Closed Frost In The Air

[Telrin]

7th of winter, 513 a.v late morning. It was a bitter wind that wove through the Bronze Woods, biting viciously at whatever dared to step outside proper shelter. A cruel wind, to be sure, but one that Telrin could endure. It was a step down from the Bonesnapper, at least, and that wind was one that the boy did not miss. The sun was well on her way to her high throne, and the glittering hoarfrost that night had bestowed upon the region had long since vanished into the light. That wasn’t to say it was warm––the air was cool and the breeze cruel, but it wasn’t nearly as vicious as the chill winters Telrin had grown up with. Wrapped snugly in a cloak that was altogether too big for him, the little hunter found the weather altogether… tolerable. Even pleasant, if he let his mind wander. It was something he could get used to. The trees overhead rattled, branches now bare and brittle. His eye caught on the brilliant red of a cardinal as it flitted from one twig to another, occupied with bird-thoughts that Telrin could never fathom. Small animals continued to rummage about in the underbrush, just as busy––if not busier––than they had been in fall. Despite the cold, the forest was by no means still or silent; life continued, as it always had, and the world turned again without concern for the toils of the forest, the animals, or for the boychild that walked among them. Though his skill with tracks and trails was nothing of note, Telrin was able to pick out the vague direction most were going in. Most of the streams had frozen over, but here and there the ice broke and allowed water to well forth and slake the forest’s thirst. It was one of these places that Telrin discovered when he followed the tracks, and after a few moments of consideration he pulled an arrow from his quiver and adjusted the grip he had on his bow. There was nothing here now, but he had a sneaking suspicion that there would be; all creatures needed water, and surely if he waited long enough something would come by. The eleven year old found a tilted tree to take a stance, with a stray branch low enough to the ground for the boy to hoist himself up on. From there, he settled against the trunk of the tree and put the arrow to his bow, though refrained from drawing; there wasn’t anything yet, after all, and it would be useless to tire himself needlessly. And so there the boy sat, and watched, and waited.

[Kizora DuLonite]

7th of winter, 513 a.v
Late Morning

Kizora spurs her horse forward slowly, wringing her hands to chase away the numbness. She loves the cold, but it gets terribly tiresome sometimes. The stead moves slowly, lazily, so she dismounts to let it rest. Her legs quiver the tiniest bit as she regains her balance.

She admires the uniqueness of the landscape. Tall trees, reaching towards the sky, coated in winter's hug. Each place is so beautiful, so different, so absolutely fascinating. She's tempted to rest in the seemingly soft cushion of snow, but the ominous shadows she swore danced in the corner of her eyes prevented her from relaxing.

Songs, winter's songs of birds echoing in the distance. They comforted her with their familiarity. The path to Stormhold castle couldn't be too much longer, but it worried her. She needed supplies, needed supplies desperately. There was a certain feeling of weakness, but the knife at her hip provided some relief from the uncertainty. Her feet carried her a little further, till her hair arced on the back of her neck. She wasn't alone, and she knew it.

[Telrin]

Telrin couldn’t help but grin to himself when the porcupine peeked from a bush on the other side of the stream, tested the air for a few cautious moments and then made its way into the open. A porcupine wasn’t worth much in the way of hides, but certainly wasn’t lacking for meat and would feed him well for a night or two. The young hunter silently drew his bow and leveled the arrow. The porcupine was close, at least close enough that Telrin was more likely to hit it than not if nothing went awry. And besides, porcupines were slow; even if he did miss, he could have another arrow nocked and flying before it left his range. At least, he could have until a horse decided that this was a prudent moment to arrive, making its way towards gods knew where with all the subtlety of a wounded ox. The porcupine squeaked in terror and rushed away from the water source, and Telrin’s stomach dropped. He couldn’t let it get away so easily. But the horse was approaching––it would be between him and his prey in seconds, and then the porcupine would be out of range. If he wanted to take it home, he had to shoot now, and so he threw caution into the wind and slid his gaze to compensate for the creature’s movement. He let the arrow loose, and the projectile flew directly across the horse’s path––not enough to damage, but close enough to the beast’s face that it would see the shadow launched towards it and then disappear onto the ground nearby.

[Halona]

Halona Common | Canine | Thoughts Pushing her way through the deep snow, Halona was in search for a meal. With all the rabbits underground and no bird dumb enough to be caught alive on the forest floor, she was left with two probable options, deer or human. Halona hardly noticed the icy snow clinging to her fur, being in her wolf form her thick fur kept out the cold. Still she shook out her fur sending frozen clumps flying in all directions. Before continuing her pace she sniffed at the air as a freezing breeze came her way. Looking up at the trees above, the blonde wolf cocked her head. Human? She wondered, but after taking another whiff, she shook her head puzzled. I could have sworn...it was there, so faint. Shrugging, she abandoned the smell and continued in her search. Hearing the sound of trickling water up ahead, Halona picked up the pace. A cool drink would do the trick. No more smelling faint traces of humans in the trees, her senses would be sharp and she focused. About to bound the rest of the way to the stream that lay ahead, the Kelvic froze at the sound of hoof beats. Perhaps there was prey to be had after all? Crouching low, the blonde wolf crept closer toward the noise. Her advance halted when the tasty smell of horse mixed with disappointing one of human. She rose from her crouch with a sigh. No doubt the human was armed. They always came armed. Deciding to confirm her suspicion of the armed human, Halona neared for a closer look. A young woman with raven black hair stood by her steed, she was armed Halona noted amber eyes glancing at the knife resting in its sheathe at the lady's hip. Within the human's reach too, petch. Odd the human's just standing there...its almost like she's waiting for something. Halona thought, avidly watching from around a thick oak tree in curiosity. The whizz of an arrow flying overhead made Halona jump, and glance up nervously. Perhaps there was a human up there after all.

