It was still dark when Tinnok woke, bleary eyed. She was tired, but she forced herself up into a sitting position, happy to see she was awake before her Dhani companion. She sighed, collecting herself and taking a long drought of water before doing stretches. Her body was slowly becoming more limber, and she wished only to build upon this fact. She stretched, legs and rear flat against the ground, her fingers reaching past her toes to touch the ground just beyond them, leaning forward until her body quivered with exertion, then holding herself there for three ticks before releasing with a heavy sigh.
Leaning back she stretched her arms, twisted her waist at hard angles against her hips, and stretched one leg over another before standing, and waking first Slinys, then Tsuya.
The morning was quiet, tired entities slowly following the trail of peccaries through the jungle. The tracks would disappear, and all three of them would have to move in slowly expanding circles to find them again, but this generally did not take long, the swine were moving in a group, Tinnok estimated 4-6, Slinys simply shrugged at this estimation. Regardless there were numbers, enough to create clear disturbances in the foliage and plenty of tracks to follow.
Once Syna had risen fully, the three made good time, crossing ground swiftly, Tinnok was quite proud to see Tsuya was keeping up extremely well, adapting to the landscape and easily traversing root and foliage. She wasn't quiet...but she wasn't unnecessarily loud either. The half breed would give her an encouraging smile and tried to emphasize her movements, avoiding dry leaves fallen from the canopy and treading on roots wherever she could.
It was midday, no breaks save to pass the water skin to speak of when Slinys froze in place, tip of his tail twitching in anticipation, and Tinnok signaled to Tsuya to stop immediately. Her dark green eyes found Tinnok's and she gave a nod. The girl had no weapons, but Tinnok wanted her to know everything about the hunt, regardless, and that meant knowing when not to move, even if she couldn't aid her and the Dhani in the kill.
Just a short distance away she heard the snuffling of their prey and smiled broadly, her bow sliding over her shoulder, drawing four arrows into her hand and creeping forward with Slinys. They approached cautiously, and the half breed marveled at how silent the Dhani could make the undulating movements of his tail, which seemed to crush and absorb sound, moving smoothly over everything it touched.
Behind a small glimmer of ferns the two prepared. Tinnok readied her bow, notching one arrow smoothly and drawing her string back fully. Slinys observed her preparation and slid off to the side. His expertise would be in close combat, and so the half breed waited until he had positioned himself to the side of their prey, four swine foraging, snorting, and snuffling around a small clearing. Their slitted eyes met for an instant, and then Tinnok loosed her arrow. It struck the haunch of one of the peccaries, causing an ear piercing squeal that sent all into a frenzy. Scrambling hooves got purchase on the ground and started fleeing, but Slinys was already racing faster than his bulk would suggest to block off the pigs. Tinnok took another arrow from her hand and drew and notched it, kneeling to give herself a bit more steadiness and watching the panicking pigs trying to figure out which was to flee with the massive serpent hissing and clawing at them. He had one of them pinned, so Tinnok aimed for the peccary she had already shot, downing it with another arrow directly into its neck.
Then she shouldered her bow and raced across the ground, dropping her arrows and drawing her dagger. She lunged across the clearing narrowly missing a peccary who became aware of her presence. Two peccary were down, two remaining, with Slinys closing in on one. Tinnok raced rather clumsily after the last one who had found its potential exit and began racing between the gap in Slinys's tail and the rest of the jungle.
Then, however, a whooping cry went up and Tsuya barred its path. Tinnok could have cried out with joy as she bounded forward, sailing again, and tackling the medium sized pig to the ground. Instantly she was covered with mud, hooves kicking, the squealing nauseatingly loud, but the momentum of her jump won out, and her dagger sank into the neck of the creature. Since it was thick, to be sure the half breed drew it out and stabbed again twice, and by the time it stopped kicking Slinys had killed and bound both of his kills, along with the third Tinnok had downed with arrows, and had them slung over his shoulders.
The half breed carried the fourth, and the three began to trek back to the city. Though smaller, the pigs would still make for food for hungry bellies in the city, that was for sure.
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