Hunting The Hunter (Noah)

by **Bronwen** on July 29th, 2015, 10:07 pm

69th of Summer
515

A thin mist hovered above the forest floor where Syna's rays broke through the treetops, turning a drizzly, grey morning, warm and humid.

Garbed in her usual brown, leather vest, like colored pants, disappearing into thin soled boots, Bronwen Druva moved fluidly through the forest, her short bow held by her side, arrow ready in her hand. A long, golden braid swaying across her back, as her gaze swept the forest floor.

Hunting came somewhat naturally to Bron, having an avid hunter for a father, but bringing down the prey, however, eluded her, of late. Still, the hunt was worth it, and the girl vanished into the tree line any chance she could get. It was only now, more than not, she reappeared, just as empty armed, as she had gone in.

Presently, a rustling sound drew the girl's gaze around. Swiftly side stepping to the left, Bron slid in behind a tree -waiting -listening.

More rustling and Bron moved forward, slightly, peering around. Through a small clearing in the trees, a fox slinked out from beneath a thicket, his snout raised, as it paused to sniff the air.

Nocking the arrow, Bron raised the bow and stepped slowly from the tree. Pulling back the string, her fingers brushing lightly against her cheek, she locked a hard gaze on the prey. The fox turned and, just as quickly as it had appeared, disappeared back into the brush.

"Ahhhh, petch!" Bron groaned, throwing her head back. Sighing, she leaned heavily on the tree, returning her gaze to the empty space."Figures.."

Straightening abruptly, she watched as a large shadow floated across the floor of the clearing. Glancing up, she spotted its source; a rather large, brownish bird soaring through the sunlight, circling just above the forest canopy. Bron grinned.

"A pretty bird has pretty feathers, and Bron needs pretty fletching's" she murmured. Throwing herself forward, she shortened the distance between her and the edge of the clearing, and stopped, deft fingers nocking the arrow once again. "So, you're the reason my little fox was so skittish, huh?" she whispered, watching the bird circle a second time. As massive wings dipped to begin the third loop, Bronwen raised the bow and drew back the string, her aim trailing just ahead of the eagle's path. As it topped the clearing, Bron loosed, and the bow thrummed.

The arrow missed the prey by feet, trailing over the treetops and disappearing. Jerking another shaft from the quiver at her back, Bron nocked, aimed, and loosed again, in one swift movement. The arrow broke through the treetop, just before it, and the bird disappeared into the bright sunlight.

Reaching back, the girl spat a curse, as she pulled free the last arrow from the quiver. Stepping back two paces, she raised the bow waist high, nocking the shaft loosely, watching the sky for the elusive prey.

by **Noah Amuel** on August 3rd, 2015, 8:19 am

From above Noah observed the canopy. The trees tightly weaved their branches and leaves together. The weave, tight and green, restricted light from gracing the ground below. His eyes, sharp as they were, drifted from side to side with a steady pace. He was scoping out for a clearing, somewhere to find the meal that would fill his belly for the day.

It had been nearly two days since he had eaten and his stomach was fighting his mind for supremacy in this morning’s hunt. The Kelvic soared high above the canopy and Syna showed on his back with her gentle, yet warm and orange, glow. The morning was early so Syna was just starting her ascension into the skies of Mizahar; casting her rays into the once dark sky turning it into a gradient of orange that faded to pale blue and then purple as it forced Leth’s domain into retreat.

Below, the clearings still had not come. Noah was in a new patch of the Bronze Woods, one that he had not explored before and so he tried to remember the large, fallen trees he had passed over in case he would get lost within the skies over the Woods. Navigation was still not something he excelled at, even though his job as a courier depended on it. Recently he had taken to using his primal form to deliver parcels and letters to those in need. It was much easier on both him and the sender of the package to just tie the product to Noah in his primal form as opposed to forcing Noah to carry the object for deliverance in his hands or pack.

The need for parcels and mail to be delivered was at an all time high around this time, according to his boss. Many people were flocking from Syliras to other cities for the warm months and more were flocking to the castle city to visit. Then there were the immigrants that came in boats from across the Suvan Sea. Noah didn’t pay attention to where they were coming from, but upon meeting them, it was apparent that they were not from the castle city and instead were from somewhere else -- probably somewhere better than the cage that Noah lived in.

The eagle dipped his left wing slightly and felt himself drift into a slow turn. Once he straightened up again, he resumed his search for the clearings he so desperately needed for. One was close, he deduced. The trees’ limbs were once tightly knit, now they began to disperse, as if knowing that Noah was soon to find prey.

