[Training] Predators (Miharu)

[Siiri]

78th of Spring, 510 AV - Early Morning

They had walked about a bell from Taloba in search of suitable prey, and a bell more after that when they discovered a trail left by a group of large, rodent-like creatures. They were stalking towards the herd just now, approaching from downwind of the creatures. Siiri was mud-covered and almost naked, having stripped off most of her clothes and leathers to lather wet earth over her body to mask her scent. She had left her clothes and her pack in a grove of fruit trees – a safe place, for it was usually watched by at least half a fang of Myrians for the place was excellent trapping and hunting grounds for creatures that fed on the fruits.

Despite her lack of clothing, the warrior was armed to the teeth, toting a sturdy spear aside from the greatsword strapped at her back and the numerous bone daggers strapped around her body. A tiger-roarer hang from her belt in case she needed to call the attention of nearby patrols. While she felt relatively secure being so near the city, she still thought it prudent to bring the item for one never knew what one might run across in the dangerous jungle of Falyndar. Besides, she was not traveling with her fang, only with her recently acquired bondmate. Any threat they encountered this close to the city must be dealt with swiftly.

Siiri, sighting the herd in the distance, dropped on all fours and pointed them to her companion with her spear. The giant rodents had settled in a sort of enclosure of shrubs to feed on the berries of the plants. There were about a dozen of the creatures, half of their numbers about the size of the hunting dogs Myrians kept in their city. With their bulky frames, these creatures were probably heavier.

“One for each of us,” she said. The ambient noise of the jungle covered any conversation they might make but she still modulated her voice to just above a whisper so the sound would not carry. She pointed at three of the largest in the herd - the dominant male with the prominent scent gland on its snout and the larger females - explaining her intentions to her bondmate. “We get one of the females each. Forget the alpha; I don't want to break this group by his loss; they will become easy prey to other predators without him. He will defend his females until they're slain so we have to be fast. But all of them will be dangerous in the scramble. Watch the teeth – they can tear a huge chunk of your flesh off.”

She paused, waiting to see if her companion had any questions before they proceeded.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu had left her clothing behind as well - and her human form, for it was easier to slither behind her bondmate on paws, sleek fur not even catching on the waxy leaves of the plants in the jungle like it would have in the thorns of Taldera.

She listened intently to Siiri's explanations, and when the woman paused she gave a tiny snort of breath and nodded. Fast. Yes. The thought insinuated itself in the edges of Siiri's perception, one of the many advantages of the strengthening bond between them. It also conveyed some of her worry - for she was not a predator who killed quickly. She was used to wearing down her prey with a half-dozen small wounds, running it to ground and exhausting it. She wasn't sure about this whole quick-kill idea, but she was more than willing to give it a try.

She dipped her head and for a split second touched a cold, wet nose to the tip of Siiri's, and then she slithered through the underbrush, circling the clearing to get around to her target's other side. The connection was still there, just on the periphery of both their minds - not distracting, just a quiet knowledge of where the other was, the one knew where one's hand lay.

[Siiri]

Siiri sensed the worry bleed off from her bondmate and tried to project back to her the most likely reaction of the giant rodents. These beasts would not be like the deer Miharu was used to, twitchy creatures that would jump and run the moment it felt it was threatened. Falyndar was not the spacious forest Taldera was; the vegetation was thick and more often than not, there was hardly any room to maneuver, much less have an exit ready for a quick getaway. Once beast or man found themselves cornered by another in the jungle, they would have to fight with tooth and claw and whatever else they had as weapons, for only the victor would walk out of the fight alive. The loser often became a meal.

The Myrian tried to impart this to the Kelvic through her thoughts, as well as showing how rodents, especially the alpha male, would turn to whatever they thought was threatening the herd and attack, most likely in the form of a very painful bite with their large incisors. Siiri hoped that Miharu was able to absorb all that, or that she was even able to send her thoughts back to the wolf-girl. She was never sure how the girl did it, sharing thoughts and feelings through their bond. She hoped it all happened naturally.

