There's More Than One Way to Skin a Cat

[Dravite]

28 Summer, 515 AV
Morning, 8th Bell

Atticus had sold him a fine Coloursplash Mare with a deep red coat and white splotches of colour, like snow smattered across her body. The mare had four white socks and a full facial mask that made her look as if she had dipped her head in a bucket of white paint. Dravite had called her bones, blues eyes set behind the white skull of her markings. Bones, yes, she would be perfect for her intended task, if only, Dravite thought, she would let him approach her.

The mare was skittish, highly strung, and sensitive to movement. They had managed to get a halter on her and Dravite had only been able to lead her home with Cree's help; another horse to disguise that she was doing as the man bid, not as she pleased. Her spirited temperament and unapproachable demeanour were both reflected in the price he had managed to pick her up for. A bit of hard work, the horse lord told himself, would pay off in the long run; though it seemed his wife did not feel the same way.

"If that horse breaks your legs what use will you be to this family?" Belkaia scolded.
"She isn't going to break anything," Dravite assured the woman, "I won't let her."
"What if she bites Kyanite?"
"She doesn't bite, she's just afraid. She obviously hasn't had much human contact. You know how the foreigners are, they don't breed horses to ride them; they breed them for profit and send them from one corner of the realm to the next for gold."
"Exactly," Belkaia spat, "they don't care if she breaks your neck as long as they have their gold."
"Kaia," the horse lord cooed softly, trying to calm his wife, "trust me, I won't do anything stupid."

Belkaia moved away when Dravite reached out to her, folding her arms so that he could not take her hand. "You spend more on your precious animals than you do on your own wife and son!"
"Could you speak up?" He growled, "I don't think the Ruby Clan on the other side of the city quite heard you!"

Dravite left the tent like a whirlwind, the door flaps flying out of his way as he stepped out from the folds. He was angry, why didn't Belkaia ever see the bigger picture? Bones would make travel a lot easier of all of them as they could load her saddlebags up and ride freely on their own horses from one camp-site to the next across the Sea of Grass. "I will rule you," he promised the horse, who looked at him with wild, blue eyes.

Carefully he took hold of the rope that hung from the underside of her halter and mounted his Strider, leading the Coloursplash mare out into the open. They raced across the plain towards the Uvic Lake, half a bell from the summer grounds of Endrykas. There, Dravite led his horses into the lake. Bones resisted at first, throwing her head up high. It was Cree who managed to calm her down, calling from the shallows of the lake before ducking his head to drink, thirsty after the ride. Bones waded into the water slowly and drank alongside the placid stallion. Dravite watched her from the saddle of Cree's back, talking too her in a calm tone of voice. "There we go, not so bad," he smiled, leading them deeper.

Horses are fine swimmers and it seemed Bones was no exception to the rule. Her nostrils and eyes were wide, head lifted high, if only she would relax, Dravite thought, then she might swim better. Cree loved the water, but he found it harder to stay afloat with Dravite on his back. The stallion protested with a shake of his head, throwing water left and right. Not a keen swimmer, Dravite was careful when he slipped from the stallion's back, making sure he had a good grip on the yvas as he swam alongside his mount, kicking his legs out slowly behind him as he was more or less dragged about the lake by the large stallion.

The sun was warm on his bare shoulders, the birds were chirping away in the trees, and the sky didn't seem to have a single cloud in it. This season’s weather had been better than Dravite could remember, but was it just the calm before the storm? He reached out to Bones, stroking her neck to try and get her used to the caress of a human hand, and being that they were up to their necks in water, the mare would find it too hard to resist without losing concentration. Treading water was a very tiring exercise, and soon all three of them had experienced enough swimming for one day.

[Dravite]

They swam to the edge of the lake and as they neared the shallows, Dravite braved the last of the swim without the help of his strider, waving his arms past his head and kicking his legs behind him to cut through the water to where his feet would touch the ground. For a while he moved between the shallows to brave the deep, testing the limits of his skill. It wasn't long before the man grew tired, the swim taking more endurance than he thought it would. When he emerged from the shallows, his trousers were soaked and his bare chest and arms felt cold in the light breeze that hummed through the tall grass, causing it to bow back and forth till it seemed the plain danced all around them.

