Jaeden shook his head in response to Jilitse’s question. “No, I wouldn’t die if Red were to perish,” he said faintly, almost a whisper. “I would only wish I were dead. It would sort of feel like a sense of sorts being stripped away from me. As well, I’ve grown very fond of her.”
Jaeden slowly looked over towards Jilitse for a moment, pausing on his words before he gave a quick shake of his head. “It would affect me more on an emotional level than it would on the physical one in the end.” Jaeden said, rubbing his chin. “A feeling of loss, to it‘s fullest extent.”
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Jaeden cupped his hands together as Jilitse poised questions and examined the print along the ground. He gave a slow shake of his head smirking when she restated the comment about the use of magic in tracking. “No, I don’t use magic.” Jaeden replied, slowly standing back up. “I can tell certain things, but such wouldn’t tell me what someone physically looked like, of course. Just certain physical characteristics. It’s all deductive guessing in the long run of things.”
“The size of the print will generally be larger or smaller based how large someone is, and how deeply that print was made will give a little clue as to how much they weigh.” Jaeden explained, stepping along the ground next to the print that Jilitse examined. When he lifted his foot, his own track in the ground had been left, stretching a couple of inches longer than the track they had discovered. “My foot’s a little bigger and deeper, so I can guess that the person who left this print is a little shorter and weighs less than I do. How much shorter or how much less he weighs, well that’s only estimation for the most part. A master tracker knows how a person’s foot leaves behind a track along the ground so well, that they could be more precise in those estimations though.”
Jaeden then looked forward towards their intended direction. “Other things that could be revealed are certain injuries. Leg or back injuries will tend to cause people to step a certain way, as they attempt to spare any further pain caused to the injury by walking normally. One track will be more dominant than the other as they try to keep less weight on one leg, or their tracks will be angled, walking a certain way as they attempt to step lightly or walk a certain way to avoid aggravating a back injury.” Jaeden explained further as he continued their walk, peering over his shoulder as Jilitse examined Jaeden’s and Fortunado’s tracks as their walked. “Little differences will lend clues to different things. Like torn up earth when someone leaves a track while running, or several different, cluttered tracks in a small area, scattered and random, to suggest that a conflict or battle may have been happening.”
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Jaeden slowly reached to his quiver, pulling out an arrow as it was nocked into his bow. Eventually a rustle heard from the foliage of the forest made it‘s way to their ears as three men came into view. One of them was close to six feet tall, black hair, brown eyes and held a longsword loosely in his hand. He had an average build, and wore a cocky expression on his face as he smiled at the sight of Jaeden and Jilitse. “Well, well, what have we here?” he said in an amused tone.
The second was a larger human, close to two inches taller than Jaeden himself. He was bald and hand blue eyes. A large belly and big arms obviously showed the man was the strongest, physically of the group, but also moved with a sluggish motion, suggesting he was physically slow due to his size. His hands gripped a rather long spear as it rested along his shoulders. “I‘m hungry, Cohon.” he said in reply to the first‘s rhetorical question.
“You‘re always hungry, Tiny,” the third finally said, looking to his large comrade. He stood a little shorter than the others, a couple inches below the six foot mark, Blonde hair dangled in front of his green eyes as he peered past them towards Jaeden first off, and Jilitse second. “That‘s a big guy, think he might be as strong as Tiny?”
“It don‘t make a difference, Varn.” Cohon answered. “There‘s three of us and only one of him. The timid woman won‘t be any threat and you can take down the horse she hides behind with a shot of your crossbow. Easy capture.”
“Let‘s go to work then,” Varn replied with a smirk as the three of them began stepping towards Jaeden and Jilitse, drawing back the string to his crossbow.
Jaeden replied with a smirk, looking down to Red as he just gave a nod. Immediately Red and turned, running back a few paces before turning and running towards Jaeden. Jaeden crouched down slightly, holding up his right arm as his hand rested with an open palm level with his head. The three slavers paused, looking at him oddly. “What’s he doin’?” Tiny said, drooling a little as a hunger rumble echoed from his stomach.
“The crazy bastard must think he’s a mage or something, ignore it.” Cohon replied, once again stepping forward.
As Red finally closed the distance between herself and Jaeden, she leapt through the air as her paws landed in the palm of Jaeden’s hand. Jaeden continued her momentum as he slowly stood, thrusting his hand forward in a throwing motion. As his arm began to extend, Red kicked off from his palm with her hind legs, increasing her forward velocity even further. The three slavers stood there, looks of shock appearing on their faces as the small Fox began hurtling at them through the air. Their eyes squinted as a shimmer of golden light formed over Red’s body, growing larger until a moment later, a nude woman, larger and heavier than the small animal from before, was now rushing at them. She flew right past Cohon and Tiny, her arm extending outward before it slammed directly across Varn‘s face as she threw her arm forward with her forward motion. The speed flew at, and the weight she had behind her in her human form, was enough to cause Varn‘s form to twist and flip through the air as she struck him, almost breaking his nose and coming close to dislocating Red‘s shoulder as she winced. Red curled her body up, rolling forward along the ground as came to her feet. Another golden shimmer of light found her in her animal form once again, running back towards Varn’s prone body as he laid there, dazed and nearly unconscious.