His eyes fell upon an unlucky hare finally in a clearing not far from him. Noah leaned forward and began to fall from his altitude slowly. The angle at which he was to begin his dive into his prey changed as he fell from his high space. Eventually the shot was determined to be less of a dive and more of a calculated swoop.

Behind him he felt Zulrav’s winds pick up. The winds propelled him forward and from the tips of his wings, he emitted his own small gust to aid in his acceleration. This gust was powered by the mark of Zulrav found on his right shoulder blade. Now, in this shifted form, the mark could not be seen beneath the feathers but it still lent its magic to the bird in his hunt. With the God of Storms and Sun as his witness he rolled back and forth in the sky, preparing to begin his agile swoop of death.

It was then, as he was skimming across the tops of the now sparse trees, did the rabbit decide to retreat to its burrow. Mentally Noah cursed and found himself back at square one. The clearing was quite large and seemed to hold a plethora of prey animals for him to consume, one at a time, but the trees’ tops were large and ever present. Yes, they obscured him from the cautious eyes of those he hunts, but they also prevented him from seeing his prey. In frustration, he began to circle the clearing. His wings, large and powerful, propelled him forward in the moments that he found against Zulrav’s eastern breeze. It was then, and only then, did he need to pump his wings. When he flew with the wind, a soar would come naturally.

The Kelvic planned his next course of action. It was early in the morning, mist and dew covered the ground, and the prey seemed to be shy of the outside. Then, as he began another cant left, did the gleaming and shimmering of metal zip past him. His eyes followed the metal until it fell into the sea of treetops. In the quick second of the metal flying through the sky, Noah still remained oblivious to what the unidentified-flying-object was. Then the sound came again and again did the shimmer of metal greet his eyes.

This metal was attached to an arrow, he saw now. He felt his heart catch within his chest. Someone was trying to harm him. Quickly he pumped his wings, pulled back against the sky and swooped up towards Syna where he hoped the sun would prevent the attacker from firing any more shots clearly.

The questions began to swirl within his little eagle mind on why someone would try to harm him and what they would do with him should he be killed. The answers didn’t come. He sighed after inhaling the sweet air of the sky. In his primal form he’d surely be seen but as a human, it was much less likely for him to be killed outright in cold blood. Yes, he was an animal but he could also be just as human as those that occupied the castle city. With this in mind he descended towards the clearing. It was when he was beneath the canopy did he shift and come to a rocky fall on the grass filled ground.

Instantly he went to a tree along the perimeter of the clearing. Softly did the Kelvic pad, careful not to disturb the fallen leaves remaining from the last year’s autumn. He gripped the bark of the tree close and pressed his naked chest and pelvis against the trunk in an attempt to keep himself concealed from the wouldbe hunter. Noah peered from behind the tree and into the clearing where he expected to find someone fumbling with a bow.

by **Bronwen** on August 5th, 2015, 1:02 am

Scrubbing a shoulder across her sweat streaked cheek, Bronwen blew an annoyed breath from the corner of her mouth, parting the damp ringlets of chestnut colored hair from her eyes. The day was getting hotter by the tick and she was getting..well.. impatient. The bow and arrow remained casually poised, ready to nock and loose, quickly, at the next swooping bird, but Bron had all but convinced herself the bird was not making another round.

Relenting, with slumped shoulders, the girl swept blue-grey eyes around the heavens one last time, before dropping the bow by her side and replacing the arrow in the quiver. With a quick skyward glance, she turned to begin her hike from the woods, but stopped, eyes snapping back skyward. The large, feathered creature was soring fast, or falling, it was hard to tell, downward, straight for the clearing.

Maybe she had hit the thing after all.

Stepping stumblingly into the clearing, Bron watched as the bird descended, her hand held across her forehead, shielding narrowed eyes from the sunlight. As the feather prey drew nearer, her pace quickened to a trot, bringing her to the far edge of the clearing, where she stopped, brow's arching, as the eagle slipped past the treetops above her, and disappeared into the forest. Hesitantly, Bron slipped just past the tree line.

Slow, deliberate steps moved the huntress around a tangle of fallen limbs, sticks, and leaves, before she paused, listening. A flash of movement caught the corner of her eye and Bron spun, just as a man's head peered around a tree. Bow and arrow met in a haze of movement, as the girl marched forward several paces.