He had managed to fasten the end of the rope to Cree's yvas so that Bones couldn't get away without taking Cree with her. The two stood at the lakeside shaking the water from their coats like wet dogs. Dravite squeezed the water from his wheat coloured hair and weaved the mess of dreaded locks into a loose braid, tying the end off with a thin strap of leather to keep the hair from his face. "Cree!" He called, summoning the stallion to his side.

Cree raised his head to stare at the Drykas man, offering a disgruntled snort before he lowered his head again to rip up some of the grass underfoot. Dravite laughed and closed the gap between them, catching the rope with his right hand. Bones jumped back as if she had seen a ghost, and shook against her bindings, trying to steal the rope away from the man's grasp. Dravite held a hand up and called to her. "Bones, calm... Calm," he reassured her in a gentle tone of voice.

Soon the mare seemed to settle, though her hooves struck the ground nervously, turning up earth and sand. As he drew closer to her, she lashed out with her front legs, the type of kick he had only ever witnessed a stallion preform in the past. The horse lord gave the animal plenty of room; he didn't want to go home battered and bruised to give his wife the chance to say 'I told you so'. Bones was going to take a lot of work if she was to be ready for carrying their gear by the end of summer and Dravite was already making plans and estimating how many bells a day he would have to dedicate to her on top of his job if he wanted to reach his goal.

He would have to start easy, he thought, there was no point in rushing things. Being able to approach her without her lashing out would be important, not just for his well-being but that of his wife and son, he wouldn't dream of putting either of them in harm’s way, but perhaps this time he had bitten off more than he could chew. Still, the man had paid too much coin to give up just because it seemed he had a lot of work ahead of him. After he spent some time observing her, Dravite noticed that Bones was very unsure of the rope that hung from her halter; perhaps, he wondered, the mare thought the length of weaved material was a snake, after all Cree was petrified of snakes, it only made sense that Bones might be too.

He untied the end of the rope from the yvas and led Bones out into a clearing through the tall grass. He took enough of the rope that he could swig it at his side, causing the mare to move away from the commotion. Whenever she trotted he smacked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, driving her round in a wide circle. After the run and the swim, and with the sun beating down on them, it was only a matter of time before Bones grew tired of the exercise. She would stop and stare at the man, confused; a full bell had passed and still she kept running from something that didn't seem to be able to catch her, though it had no trouble keeping up.

The mare looked tempted to edge closer to investigate, but her legs refused to obey, so instead she stretched her neck to try and sniff at the spinning rope. Dravite made a low clicking noise again and encouraged the mare to trot away from him, but she soon stopped again and pointed her body forwards to face him. Dravite couldn't work out if that was a defiant stance, or one of acceptance. He wanted the horse to come to him, refusing to step forward in an attempt to comfort her. Bones seemed equally as stubborn, turning her ears ahead of her to listen only to point them back again when the horse lord on the other end of the rope said nothing. At least, he thought, he knew what that look meant. When a horse moved their ears back and low, it was a sign of aggression. "Enough for one day," Dravite sighed, "you look almost as sweaty as I feel."

[Dravite]

Back at camp, Dravite spent a bell grooming Cree, brushing his still-wet hair down. The stallion looked half asleep and paid little mind Bones who was still tied to him to keep her from straying. The horse lord brushed the knots out of Cree's mane and tail before leading them both out to the edge of the city where they were free to graze. He watched the pair for a spell, Cree putting his head down to tear at the grass while Bones looked about relatively unsure of her surrounds and newly acquired freedom. She was tired from the morning's excursions, having spent the last two weeks penned up with the rest of the imports.

