Open The Traveler

[Akasja]

Edit: Added timestamp and fixed traveling time between cities. Thanks, all!
- Also switched some wording around to indicate that she has never been alone outside of Eyktol.

- - - -
39th of Winter, 514

Akasja had awoken just before dawn, still barely within the familiar desert lands of Eyktol. Without wasting any time, she had managed to pack her belongings, roll up her tent, and secure everything to her Desertbred mount or to her own back. After stuffing a small piece of dried Hik fruit in her mouth, Akasja set off again. This time, she would make it out of Eyktol.

She had not stopped in Ahnatep. She had lived too long on its outskirts and wanted to leave it behind for now. Akasja yearned to see what was beyond the desert border. More than that, she felt like she was almost being pulled there, into the lands called Cyphrus. She knew she was meant to travel, to discover, to trade, to learn -for the good of her people. This truth, this duty, kept her brave in the face of the unknown.

As the sun began to rise over the land, painting the world in glowing deep blues, greens, and pinks, Akasja noticed how the earth beneath her slowly lost its sandy layers, gaining more and more grasses and shrubbery. She was not unused to this type of flora, but seeing it everywhere was the first sign that Akasja had crossed into Cyphrus. It thrilled her. A new day had brought a new land. But Akasja did not let the excitement overwhelm her. She could easily get lost in Cyphrus, and only the gods knew what awaited the unprepared, unaware traveler outside of Eyktol.

With this in mind, Akasja kept the well-worn trail between Ahnatep and Endrykas' winter settlement in her line of sight. She rode just to the left of it, following it cautiously, unsure of where it would lead exactly. Of course she knew that Ahnatep saw many traders during the winter days, including the horseclan people whose traveling city Akasja now headed towards. But that was about the end of her knowledge of Endrykas. Akasja, as a nomad, had seen many different groups of people and creatures since she was a child. She had observed various cultural mannerisms and physical markers. She had seen many different items and animals in trades involving her people, the Benshira, Eypharians, and a few other races. But she had never before gone out of Eyktol.

Akasja tried to draw up as many memories of different cultures as she could and reviewed important phrases in both Common and Arumenic in preparation for meeting anyone face-to-face. She did not know how long exactly it would take her to arrive at the Endrykas settlement, but had enough rations for a week and could hunt well on her own. For now, it was just Akasja, her horse, and a few harmless animals scurrying here and there.

[Colt]

Shahar was restless. For much of the past season, every movement that had brought the city closer to the Stardowns had brought more excitement and more young hopefuls circling the outskirts again and again, racing each other and training their Striders for the yearly celebration. Grinning words and quick hands held anticipation for the Great Race, even though it was still days away, all even more intense and tangled now that Endrykas had finally settled at the crater. Running striders and tense competitors grew more numerous by the day, and it had set him on edge.

The morning had brought little fruit; with so many horses and riders circling the tents, all the animals had had the good sense of mind to move farther afield, and naturally it had forced him to range farther to find them. As always, the distance from home made him less than comfortable, but it was something he couldn’t afford to pay heed to. They’d been forced to dip into their rations to break their fast, and he wanted to find something by the end of the day so that they wouldn’t have to do the same come dinnertime.

As it was, the clanless Drykas had tacked his horse and headed southward. Akaidras had been made just as uneasy as his rider, and the stallion was difficult to direct away from the city––he would prance and pause, shooting poisonous glances at whatever strange horses appeared in their path, and it was only with a near-constant string of reassurance and firm urging that Shahar was able to coax the animal into the open grasses.

Once Endrykas was at their back, he let Akaidras run. With the pent-up anxiousness of the past days fuelling him, the black bay stallion launched into a thundering gallop, neighing wildly and devouring the distance between them and whatever lay south. He threw his head, he beat the ground with his hooves, he bellowed his frustration into the air for all to hear and ran, drawing on the Web and going faster still, and Shahar let him. The Drykas had nowhere specific in mind; the south would hold as many creatures as anywhere else, and Akaidras was well within his rights to be ill at ease. Shahar hadn’t enjoyed the recent days, either.

It was a matter of minutes before their frustration had been burned and Akaidras began to slow. He released the Web’s magic and returned to a normal gallop, and soon enough had slid into a canter. The canter became a trot, and Shahar began to direct his strider once again; there was a dip in the land farther southeast, and that could either mean water or thicker vegetation, which would in turn house possible quarry.

The nearer he drew, the more he saw that he had been mistaken. The dip was not a natural formation as he had hoped, but was instead manmade; the earth was beaten and torn from many traveling feet, angled due south into where he knew dry deserts lingered. He had found the road to Eyktol.

