I’ve occasionally seen a few birds“, Nedra replied. He didn’t go into details about his avian experiences though. He couldn’t tell one kind of bird from the next. To him there were small birds and not so small birds that came in a variety of different colors. Not only was Nedra a lousy hunter, he also hadn’t paid attention in school when the teacher had explained the flora and fauna of Kalea. He had been much too busy flirting with the girls. „I’m pretty sure you can find something. You have wings. You can see much further than I can.“

For a moment the Symenestra was worried that Scorn was going to eat him after all even though he was really only skin and bones and venomous on top of it, so he breathed a sigh of relief as she started flying. He had to admit, it looked pretty impressive. Of course he had seen Scourge fly around Kalinor on occasion, but in the city buildings and people got in the way all the time. This here was something else. He wished he were able to fly as well.

The sunlight was indeed very bright and painful, but fortunately Scorn had other senses that she could use. She could find two lifeforms in her immediatey vicinity. There was a large bird flying high in the air above her, and below her was another animal, climbing the rocks almost as skillfully as a Symenestra. At the moment both animals were still unaware of her presence.

[Scorn]

Scorn decided almost instantly to pursue the bird. In part, it just seemed like the better challenge to throw into the face of that pathetic creature which seemed to have stolen Scourge's loyalty. Besides, when given the choice, Scorn preferred up over down. Despite the year apart, Scorn and Scourge fell easily back into the familiar pattern of hunting as a team. Scorn took the lead on this hunt, and told Scourge her plan. The pair then split, flying at an angle away from each other, so that they would be on opposite sides of the bird before they moved close enough for it to begin to be alarmed. As she rose in altitude, she risked opening her eyes. It was painfully bright, but the blinding ball of light was not in her field of vision. She could feel heat beating down upon her back, causing sweat to trickle through her fur, giving her one more reason to hate the evil ball of fire. It occurred to her that when she reached the height she intended, she'd be turning around to go after the bird... She closed her eyes again and listened for the bird, and for Scourge's wingbeats. They reached the birds altitude at about the same time, and Scorn closed her eyes again as she turned to face her prey. She called to Scourge, "I can't see with this blasted Sun burning my eyes. Warn me if the prey does something unexpected." Then she called for the attack, and both Zith flew straight toward their prey's heart, claws outstretched.

[Poison]

Nedra shielded his eyes against the bright sunlight and watched the two Zith fly. He didn’t particularly like the sun either – he preferred the darkness of Kalinor – but he had adjusted to it, to some extent. His friends and relatives had occasionally dragged him away from his favourite tavern because they were of the opinion that he should get to know the surface world a bit better so that he would be well prepared for his future Harvests (that he never intended to conduct).

As Scorn and Scourge approached the bird, they could see that it was a magnificent eagle with a yellow beak dark brown feathers, a female judging by its size. It let out a loud cry as it noticed the presence of Scourge behind it and tried to fly away, but it only ended up in front of Scorn. It screeched again – so loudly that it hurt the Zith’s ears and Nedra on the ground below froze for a moment – and tried to fight its attackers, but it didn’t stand a chance.

„Oh my …“ Nedra made as a couple of feathers landed right on his head. He brushed them away and looked up again – just in time to watch the bird die and fall to the ground in front of him. He bent down and looked at it, and then he looked at Scourge and Scorn, applauded and exclaimed, „By Viratas! I wish I were a Zith! You were amazing! You two alone could probably supply Kalinor with all the food it needs!“

[Scorn]

It felt like more luck than skill, but Scorn's foot-claws landed right in the eagle's chest, ripping it's heart to shreds. Her ears were still ringing from the screech, but Scourge let her know that the whoosh she felt was the bird plummeting to it's death, not performing some clever aerial maneuver. Scorn leisurely swung around until her back was to the sun before opening her eyes to slits. She spiraled downward, exhaling in relief when she got low enough to pass into the shadow of a mountain. She and Scourge followed the smell of blood back to their prey. When she landed, Scorn ripped the chunks of heart out of the eagle's chest and began feasting, as was only natural at the conclusion of a hunt. Scourge, for some reason, held back. Scorn was only half paying attention to the exclamations of the foolish stick man who was too weak to even feed himself, much less his own colony. Really, eating him would probably be doing his colony a favor. But his last statement lit a fire in her heart, and she turned on him, blood and gristle dripping from her teeth. "Why we want to do that? I hunt to eat," she sneered, feeling ill at the prospect of having to single-handedly feed an entire colony. Even with Scourge's help, they would be reduced to the status of slaves, doing nothing but scour the land for the easiest prey, seeking abundance over challenge, taking all thrill out of the hunt merely to supply meat to a race that did nothing but consume... it was disgusting, and terrifying, and she would not become slave to anyone. "What I get out of feeding you?"