Completed The Journey, Part 1

[Shadyn]

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6th-9th of Autumn, 515 AV


The lightning bolts from the gale behind them illuminated the night sky in brilliant flashes. They proved that not only was the Storm Sea aptly named, but that Shadyn had been wise in foregoing hunting yesterday to let them rest. He turned to face forwards again in his saddle, welcoming the sight of the craggy, wave-beaten shore, and beyond that, the taiga they were fast approaching. Had they not been well rested, they would not have been able to fly non-stop for well over a day across the portion of the Storm Sea that separated the peninsula upon which Wind Reach sat and the mainland of Kalea.

He took note of the position of the fading stars, as well as where the sun was rising. Doing a few calculations in his head, he was able to determine they’re location…more or less. As their progress sank in, he smiled.

“When we land, we will have flown three hundred miles, Xarrt. Just think, not only did we do three days’ worth of travel in one day, but we save ourselves the extra two days it would have taken to follow the land south instead of heading directly southwest.”

Xarrt turned his great head so that Shadyn could see one of his golden eyes. Of course we did. Do you honestly think I would have let you direct me this way if I thought that we would be drowned to death in the midst of a storm? You underestimate how daring I was when I was younger. Young Wind Eagles are every bit as foolhardy as Inarta ones, just so you know. I learned more about my limits then than I would under any Endal, even your mother, as adventurous as she was.

“From what I have been told, it would have been an honor to have known her. But, life is what it is, and there is not point wishing for what it isn’t. As far as I’m concerned, if there is something I don’t like, I should either change it myself, circumvent it entirely, or deal with it as best I can.” Shadyn sighed, then leaned far forward over Xarrt’s shoulder and gestured to a clearing near the base of some of the coastal mountains. “We’ll stop there for today. The sun is already inching its way above the horizon, and I want time to hunt before it sets again.”


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[Shadyn]

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They landed, already in the edge of the approaching storm. The coniferous forest swayed as one mass before the fist of the North Wind. A sheet of rain slammed into Shadyn's katinu, which he pulled tighter about his face. It was bitter cold now, but he was certain that no fire would start in this weather. Well, there were a few Endal's he knew that could probably do so, but with his level of wilderness survival skills, it simply was not going to happen.

Xarrt had already tucked his head under his wing by this point, taking what little shelter he could behind one particularly tall lodge-pole pine. Shadyn cast about hurriedly for something more substantial than a tree for shelter. Several hundred feet away, a morass left in the valley by a long lost glacier promised a small rocky cave in which he could pass his sleeping hours in relative comfort. Approaching it, he checked carefully for hibernating bears, then crawled in. It was cramped, but dry, and -- after so many hours of alterness -- he quickly fell into a sound slumber.

He awoke to a beam of sunlight shining directly into his eyes. For a moment, the golden ray startled his still dreamy mind into wondering if he was in the realm of the gods. Then he shift out of the ray, and the outside world came into focus. Everything was soaking wet, but fortunately, the sun had not set yet. When he crawled out of his cave and checked the sky, he realized that he probably had another four hours until sundown...enough time for a hunt.

As he stretched, he realized that sleeping with all of his weapons still worn on his body was probably not the best choice, but...still, he felt safer that way. Not that he was particularly proficient in any of them, but it was the principle of the thing. Scouting out the area, it appeared that his best bet was the sheer cliffs of the nearby mountain. A flock of bighorn sheep were browsing the upper reaches of it.

He strode up and examined the rock face. It would be a difficult climb, but it was doable. Xarrt was still asleep, and given how much flying he had just done, Shadyn did not think it fair to try to wake him now.

"Okay...here goes nothing..."
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An hour later, Shadyn managed to crest the top of the rock face. It had been every bit as difficult as he had imagined, pushing his abilities to their absolute limit. The rock crevasses ran nearly vertical, forcing him to ram his hands into the wall, make fists, then haul himself up until he could wedge the toes of his boots another step higher. He had repeated that motion until he was sick of it. But at least the sheep were in sight.

