• PM To Join • What's Wrong with Eating Horses? (Nir'wei)

[Qit'ria]

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Vhalar 14th, 717
"Speech"

Qit'ria plodded along, making her way east toward Scalvoris Town after a long, frustrating morning. She had been trying to hunt something, anything, and that damnable creature that kept haunting her ruined it at every single turn. She had managed to wait for a fat squirrel to show itself, but before she could even get her javelin drawn, the furry little critter rushed out from a bush and scared it off. It stopped, looked up at Qit'ria and growled, showing its teeth at her, before running off.

She didn't recognize it, nor had she seen any others of its type in the area. She also didn't know what she'd done to offend it, but it was royally upset with her specifically. This season had so many hungry days because of that abominable, angry weasel-bear thing. Every single time she saw it, she scowled, and moved to attack it, but it was fast running off snarling.

So once more, Qit found herself walking toward town in shame. She'd have to be one of those terribly people that bought their food. The thought of having to rely on another filled her with disgust. But it had been days since she'd had a proper meal. She'd found a few berries and such in the wilderness, but she needed meat.She was a predator after all, not a gods damned grass eater like the one that just came into view as she crested the rise of the grasslands.

Realizing that she was staring at a horse in the distance, she slowly dropped down into a crouch, using the taller grasses as cover. Her javelin was already in hand, as it always was when she was traveling in the wilds. The critter wasn't that big for a horse, perhaps a young one, off on its own. Behind it was the absolutely massive tree Qit'ria had always seen on the outskirts of Scalvoris town. She'd not bothered going there, it looked busy with the many flying creatures coming and going like a beehive.

Staying crouched, Qit moved slowly around, rotating her position so she was at the horse's side. She could see it was a deep black, with white flecks on its snout and ears and a male. Pulling her javelin back, she intended to hit it behind the front shoulder, piercing its heart, much like she would with a deer. With a single step forward, she threw her arm forward, consciously letting the javelin spin sideways off her fingertips to give it more of a spin.

But yet again, the pestersome weasel bear had appeared at the same moment in front of the horse, surprising it. It reared up and whinnied loudly, and the javelin passed harmless beneath the horse. The instant its front hooves hit the ground once more, it was racing off toward the tree, and Qit was swearing in her native tongue. She ran forward, grabbing her javelin from the ground it had stuck into. Pumping her arms heavily, her bare feet kicked up dirt as she gave chase, soon realizing she was losing ground.

So she skipped into her throwing position while maintaining this momentum, and launched the javelin once more, higher to gain distance. It flew high and far, wobbling about, and didn't have the same spin as her last throw. And it dropped short several feet of the horse that ran off to the safety of the giant tree. Stomach growling loudly, she sighed, and slumped toward her javelin to collect it. Oh well, maybe one day she'd get to have some proper food. One day.

Created by Yolande

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[Nir'wei]

Traveller was an energetic soul at heart, he knew. The Sohr Khal showed it off every time he took to the air without a rider, somersaulting and diving and wheeling through the air at speeds that made Nir'weis eyes water. Even favouring his uninjured left wing, he was still an incredibly fast creature to behold when he threw everything behind his wingbeats. Today he'd been let off the leash, so to speak, and wheeled around the skies above the Menagerie while Nir'wei remained on the ground, checking over the Enormowls in his daily routine. A few had light chips on their claws after a hardy mission of the Elementals, and they needed proper sealing to allow time for the claw to repair naturally.

Just as he finished, the tree lurched. Branches creaked as Traveller's weight settled on them, gripping two of the higher branches to support himself as he hung just outside the window, peeking in with that massive head of his struggling to fit through the open window. "Oi! Get down off there!" he yelled, waving the beast off until he reluctantly pulled back and tumbled backwards, landing on the ground with an almighty thud. "Immortals above, what does he want now?" Traveller was a clingy soul. He refused to be anywhere other than where Nir'wei was - even Greyhide didn't have that problem! The wolf, learning that Nir'wei would be spending an uneventful day in the Menagerie again, had announced he'd be out hunting today. Partially because he didn't want to be in Nir'weis way and partially because he didn't want to bore himself to death.