[Kizora DuLonite]

The horse jumped, screaming its frightened cry. An arrow was buried in the ground near its feet. Kazori narrowed her eyes, searching for its source. She shouted as she bent her knees in preparation for an attack, small eating knife unsheathed.
"I mean you no harm. I only wish for passage. Please, allow us to carry on in peace."
She damned her own terrible luck. Whatever creature lurked in the shadows may be bloodthirsty. She considered taking to the sky, but she couldn't leave her horse alone. It was clearly some sort of target. Her hips turned in a tight circle, examining the area. If worst came to worst, she would choose freedom over her belongings. The wind picked up in a vicious whip, and she fought the urge to shiver and appear weak.

[Telrin]

Telrin heard the solid thunk of his arrow sinking into something, but the horse and rider were now between him and his prey and blocked his view. The horse shied, which came as no great surprise, and the woman astride it called out. I mean you no harm. I only wish for passage. Please, allow us to carry on in peace. Telrin huffed loud enough for her to hear him and relaxed his grip on the bow; if the porcupine had escaped, there was little he could do about it now. He shifted from his perch on the low branch, causing the entire limb to shake and rattle; his spine ached from being hunched over, and the advantage this location had given him was no longer there. And it was uncomfortable, anyway. The young hunter’s hood miraculously stayed up when he dropped from the limb without any trace of grace. Climbing was not one of his strong suits. He winced when his bow scraped over a rock, and as soon as he got his feet under him he pulled the weapon close to inspect the offended area. It was little more than a scratch, but that was one scratch too much. Telrin then turned his attention to the woman, voice as cold as the air around them. “Rather far from the road, are you not?”

[Halona]

Halona Common | Canine | Thoughts Listening to the humans carry on in their conversation, Halona decided to take advantage of the woman's attention on whatever was up in the trees and aim for her horse. Crouching in the snow, Halona attempted to move silently through the snow picking up and placing each paw as carefully as she could as she crept forward. She was facing the horse's right flank. I'll startle it into a run. From then on the chase will begin. The Kelvic wasn't even sure a wolf as small as her could bring down a horse more than three times her size but if she knew anything about prey, it was that a injured animal was a dead one in these woods. She snarled and rushed the horse snapping her jaws as she charged. Run, horse run! She thought, aiming for the horse's right foreleg if it didn't.

[Rion Whitestone]

A few feet from the angry tree that had decided to launch arrows at the woodland folk, a brown figure sat, buried in snow and fast asleep. Rion had made the horrible decision, after a chase with a deer, to sit and rest under a tree the day before, and now he was sleeping under a blanket of white sheets, frozen to the core. He only woke up when he heard the sound of someone shouting close by. Mumbling under his breath, he opened one eye to find himself staring up at the sun. At first, he only felt the cold chill of the snow, which he acquainted to the normal winter conditions. Then he felt his body being restricted by something a bit heavy. It wasn't until his other eye opened that he realized his predicament. Since it was just snow, though, Rion had no reason to panic. Shaking off the frozen rain, Rion let out a low yawn before beginning his usual early morning routine: limbering up. He learned from his time on the farm that pulling muscles needed to be avoided at all cost. The woods were no different. Imagine if he pulled a muscle while he was swinging his sword at a bear… As he was doing this casual routine, he took note of the little things around him. He noticed a stream was close by that wasn't frozen over. Rion had run to it the day before, but hadn’t really noticed it because he was so tired. "Wonder if I'll get to see a plant eater come have a drink here," Rion thought. "It would be nice to see one of them for once instead of a-" Before the thought could finish, Rion's attention was drawn by the small wolf walking close by. However, as many wolves as he'd seen, he was casual about this sighting. "Of course," he thought with a shake of his head. “It’ll probably be too easy if I just start seeing deer everywhere.” By now he'd finished up his stretches and was ready for his early morning walk. However, it didn't look like the wolf had spotted him yet, so he instead decided to linger for a bit. It wasn't everyday he got to see a wolf hunt somebody else. Maybe he'd just find a nice seat and learn a little bit about animal psychology.

[Kizora DuLonite]

Kizora screamed viciously, with the voice of a raven. It spurred the horse faster, as she'd hoped. It was safer farther from the new threat. She threw herself in front of its path, willing to take the hit from the oncoming wolf. If the screech didn't scare it away, maybe a knife would. Hopefully the boy who emerged from the forest wasn't another threat, or too startled by her little voice trick. That was the most she could hope for.
Her horse was already many feet ahead of her, and she prayed she could catch up to it again once the encounter was finished. If she had to, she could always fly above and search for it. Sometimes it answered its whistle, but not always. The scoundrel of a thing was one of her last ties to her family, but it seemed pretty attached to her. It better not go get itself killed. Her knees bent to brace the possible impact as she swung the knife back in forth in wide arcs.

[Telrin]

Several things happened at once. First of all, Telrin caught sight of a movement in the underbrush too tall for any animal he’d ever seen. The young hunter turned to try and get a better view of what it was, but was distracted by the sudden appearance of a wolf, snarling and snapping at the woman’s horse. Telrin turned to assess the new threat, but then the woman screamed with a voice that wasn’t quite right and threw herself between the wolf and the fleeing horse. Telrin blinked, taking in everything that had just happened, and then he was moving. He snatched another arrow from his quiver, porcupine forgotten, and fitted it to his bow. It didn’t matter that this woman was a stranger, or that there was something else in these woods; this wolf was an immediate threat that overtook all other concerns. He had been standing fairly close to the horse, and so therefore was standing fairly close to the wolf. Well within his range. Telrin drew his bow, took a breath and let the arrow fly.