He was about to decide how to use his tomahawk when he remembered that the had a bow now. He whipped it off of his back, strung a barbed arrow, and held it at chest high as he crept towards his quarry. This part of the mountain was alpine tundra, so there were plenty of low, thick bushes to conceal himself it as he traveled. Seeing a gap, he raised the bow to his cheek. Fitting his hand into the spot just below his cheekbone like an old friend had taught him, he looked down the length of the arrow, lining up his eye with the bowstring, the bowstring with the arrowhead, and the arrowhead with his target. He inhaled, counted to three, and released smoothly.

The arrow thwacked softly into a clump of moss three feet in front of the ram. It raised its head at the sound, casting about worriedly for a threat. Shadyn held his breath until it returned to grazing the sodden mosses. He strung his bow again, but this time adjusted his aim higher than the ram, lining up the arrowhead with a small bush that was visually about a foot above the ram's shoulders. The distance of about fifty yards apparently was enough to account for that much drop in the arrow's flight, since this time it sank solidly into the creature's side. When it fell soundlessly, Shadyn lept from his hiding place and dashed towards it. Snatching up his first errant arrow on his way, he arrived at the ram and bent down over it. He placed his fingers on its neck just below the jawline. No pulse. He let out a whoop of joy. This was only his second shot from his own bow, and he had hit the heart of the animal he was hunting!

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[Shadyn]

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As they continued into the Kalean Wilderness that night, Shadyn could still taste the robust flavor of roast mutton. Cooking it had been a simple affair. He had merely gutted it and skinned it first, keeping the organs, of course. Hacking down a cedar sapling with one of his Talon swords, he lopped off the limbs and drove the entire little tree through the carcass like a skewer.

The fire had been easy to build, since dry pine wood -- also known as "lightwood" -- was plentiful, the thick layer of detritus on the forest floor having protected it from most of the rain. It had taken him several tries to successfully produce and aim a spark from his flint and steel, but in the end a random ember had lit upon his pile of twigs and smoked to life. He had blown on it eagerly until he had a nice little flame, then began adding increasingly large limbs as it grew. In little more than an hour, he had a nice fire with plenty of coals over which to place his game.

He placed the skewer across two large, forked limbs like he had seen other hunters do. His only way to tell that one side was done, however, was that it had begun to brown and blacken. The same was true for the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs, stomach, and head, all of which he roasted on stout sticks which he personally held. Thus, most of his meal had a distinct smoky taste to it, but was nevertheless delicious, as far as he was concerned.

Now, as he searched for the next place to spend the day, he pulled out the liver and began munching on it while he scanned the wilderness below. After nearly two hours of searching, he decided to make do with one of the mountain slopes. It would be cold, but would at least provide enough room to make camp.

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[Shadyn]

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Shadyn was frenetic. After they had landed, he had decided to chop down some of the alpine tundra willows to make a fire...and then realize that he did not have an axe! He cursed himself for his forgetfulness. The other day he had used his Talon swords, without even thinking about an axe, but now in the tangled confines of the dense undergrowth, he could not even draw his blade, let alone swing it. He should have at least bought swords with a serrated edge that he could use as a saw...

"How could I be so stupid!!"

Xarrt shook his head, apparently amused. I am surprised as well that you forgot. It was fortuitous that we left when we did, but perhaps you should have prepared just a bit more...or at least told me what you were planning so that I could help you.

Shadyn grimaced for a moment, then sighed. "It is what it is now...I have to make do with what I have, and learn from my mistakes."

He realized that, at least today, he would not have a fire. There was little to no deadwood up here for him to use. So, he would have to work up some body heat after his chilly night flight. Some calisthenics would suffice, he thought. So saying, he proceeded to do fifty pushups, fifty sit ups, and fifty lunges. He repeated this process until his body simply would not allow him to do another motion.

Flopping down exhaustedly beside Xarrt, who had already tucked his head under his wing and was sound asleep, Shadyn wrapped himself in his thick katinu, then tossed the skin of the ram he had killed on top of himself. He had scrapped it clean, and although it would not last like a properly treated hide, it was still warm and would suffice for the next week until it began to decompose.
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[Shadyn]

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As was to be expected, his sleep was anything but comfortable. Still, he had always slept deeply, and this time was no exception. Now, however, he needed more food, since a single thigh would not feed both him and Xarrt enough to last them for tonight's journey.