When Dravite got back to camp, Roan greeted him with a warm smile. "Are we hunting today?"
"Why not?" Dravite beamed; he would prefer to go out and about than sit at home and have Belkaia scold him with her dirty looks.
"On foot?" Roan inquired.
"If you prefer?"
"My horse is housed in the stables on the other side of town; I can't be bothered to go all the way there before we leave."
Dravite laughed, "On foot it is then, get your things; I'll meet you here in a chime."

He disappeared into his tent while Roan checked his own weapons over. Dravite knelt down beside his things and slipped into his black and green, leather tabard. He had bought it to wear while at work with The Watch, but after being turned out from the Windborne pavilion and taking his father's name of Blackwater, Dravite hadn't bothered to use the lightweight, leather armour. He fixed his dagger to his belt along with his hatchet and picked up his spear, checking the weapon over before he left the tent. On the way out he remembered his sketch book and turned back to collect it.

Two bells into the hunt and the boys had failed to find anything. It was Dravite who decided it was time to stop and work on a new tactic. He sat down in the tall grass while Roan watched his back. A moment’s meditation saw him drift away into a light trance, reaching out to the glowing strands of the web that floated near like ribbons in the wind. Tracing the elegant strands, Dravite followed the interwoven lines until he felt the gentle rumble of Djed hum through the strands to his right. The man followed the vibrations until he came across a band of skunks. While their fur was valuable and highly sought after by foreign traders, Dravite didn't quite fancy returning home smelling of arse.

Another faint whisper saw him carry on his search to where he found a small body of water. He didn't sense any movement in the surrounding area but it was a better starting point than they could hope for. Water meant animals and animals left tracks to follow. Dravite returned to his limp form and when he opened his eyes to wake from the trance, Roan was watching him with this hopeful little glint in his eyes.
"Did you find anything?"
"A few skunks."
Roan screwed up his face, "I'm good with a bow, but I doubt we'll have the element of surprise with my poor aim."

Dravite laughed. He got to his feet and looked about for some kind of landmark that would lead them to the water he had spotted. "There," the man pointed to a tree in the distance, "the pond is over there."

[Dravite]

When they arrived at the pond both men pointed their gaze at the ground, walking slowly about the edge of the pool looking for animal tracks. Roan was the first to spot something and called Dravite over to investigate. Dravite ran around to Roan's side of the pond and looked down at the tracks. He took out his leather bound notebook and started sketching the print. The pad was an interesting shape that curved in and out on itself with three concave, and three convex lines. Dravite counted four toes and sketched the basic shapes into his blank book as best he could.
"What do you suppose it is?" He asked Roan.
"I'm not sure, some kind of dog perhaps; a lion?"
Dravite peered at the print again and shook his head, "I've seen lion tracks, and they’re a lot bigger than this."
"A wolf?" Roan wondered aloud.
Dravite stood up slowly and tucked his book away in the back of his belt, "you know I think that's exactly what it is, but just to make sure, perhaps I should consult the web again?"
"I'll keep a look out," Roan told him and turned to scan the horizon quickly.

Dravite's head bowed forward as he sat down and he found he was quickly able to pick up where he had left off, re-entering the web as the world around him went dark. He followed the woven strands far and wide, searching for signs of movement only to stop and wait to see if something came to him. The web seemed to act like the strings of a guitar in that when anything crossed it, big or small, it's movement was recorded in the form of a vibrating hum, and just like strumming the cord of a guitar made noise, all Djed was traceable in the web to those who knew how to listen for it.

Presently a pair of brothers stalked towards the two hunters stooped beside the water. Their grey eyes narrowed on the seemingly lifeless target; easy picking for two wolves. Roan heard a rustle in the grass and spun to find the wolf brothers edging bravely towards him. He gave Dravite a kick and quickly shook the trancing man's shoulder. "Wolves! Dravite! Wake up! Wolves!"

Dravite meanwhile was unresponsive, still lost deep within the web where the movements of the wolves had gone unnoticed.