The most pressing information that registered in Shahar’s mind was the fact that he would probably find unfamiliar prey here, but that was not particularly vexing to him; he was a nomad, and had hunted different beasts in the north, east and west, and the south was no different. The ecosystems mixed here, but there were still overlaps and familiar species to name as quarry; it was only a matter of finding them.

Giving his horse a thankful pat on the shoulder, Shahar slipped onto the ground, untied his javelins from the yvas and slipped the quiver onto his shoulders. It was time to begin his work in earnest.

[Akasja]

Not long after dawn had broken, daylight revealed the tracks of a jackal moving north at an even pace. The tracks were visibly fresh, unmarred and free from a cover of wind-blown dirt, grasses, or pebbles that would indicate too much time had passed to catch up to it. After a few moments of following these footprints, Akasja could see that the jackal did not veer far from the path to Endrykas. She figured it could have been tracking any sort of animal, perhaps even something that had escaped from a trader on the road. Decisively, Akasja kept her mount between the tracks and the trade road and continued on for at least a bell. If the jackal had kept its pace fairly steady, Akasja would eventually catch up to it, whether at a den or on its hunt.

The glow of early day was pleasant, familiar even here. Akasja smirked at the nervousness that lingered at the edge of her thoughts, dismissing it. She was not truly that far from Eyktol, and she had the will and love of her tribes behind her. The landscape ahead was open, bountiful, awaiting. This is what her Searching had been about so many seasons ago.

Adjusting the wolf fur cloak on her shoulders, Akasja felt calmness surround her again. The cloak reminded her of home, besides still being useful in the cooler winter temperatures. Akasja scanned the horizon with her gaze and let her hand gently comb through the air in an arc before her, seeking the motion ripples that would reveal the jackal's location. For now, there were still only the tracks. Akasja gently clucked, urging her horse into a trot. She wanted to close the distance sooner than later.

In what seemed to be only a few chimes, Akasja noticed the grasses and shrubs were even more plentiful around her. The jackal's footprints were far too obscured to see from atop a horse now. Akasja slowed and stopped her mount, who huffed in gentle protest. Sliding smoothly from her horse's back, Akasja studied the ground, searching for the familiar tracks. She held one hand out again, feeling the air in a wide arc around her as she quietly moved forward.
Eywaat, I know you're with me.
Akasja had tracked many times before, even had to sustain herself without the safety of her tribes. She had been much younger during her Searching, and frightened, but she had called upon Eywaat and Makutsi for help. With their blessings, she had survived and brought honor to herself and her family. The Searching was something that almost all Chaktawe were expected to begin, but completing it was a great accomplishment. It was a gift. The memory of her past successes brought Akasja enough confidence to keep looking among the rocks and shrubs for the lost jackal tracks.

Now again, she sought the wisdom of Eywaat and prayed for the vision of the crow as she found herself approaching a small hill. Here, where the shrubs thinned out a bit, the jackal footprints appeared once more. Something tugged on Akasja's mind, telling her to move forward. Akasja kept one hand out in front of her and turned her head quickly to check on her horse. The Desertbred mare had stayed several yards behind and had wandered over to a fairly scraggly acacia tree. Akasja was not sure what was on the other side of the hill, but she readied herself to attack or run.

Finally! Her sensitive fingers caught small waves of motion from up ahead. Something fairly bulky and squat was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Akasja noticed how the jackal prints had grown further apart and swerved to the left, around the base of the hill. She crouched close to the earth, following the curve of the hill to the right. One hand was stretched out before her; the other fingered the hilt of her blade. Quickly, she slid it into her grasp and carefully rounded the hill.

About thirty feet away, Akasja could make out the plump, dark brown body of a bowbacked goat. It was busily devouring the leaves off of a mere shrub of an acacia tree, rearing its head every few seconds to strip the branches clean. Although they weren't that far from the coast, a lone goat was quite out of place. Akasja knew it had to be lost -and that jackal had surely smelled it. She did not know, however, if the goat would run from her approach or be indifferent to it. While following or tiring out a goat from horseback would not be impossible, it would prove tricky to kill the thing from a horse with just a dagger as a weapon. Akasja didn't want to reveal herself and risk startling the jackal or losing the goat. Wherever that jackal was hiding, for now it was motionless. Akasja decided that she would wait for it to move, hopefully scaring the goat in her direction.