He shot an apologetic look to the receptionist on the way down through the Menagerie, who sat with arms folded and daggers shooting from her eyes. This must have been the third time that day that the Sohr Khal had attempted to push itself inside the building... or perch on top of it... or hang from it. All the training in Idalos could tell him to not, but at least for now, he'd just have to put up with a giant winged shadow following him everywhere.

The moment he walked out the door, he barely had time for a quick "What is it?" before Traveller's massive snout pushed at his side insistently. "Oi! I've told you about this, come on, I don't mind it but at least dial the affection down when I'm working!" The snout nudged him again, and again, nearly toppling him over. "Hey, did you hear me?!" A firm shove sent him stumbling, and he realised that he was being pushed in a particular direction. "What is it?" A series of short, urgent noises mixed with growls. Communication was limited, but Traveller wasn't a stupid animal, not at all. Plus, there was no better scout and lookout while he was in the air. "Show me."

Traveller's snout turned in the air, but instead of taking flight to show him the way, he dropped down and lowered himself in as deep a bow as he could manage. Now that he knew what that meant, he didn't waste a breath climbing over the Sohr Khal's shoulder and fixing himself to the saddle strapped to his back that he'd borrowed. Just for safety's sake, he checked to make sure his bow and quiver were still hooked through one of the leather loops at the side. Not that Traveller needed to be constantly saddled and geared-up, but... well, he did need to get used to them. Besides, flying with added weight was good for his endurance, and building up strength on his weaker wing. Traveller likely enjoyed the saddle as much as Nir'wei did sitting in the damn thing, but with time they'd both come to... well, at least tolerate it.

Rearing back onto his hind legs and spreading his wings, Traveller leaped into the air with one spring and quickly begun beating, barely gaining any altitude at all - instead flying like a loosed arrow, skimming along as close to the ground as he could manage while leaving a good deal of head-room for anyone passing underneath. In no time at all the Sohr Khal reared back again, spreading his wings once more, shoving Nir'wei firmly against his back as he slowed to a grinding halt.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" No wonder Traveller had seen this as an emergency. Running past the lines of the Menagerie territory, someone was chasing one of the horses that'd been grazing not far from their stables... tossing javelins! "Land." Traveller tossed his head back as his wing-beats slowed and he lowered them both down before the rogue attacker, turned side-on to give Nir'wei a full view as he unhooked the bow from its loop and drew an arrow preemptively. If someone was dumb enough to attack the property of the Elementals, they were dumb enough to try and attack him and Traveller... and for all the faith he had in his companion, who did most of the riding for the two of them, he didn't like the look of those javelins. They weren't something to sniff at, especially on a flying mount where wings could be shredded quite easily by the right ammunition.

[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

Qit'ria ripped the javelin free of the ground, looking up just in time to see something huge flying toward her. Instinct kicked in, and she looked around for cover. There was the tree line, really, really far back. And it clearly had seen her, was coming right for her. She snarled loudly, and crouched down making herself small, holding her javelin up and ready like a scorpion backed into a corner. When the giant bird thing landed, she could see a man was on its back. So this creature belonged to the man, and was his steed.

It was impressive, its sheer size alone would scare off most prey and predators alike. She saw him draw a bow and an arrow, readying it, likely for her. Qit snarled loudly, realizing she'd just gone from predator to prey. And as prey, survival was everything. She let loose her best impression of a mountain lion scream, just to try and startle the pair of predators, before she turned heel and ran.

She knew she was being hunted by a bow user, and was thankful she'd been raised by one in her mother. And so, she couldn't run along a straight path, for that would be too easy of a target. No she pumped her arms, breathed heavily in through her nose, out through her mouth, her bare feet kicking up grass as she ran. First she zigged to the left, and after a few trills zagged to the right. She looked over her shoulder every so often as she ran, waiting to see if he shot, or if he took off. For once an arrow was flighted, its course was determined. But if he gave chase, she could run full tilt in a single direction.

