[Bronze Woods] A Bit of Hunting [Cathan]

[Hadrian]

Once his protective circle of glyphs was laid and Cathan was leading the way, Hadrian did his best to keep up. He quickly noticed that Cathan was switching back a lot, and so Hadrian tried to carve a path somewhere between the extremes, not wasting time and energy zig-zagging. He tried to be quick, but quiet, not leaving his scent on too many things. From what he understood, humans were easy to smell and not always easy on the nose. Afraid to waste too much energy, he Fluxed little shots of djed into his limbs so that he didn't fall too behind, but didn't end up exhausted as he had showing off for Cathan back in Syliras. It was just enough to make him feel like he might match some young knight in a sprint rather than embarrass himself. He avoided patches of snow and their telltale crunch beneath his feet, and actually began to learn to come out of his little bursts of speed without overbalancing and falling. This was, after all, good practice! He paused when Cathan did, and it seemed he had found something which Hadrian immediately searched for with Auristic-enhanced vision. He saw the fox's aura and felt a little sheepish. He probably should have seen the rust red fur anyway. But something seemed to give Cathan pause, so Hadrian immediately began to sweep the surroundings with his augmented senses, at the same time, pouring a bit more of his djed into his hands until they began to change into Symenestra hands, specifically those of Vizyous. Likely he would be no greater fighter with claws, but they made him feel more secure, anyway. Thus prepared, he watched as Cathan attacked.

[Cathan]

At Hadrian's side a branch snapped. It was a faint sound, a noise carried from the forest's depth by an stiff winter breeze. The crackling was accompanied by the rustling of foliage, again too weak to make out its source, suspicious only in its persistence. There was it again. Closer this time, louder. Still distant, but not as far away as the young man might have wished.

Another time twigs broke and down the aisle Cathan bolt forward.

Wolf were good runners, capable of following game for miles and miles if they had to. They were however no sprinters, not over long distances. When a gray wolf wanted to make a kill, the canine had to to wear out their prey or choice. Or the wolf had to be quick. Today the Kelvic was the later. Long he had slunk beside the trees, feeling the wind against his face. With every step he had drawn closer, until finally only a few feet had separated the predator from the fox. Then he had jumped.

It was a short chase. Rotting leaves and snow splattered in all direction when both wolf and prey gave chase. The landscape turned a blurred spot of brown and white as Cathan's attention shrank down to the lithe red body just before his nose, the flickering tail. Twice the wolf snapped at its quarry, twice his teeth pierced nothing but thin air. World creased importance next to the hunt and the wolf forgot its surrounding as blood started to rush in his ears. Strong legs carried him forward and he did not care about the branches lashing against his side.

Finally he leaped. A metallic taste spread in his mouth as he tore into the small body and the Kelvic could sense the breaking of bones between his jaws. Once the animal struggled, then it fell from the wolves muzzle, dead. Cathan licked his lips. A hint of satisfaction settled into his mind, one he was not sure a normal wolf would feel. It was the foretaste of gratification which came with pleasing ones master, a feeling he often had when helping one of his friends. Shaking his head, the canine bend down to pick his trophy up. A sudden breeze let him halt in an instant.

He had sensed it again, the scent riding on the wind. The smell of an predator larger than him. Maybe it was the end of winter after all. His hard won kill forgotten, the shapeshifter turned, heading back the way he had taken mere moment earlier. A distinct worry drove him back down the swath. The circumstance that the other man was too far behind to make him out among snow laden trees bothered the wolf. Breathing out, the wolf started to run faster, racing down the narrow swath with concerned haste.

Beside Hadrian it rustled again.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian missed the final kill, so distracted was he by the rustling in the underbrush. When he was sure he wasn't imagining things, he poured djed into his limbs and attempted his earlier trick, only the stakes just might be a lot higher now. It was difficult to manage amid all the trees so densely packed, but his mind seemed quicker with the Fluxed speed as well. He jumped from clear spot to clear spot in a flurry of limbs, burning his soul in the process. His morphed claws flexed, but they remained a last resort. He didn't want to shout for help and ruin the hunt. He wasn't even sure there was anything out there, but he turned his head to glance with Auristic-enhanced vision, and then missed his mark, ramming his shoulder into a tree at faster than he could run, stumbling off and tripping over a stone to fall to his knees, Symenestra claws gripping loamy soil. "Petch," he muttered to himself. But he was scared now, and he Saw something indistinct through distracting auras of trees and other hibernating foliage, closer than he had thought possible given his speedy escape. He had to risk it. "CATHAN!"