[Colt]

Shahar signaled for Akaidras to be vigilant and struck out into the grasses. He was cautious in his step, starting from the heel, rolling out to the rim and ending gently on the balls of his feet, though he kept his posture relatively straight for now; until he found something to follow, he would benefit from his height and subsequent vantage point.

It was a few minutes before he caught sight of telltale tunnels through the low grass, size and scope indicating hare… no, it was too large for that. Jackrabbit, then. Such a weighty breed would be a fine catch, if Shahar could manage it; they were also some of the more observant creatures he’d come across, and it would not be simple to slay one. Sinking into a cautious, quiet half-crouch, the clanless hunter started along the rabbit-path.

He mentally ran over what he knew to be true of jackrabbits; they were solitary, for one, save in the spring when they began to breed. It was likely that the path had first been made by smaller creatures, then widened by the repeated passage of a single jackrabbit. If he could track it down, then––

––Shahar’s thoughts and feet paused as he caught sight of another, larger trail. Hooves, unlike any he’d ever seen. They were vaguely deer-shaped, but there was no second impression behind the two dewdrop-marks. It was mid-sized, and the depth of the prints suggested a stocky build. The bent grass told of something shorter than Shahar’s hip, and it appeared to be alone. Almost immediately Shahar’s focus switched; a creature of this size would provide much more than a jackrabbit.

Assuming he found it before anything else did.

Shahar’s steps took on new urgency as he set himself to the chase; the tracks were very, very recent, not possibly older than an hour or two, and a few strides brought him against a second, distinctly canine set of tracks. Thinner and more elegant than a coyote, but not very different in size, something well able to kill whatever it was Shahar was pursuing. If he could catch up, he could get to their shared quarry first––or he could slay his competitor instead, if it came down to it; most canines had beautiful coats, after all, even if their meat was bitter.

Another minute of tracking, and he came across a third set of prints: human shoes.

This gave Shahar pause. He frowned, narrowing his eyes and scanning the evidence; they were somewhat soft-soled, revealing a narrower, distinctly female sort of foot. Casting his gaze about, he confirmed that she, too, was alone.

Now possessed of three trails to follow, Shahar angled to the side and put some distance between himself and all of them. He took care to keep them in sight, but he also took care to avoid treading near them; he didn’t want to run up against another hunter for the canine or its prey, but neither did he want to give up so easily. He would find them and then he would decide; it was entirely possible that he could reach the quarry first.

In less than ten minutes Shahar pulled away from the trail entirely, forging a wide curve. They were just over the next rise––he could feel it in his bones––and if he overshot all three, he could come up on the opposite side.

The first thing he heard when executing his plan was the noise of the herbivore, which confused him because it was alone and solitary animals usually tried to be quiet. He knew for a fact that it was not large enough to stand against many of the predators that stalked the Sea of Grass, so silence seemed to be the obvious thing to uphold. But no, this creature was loud as it tugged at the undergrowth, presumably eating it, and it made finding the thing almost effortless.

It was a goat.

Shahar blinked. It was a goat. Whose goat was it? Why was it alone? How was it alone? Shouldn’t something have eaten it by now?

The Drykas’ sheer bafflement with his find was temporarily blinding; with his attention made busy by trying to unravel the mystery of the goat, he failed to notice the jackal preparing to close in on it––or the Chaktawe hidden in the grass.

[Akasja]

Akasja didn't have to wait very long before she felt movement rippling the air a good distance to the left of her -and it was something large.

It was far too large to be the jackal, she swiftly realized. The creature was moving slowly, with precision. Its mass felt scrunched, its form indecipherable, and her eyes could see nothing of it yet. It must have been crouching. This immediately concerned her. Crouching meant the creature was hiding for a reason. Whether that was because it could be killed, or meant to kill, she did not know. Akasja gripped her dagger tighter in her right hand and inched toward the mysterious being.

Her left fingers stretched out anxiously, seeking information in the air. She felt the creature moving while she did. Akasja kept her arm low with practiced caution, not wanting to give herself away. She tensed, deliberating. The creature could be something harmless, but what if it was a huge, hungry beast? What if it was something, or someone, equally dangerous?

Akasja did not have time to wonder any further before a familiar flicker of color appeared out of the corner of her eye. The air had not rippled, and she had felt nothing moving, but there beside her was a Hoopoe bird -her Hoopoe bird. Her guardian.

Isla, she thought, knowing he would hear. It was a brief greeting, as she didn't want to be distracted and lose track of the three creatures up ahead...and he was quite skilled at distraction. But she knew he was always working for her benefit.

