Beasts in the City

[Nate Frostfawn]

3rd of Summer, 512AV

Avanthal was still recovering from the aftereffects of the Djed storm. The city was practically unrecognizable to its residents. In fact, if not for the familiar people wandering around one might think they had woken up in a different place altogether! Nate scuffed the bare ground with his toe, a frown working its way over his brow. He didn’t like seeing Avanthal like this, it wasn’t how things were supposed to be.

The storm had caused all sorts of trouble for the residents. Besides everything melting, they also had to deal with all sorts of nasty things running rampant. With Svanhildr gone there were criminals hiding out and the lack of city gates meant that wild animals were also being thrown into the mix. Avanthal had never been so dangerous.

As a result, Nate never went anywhere without his bow anymore. The beautifully decorated wooden shortbow was currently slung over the boys back, tapping against his shoulder as he walked. He had no set destination today, instead he let his feet take him wherever they fell which allowed his mind to wander.

He soon found himself near the back of the city around the area where a few trees grew to make a small, sparse forest. He paused as he reached it, gazing upon the trees with a scrutinizing eye. He imagined that forests and woodlands in other parts of the world looked like this. Sure Nate had been to Syliras, but it was a long time ago and he couldn’t remember ever seeing a forest. The trees, though covered in evergreen leaves, looked strangely bare to the boy.

Nate was brought out of his reverie when he heard a loud snap nearby, and he spun round to find the source of the noise. There wasn’t anything he could see, and that fact did absolutely nothing to ease his nerves. In fact, it just made him more nervous. He hadn’t made the noise, and the thing that had done was hiding. Nate hoped that whatever it was would go away, but it seemed his hoping was rather futile...

[Nate Frostfawn]

He saw the glint from the creatures eyes before anything else. A pale gold, they shone from the darkness of the tree cover, and Nate instantly knew that it was a wolf. No other creature he had met possessed eyes like that. The eyes didn't move; didn't blink, and Nates nerves were starting to shred. He couldn't make out the shape of the animals body, and it was by reading posture that you knew what the thing was going to do.

Nate slowly took a step backward, then another. His back pressed up against the trunk of a tree, which was not good. He wanted more space behind him to retreat, and short of moving round the tree itself, that was not going to happen. He knew that the wolf would move as soon as he took his eyes off it.

Nate's mind was starting to fog with panic fuelled adrenaline. He needed to calm down else he wouldn't get out of it easy. He pressed his palms into the trunk to steady himself and took a deep breath. Focus. He figured he had two options.

One, he could run for it. It was the most obvious thing to do, but it was also the stupid thing to do. Only prey ran away, Nate knew that. Besides, he would have no chance of out-running a wolf even being as fit as he was.
The second option was to get up into the trees. He knew that a wolf could only climb a tree if it could jump into the branches. As it was, there were no platforms around for it to be able to do that. If Nate was quick enough - and strong enough - he could pull himself into the tree he was leant against before the wolf could grab him.

The animal still hadn't moved. Nate could only guess it was biding it's time. He pictured its muscles tensing, readying to pounce. With that mental image held in his vision, he mustered all of his courage and strength. He would need it.

[Nate Frostfawn]

In a single movement, Nate spun and jumped at the tree. His arms reached upwards, hands closing round a branch. His feet scrabbled along the trunk, vying for grip. One foot caught a nodule of bark, and that was just enough to allow him to reach an arm over the branch he had grabbed and pull himself up further. His shins scraped on the tree trunk but he didn't care. He just needed to get away from the wolf.
He managed to get his second arm hooked too, and it took most of his strength to heave himself up. Somehow he managed to end up sitting on the tree branch, his scratched legs hanging below him.

The wolf had moved at exactly the same time. It hadn't anticipated that the boy would jump though. As Nate had hurled himself up the tree, the canine had rushed forwards. When only kicking legs and feet were all it saw, it pulled up short with a snarl tearing through its jaws. It's golden eyes held a furious gleam, and it raised itself up on hind-legs to try and get at the boy.