She doubted his ability to shoot from a flying creature so big. Surely it would be too difficult, right? She hoped that was the case as she continued her staggered running toward the treeline. Once there, she suspected she'd be home free, for a creature that size would be too injured trying to get into the trees. And she knew she could disappear in the brush. Or even turn the tables on this hunter, if forced to do so. Gripping her javelin tighter, she stomped her feet into the sod that much harder, pumped her arms that much faster, as she ran for her life.

Created by Yolande

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[Nir'wei]

He never intended to fire the first arrow, but he really didn't like the look of that javelin. The moment he made the first attack, he opened the doors to retaliation and opened them wide. If he just kept to chasing and pushing them back, he could potentially back them into a corner and force them into surrender, although with every moment it seemed less and less likely that this one was going to come quietly. Instead of reacting like a normal human being, it acted like... like an animal. Snarling and hunching over, turning tail and sprinting at the first sight of confrontation. This wasn't an ordinary poacher looking for some easy meat and hide, or a confused hunter stumbling into the wrong end of the woods. He didn't know what this was, but he wasn't taking any chances with this one.

The moment he thought to ask, Greyhide materialised already mid-sprint, the grey wolf's body forming from wisps of white that hardened with every step. "I'll track her from the ground." Her? He couldn't even tell that from a first glance, though it wasn't going to change his plan in the slightest. If he let her escape now, there was nothing stopping her coming back later and taking down a horse, an Enormowl, anything... and if someone was on that Enormowl's back when a javelin speared it through the chest...

With Greyhide following from the ground, picking up the scent should she try to find cover from above, Nir'wei kicked his heels into Traveller's side and rose back into the sky again, gripping tight as he could with his knees to avoid tumbling straight back off again. He really wasn't used to shooting from the saddle with any type of animal, let alone from the sky on the back of a speeding Sohr Khal. It was hard enough remaining on the saddle without his arms gripping Traveller's sides! "Still! Come on, level out... glide." As long as Greyhide kept his focus down below and didn't lose the scent, he could focus on settling Traveller into a glide steady enough that he could line up an accurate shot, for when he needed to make one. "Steady, steady..." Too late, he realised what was really going on here. She was running straight for the trees, hoping to disappear under the canopy, knowing full-well that he'd never be able to shoot down on her from above, nor dive down through the thicker posts.

"Dive!" Traveller's strengths lay in his diving speed, and he made a full show of it when his wings tucked in tight and he began a steep vertical descent. Nir'wei very nearly had to abandon his bow just to keep a grip on the Sohr Khal as he pressed his body flat against Traveller's back. If they could hit just before the trees, they could block her exit and sandwich her between Sohr Khal and wolf.

[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

Qit looked back just in time to see the giant bird thing and its rider take flight. At least there wasn't an arrow flying her way. She immediately stopped the zigzagging and pumped a straight course for the trees. Her chest was heaving, she couldn't keep up a full on sprint like this for long. And she'd turned her view back before ever seeing the wolf that is Greyhide come forth behind her, and she was much to far to hear him. Javelin rocking as she ran, she felt the beginning of a stitch in her side, and she was wheezing, but the trees were so close now, she could smell her precious woods.

Looking up, she saw the giant bird thing in a dive, and it seemed that it would cut her off from sanctuary. She couldn't have that. She was not about to be trapped like prey. Immortals damn this thing. She was not prey! She was a predator! A huntress, and would not go down easy! She slowed her run, hiking her javelin back over her shoulder, and turned her run into a few hopping skips, which further slowed her progress. She leaned heavily forward as she launched the javelin in a heavy forward arc, not aiming where the giant bird was, but where it could be to stop her path. The throw was a poor one, the shaft wobbling heavily, but it flew far. There was enough time to easily pull up and avoid it, for it was a deterrent throw, not a kill shot.