“Just control the neck,” she advised, affectionately ruffling the fur on the head of Miharu's wolf form before crawling off to find a place for ambush. She found the perfect spot near one of the young rodents while still remaining downwind of them. The creature had somewhat drifted away from what was considered the “safe zone” for the herd and one of the larger females had shifted its position to trail it. The alpha was now several yards away from both. When Siiri and Miharu attacked simultaneously, there would be a moment of confusion for it when it would become torn between the two females it must defend. That would be the opening for warrior and Kelvic to finish their respective targets. Once those two were dead, the alpha would see no reason to fight anymore and would retreat with the rest of the herd, most likely in the nearest watering hole.

Siiri drew the throwing daggers from each of her boots, holding one between her teeth and the other on her right hand, fingers pressed against the tip ready to be flung. She knew she had to some quick throwing to draw the attention of her target. Never mind that she was exactly an excellent shot with either the throwing dagger or hurling a spear – she didn't need to be. She had an idea to make sure that the large female went after her: threatening its young.

The Myrian readied herself for the moment, hoping that their bond kept Miharu in tune with her. Their timing was somewhat crucial for the success of this hunt. She had planned it that way to make the girl a major player and not just some assistant in bringing down prey. She wanted to keep the girl's predatory instinct sharp, and Falyndar's environment would make it sharper.

Muscles tensed and, in a burst of movement, Siiri sprang from her hiding place, flinging her daggers at the smaller rodent in quick succession. She was already running towards it even before the projectiles found their marks. By a stoke of luck, the first hit the creature squarely on the head with the pommel, momentarily stunning it. The second one was a clumsier throw but draw blood as it grazed the creature's head. Siiri cursed. She had wanted to keep the herd's casualties to the targets only. But it couldn't be helped. If the wound was too deep, she'd kill the smaller one as well.

The large female charged at Siiri, emitting agitated barks and whistles. The Myrian thrust the spear down into the ground before her, creating a visual block for the beast to prevent it from leaping straight at her, before drawing Slayer. As the rodent sidestepped the spear shaft to get to her, she drew back and swung down hard, cleaving the creature's skull open. The alpha, close on the female's heels as it decided to go for Siiri (being the nearer threat), scrambled to a halt as it watched its mate fall. It gnashed its incisors angrily at the Myrian, though it made no move to advance, suddenly respectful of this predator that bring one of its own down so easily. Siiri, blooded blade held up in a defensive posture between her and the beast, circled around, glancing to see if her bondmate needed help. The rest of the herd had been closer to Miharu when they attacked.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu hadn't exactly gotten all the information Siiri tried to convey to her, but she got some gist of it, trying to process it all. She would figure it out as she went, and trusted her instincts to carry her through it.

They were, however, connected enough that when Siiri burst from under cover of the jungle, she did too. The large male was distracted by Siiri, and the Myrian held his attention well enough for her first spring.

Muscles bunched, and she hurled herself into the clearing with an unconscious snarl, bounding up to the one she'd targeted. It bawled and tried to back away, but she jumped in and latched sharp teeth into its throat.

Unfortunately for her, tooth was not nearly so quick a killer as sword. Her jaw locked and she held her breath as blood poured over her nose and filled her mouth, instinct taking over all semblance of human intelligence she usually wore. Through the bond, Siiri would taste the metallic tang of blood - and, as the animal shrieked again and kicked out, the sharp burst of pain as it kicked at the wolf latched onto it's throat. She held on, but it would take at least a few more moments for the creature to die.

Miharu scrabbled her own paws against it's front to try and avoid anymore blows, and her weight dragged it down, but she felt as if it were battering her while she tried desperately to crush its windpipe before the male turned its attention to her.

[Siiri]

Siiri, in an attempt to reach Miharu and drive away the rest of the herd surrounding her, had circled around the alpha after grabbing her spear and was nearing the young rodent she had downed earlier when a dark form launched itself from her blind side and smothered the disoriented creature, crushing the life out of it with enormous paws. Black panther! Siiri's mind screamed as she recognized the stocky form of a jaguar afflicted with melanism before her. It appeared larger than the normal variety, looking as if it weighed about five hundred pounds. Dire black panther, Siiri corrected herself, gulping as she scrambled backwards, greatsword held up and pointed at the massive feline to ward it away. It sprang back up a split second after it landed and launched itself towards the alpha rodent, which had been nipping at Siiri's heels. One bite from it and there was a loud crack as it shattered the rodent's skull with its powerful jaws. It turned its head towards Siiri and the warrior felt cold sweat run down her cheeks as she met its stone-cold gaze. Weapons held up and pointed at the jaguar, she backed up beside her Kelvic companion, who still had the expiring rodent in her jaws. The rest of the herd had already dispersed upon the jaguar's first appearance.