[Cathan]

The shout echoed down the swath, the sound so clear and close the Kelvic knew Hadrian could not be more than a couple dozen yards away. Pushing forward with new found zeal Cathan jumped over a root and slid down the icy path. Snow crunched under heavy pawns and frozen breath clouded the wolf's view. He did not slow down. Finally the mage's slender body came into view, not far from where the canine had last seen him.

Hadrian was still alone. Relief washed over him and he slowed down, entering the clearing, panting, but eased to see the man still in one piece. An obviously nervous piece, yet unharmed. Relaxed the wolf strolled forward, his tail risen and feeling stupid for the fox he had dropped back down the forest aisle. Now he would have to return to get him. Almost he had cursed, only his inability stopping him. So he just shook his head, about to close the distance between himself and the young magecrafter.

Cathan entered the opening together with the bear.

With the sweeping portliness of its kin, the mammal waltzed out of the bushes, thick brown fur windswept and dark eyes shifting from Hadrian to the Kelvic and back. Compared with other bears, the animal was not large. It was almost thin, slimmed down during the long time of hibernation, a winter dormancy which had ended on a very unfortunate day as Cathan found. Casual the shaggy beast sniffed into their direction, long clawed pawns leaving deep marks on brown splattered snow. Then the animal stopped, eventually considering its findings.

Bears did not eat humans. They did attack wolfs as rarely. While bears where the only threat a wolf would have to fear – actual monsters and other unnatural beasts aside – violent encounters between the two were a seldom occurrence. One had good chances to survive meeting the shy forest dwellers when one just knew how to behave around them. The canine was uncertain if his friend was aware of that precious fact however.

Again the wolf made a step forward and the bears attention shifted into his direction. Cathan stopped, amber eyes darting towards Hadrian, unmoving. After a long considering moment the Kelvic simply sat down.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian felt slightly better when Cathan reappeared, but when a bear lumbered out at the same time, he wasn't quite sure how relieved he should be. Scrabbling to his feet, he attempted to improve on the design of his Symenestra claws, pouring djed into his hands, lengthening and strengthening those claws, while also trying to strengthen the bones of his hands and arms, the muscles underneath that too-pale, mock-Symenestra skin. Attempting a defensive posture, he realized that Cathan was not attacking, or defending, or ... oh, he was sitting down on his haunches. A bit dumbfounded, Hadrian wondered if this was one of his local Kelvic friends, if there was a social club of Kelvics living in the Bronze Woods, or if he had just hit his head in addition to his shoulder when running into the tree with Fluxed up force. On second thought, it did look like the bear was still shaking off its winter sleep. It wasn't as big and burly as he had originally thought, and now he was wondering if Cathan was laughing at him in a silent, lupine sort of way. He frowned, trying to decide whether he should be embarrassed or if the bear was hungry enough to attempt a mean of wolf with a side of human.

[Cathan]

Don't move. Cathan wished he could have hissed the warning aloud. When first meeting Kendall he had faced the same problem. Conveying ideas while wearing his animal skin proved almost impossible. Back in Zeltiva they had only faced some angry residents however, not a bear hungry from its winter rest. The Kelvic's ears pulled back. A hint of fangs became visible when the bear's round head swung around, sleep drunken eyes fixing on the sorcerer's tall frame. The man's movement had caused the animal's drowsy mind to stir from half slumber. Two steps it sauntered forward, snow crunching under its weight.

The man's defense stance, his claws, seemed had caught their opponent's eye. It had caught the wolf's too. Hadrian's hand bore no similarity with any human hand Cathan had ever seen. They were no animal's pawn either. Black nails sprung from the man's finger tips, unlike any talon the canine had come across. The sight made the shapeshifter's skin crawl, the hair along his spine coming to stand up in a crest of pelt running down his back. The canine could not have said if the nails were strong enough to tear through the bear's coat, but his friend seemed to think so. It would have given the Kelvic a vague feeling of relief, had he not actually hoped his friend would do nothing at all. Or slowly back away, when he felt the urge to move. Bears did not attack unless they felt provoked. Then they could become rather unpleasant fellows.