And once again, Qit set off into a run, straight forward, hoping the shot stopped the bird thing, one way or another. Because if it didn't, they were about to be face to face. She had to be ready for that as well. She drew her sword from her thigh straps, but in her running and haste, did so sloppily, and a shallow slice across the front of her thigh formed. Blood welled, and splashed off the sword blade, and she hissed in pain, leaving a small dripping trail behind her as she pressed forward. She was not stopping, whether the bird landed or not. She'd try to cut her way through, and continue to run into terrain that was her own. She might be the hunted out here, but in there, she was the hunter.

And she was pissed. Pissed that a javelin was lost, pissed that she was injured, pissed that she missed her meal earlier, and pissed that something had the audacity to hunt her. She would cripple this bird, just to spite the man that was on it. How dare he? Who did he think he was? He was no hunter. A hunter would've already shot her down. She continued to wheeze her way forward, hoping to reach her sanctuary.

Created by Yolande

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[Nir'wei]

When it came to complex aerial manoeuvres, Nir'wei was a novice. Less than a novice. He felt little shame in admitting that most of the work was done by Traveller even in regular riding, the Sohr Khal inherently favouring strong upward currents, making hundreds of small adjustments that he could only truly see when he looked for them. If he were a more prideful creature, he'd chalk it down to his own training that Traveller took command and just did what needed doing without even thinking to wait for a command from his rider, but in truth he was confident that Traveller was intelligent enough to not plummet to the ground just because Nir'wei wasn't telling him to flap his wings. Perhaps his acknowledgement of the Sohr Khal's intellect was enough. Either way, what came next when the figure down below threw a wobbling javelin towards them, Nir'wei couldn't truly explain, even from the back of the creature doing it.

Traveller's wings snapped out, pinning Nir'wei to his back as their extreme acceleration ground to a screeching halt. His wings flapped, pulling him up in something like a small bounce, half-turning as he went in a corkscrew that, for a moment, allowed Nir'wei to look up and see the ground beneath them, the figure down below already breaking into a dead-sprint once more... the javelin wobbling through the air coming dangerously close, its tip aimed squarely at him now. Then Traveller's wings stretched a little more and snapped shut, pushing them forwards with another burst and sending them hurtling back down once more. It was like he'd up and changed direction mid-swoop, stopping to realign himself before rapidly building up and hurtling right back to the ground once more. The javelin wobbled behind them, completing its arc and landing a fair distance away.

Despite the fact that entirely thanks to Traveller's manoeuvre, the javelin had failed to slow their descent down significantly, they still landed just behind the sprinting figure with a jarring slam shaking the earth nearby. Once Nir'wei had worked the shock out of his own body, he raised his bow once more, nocked an arrow, drew it back and shot it for the fleeing figure's back. He'd never been a great shot, so in all honesty he didn't mind if it didn't hit. They had something that meant they couldn't possibly lose, now. As soon as the figure disappeared behind the treeline, Nir'wei dismounted and walked over to where Greyhide stood to inspect it.

"She cut herself." Greyhide was already sniffing up and down the slash of blood marring the grass, already barely visible in the dirt. "It's still fresh as fresh gets. Even if she bandages herself, I can follow the scent... but if we go now and just keep pushing on the offensive, we'll be able to follow the blood trail. Constant blood loss will slow her down much faster, and we'll be able to either corner her or catch her by surprise when she inevitably comes to a halt to bandage herself or seek food." Nir'wei nodded absently, crouching down next to the bloody slash. His fingers touched the warm earth, and when they came back stained with faint traces of red, he brought them to his nose to smell... and then to his lips, just enough to taste it. Metallic, warm.

He took a deep breath. "Traveller needs to find a vantage point and watch from a distance." He'd be able to whistle if he needed aid, although the thick trees would make it impossible unless he found a clearing, or at the very least a sizeable spot with few actual tree-trunks. Thin branches could be broken with little concern, but thicker branches closer to the trunks could prove dangerous to even a swooping Sohr Khal. "You and I will hunt them from the ground... carefully. She can set down traps and wait in ambush along the way, and the fact that she cut herself on open ground means she's got something sharp enough to cut us as well." He drew a second arrow and nocked it. "Take the lead, and be as silent as you can."