“Fall back, Miharu,” she muttered, not taking her eyes away from the giant cat. “Slowly.”

Siiri wondered briefly if the jaguar would let them go if they gave it Miharu's kill as well. It already had the two rodents it killed plus Siiri's own on its side – meat enough to make two meals even for a dire beast. But it was a predator and she knew it would prefer live prey over dead ones. Its hunting style was to ambush prey however. Siiri hoped it would not attack them now that it was out in the open. She uttered a short prayer to Navre to call off His beast, all the while steeling herself for a fight if it had to come to that.

She wasn't sure it was a fight she and Miharu could win.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu barely heard the whispered words - the wolf's mind wouldn't focus on human tongue, not now. Instinct and pack reactions took over, and as she caught sight of the jaguar a vicious, angry growl poured out of her blood-stuffed muzzle.

She stared at the huge cat just as she'd stared down Talderian bears who'd threatened her kills... but even as her hackles rose and her muscles tensed, she remembered that she did not have a pack here, had no other wolves or even Siiri's fang to back her up. There would be no packmate to sweep in from the sides, no ambush set up.

For a moment she considered trying to drag the rodent with her, but it was too heavy - would slow them down, but Siiri in danger. It was that thought that finally pushed the wolf's reactions back a little and let her think. She finally relaxed her jaw and let the now-dead rodent fall to the ground, though her snarl echoed all the louder for having nothing to muffle it, and she stepped up and over just a bit to put herself just a half-step in front of Siiri.

Go. I follow, she sent along their bond, golden eyes glued to the jaguar's gaze and ready to attack should it even twitch a paw in the direction of her bondmate.

[Siiri]

Siiri took each backward step slowly, eyes locked with the jaguar, weapons held up in case it attacked. She was pretty sure she could impale the creature with either spear or greatsword (even if she also knew she’d only have one chance to do so), but she was more worried for the stubborn Kelvic. She nudged Miharu with a foot as she took another step back, trying to impart to the wolf that her weapons had more reach and thus could keep the jaguar at bay.

Hopefully.

The jaguar itself seemed more interested in protecting its kills however, not making a move at either but contented itself at shifting its predatory eyes from wolf to Myrian. It remained on its feet, its tail flicking about lazily. Despite its relaxed posture, Siiri knew it could reach both her and Miharu in a single bound. It could gut her with one swipe of its claws, and easily crush both their skulls in its mean bite. They were clearly overmatched yet the warrior in Siiri refused to surrender their kills so easily. She wasn’t about to give in to the posturing of this dire cat.

Thrusting the spear into the ground, she pulled the tiger roarer from her belt and gave it a whirl. The bellow of the jungle’s top predator blasted out of the device, scaring birds hidden in the trees into flight and scattering the arboreal creatures nesting in the branches to find shelter farther away. The jaguar itself flattened its ears to its head, lowering itself in preparation to pounce, its shifty eyes scanning the jungle for any sign of the feline that could unleash such a roar. Siiri spun the tiger roarer several times more, timing the roars to signal danger to the Myrian patrols nearby. More than a few answered in return, some from several miles away, a couple mere minutes from their location. The jaguar panicked at what seemed to be the sound of so many tigers surrounding it. It retreated away from the sources of the roars, plunging deep in the jungle. Siiri knew it would be back.

“Hurry, let's get our kill,” she intoned nervously to Miharu. She was already running to the rodent she had dispatched,gathering her throwing daggers along the way. “I don't think it would give up its meal that easily.”

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu bristled at the tiger-roarer, her own instincts telling her to flee - but she glanced behind her as the jaguar focused it's attention elsewhere, and realized that the noise was coming from Siiri herself.