You're gripping that dagger pretty tight, Islankar noted, gently cocking his head.
Akasja smirked as she saw a brief image manifest in her mind: an obviously skinny desert cow moved exhaustedly through the grasses and shrubs. Islankar had sent it to Akasja as a joke, suggesting that was what was hidden up ahead. He didn't always speak with words, something that Akasja appreciated. But if Islankar was joking, then what was the thing hiding?

Akasja felt the unknown creature moving closer, and still no sign of the jackal. The mysterious being would come into view any moment.

Maybe, Islankar continued with a sly drawl, it's not a beast at all. Maybe he rides one.

Just as the guardian bird transmitted those words, his image flickered away, much like a wave of desert heat or the glint of metal in sunlight. Akasja narrowed her eyes and peered ahead, finding the obscured form of...a man.

Of his figure that was exposed to Akasja's gaze, the man did not appear to wear the common attire of a Benshira, nor did he have the multiple arms of an Eypharian. He was certainly not Chaktawe. Perhaps he was a regular human, or perhaps a member of the Cyphrus horseclans. But where, then, was his horse?

Only a few seconds passed after Akasja had noticed the man before her sensitive fingers felt the sudden, hard rush of the jackal breaking free of the underbrush. The mid-sized canine had noticed the man, too, far too close to it for comfort. It fled into plain sight, cutting across Akasja from her left and heading towards another expanse of taller grasses and small, rocky hills.

The goat jumped in shock and took off running to Akasja's right. It was only about fifteen feet away, giving Akasja a fair chance of intercepting it. The jackal, a hunter by nature, suddenly lost its fear as it noticed the goat again. It made a hard, quick turn and headed after it.

Akasja shot her gaze back to the man on her left, pausing for just a couple seconds to wait for his reaction. She readied herself to lunge forward after the goat. As soon as she would reveal herself, she would surely frighten the jackal off again. Akasja wanted to let the jackal do most of the work as long as it was compelled to attack and chase, but she wouldn't hesitate to intervene when the timing was right.

[Colt]

Several things happened at once.

The jackal, having noticed the careless Drykas, decided that there was far less space between them than it liked and bolted. This, in turn, startled the goat, which forsook its meal to jump and leap away, bleating in shock. The sudden movement of the goat in turn regained the attention of the jackal, which found the potential meal outweighing the risk of the hunter’s presence and angled back around.

This, of course, startled the goat all over again, and it wheeled on stubby legs and charged back from where it had come from––straight towards Shahar.

While the sheer oddness of the situation had delayed his reaction at first, now there was something much more concrete that overrode his bemusement––two animals coming towards him.

Instinct drove his hand as he drew a javelin and sent it flying in the same motion––a motion that was off-grip and badly aimed, and ended up spearing the earth squarely between the jackal and its prey. The scavenger paused and rose onto its hind legs, dancing away from the shaft, then darted around it; Shahar’s presence had been made known, and it had no desire to tangle with a two-legged creature. As the goat rushed off, the jackal yipped in displeasure, leaping to one side and to the other in frustration and fear, neither fleeing or remaining in place.

[Akasja]

Akasja had prepared to leap forward, but as soon as the animals turned around towards the man, she leaned her weight back and watched the scene unfold. The man had been somewhat taken off-guard by the rushing animals and had thrown his spear hastily forward. It struck neither the jackal nor the goat, instead cutting off the jackal from its intended target and seemingly stupefying it. The goat stumbled up the small hill to escape -and Akasja saw her chance.

Instead of rushing forward, as she had planned, Akasja spun around and darted along the side of the hill. She was no longer in the man's line of sight, and picked up her pace accordingly. Although she had been crouched when she took off, Akasja was not sure if the man had noticed her movement or not. Regardless, she knew she would soon reveal herself fully, but she took that risk knowing she would most likely meet the goat somewhere on the hill or just at the bottom of it.

Akasja tried to move as carefully as she could manage at her heightened speed. She dashed along the base of the hill, looking for the goat at its peak. Navigating the terrain at her pace was not without difficulty, and Akasja found herself dodging small boulders and roots here and there. Within seconds, the stout goat appeared atop the hill and started wildly down its slope, still fearing the chaos behind it. Akasja picked up her speed and made a wide arc to her left, then moved to intercept the animal's path. But as the goat realized they would collide, it cut to its right. Akasja bore down on the animal, her left arm out to her side to make her look bigger, forcing the goat back up the hill.