"Who are you?!" she demanded. Dipping the arrowhead, slightly, she goggled. The man was naked! "Are you.." she cleared her throat, attempting to clear away the shock of what she was seeing, her gaze quickly scanning the man's form "Are you hurt? Who are you?" Seeing no blood, she quickly rethought her predicament. Realigning the arrow with the stranger's head, she pulled the string taut, her fingers gently brushing against her cheek, as her feet pulled apart, back stiffening. "I asked you a question, man! Who the petch are you, and why are you watching me?!"

by **Noah Amuel** on August 6th, 2015, 6:43 pm

Noah careened his body to look on either side of the tree. He kept close to the trunk of it – the bark scraped against the skin on his chest and abdomen, yet he hugged it as he scouted the clearing. The curse of having been blessed with such good eyesight meant that the eagle was often distracted by details unseen by other humans. Every sway of grass blades by the wind and tornadic display of fallen leaves left him hypnotized for brief moments at a time. It was within these seconds that caused him to lose track of the hunter that had loosed an arrow at him.

He hugged the trunk of the tree and kept his breaths shallow. He did not know what possessed him to put himself in harm’s way so eagerly but it was much too late to shift now. In the clearing, the hunter could not be seen and so Noah deduced that they had already come to his side of the clearing or, hopefully, had left. Then his head whirled at the crunching of leaves. He inhaled sharply before pushing off the tree and making careful, clumsy, and brisk movements deeper into the forest and farther away from the clearing.

Noah ducked behind another, skinnier tree, and glanced around it as well. When the steps of movement could still be heard but the producer of them could not be seen, the butterflies in his stomach frazzled in panic. He took another hapless breath and swallowed hard – his mouth seemed to be absurdly dry now. His tongue grazed across his lips as his eyes darted to and fro between the large trunks of the trees. The canopy, although sparse, did not aid in his observation and search for the hunter.

Suddenly there was a crack of a twig that brought Noah’s head rearing to the source. He hugged the tree and snaked his head around the trunk where his eyes met and locked momentarily with the hunter, or huntress in this case. In her hand was the bow that had shot the arrow at Noah and quickly it was knocked and she came rushing at him with it raised. In response the Kelvic shot backwards, pushing himself off the trunk with what little strength he had. His lithe frame jumped backwards and kept the gap between them favorable for the time being.

“Who are you?” she demanded of him. The arrow that was once pointed at his face dipped in its guard and a look of concern crept over the woman’s face. The concern lasted as long as she could ask further questions on his wellbeing and Noah assumed that his appearance, void of skin tears or contusions, answered that question for her because the bow and arrow was back in its ever threatening position. This time, however, the arrow was dragged backwards towards her, the fingers that held the arrow’s shaft grazing against her cheek. The bow’s string strained and the wood groaned as it was pulled tautly in preparation to fire.

Instinctively Noah raised his hands in innocence and to ward off any motivations of danger. There was no way for the Kelvic to dodge a shot this close up and so he didn’t want to provoke this woman in anyway. Her concern that turned to anger and accusations sent a chill up his spine and he remained speechless for a time as his mind raced to collect its thoughts. The paranoia attached with being a Kelvic made him believe that this woman actually meant all the harm in the world to him. If he told her that he was the eagle that she shot at, he’d surely be killed here today.

He swallowed dryly. The woman in front of him was tall and her head held hair golden and brown when dappled by the rising sun’s rays. Her eyes, though, held a ferocity within them that pierced through Noah’s hide. They were a mixture of grey and blue and quivered with intensity.

Noah felt the tension between them rising with each passing moment of silence and so he willed himself to speak.

“I-I-I’m Noah,” he stuttered. “I was not watching you – I was watching th-th-the bird.” He took a shaky breath. “I saw it come down here and thought it was perched in the trees,” he lied but hoped that it wouldn’t be detected. He was, after all, scared witlessly and the quavering of his voice hopefully matched the shakiness of his lies.

by **Bronwen** on August 7th, 2015, 9:14 pm

Hiking a brow, Bronwen canted her head just enough to peer around the shaft of the bow, listening as the man spoke. It was a rather large bird.

One minor detail, however, sustained the girl's aim, along with her wariness; the man was as naked as the day he was born.

Stepping forward slowly, Bron's skeptical gaze scanned the vicinity surrounding the man for any potential weapons or companions, but saw nothing. Just man and nature. No clothes either.

