A Hunting We Will Go [Aran]

by **Naiya** on July 31st, 2014, 5:23 pm

The soft twang of Aran's bow string was enough to send the other rabbits scattering. Rue followed the zigzag pattern of one for a moment, jumping her aim up past the frightened creature along his path. Then she let the arrow fly, drawing a second in the instant after the first was clear, she let that one loose too.

A third arrow caught in the top of her quiver as she attempted to remove it, and she had to get it free before she could line up her next shot. Luckily she hadn't needed the third shot.

The rabbit fell to the ground, her second arrow, having been unneeded, stuck in the dirt ahead of the creature. She grinned, thinking Ovek must be smiling down on her to have had such luck.

She picked her way carefully towards her kill, the scream of the creatures still echoing in her head. When she reached her rabbit she reached past it to lift her second arrow, cleaning it off before placing it back in her quiver, the third arrow joined it. She lifted her kill, from the ground, careful to avoid the arrow, and when she did the small creature screamed. The sound filled with pain and terror.

Rue was startled into joining the creature in the sound, dropping it back to the ground where it ran a few more steps before dropping again. Before she could even process really what she was doing, she drew the dagger from her boot sheath and slit the wounded rabbit's throat.

by **Aran Windblown** on July 31st, 2014, 5:55 pm

Aran watched Rue finish off the kill as he cleaned his arrow and returned it to his quiver. "Good work," he said with a smile. "Little sucker must have moved in just the wrong way; you have good aim."

Aran whistled, calling Anyalvis over to him so that he could tie his kill to the yvas. Anyalvis snorted at the smell, but he was used to being used to carry dead animals, so he didn't protest any further.

by **Naiya** on July 31st, 2014, 6:55 pm

Rue's hands shook as she upended the rabbit, letting the creature drain the life sustaining fluid that now rushed to escape its body. There was blood on her hand, and some marring the beautiful coat. One she wiped on the grass, the other she could do little about, though for some reason the sight shook her.

"Thanks." She managed the response in what resembled a normal voice, "You too." Wildfire trotted after the other horse, Rue's distress signaling him that he would be fine to come despite having not been called.

One handed she removed the lightly oiled cloth from her pack, using it to clean knife after wiping most of the blood in the grass. She would not want the nice metal to rust because she hadn't taken good care of it.

She tucked both the knife and the cloth away, turning to inspect her rabbit once more, suppressing the shudder it caused her to lift it up again.

The bleeding had slowed, but would still likely leave trails along wildfire's side, she frowned at that thought. It was bad enough already, she didn't need blood on more things.

by **Aran Windblown** on July 31st, 2014, 10:28 pm

Aran glanced over at Rue, taking in the situation. Without a word, he grabbed one of his extra bags and held it out to Rue, offering it to her to help contain the last bits of blood. "I won't mind if it gets stained," he said, but then paused at the look on her face. "Hey, are you all right? You seem very shaken."

by **Naiya** on August 1st, 2014, 1:53 am

She turned to him, taking the bag with nodded thanks. She carefully dropped the rabbit in side, and then hung the entire bag from wildfire's yvas.

She was less prepared for his question, because she wasn't even sure what had shaken her so badly. She had killed before, hunting was not something that bothered her. She had seen plenty of blood too, especially after the Zith attacks not so long ago. Then there were the glassbeaks...

So why was she so upset?

The scream maybe, of the creature she had thought dead. It didn't seem like much, but maybe it was the cause of her unsteadiness.

"I'm fine." It wasn't quite true at the moment, but it would be soon. "I think the rabbit just startled me."

She gave him a steady look, hoping to sell the story by looking the part.

"I have some apples in my bag, did you want one?" She dug in her bag as she spoke, her not so subtle subject change offering a distraction from... what ever had spooked her.

She offered Aran the apple, miming a toss to him once before following through and sending the apple through the space between them.

by **Aran Windblown** on August 1st, 2014, 12:13 pm

Busy trying to decide if Rue had been telling the truth, Aran almost missed the apple; as it was, it definitely wasn't his most graceful moment, scrambling to catch it before it hit the ground; the unspoken rule between him and Anyalvis was if the food hit the ground, it was fair game. As he took a bite of the fruit, however, Aran decided that, even if she wasn't telling the truth, Aran didn't didn't Rue well enough to press any further.

"Thank you," he said, offering a smile. "You wouldn't think rabbits would be capable of making such loud noises, but most prey can. Defense technique; lets the rest of the prey nearby know that there is a predator on the hunt."

by **Naiya** on August 1st, 2014, 2:17 pm

She chuckled at his lack of grace, pulling a second apple and digging into the fruit with her nails so that she could split it into two pieces.

She kept the larger half, offering the other to Wildfire who took the whole piece in his mouth, chewed it some and spit most of it back on her hand.

"That was great, really, very endearing, Wildfire. "

He whinnied his pleasure, and Rue found that his cheer helped to steady her. So she sounded more convincing when she answered Aran.

"I've heard them cry before, I guess I've just never been so close when they did."

by **Aran Windblown** on August 2nd, 2014, 12:01 am

.

Aran laughed and shoved Anyalvis's nose out of his face. "All right, all right, give me a second, you petching impatient horse," he grumbled fondly, prying the apple in his hand in half. He held the un-bitten half out to the Strider, who practically inhaled it off of Aran's hand. "Pig," Aran snorted, scratching under Anyalvis's forelock, smiling as the stallion bobbed his head to direct Aran's fingers.

The Drykas turned his attention back to Rue. "Being that close would startle anyone, I imagine," he said thoughtfully; he'd had his fair share of incidents with unexpectedly screaming animals. "Do you wish to stay out for a bit longer?"

by **Naiya** on August 2nd, 2014, 4:23 am

"Your strider is quite the character. Is he always so much fun?" Rue asked, noticing once more the playful nature of the older horse.

She shook her head, then, in answer to his question.

"Maybe just a roundabout ride back to the other horses." She said, reluctance coloring her posture. "I don't want to upset my father by being out all day."

Wildfire was slowly picking through the rest of the apple in her hands, though with no pattern the girl could discern, and she shoved the pieces at him to encourage him to hurry.

"We could certainly take the long way though." She said, offering him a friendly grin.

by **Aran Windblown** on August 2nd, 2014, 1:56 pm

.

Aran laughed. "The first time I got close to Anyalvis, he stuck his head under the tent wall near my bedroll and woke me up by lipping at my nose. And that was after he stalked me for a few weeks," he informed Rue. "He's yet to lose any of his personality, as far as I can see, although he's sixteen summers now." Aran offered the core of his half to Anyalvis, who took it eagerly, bobbing his head as he chewed.

"The long way around works for me," Aran said after moment, wiping his sticky hands off on Anyalvis's mane; the stallion gave him the stink-eye, but Aran just stuck his tongue out; not like Anyalvis hadn't been used as a cleaning cloth before. He returned Rue's grin.