The entire exchange took moments, but those moments were more precious than he knew. Greyhide was the first to pass the tree-line, but Nir'wei wasn't far behind, ready to draw at a moment's notice.

[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

She made it! Her ploy had worked, it seemed to have slowed down the bird thing just enough for her to get past and into the treeline. But over her wheezing she didn't hear the twang of the bow that Nir'wei fired. The arrow bit lightly, slicing through the top of where her shoulder connects to her collarbone. It wasn't a direct hit, but another wound that needed to be attended to, as the arrow thunked into a tree ahead of her. Qit ran to the tree that was struck, gripped the arrow, and ripped it out of the tree, while spinning around the trunk. She was low on supplies, and a single arrow could make all the difference in the world.

As she spun around the tree, she saw the hunter talking to a wolf. Fuck. This hunter had a dragonbird and a wolf under his command. She shook the bird with the woods, at least for now, but a wolf was real problem. Especially a trained one. At least it was just one. A pack would be a bigger problem. She needed distance, and so she kept running, a bit more slowly now to maintain footing and to catch some of her breath back. Her attackers had stopped for a bit, to regroup, to communicate.

She needed time.

Qit'ria stepped onto a game trail, her heart still pumping hard, adrenaline still flooding through her. That wolf would be able to follow her blood. That was obvious to her, so it was obvious to them. She needed to stem the bleeding and stop the trail scent. She ran along the trail, around several bushes. She needed to get to a water source. That would solve both of her issues, in theory. But time was still needed. A river would be best, a pond or lake would be okay.

Being on a game trail, she suspected it would eventually lead to water. Most trails did. Sword in one hand, stolen arrow in another, she kept at her slow run along the trail. Then up ahead, she saw opportunity. A split in the trail, a hard left heading southward, and a soft right heading westward. The elevation didn't really change with either path. So for a brief moment, she paused before reaching the intersection. She leaned against the tree, and with two quick cuts of her sword, she cut away two medium swaths of cloth from her breeches. She then strapped her sword back to her leg, and rubbed the cloths aggressively into the blood on her leg and collar bone. She reached down, grabbing a small rock and a small stick.

She wrapped the bloody clothes about both these objects, and threw the one with the stack far off to the right of the path before the intersection. She then jogged up to the intersection, and threw the one with the rock even further up the soft right hand path. She took in several deep breaths, and started down the hard left hand path now, hobbling a bit now, but still, she kept moving. The blood flow from her wounds wasn't too severe, but it would eventually tire out. And it would take a bit before the trail of blood would start again after her rough scrubbing with the cloths. Still, it might buy her a little bit of time.

And time was all she needed for now. Arrow in hand, she ran. And ran, along the game trail, hoping to hear or smell a river soon.

Created by Yolande

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[Nir'wei]

They had two options. To play the slow enduring hunter that followed her no matter how far she ran, or run her down fast with unrelenting speed. Personally he always preferred the latter, since it gave plenty of time to think things through and organise a proper method of offence. He could gain the element of surprise by appearing breaks, sometimes even trials after first picking up the scent and appearing where the prey expected them least. One arrow was all it really took to take something down for good, if he aimed it right... but since he couldn't, he needed two or three, sometimes more still, and to get off so many before the prey could make a bolt for it as this one had, he needed stealth as a crutch to give him advantage.

Except he couldn't afford that now. He wasn't equipped to draw this out into a long affair, and besides, he had better things to do than to hunt down one mysterious girl taking pot-shots at horses. He needed to push, and push hard.

Greyhide trotted at a healthy speed and Nir'wei jogged closely behind, both of them keeping their noise down as low as they could make it without sacrificing their speed. Their prey would be listening specifically for signs of a following hunter, and neither of them were particularly gifted in the arts of stealth, so there was no real point going as slowly and quietly as possible to remain undetected. At the same time, if there was even the slightest chance that they might be able to slip up behind the girl while she was otherwise occupied, there was no point spoiling it. Calm, rational thinking was key. Hunting was never just a physical fight to see who was stronger - it was a battle of wits to see whether the prey could outsmart the predator and escape with its life, if the predator could outmanoeuvre prey and trap them in a corner they'd never seen coming.