Roan readied his bow and pulled back the taut bow-string, lining up an arrow to fire should the wolves venture any closer. The smaller of the pair did just that and jumped forward threateningly at the young bowman. Roan, losing his nerve, fumbled with his arrow and called to Dravite again, "Blackwater, wake up!"

He released the arrow and watched it wiz by one of the brothers, who he could have sworn smiled, and rather smugly at that.

When Dravite came to, having been unsuccessful in his search, the first thing he saw was not Roan’s smiling face, but the wolf brothers snapping their teeth together, hackles raised and ears flat against the back of their heads. Dravite took hold of his spear and stumbled to his feet like a new-born calf, adrenaline taking charge. He hissed at the brothers and bared his teeth, stabbing his spear forwards at them in an attempt to intimidate the pair. The wolves, not used to human contact, seemed too brave for their own good and as the bigger of the two found his feet, Dravite launched another attack and trusted his spear into the larger wolf's chest.

[Dravite]

The attack seemed to be in the hunter’s favour, and Roan, suddenly brave now that his comrade had returned, fired another shot towards his pick of the wolves, catching it right, back leg of one of them. The younger wolf yelped and turned to attack the arrow buried in his limb while his brother sucked in his last breath on the end of Dravite's spear. Relentless, the horse lord pulled his spear from the animal only to drive it back in, making sure the wolf was dead before he moved to deal with the younger of the two. A guttural cry, almost deafening in its assault on the man's ears, was ripped from the wolf as Dravite finished him off, pinning the distracted animal on the end of his weapon. As it turned, dumbfounded, to snap at its killer, Dravite drove his right foot forward in a powerful kick to the animal's head.

Again he buried his spear in the second wolf, impaling the wolf with the sharp instrument. Stunned and wild with adrenaline, Dravite let go of his spear, sinking to his knees to kiss the ground, thanking the gods for his triumph over the near-death experience. "By the witch, the mother, and father of storms, I owe my life to you; thank you."

Roan was shaking like a leaf, scared to get too close to the dead wolves, as if they would come to life just to spite him. Dravite got up and stood there trying to catch his breath.
"I could have died!" He yelled.
Roan looked pale. "Didn't you hear me shouting at you?"
"No!" Dravite scolded, "I can't hear anything while I'm trancing, didn’t your father teach you anything?"
Roan looked as if he were about to cry, his young voice breaking as he spoke, "I shook you, I beat you, I tried to protect you!"
"They were a tick away from taking my ankle! How can you call that protection?" Dravite scolded.
Roan wiped frustrated tears away with the back of his arm. "I'm sorry!"
Dravite softened, had it not been for Roan things might have been a lot worse, "it’s okay," Dravite told the boy, "we're alive and both unharmed; that's the main thing."
"You didn't sense them in the web?" Roan inquired.
"No," Dravite admitted, "I'm no master webber, not yet anyway."

[Dravite]

Dravite carried both of the wolves back to camp on his shoulders; Roan had been too afraid to touch them. When they were within ten chimes of camp, Dravite dropped the wolves, opting to drag them by the back legs instead; tired after walking across country with the pair slung over his shoulders. Wolves were heavier than they looked and Dravite was no athlete. He dumped them outside of his tent and sat down on the log positioned in front of the fire, one he had dragged into camp a few days ago with the help of his uncle Raven Morningsong, who had set up camp along with his wife Yuki and daughter Sparrow, within the Blackwater boundaries.

Raven had just returned from his own hunt empty handed and stared down at the pair of wolves. "By the light of Syna, how did you manage that?" Raven laughed.

Belkaia stepped out of her tent with Kyanite in her arms, having heard that her husband had returned. She looked at Dravite and then at the wolves; concern etched across her features.

"We are all right," Dravite explained, "they snuck up on us and Roan here fended them off."

Roan bowed his head, having nothing to add to the conversation.

