60th Day of Winter, 511 A.V.
Jaeden slowly made his way across the uneven terrain, his upper body crouched down, practically motionless, as his leg moved slowly and softly. His heel dug slowly into the wet snow, that slight crunch of a sound only heard when the snow became so compacted under his weight that it had no other option than to cry out. His left hand gripped the shaft of his composite long bow, his resting near the feathers of an arrow nocked into his bow, his index and middle finger hooking along the bow string.
The elk was close, and a large one at that if Jaeden had judged the tracks it had left behind correctly. The imprints it left behind in its run compacted all the snow and dug into the harder ground below. Jaeden wondered if it would take more than one arrow to bring it down. Jaeden slowly looked up as he heard the approach of another, the steps light and rapid, almost a hop. It was something small. Jaeden could already tell who it was, as the black snout and the red and white fur appeared from behind the tree. Red had scouted ahead, both trying to spot their prey and to see if any other predators were on its trail as well. “You see it yet?” Jaeden asked his foxy little companion, standing up slowly as one hand moved away from the bow string.
Red slowly shook her head back and forth, giving a small whine. “No worries beautiful, he’s not that far off.” Jaeden said before hit bit lightly along the fingertips of his leather glove, pulling his hand free from it. His hand then reached out towards the tree he had stopped next to, his hand rubbing along the surface of the bark where a couple of gouges had been made. “Found some of the pellets he shyke about a mile back. They were still steaming. As well, he recently did the antler rub along this tree. Still has some of the velvet stuck in it. You can smell him, right?”
Red bowed her head in a nod, with a slight wag of her tail in response, fighting the urge to let out a little yelp of excitement. There were times Jaeden felt that Red was so much more like a child while in her animal form. Fact of the matter is, when she was in human form, the physical attraction he had for her, and her attraction for him cast aside any thoughts of her being a child aside. It was almost a little weird sometimes, but Jaeden didn’t dwell on it hardly ever. Red and him had been through a lot together in the still relatively short amount of time they had been together since bonding. For Jaeden, he could accept every aspect of Red that he noticed in odd times. He could even smile at her when she was at her bitchiest. “Let’s go then.” Jaeden said with a smile as he began slipping his glove back on. “We’ll cut off a couple of large stakes for cooking at camp, preserve some other parts for selling at Alvaldus, and dry out the rest for rations.”
Red made a couple of hopping circles in the snow before her head lowered once again, sniffing the ground as she began to follow the scent. “One arrow won’t bring it down right away.” Jaeden explained in a softer tone now, crouching down as he began following the tracks once again. “Still, it’s a big elk, so don’t go running after him to try and trip up his hind legs or something and complete the kill. As feisty as you are, hun, he’ll likely be at least five times your weight when you’re in fox form, so just keep him in sight and make sure you know where he falls.”
It wouldn’t take much longer than that. Red had moved ahead while Jaeden followed behind, falling back again. Red was the lookout, keeping an eye out for the elk on some level, but mainly keeping alert for others in the area. Jaeden simply followed the tracks, kept checking to see how fresh they remained. It was finally as Jaeden was coming up to a crest of a hill that he saw Red standing there, lowered down near a tree. She had found the elk first, which wasn’t surprising to Jaeden. With her nose, she was the more natural tracker. Still, Jaeden liked to keep improving on that skill himself. Especially if there every came a time where Red and him had become separated, and he needed to find her for a change.
Then Jaeden saw it himself, as he crouched his body down even further to avoid being sighted by it. The elk bull was large. Larger than most he had seen in the Sylira region. It likely stood close to five foot tall, its body massive, its antlers looking like a tangle cluster of doom that Jaeden wanted very much not to be on the charging end of. Over all, the elk looked to weigh five hundred pounds easy. “Definitely going to need more than one arrow.” Jaeden thought to himself as he began to level his bow at the bull. “Should have brought a bigger bow. Like a ballista.”
Jaeden’s breath then began to slow, his eyes narrowing as he brought the elk into a clearer vision. The muscles in his arms began to tighten as he drew back the string of his bow, the string whining slightly with strain and the wood aching a little bit as it began to bend slightly. The feathers of his arrow brushed along his cheek, just below his eyes as his line of sight became even with the shaft of the arrow. His thumb came to rest just behind his jaw and below the ear, bringing the bow to a full draw. His inhales and exhales slowed even further still, as he began lining the arrow’s tip at the elk, deciding on that first shot. He would need to make it a debilitating one. He wasn’t certain that his arrow would pierce all the way through hide, muscle and bone to reach the heart and down it with one arrow. So he aimed for the next best organ as the arrow’s tip began to level around the chest. Jaeden would go for one of the lungs. It would run, and likely fast, when hit with the arrow, but eventually it’s flight and panic response would cause it to breath heavier, further compromising the lung and likely to cause it to begin drowning in its own blood due to the wound.
Jaeden took a finale exhale, his breath coming out slowly in a fog between parted lips. Then his fingers relaxed, the bow string shooting forward as all of its tension was released. It launched the arrow forward, sending it cutting through the air, covering the distance between Jaeden and the elk in less than a second. The arrow’s head struck true, this time, as it pierced through fur, hide and muscle, slipping between the ribs before puncturing the bull’s left lung. A cry of pain and panic echoed from the animal as its body did a quick jerk and its hind legs quickly after pushed powerfully into the ground, sending it into a full run in an attempt to flee the pain. Red wasted no time, her smaller legs pushing into the ground as she began to run after the massive animal, determined to keep it in sight.
Jaeden quickly stood from his crouch, reaching down into his quiver of arrows as he pulled another arrow free, letting out a small sigh. “I just hope I won’t be following this bull for a mile, only to find that another shot will have it run away for greater distances.” Jaeden muttered under his breath. The only thought he had after was the fact that he felt fortunate he had brought the body sled with him this trip. Otherwise, dragging this beast back would have been an ordeal that would have lasted a couple of bells.