With her long legs giving her the advantage, Akasja gained on the goat as it scrambled up the hill. She hurtled forward, her hand pushing into the goat's lower back. The goat stumbled, and Akasja fell to the ground, but her grip successfully tightened around the goat's back foot. The animal thrashed, losing its balance, giving Akasja the chance to let go of her dagger and grab both of the goat's back legs. They struggled there, Akasja working her way to straddle the goat's body and secure a grip on its throat or head, as it didnt have horns.
The goat finally succumbed, its body trapped beneath Akasja's weight. Pricks of pain shot through Akasja's knees and arms, but she ignored the sensation. Minor scrapes.
The Chaktawe panted almost as heavily as the animal beneath her. She knew if the man wanted to find her, he would now. Akasja looked behind her and noticed her dagger lying a few feet away among the shrubbery. She slowly began to edge towards it, dragging the subdued goat by a leg and its throat as she went.

[Colt]

Something large rustled through the brush at his right, something that Shahar could not see, but that held the telltale beat of two feet––the human woman. She sounded like she was going after the goat, something the jackal concluded as well––something that made it decide that a single goat was not worth all the trouble after all, and shot Shahar a single irritated glance before leaping off into the brush.

Heaving a sigh, Shahar rose from his tense crouch and made his way over to where his javelin had fallen, yanking it from the earth and returning it to its siblings. With one potential prey-animal gone, Shahar had little choice but to turn to the other––and to the human who had dashed off after it.

He didn’t even try to sneak as he walked to where she had hidden out of sight; from her positioning, she had probably seen him in the grass and almost definitely when he had thrown his weapon. He therefore chose to assume that she was aware of his presence––and the goat was the only thing left to be concerned about.

Shahar turned and followed her footprints, wide and deep from a sudden sprint, and Shahar picked up a lope to follow her. She had cut a path around the base of the hill, over grass and rock and dirt, and it was not long at all before he heard it: crashing plants and the terrified bleating of the goat. Deciding that stealth would be superfluous, Shahar approached with his normal half-slouch.

He came upon her and the goat amists the obvious signs of a struggle. She looked almost like she was attempting to ride the animal, although he quickly realized that she must had been deliberately immobilizing it––and it still looked odd to him, being as used to riding horses as he was. This bemusement was written in his posture as he circled, and noted with surprise that her eyes were black. His stance quickly turned to one of wary curiosity, and he tilted his head.

Greetings, he signed to her.

[Akasja]

Akasja had just reached her dagger by the time the man showed himself. She had been waiting for this moment, and now that it was here, Akasja didn't know what to make of the stranger.

Even as Akasja held out her dagger, the man approached her calmly. His stance remained relaxed until he made eye contact with her and realized that she was Chaktawe. He immediately looked at her differently, a mix of caution and intrigue in his posture and expression. Akasja was not unused to this type of reaction. Even so, the man did not seem aggressive at all, nor did he reach for his weapon. Akasja slowly lowered her dagger, keeping her gaze level with the man's. After seeing no sudden movements, Akasja slid her weapon back into the wolf leg sheath on her hip.

Carefully, and keeping her gaze locked on the strange man who circled her, Akasja rose from off the goat's body and squatted beside it, keeping her grip on the back of its neck. Akasja figured the goat wasn't going anywhere, as tired as it was, but she did not want it to suddenly rear up and flee.

After the man had finished eyeing her, he gestured with his body in a way that caused Akasja to wrinkle her brow. What was he doing? He had been looking straight at her, trying to communicate something, but Akasja was not totally sure what he had meant. Regardless, the man didn't look displeased. Akasja paused a moment, waited for anything to follow, and when he remained still, she chose to speak in Common, the language they might have shared.
"Who are you?"
It was a simple phrase, one of the few she had learned. Although Akasja spoke with confidence, she was extra attentive for the man's response, for her Common was poor and she did not know what the stranger would respond with.

[Colt]

She seemed far more wary of him than he was of her, with her dagger in hand and face masked in distrust. Not that he could truly fault her for it; he was standing and armed with both javelins and an axe, while she was riding a goat and was armed with a dagger made of… bone? Shahar’s curiosity briefly narrowed to her weapon––he had never seen a dagger made of bone––but it was soon returned to the woman.

Rising from her seat, the black-eyed stranger took her time to retain the grip on the goat as she returned to her feet. She did not appear to recognize his greeting, so he assumed that she did not know Pavi or Sign.

Indeed, she seemed to have identified it as an attempt to communicate, and voiced her own query.

The Common words were hard and unfamiliar in his ears, but he managed to understand enough to know what she was saying.

I am… “Drykas.” Hopefully she knew what he meant by that.

oocApologies for the long wait for such a short post!