"Are they any good for eating?" Belkaia inquired.
Raven laughed, "I don't know if I would call them good eating, but they are eatable."
"I want the pelts," Dravite admitted, "I don't care what we do with the rest of them."
Raven scratched his head, "you'll want to take them to the tanner then if you would like the work to be of any quality."
"I'll take the biggest of the pair to the tanner; he can keep the meat in return for a pelt"
"He will probably want some form of payment on top of that," Raven added.
"Then he can keep the meat from both, but I want to skin one of them."
"Sounds fair, but doesn't Roan get a say?"

Dravite looked at Roan.

Roan shook his head. "Dravite killed them, I merely injured one."
"All right then," Raven nodded, "I could offer you some pointers?"

Belkaia wandered back into the tent to continue with her weaving while Roan told the camp he was going for a walk. Raven sat down beside Dravite and watched him look over the smaller of the two wolves. "I always start with the belly, cut off the legs and save what I can of the easier parts."
Raven smiled, "not bad for a beginner but keeping the fur on the legs will make the pelt more valuable. Make an incision under the pad of the foot," he directed the man's work, pointing to the soft spot under the animal's paw.

Dravite did as he was told, tracing just behind the pad with the tip of his hunting knife.

"Right, now make yourself a little pocket in there with the end of the blade and feel around with a finger until you find the bones."
"Like this?" Dravite asked, moving his blade back and forth gently until he had enough room to get his fingers under the tough pad of the wolf's paw.
"Good," Raven encouraged. "You feel that bone? Bend the paw back on itself until you hear and feel the toes break."

The horse lord followed the commands in his own time, taking in as much of the advice as he could in an attempt to commit it to memory. He broke each of the toes using his hands and watched as Raven demonstrated the next step. "You want to peel the pelt away from flesh and leg bone now. This frees up enough room to turn each of the toes inside out and remove the smaller bones."

Dravite was impressed, he had never thought about the little details Raven was shedding light on now. He repeated the process on the other three feet under his uncle's watchful eye and stared down at his work, relatively impressed with what he had managed to accomplish.
"Now you can make your normal cuts down the belly and each of the legs making sure the incision line up."

Dravite's lines were all wrong, his skinning knife wasn't sharp enough and his skill didn't quite stretch to making a very good job of the underbelly of the wolf, nor the cuts that joined up with the work he had already done on the legs. "I'm no good at this," he complained.
"All the more reason to practice," Raven smiled and pat his nephew on the shoulder, "you'll get there soon enough."

[Dravite]

"What about the head?" Raven argued.
"I'm too tired to care, uncle."
Raven folded his arms, "and what kind of attitude is that?"
"Unfavourable, I know," Dravite admitted, "but you cannot expect me to be an expert after just one lesson."

Raven fell silent, but remained ever watchful. Dravite started cutting back the hide when his uncle piped up again. "No, from here you can peel the hide away from the muscle now that you have done all the difficult parts."
Dravite gave it a go, peeling the pelt away from the belly and back just as Raven had explained, "But what happens when parts of it don't come away as easily?" Dravite asked.
"Then you can use your knife."

As the young horse lord lifted the blade to cut at the skin Raven scolded him, "no, not like that!" He took the knife and used the weight of the wolf to his advantage, gentle guiding the knife closer to the muscle so that the pelt came away easily. "Give it a go."

Dravite mimicked the man's demonstration but had less luck, nicking the pelt in two places, holes that would be hard to hide from an expert merchant. He sighed, why did he bother when there were people in the marketplace that had done this kind of thing all their lives? Wasn't it just easier to leave it to the experts and get on with other things?
"You can do this," Raven encourage, "yes you nicked it a few times, but look at the vast improvements between this and the last rabbit you butchered."
Dravite laughed, "You have a point, but I'm frustrated with it all, it takes so much time."
"Would you like me to finish it?" Raven offered.
"No I've got it."