Soon, thick underbrush became a well-travelled game trail, and Greyhide paused, turning his head right. "I can't tell where it goes anymore, exactly. She might have turned." He frowned softly. It couldn't have been long enough for the scent to wear down to nothingness, surely! "It might have gone down that way, off the path, or it might continue down here." Without proper understanding of the Sweetvine Woods geography, he couldn't make any predictions or assumptions on where she might really be heading. To him, the tracks had disappeared a while ago, when they'd moved off the underbrush where traces of blood could wipe off on leaves and branches. He was entirely reliant on Greyhide from here on out. "Maybe we should split up?"

He sighed. This delay was something he couldn't afford. "We'll have to make the assumption that she wouldn't want to slow herself down moving through rough territory and stuck to the game trail." If he had more than just one wolf to rely on, he could have scoured most of the forest with relative ease, but down to just one wolf that he couldn't really abandon, he had to settle for running on barely-educated guesswork. They continued down the game trail.

Not shortly after the first fork, they encountered a second - this one was a real fork though, with the game trail splitting two ways. Again Greyhide stopped. "Same thing here." Well, that made things a little easier - he was quite certain they were on the right path at this point. She was trying to throw them off with false trails. Again, this would be much easier if he had more animals to send out - or even if he could hold his own as a hunter, instead of relying on the wolf's natural-born sense of smell to act as a compass for them both. If they went separate ways, he wouldn't be able to continue following the trail.

"We'll follow right. Makes sense for her to follow a softer path, given her injuries." Together they trotted up the path, ready for the next fork or some unexpected ambush... but what they both got at the end was rather worse than both. The track abruptly ended a good distance down the trail, at a rock just off the edge of the game trail. When he picked it up, he found it damp and red - so that was how she'd set up the false scent trails, hmm? "We'll hold on to this. It might help in the future, don't you think?" He wasn't going to lie, he was damn pissed that they'd fallen for one of the girls false trails and likely wasted a good deal of time in the process, but at least they had something to show for it. With a blood-soaked cloth of hers, hunting by scent would be far easier, though no doubt if she knew to set up false scent trails, she knew they were hunting her by scent alone... and that meant she likely intended to get rid of her own scent as soon as possible, if she hadn't already. The moment she did that, they'd be walking blind, and unless Traveller managed to see something from overhead, the hunt would be off.

[Qit'ria]

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"Common Speech"
"Xanthean Speech"

Qit'ria had no idea if her pursuers were actually pursuing her, nor if her false trails had slowed them down in the slightest. As such, she was forced to act on the assumption they weren't slowed and actually had gained ground on her when she stopped. Stitch forming in her side, she forced herself to slow a bit, to focus on her breathing. Deep, heavy breaths threw her nose, exhales as needed. Focusing on her breathing, she found, was a bit calming, it helped her to think.

She needed to get to water. She needed to cover her scent. Her eyes looked for anything ahead of her of use, any signs of what she sought. Think Qit. She had to think. Normally it was easy to find a river or stream. Stand still for a few bits, listen closely. But over her ragged breath, her bare feet crush leaves and sticks, she'd never be able to make out the tell tale sounds.

Qit wiped sweat from her brow, flicked it away. She watched a single bead roll down her nose, when she realized something she'd known all along, but never knew she knew. Water always rolls downhill. Keeping moving still, she scanned the ground around and ahead of her. There was a bit of a rise to the northwest, and she was heading southwest. To head purely downhill, she'd need to break away from the trail. That was risky. The trail let her move more quickly provided some modest protection from tracking with the packed dirt, lack of branches to break.

But off trail would blaze a path anyone could follow.

Fuck it.