Across the clearing the clumsy animal shook his head. Already Cathan thought it would turn, vanish back into the woods to find some berries or deer carcass; to hunt some hares to sate its hunger. Instead the beast rose to his hind legs. Suddenly it stood taller than any of them, a huffing giant of brown fur, muscles and little fat – heavier than both of them even after the long cold season. Not the largest of its kin the canine had seen so far, but impressive still. Two years he war probably old, the wolf decided, amber eyes not straying from the larger creature.

In the Kelvic's chest his heart started to ponder hard against his ribs. Before them the bear fell forward on his pawns. Slowly, yet without hesitation it started to ambled towards Hadrian. It was faster than most would have given the stolidly beast credit for.

Cathan moved too. With a growl he first darted to the side then forward. Circling half around the mass of pelt, the wolf dashed forward. Sharp teeth dug into a brawny hind leg, tearing into the thick fur for half an heartbeat, before the Kelvic already jumped back again. Warmth spread in his mouth, dripping red on the white forest floor. A second leap carried him out of the bear's vicinity.

Claws tore though the air where wolf had stood a second earlier.

[Hadrian]

Whatever he had done to upset the bear didn't matter now, and he was just glad that his body hadn't decided to wet itself at the bear making its hungry way toward him. But then Cathan shot out like a crossbow quarrel, tearing flesh and dancing away like one of the fleet-footed sailors brawling on the piers of Zeltiva for coin and street glory. He glanced down at his reinforced claws, but shook his head. Those were a last resort. He wasn't strong enough to do much with them, and if he was going to attack with the added punch of his meager Flux discipline, it would have to be at the perfect moment because it would take time to recover. But he had to do something so he went for what he was more comfortable with, bringing those clawed, alien hands up in front of his chest and quickly pouring out res. In the heat of the moment, it didn't merely come out of his hands, but his arms and face as well, the silvery, translucent energy coalescing into a large sphere. Stepping back, he let it hang there as he began to transmute it, drawing in the remaining winter chill as much as the humidity of the air. "Cathan, watch out!" he called, then reached back and punched the sphere. It shattered into glittering shards of ice, propelled toward the bear as much by force of will as the borrowed kinetic energy of his punch, but every little bit helped. Several of the ice daggers scored on the bear with meaty whumps while pale Hadrian looked on, chlorine blue eyes wide.

[Cathan]

Cathan crouched and his belly slid along half frozen ice and mud. From the corner of his eye he watched sharp edged ice daggers tear into the bear's pelt with a soft thud. Almost belated the animal let out a roar, a sound coming straight from its broad chest, deep and daunting. With clumsy pawns it brushed off the ice, breaking many of the brittle shards right above the skin. The circumstance seemed to anger the bear even more. Another time the beast thundered, showing fangs more yellow than white. It was not their color which worried the wolf the most. The teeth were considerably longer than the Kelvic's own.

The smell of blood started to fill the air and Cathan hesitated. Amber eyes darted towards Hadrian. He did not want to get in the way of a second magic onslaught, not after he had seen the wounds a thing as simple as an ice shard could cause. It had been one of the most impressive displays of magic the Kelvic had come to witness so far. Uncertain he waited for the other man to continue. It had been an absorbing display and for a moment the canine could feel his chest swell with pride, as if he had just thrown around spells himself. Hadrian seemed a much better fighter than he had given himself credit for.

There was no other attempt to bring down the heavy animal with mage trickery. If the canine would have to guess he had said the young man was surprised by the vigor of his own attack.

The bear on the other hand was not. Blood tinted the thick pelt in a brownish red, yet the animal continued forward with untiring endurance. The distance between bear and man shrank further and finally the Kelvic leaped at his opponent's exposed side. With a certain ease the the wolf tore into the flesh, the attempt barely getting the bear's attention. Unimpeded the enraged beast continued down its path towards Hadrian, huffing. Grudgingly the shapeshifter let go. Again he rushed forward, fangs digging into the animal's massive neck now.