Within the next fifteen chimes Dravite had finished with removing the pelt and laid it out on the grass in front of him before studying the muscles on the skinned wolf. He fetched his notebook, a bloody thumbprint left on the bottom of the page he turned to. Dravite sketched the wolf's form and added great detail to the lines of the muscle that joined the front leg to the shoulder and the back leg to the hip. He was starting to show a lot more interest in his work and even added little captions below each of the drawings; labelling them accordingly. Shoulder, hip, spine, leg, tailbone.

He washed his hunting knife and spear before setting them aside in their rightful places and returned with the salt he needed to cure the pelt he had set down on the grass; this being the most basic steps of the tanning process, no doubt the actual tanner would do a lot better job of the other wolf. Dravite rubbed salt into the legs of the pelt before tackling the body. He was careful not to miss anything and paid close attention to the edges, which tended to curl up or even rot if they did not see enough salt, which he had discovered from past attempts at tanning.

"Why don't you get that meat to market before it gets too much sun, the tanner will want to know it's fresh if you plan to set up some sort of deal with him."
Dravite smiled up at Raven and agreed with a nod, "You’re right, he won't take it otherwise.

The man got to his feet and lifted the untouched wolf up onto his left shoulder before Raven helped tuck the second under his arm. "Good luck, nephew."

[Dravite]

The marketplace wasn't relatively busy and Dravite only had to wait for one other customer to finish dealing with the tanner before he could approach the man. He advanced towards the stall and set both wolves down, one on top of the other once the first guy had moved on.
"And what do we have here?" The tanner smiled, admiring the pelt on the untouched wolf.
"Fresh, caught about two bells ago. I was hoping you could help me save the pelt on this one."
"Did you make a mess of the other pelt?" The man inquired.
"It wasn't too bad, but I'd like you to try and preserve the mask on this one including the nose," Dravite explained.
"I can do that for two gold and some silver."
"I was hoping you might do it for the meat," Dravite tried to negotiate a deal.
"Well, my brother is a butcher, not I."
"I know, I brought you that nice doe at the beginning of the season."
"Oh that's right!" The tanner smiled, "she was a beauty." He ran his hand over the head of the wolf and pinched the ear. "Hmm," the man hummed. "The meat will be worth something to my brother for sure and I can tan this pelt for you within the week; how does that sound?"
Dravite beamed, had he just successfully negotiated a deal? Of course he had no idea what the wolf meat was worth, and probably would have kicked him when he later found out, but for now he was satisfied with his dealings. "Sounds good to me," he nodded. "I'll return this time next week to collect the pelt."

The two men shook hands before Dravite went on his way, satisfied with the day's work, if not a little exhausted.

[Naiya]

Here's what the Fox says

Name:Dravite
XP Award:

• Animal Husbandry +3
• Body Building +3
• Cosmetology +1
• Drawing +2
• Endurance +4
• Grooming +1
• Horsemanship +3
• Hunting +3
• Intimidation +1
• Land Navigation +1
• Logic +4
• Mathematics +1
• Negotiation +2
• Observation +5
• Persuasion +2
• Planning +1
• Riding +1
• Seduction +1
• Skinning +2
• Socialization +5
• Swimming +2
• Tactics +1
• Tanning +1
• Tracking +1
• Weapon: Spear +2
• Weaving +1
• Webbing +2
• Wilderness Survival +2
• Writing +1

Lore:

• Bones: A wild Colorsplash mare
• Cosmetology: A loose braid
• Drawing: Concave and convex lines
• Horsemanship: Lunging a horse
• Horsemanship: Recognizing signs of aggression
• Hunting: Skunks are stinky prey
• Mathematics: Counting
• Skinning: Line up your incisions
• Skinning: Peel the skin once the tough parts are loose
• Skinning: Start under the paw

Awards: One small wolf pelt in poor condition, one large wolf pelt in excellent condition (to be retrieved in 1 week). A color splash mare named Bones
Notes: Great thread, nice to see Dravite finally stop wasting all that fur. It killed the seamstress in me who wants badly to make a fur blanket for her family.

Anyway, you packed in the skills, and I did my best to catch them all. Don't forget to edit your grade request.