Mirth clung in the air around the huntress, a desire to smile tugging at her lips. Not at Noah, but at the odds that she'd be the one that finds a naked man, bird watching. Or that he'd find her. Noah, however, seemed near to falling over with fear. Like prey caught in a hunter's sight Bron thought, considering her bow. Sighing, she eased the string and released the shaft. "OK, Noah, I'm Bronwen Druva." Propping her bow against her hip, she caught the man's gaze, putting emphasis on the name. "Druva, as in -Syliran -Knights -Druva."

Placing the arrow between her teeth, she pulled her bag from around the quiver at her back, still watching the dark haired stranger, and plunged a hand in, producing a cloak. Tossing the garment to Noah, she pulled the arrow from her mouth. "I'm not sure why you have no clothes, frankly not sure if I want to know, but what I do want to know.." Situating the bow around her back, and the arrow in the quiver, she pulled free her quarterstaff, twirling it against her palm, before holding it vertical against her side. The trees did concern the girl, as a hindrance, but she felt safe with the weapon free. Stepping up to Noah, she offered forward her water skin, before continuing her question "is why you are in the forest, unarmed? Do you not know that the Bronze Wood holds countless dangers for any man, let alone one" raising an eyebrow, she cleared her throat "garbed as yourself?"

Stepping back, she shook her head, unsure if she wanted to hear, or would believe, the explanation. If he even gave one. Pausing, she considered the man, before turning to peer up into the tree line. "I saw the eagle, also" she said, turning where she stood "Beautiful bird." Sliding her gaze back to Noah, she gave an innocent grin "Kinda glad I didn't hit it"

by **Noah Amuel** on August 31st, 2015, 2:14 am

Noah examined the woman’s mouth as she spoke and formed the words of her name. He repeated her soon after, testing her name on his tongue. “Bronwen Druva,” he whispered to himself. With cautious eyes he watched the huntress’ hand movements and kept his wits about him as the bag that she had on her back was swung forth and a cloak produced by the lunging hand. The cloak was tossed to him and briefly hid Bronwen from his view and so he panicked as a bird would when their vision – their most valuable asset – was disadvantaged. Quickly he snatched up the cloak and brought it close to his chest where the cloth felt soft against his skin.

“Thank you,” he said to her as he began to wrap the cloak around his body. Bronwen voiced a comment about his nakedness and not wanting to know why, exactly, he was naked in the middle of the Woods. It would have only been a question that Noah would’ve avoided with another lie. Bronwen’s voice trailed off midsentence momentarily as she sheathed her bow and produced a quarterstaff that she held closely. The avian Kelvic canted his head to one side and eyed the quarterstaff as it was something that he had never seen quite up close. It was a weapon; that was all he knew.

With that weapon drawn Bronwen took a step towards him and offered up what Noah recognized to be a water-skin, the thing that humans used to contain their water when they travelled. Politely he raised his hand to decline, facing his flat palm towards the woman and shaking his head slightly. Fright still gripped the Kelvic. He felt like a deer, stiffened and ready to bolt at the scent of their predator. Unfortunate for Noah, he did not hold the nose of the dear or the speed of one when in his more tame and vulnerable shifted half. Inwardly he cursed his own curiosity for Bronwen asked questions that he couldn’t answer truthfully, furthermore.

He was unsure of what lies could possibly lead the huntress of his trail and away from his true identity, but lies weren’t something that came to someone as honest and mostly innocent as Noah. He chewed on his lip instead and let out a grunt that he hoped would dispel her inquisition. It seemed to work as she stepped back and shook her head in reply. Bronwen paused and glanced up into the canopy. Noah glanced with her and listened to what she had to say. The Kelvic almost thanked her for her compliment but caught himself as the breath for the words was drawn. I’m glad you didn’t hit it too he thought happily.

“What of yourself?” he asked, tightening the cloak around his waist to hide the space between his legs. “Are you out here to hunt the birds?” Noah raised his brows and looked at Bronwen with a gaze broken by blinking. His eyes, a mixture of light colors, landed on the woman briefly before fleeting to the spaces behind and around her. While he was talking to this woman, he was also looking for a way out of the situation. He half hoped another predatory distraction would bound through the location, if only to relieve him of the tension that held his bones.

In an attempt to change the scenery of their conversation, while they spoke, he took careful steps through the dewdropped grass to the clearing that he once soared over and where Bronwen had shot the arrow towards him. He knew he wouldn’t feel much safer in the opening, but he hoped that Bronwen’s own guard would lessen when there were no trees for him to hide behind.

by **Elias Caldera** on January 20th, 2016, 12:17 am

Behold, Your Just Reward!

Noah Amuel

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Bronwen

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