This time the bear stopped. A pawn ten times larger than Cathan's own leashed out for him, the impact flinging the smaller creature backward. The strike pressed the air from his lungs and made his head spin. Staggering the Kelvic came to his feet again, side burning. For the first time since the beginning of their hunt worry nagged at him, the idea they could fail; die. The concept might have troubled him even more had he had time to think about it further. A mere few feet away the bear had reached the young sorcerer and he sight let the wolf's heart jump harder in his chest. A growl on his lips the canine summoned up what little reserves he felt left in him. He started to run.

Before Hadrian the bear rose to its hind legs once more.

[Hadrian]

Hadrian stared dumbly at the success of his attack. The manipulation of temperature with his attacks was chancy at best. He was usually most successful when under extreme pressure, such as the current situation, when he got out of his own way, brain ceding control to instinct. But the pain seemed to enrage the beast, and perhaps they would have to wait for its blood and guts to melt the ice before blood began to gush out prodigiously enough to slow it down and, hopefully, kill it. Cathan's attacks where of an almost guerrilla variety, and didn't stop the bear from fixating on Hadrian himself. He couldn't see where Cathan was running, so intent was he on the lumbering wild animal coming after him, but he threw up his clawed hands, weaving djed as fast as he was able. Martin had taught him to shield, but he had not practiced enough to be at all quick. The physical shield was slow in manifesting, so he desperately wove out res, something with which he was much more comfortable, clearly, and soon he was hunkered down behind an odd makeshift shield of ice and warped energy. The 'pollution' of res and ice made the shield energy flicker pale blue on the visible spectrum, but Hadrian's awareness tucked that datum away for later review. The bear rammed into him and his mottled shield, which shattered under the force of its momentum, but it afforded enough protection for Hadrian to roll away to the side and he surprised himself how quickly he scrabbled to his feet, running back in the direction of the circle protecting his horse. He still couldn't see the wolf Kelvic, but he hoped he would remember the defenses Hadrian had laid and trust in them rather than getting himself hurt. Hadrian's strength was pure adrenaline now, no time or excess energy for Fluxing. There wasn't even enough breath to warn Cathan verbally.

[Cathan]

Cathan had found himself a new path for his next attack, one which would keep him save from whatever the sorcerer might throw into the bears face should he chose to weave magic again. The canine moved in the other beast's shadow, almost close enough to bite into the larger animal's haunches. His position kept him save from a potential magic onset, yet in the same time it made it hard for the Kelvic to make out what happened right before his opponent's nose and more importantly with Hadrian.

With the bear rising for its final strike, the wolf closed the distance between himself and the mass of brown fur towering before him. For the second time Cathan aimed for the animal's neck, one of the few points he could hope to wound. The unexpected tremble shaking the bears body just a moment later had almost thrown him of the creature's shoulder. Only absently he felt the mage's shield burst under the impact of his involuntary mount. The collision was enough to loose his grip on the pelt sleek with blood, his body vigorously flinging left and right until the Kelvic finally decided to let go.

Snow and mud absorbed his plunge down to the ground. By his side the bear shuddered. Bloodshot eyes followed the figure of the sorcerer vanish between the trees before settling on the wolf. Pink foam dressed the bear's muzzle, the crimson in the mix growing darker as time past. Slower than before the beast started moving and so did Cathan.

His mind raced. He did not want to lead the beast the way Hadrian had taken. Blood loss and and wounds would eventually wear the colossus down, yet so far the bear looked strong enough to tear a man's head off if it really wanted to. Behind him the Kelvic could hear the predator crash through undergrowth and bushes, obstacles he had darted around himself, but proved little hindrance to his pursuer. The wolf still chose the way hardest to follow for the larger animal. Time was playing in their favor and Cathan might just have kept running had he not have felt his own reserves drawing to an end.

Ahead he could make out Hadrian among the trees, his magic had carried him quite a bit forward. It wasn't until the canine heard the water gurgling however when he realized where his friend was heading to. More magic. The runes he had drawn in the ground around the horse, those Cathan was not quite sure what they were meant for. He had never looked forward to deal with the arcane, yet the idea Hadrian might have another as up his sleeve was reassuring.

In the distance the wolf could make out the horse, still staying by the river where they had left it. The bear roaring behind him the Kelvic searched the water side for the young mage.