Nate saw, and pulled his legs up onto the branch just in time. He was now sitting with his back to the trunk again, chest heaving as he tried to catch his breath. The foggy mindset that adrenaline caused was starting to return, and if he couldn't clear it again Nate would have trouble figuring out how to get away.

[Nate Frostfawn]

Nate kept his eyes trained on the wolf as the creature circled the base of the tree. He leaned against the trunk, frowning in irritation as something dug into his back. Reaching his hand up to his shoulder, Nate realised that he had his bow. Idiot! Why didn't you think of this before?! He mentally scolded himself, since a lot of time spent panicking and staring at the wolf could have been used much more practically.

Slowly, he pulled the bow off his back along with an arrow. He was definitely not in the right position to shoot from, but he had to try. He let his legs hang down again before quickly wrapping them around the thick branch. He raised his bow to his cheek, nocking an arrow to the string as he did so.

The wolf was still circling, so Nate's aim had to be timed just right. Too bad he wasn't exactly a master archer. He watched the wolf circle a few times, noticing how it kept the same amount of space between it and the tree the whole way round. As it made to pass by another time Nate took a breath and pulled back his arrow.

No luck. The arrow embedded itself in the snow behind the creature, causing a vicious growl to escape its jaws. Nate silently cursed and pulled out a second arrow before attaching it to his bowstring. The wolf was angry now, and as Nate pulled back it lunged at the tree. Nate seized the opportunity, and praying for some luck he released his second arrow.

By lunging upwards and resting its front paws on the trunk, the wolf had exposed its neck and chest to Nate above him. As such, the second arrow landed with a dull thud in the canines chest, just below the neck. It let out a piercing whine of pain before crumpling down to the base of the tree. Nate could see that the shot hadn't killed it instantly, and he knew he should go down and finish it. He just couldn't bring himself to move from the tree just yet.

A few moments passed before Nate had calmed himself down enough to jump down from his branch. The wolf had taken its last breath, and lay dead in the snow. Nate retrieved his arrows and had returned his bow to its place on his back. Whit a grunt, he hauled the heavy body of the wolf over his shoulder and trudged back into the main city.
The animal was turned into his hold - Frostfawn - as hunters quarry usually was, but not before Nate had taken a tooth as a sort of souvenir. It hadn't exactly been an ideal day, but Nate wasn't dead and there was one less beast running around the city. That at least was something to be happy about.

[Valkyrie]

As Nate turned in the body of the wolf to the skinners of Frostfawn Hold a young woman approached him. The woman was dressed in leathers and carried a longbow slung across her back. Nate would recognize her as Keriay, another hunter in the Frostfawn Hold. She grasped a pair of bloody rabbit carcasses in one hand and laid them near the body of Nate’s wolf. She whistled at the sight of the beast and gave Nate an appreciative smile. “That’s a pretty big beastie you’ve got there. Where did you find him? Awful dangerous to be hunting outside the city.” Keriay said with a raised eyebrow. Nate explained to her that he had found the wolf prowling within the city limits and Keriay responded with a gasp. “I knew the beasties were getting in but it’s always hard to hear another story of someone being attacked. At least you had your bow to protect yourself, Morwen be praised. I’ve got a bow too, so I’m not worried, but many of the other women have stayed indoors in fear of being attacked. Here, take some of these. I’ve got lots and it will help you take down the bigger predators. You never know what could come a calling these days.” Keriay said with a sigh and shrugged off her quiver. She chose a few handfuls of arrows with broad heads that would do heavy damage to any creature unlucky enough to find themselves shot by one. Thread Award Nate Frostfawn : Experience 1 Detection 2 Climbing 2 Weapon: Shortbow Lore Being Treed by a Wolf Wolves in Avanthal Keeping the City Free of Wolves Other + Inventory: Wolf tooth + Inventory: Broad Arrows (20) Notes: Congratulations for being the first person to be rewarded for helping Avanthal! This was a nice straightforward thread and you did a good job of keeping it interesting. I wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen once you were up that tree, and Nate forgetting about his bow was pretty comical. I enjoyed reading it, and I hope you enjoy your new ammunition. Please send me a PM if you have any questions or concerns.