At this altitude, he would mostly find small game. It was not rocky enough to satisfy the mountain goats and bighorn sheep, nor was it wooded enough to please any type of deer. That left marmots. He had heard them squeaking and scampering all over the mountain side while he was exercising, and they were still active right now. Most likely it was their evening foraging time.

He pulled out his bow and added a handful of flight arrows to his back quiver. For something so small as these alpine ground squirrels, they would be perfectly lethal. The advantage was that they flew longer distances straighter and faster, giving him much more accuracy than his other, heavier arrows would.

There was no need to actually stalk the creatures, since entire brigades of them were scouring the low berry bushes and lichens that grew throughout the slope. He merely found himself a small promontory from which to shoot, and began to fire. These arrows suffered much less drop than their companions he had used to fell the ram, and thus hit almost exactly the spots for which he aimed.

What he had not counted on, however, was the fact that the marmots' constant motion made them incredibly difficult to hit. What's worse is that the rocky terrain made each errant arrow ping loudly as it missed its target. Shadyn growled softly, not wanting to bother shooting again until he had just the right target. His eyes scoured the landscape until they came to rest up a marmot that was fully occupied devouring berries. This time, when he carefully sighted in, the creature remained in the same spot long enough for him to release and send the missile burrowing into its upper body.

Shadyn did not descend to retrieve his game, however. He realized that to go down and pick up a dead marmot would give the rest of the colony great cause for alarm, and prevent him from shooting another before they had time to leave. Thus, he maintained his perch, and carefully scouted out five more marmots that sat still for slightly too long for their own good. Actually, he found eight more marmots, but missed three of them, sending the little creatures scurrying frantically into their burrows. Nevertheless, bagging five would be enough. They had already fattened themselves for winter, thus making them much bigger than if he had arrived in mid summer.

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[Shadyn]

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While Xarrt ate his three marmots raw, Shadyn brainstormed as to how he was going to cook his meat. He needed a fire, pure and simple. His Talon swords would simply not work on the willow bushes, though, and the tomahawk was entirely out of the question.

"If I cannot chop the only wood available, then the only alternative is to consider what else here will burn?"

Suddenly, all of his reading caused a distant memory to pop into his head. He had once come across the story of an Enarta whose Wind Eagle was killed by predators, and had been forced to make it back to Wind Reach on foot. One of the problems that man had faced was making fires, and he had used peat once. Shadyn sprang to his feet and raced up the hill to the small plateau at the base of the promontory he had used as his hunting perch. On the surface it was little more than a watery bog, but he unsheathed one of his swords and drove it into the puddle. It sank in all the way to the handle.

In a matter of minutes, he had stripped off the clothes from his upper body and was up to his elbows slicing and hauling out blocks of peat. The stinking, heavy, dark soil was loathsome to work with, but that very stink told him that he had the right material for the makings of a good fire.

Soon he had hauled several large chucks back to his camp, and proceeded to shred them and add dry grasses. The fire caught quickly, and burned with surprising heat and cleanliness. He dressed the marmots just as he had the ram, and managed to blacken them slightly less then he had his previous meal. He ate one and a half, and saved the rest for their flight.

Soon he had saddled up, placing two smaller chunks of peat in another game bag...just in case. Then, they were off. The sun had set, and he checked the stars to make sure they were in line with their course. He had now decided where he wanted to go...Endrykas.


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[Brandon Blackwing]

SHADYN

XP Award:

• Observation +3
• Navigation +1
• Socialization +1
• Climbing +1
• Weapon: Composite Longbow +2
• Hunting +2
• Stealth +1
• Wilderness Survival +3
• Cooking +1
• Body building +1

Lore:

• Xarrt: Was foolhardy in his younger days
• Wilderness Survival: Check caves for bears before entering
• Archery: How to shoot a longbow
• Archery: Aiming above the target to compensate for gravity
• Wilderness Survival: Building a fire
• Peat: stinks, but makes great fuel for campfires
• Cooking: Blackened game meat
  

Notes:
Well, that was entertaining A nice read, I like it.

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credit goes to Adelaide Sitai