Veering off the path, she tore into the brush south east. She'd regained some of her breath by going slowly, so it was time to use up that respite. Qit hauled ass, she wasn't worried about being silent, and knew they'd find her path. So she needed to move quicker than they could through this undergrowth. So she barreled through, as branches and barbs tore at her arms, at her legs. Thankfully her trousers stopped some of the pain from the growth. But each time one struck her thigh, she hissed loudly, knowing a drop of blood or more would be left confirming this trail to be hers.

She followed the terrain downward, making sure to constantly skirt around large trees or impassable brush, so as to hopefully give pause to pursuers, wondering if she might lay in ambush behind them. She wanted them wary, careful. Because that meant slow.

Qit stumbled through a blackberry brush and found herself on a trail again. Fuck. It was probably the same trail she'd been on previously. She just hoped that it had taken a long, winding route to get to this point where she'd met it again. Stubbornly, she burst through the brush on the opposite side of the trail, and pressed onward, continuing to head downhill.

Then, she heard it. The rushing water. And it sounded big. A river would be much more ideal than a stream. Qit continued along toward the sound, wheezing loudly, hobbling, but determined. If she could go invisible to scent, she could go on the offensive. Or disappear altogether. She was not prey. Just a predator luring another along. Or so she thought.

Created by Yolande

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[Nir'wei]

He had to admit, he was pleasantly surprised when he found that the trail continued long after someone could hurl a stone, and even more surprised when it started curving to follow the trail. "Must've made the right choice." All they could hope for now was that they hadn't given her enough ground to make a proper escape. Her delaying tactics had likely gained a lot of ground between them, and, forced to follow her tracks and movements through vague hints and rough signs, there was no chance of gaining ground again unless she stopped. Damnit, they were going to lose her! He offered silent prayer to Karem, asking for her blessing in this grand hunt this strange woman had led him on, throwing a good deal more reverence into his tone than normal. This time he really meant it. This wasn't just some meagre rabbit or squirrel he was hunting down, this was a person, one that likely meant him and those around him harm. He intended to hunt them down with everything he had, and fixing himself to that, his unnatural gold wolf eyes grew bright with purpose.

"Blood." Greyhide's ears were perked as high as they'd go, and he was staring somewhere off-trail to the right. "It's grown stronger again, this way." Droplets of blood smeared the edge of a leaf, shining from a ray of light thrust through the canopy. He touched it lightly between two fingers - cold, but it was blood, and it came away on his fingers. "The wound must have reopened." With a stronger scent to follow they picked up their speed, finding markings of her presence more and more frequently. Snapped branches, trampled leaves, moss scraped from the floor in places.

No more scent trail throw-offs here, either. The trail weaved between the trees and made him wary at first, since of course she could run behind any of them and wait... but she was growing sloppy, running so openly through underbrush in an easy-to-follow path. She might have shown a few cunning tricks, but it was becoming more and more likely that she was just trying to escape, not lure them into a hidden ambush. Perhaps it was getting ahead of himself, but soon he didn't bother paying attention to the winding trees anymore. "She's been bleeding for some time now." He couldn't see the position of the sun up above, so he couldn't tell how long they'd been at it, but it felt like a very long time indeed. "We should be starting to catch up."

Strangely the scent trail led them all the way around back to the same game trail, only a little further back from where they'd begun, and then went down in the opposite direction. Perhaps another distraction tactic? Or she was lost, running in circles and tiring herself out doing so. Then his ears picked up something. Bubbling, trickling. Water? WATER. "Keep quiet," he told Greyhide through their mental connection, wishing to keep down their noise to an absolute minimum as they crept closer to the sound of running water. The loud sound, hopefully loud enough to muffle their footsteps as he raised his bow. Greyhide continued to follow the scent, and they continued to approach the river. So, she intended to wash herself clean and then disappear, it seemed. If he could catch her in the middle of washing, he could find a clear shot.

"Greyhide, start moving upstream. See if you can get around and flank her." He hoped the river wasn't too large to allow Greyhide to pass undetected, otherwise his attempt to corner her could end up alerting her and send them all the way back into another chase like before. Meanwhile, he pushed closer, and closer, and closer still, trying to get a good view of the river, and their attempted horse-killer.