Cat and mouse [Knaan]

[Saebier]

24th of spring

Settling down next to the tree stump had been using as a back rest for the last few hours, Saebier contemplated his options. He had only caught a small squirrel on his morning hunting trip and was sorely dissappointed that it had only yielded enough meat to hold his hunger down to a nusicance. Saebier let his head rest back against the stump, inhaling deeply and taking in the smells and sounds of the forest. Saebier had been loitering around this general area of the forest for a couple days and had become slightly familiar with the area. a small crick ran though the northen seciton where on the other side the land slowly faded into a lighter forest. To the east and the south after about 5 miles a disease of trees had taken ahold, strangling trees and slowly killing them, and to the west for as far as he had went it was just normal forest.

Spring had just started to set in and the tempatures could still chill the bone during the night. The trees had just started to awake from their hibernation, awaking to a fresh year. Saebier had picked his spot well, as he always did while on the road. A small inlet formed by the crick and circled by heavy vegatation made up the just of his camp, and to the southern side facing away from the river was a good climbing tree, just in case of the unusual hungry bear. Reaching for his extra blankets Saebier decided to get a quick nap in before he went out for his evening hunt. Setting his backpack and skinning knife withen easy reach with his bow leaning across it. Saebier closed his eyes, letting the sensations of the forest and sleep take him into the world of dreams.

[Knaan]

K'Naan was getting anxious and tired, he had been told the hunter he was after was planning to hunt nearby the illness-stricken area a few days inward the wilderness. Yet so far K'Naan has found nothing after a day, yesterday, searching for footprints in the area. Luckily for him it had rained overnight and the soil was wet and many mudpiles had been formed overnight, he awoke early in the morning, Rolled up his furr blanket he had used as a cushion and hung it over his shoulders, picked up his Mancatcher-shield and two Short Spears and left in search of wet footprints.

Occasionally he found a trail of fresh, human footprints but he always quickly lost it. The trail he was on last was close to the river but it didn't take long for him to lose it like all the others. It occured to him that he has little experience in hunting and tracking, which would most likely not be enough to catch a fullfledged hunter unless getting very lucky. Adding to that, K'Naan realized he was very inprofficient to sneaking around but luckily for him he had bought a Shadowsilk Robe. Which, eventhough not by a whole lot, reduced the sound he made thanks to padded shoes and soundabsorbing panels. It was a dark gray robe but whilst exploring the forest, tracking the hunter, it became more and more brown and raffled, it would most likely be all torn up at the end of this hunt but it was worth it. Without it he would have no chance whatsoever to sneak up on his prey.

He continued to walk along the riverside, passing trees and vegetation, in search of a trail.

[Saebier]

Saebier slept lightly in the mild spring afternoon, the chill wind woke him about 30 minutes later. sitting up slowly, attempting to rub the sleep out of his eyes, he looked around. Nothing had changed since he ahd settled down for his nap. "Good" muttered to himself standing up and walking down to the river to wash his face. letting the cool water run down his neck and face. Standing up with a large outward stretch he felt the built up tension roll out of him. Walking over to the large tree at the edge of camp Saebier unhooked his skinning knife from the slot in his boot, reaching up and cutting off a small branch full of leaves. kneeling down he fumbled with the draw string on his back pack. Drawing out his eating bowl, cutting off enough leaves from the branch to cover the bottem of the bowl he cut the leaves into squares. walking back over to the river he scooped enough water to fill the bowl half full and scooping some mud from the bank. Mixed it all together with his skinnig knife.

Slowly he applied the mixture to his face and hands, taking his time and making sure to cover all areas of exposed skin. Taking the rest of the leaves, he attached them to his bow along th length on the shaft. Hiding his backpack in the slight depression in the base of the tree.

Setting off down the river in a westerly direction, staying low next to the river and moving as quietly as he could. Stepping over sticks and going around bushes that surely would make a racket he continued his trek down the river, looking for tracks or something that could indicate an animal. Settleing down in the bushes next to a large tree he heard a muffled crack about not far infront of him. it sounded as if there was a large puffy blanket around the sound and Saebier was catious becasue of it. Nocking a arrow he setteled down to wait.

[Knaan]

Unaware that the tables had turned drastically K'Naan continued his search of trails. Suddenly he realized he has one other means of tracking his target, Auristics. He tried focusing his inner eye faintly so he could sweep over the surroundings with it. He felt his shoulders loosen up, the gaze of his normal eyes blur, his body was tingling and suddenly he found himself in a gray zone of his surroundings. Everything was smokelike and gray and to the right of him he saw a feint yellow aura sitting behind cover of leaves and trees.

K'Naan was startled to say the least, he nearly fell on his ass from shock. Someone was spying on him, for what reason he did not know but he wouldn't let just anyone take the best of him. He unsheated one of his short spears from over his back and put on his Mancatcher Shield on his left arm.

He decided to try and sneak his way around the voyeuristic person and catch him by surprise.

[Saebier]

Listening intently on the forest around him, the sound of bird calls and the soft, gental sound of leaves getting a gentle breeze making their way to his ears. Slowly he had pulled his arrow, a long ash rod with a long and exteremly sharp arrow head. Resting it between his finger and the shaft of the bow saebier kept his eyes sweeping the forest around him. He heard a few more cracks and snaps making their way around to his left, whatever this was it walked on two legs and was not accustomed to the forest. Saebier slowly, painfully turned his body, stretching the now relaxed muscles. Drawing his bow to a and raising the feathers to his cheek, as he had done thousands of times before.

Around him there was a slight clearing of the forest, about 30 feet. Saebier knew he was not fast enough to get two shots off in the time it would take whatever it was to cross the clearing. His best plan was to shoot, then run and hit the creature later on his own ground. Saebier agian setteled down to wait, hoping aginst hope that he could get the jump on it.