As Tiny and Cohon turned, facing Red after seeing her transformation, Jaeden took advantage of the distraction, raising his bow, his fingers slipping along the string. His arms tensed up, muscles tightening as he drew back the string. His eyes narrowed then as he brought Cohon into focus first, leveling the point of the arrow head towards him. With a short exhaled breath, he loosened his grip along the string, keeping his other arm strait and steady as the arrow was vaulted towards Cohon, covering the distance between the two of them in less than a second. The sharp arrowhead tore through the light clothing he wore, biting deep into the flesh of his shoulder along his back as Cohon‘s body was jerked forward slightly by the impact, causing him to yell out in pain.
Tiny spun around in surprise at the second attack before his brow tightened into a frown. He let out a growl as he pointed his spear towards Jaeden and began to run towards him, his stomach jiggling violently with each heavy step. Jaeden had already drew another arrow from his quiver and had just nocked it into the string of his bow as this happened. He raised the bow, drawing it quickly once again as he leveled it at Tiny while he charged. The arrow was loosed then, traveling quickly. It sunk into Tiny‘s leg as the large man let out a cry of pain. Such failed to stop his charge however, as he began to level the tip of his spear towards Jaeden. Jaeden formed a frown of his own, observing the small effect putting an arrow into a man of this size had. His bow was suddenly tossed to the side as Tiny closed the last few feet.
Tiny gave a strong thrust forward with his spear, looking to plunge it strait through Jaeden’s chest. A quick inhale of breath was taken as Jaeden stepped to the side, the tip of the spear gazing the cloth of his tunic that laid out gingerly beneath his leather armor, tearing it away. Jaeden‘s ears then twitched, noticing Cohon approaching as well, closing the distance between them faster than Tiny despite having an arrow in his shoulder. Whether it was a bark from Red, a warning from Jilitse, or the sounds of the approach itself, was unclear, but as Tiny‘s frame began passing Jaeden, he stuck his foot out, tripping up Tiny‘s injured leg as the large man began to stumble forward. Jaeden‘s hand, at the same time, shot to grasp the hilt of his longsword. It was pulled free and swung in one fluid motion as it cut along Tiny‘s arm shallowly as he stumbled forward.
Jaeden continued to spin his body with the swing of his, pulling his sword arm in as he did so before he was facing Cohon just as he approached. Just as Tiny stumbled to the ground with a heavy thud, Cohon’s longsword clashed along the flat of Jaeden’s blade as the overhand swing was pushed to the side, redirecting the strike to the side as the tip of the sword bit into the ground, displaying the parry maneuver that he had taught to Jilitse no more than a bell ago at camp. “You petching shyke!” Cohon grunted as Jaeden’s free hand reached down, grasping his wrist, holding the arm in place.
“Language. There's a dead lady present.” Jaeden warned with a smirk on his face as he brought the hilt of his sword up, colliding it into Cohon‘s face.
The strike caused Cohon‘s body to stagger backwards for a moment, but was stopped as Jaeden tightened his grip along Cohon‘s wrist. He gave a strung tug, pulling Cohon stumbling forward while pulling Cohon‘s longsword free from his own hand. With stumbled steps and dazed senses, Cohon fell forward to the ground right next to Fortunado and Jilitse. Jaeden gave a couple of quick, abrupt whistles before Fortunado suddenly turned his large frame towards Cohon, nudging Jilitse away from him a short distance. The large Nightstalker then gave a sudden loud cry as he reared back on his hind legs. Fortunado‘s front hooves then began thrashing out as he fell forward. A loud, hollow sounding crack then echoed out, only to be outdone in volume by Cohon‘s own screams as his shoulder and arm was shattered when the weight and force of Fortunado‘s hooves landed along him.
Jaeden looked to Tiny then, a slow exhale given as the large man was back to his feet, his face boiling over with rage as he looked to Jaeden, growling at him. “Alright then, big man,” Jaeden said as he gave a subtle twirl of his longsword, holding the one he had relieve Cohon of in the other, “let‘s see how many hits you can take.”
Teaching definitely was top for experience with everything you shared with Jilitse, Composite Longbow for your fight and hunt, Longsword for your fight, Tracking for your work during both the hunt and the walk, Rhetoric for the various efforts in talking with the nervous Nuit, Hunting for your hunt, Field Dressing for preparing the dear, Dual Wield for your use of two swords, Food Preservation for jerking the meat, and cooking for your quick little roast.