Once the jaguar made itself scare, she shifted in a burst of light and appeared crouched and naked, then sprang forward to grab her own kill. "What is that thing?" she asked, still shaken by the other roars echoing from among the trees. "It's petching eerie."

She dragged her grisly kill over her shoulders and stood, uncaring of the blood that poured down her body and ran in rivulets over her breasts and stomach, down the muscles of her arms to spatter across her thighs. "Go," she said, golden eyes wide and calm as she jutted her chin in the direction they'd come from. "I'll cover your back. Just be careful," she added on a murmur, worry for her bondmate pulsing across the distance between them.

[Siiri]

They ran, or at least tried to, as fast as their feet could carry them while toting a near hundred pound rodent on their shoulders each. Siiri was used to such loads, having carried far heavier game before when she hunted with her fang but she worried the strain it might be putting on the now-human Miharu. Often in their flight she would glance at the girl to check how she was holding up. The Kelvic paced her well enough, quiet and uncomplaining. Several times the Myrian was tempted to ask if she was doing all right, if she needed help, but she didn't want to offer insult to the girl by implying that she might be weak.

Madini, she probably sensed that, the woman thought, chagrined.

Still, Siiri could not help but feel the way she did. She had just found someone she could connect to to such a different level that she wanted to protect Miharu from harm as much as Miahru was trying to protect her from possible pursuit by the jaguar right now. And she felt that the girl was so fragile in her human form, so unlike the powerful beast she was in her natural form. A strange contrast.

On their way, they ran across a patrol and Siiri had to explain briefly her their encounter with the dire jaguar and her use of the tiger roarer. The group sent an 'all clear' signal of their own, then moved to check on the scene where the beast was last seen. They left quickly, but not before Siiri noticed they appreciative looks they passed on the naked form of Miharu. For some reason she could not explain, Siiri felt a twinge of annoyance at the sight.

Eventually they reached the grove where they had stashed their packs. They were relatively safe here for it was a frequent place that patrols passed by. For the moment however, they were alone. Siiri dropped her kill on the ground and worked out the kinks on her aching shoulders. She looked up, judging the time by the light of day. Syna had risen quite a bit in the sky already; it was nearing midday.

“Quite a workout,” she noted, finally erasing all traces of the nervousness she had felt earlier. She could afford a longer look at her companion now and she decided to do so, noticing that the rodent's blood had left sticky red stains on Miharu's body.

“You're a mess,” she laughed. Licking a finger, she traced a line from the girl's neck down to the middle of her chest, cleaning a swath of the goop. “We should clean that up.”

[Miharu Mindi]

Every time Siiri glanced back at her, Miharu shot a smirk her way - she could feel her bondmate's concern, and there was no offense taken at it. She was, in fact, a little dumbfounded still to know that someone cared enough to worry about her. So she stayed quiet, and simply followed behind. She was more wolf than woman, and though she'd lost a good deal of weight on the trip to Falyndar, and had been a bit of a skinny, bedraggled mess by the time they reached Taloba, she'd spent much of the last two days eating non-stop, and was putting it back on as quickly as she'd lost it. She could run for days, had been running for most of the season, and it barely even got her breathing hard.

When they met up with the patrol, a strange thing happened. Miharu had never before noticed the looks of men, wouldn't have cared if she had. It meant nothing to her, no more than if one of their horses had stared - but she caught Siiri's flash of annoyance, and suddenly she knew what those looks meant, knew what they wanted, and that her bondmate didn't want them to have her. Even as they looked at her hard, blood-soaked body, her lips pulled back in a snarl and golden eyes flashed a warning: I will bite off your hand if you touch me.

She was relieved when they left the patrol behind, eager to be alone with Siiri again. She didn't mind her fang so much, but the scents of men and women she didn't know left her on edge, and she much preferred to have her bondmate to herself. A sigh of relief escaped her lips when they finally burst into the familiar clearing, and she skidded to a halt when Siiri did.

She slung her kill down beside the other, laughing as she stretched her arms above her head to loosen up her shoulders. Her amber gaze fell on Siiri when the woman approached, and a smile burst across her lips the closer her bondmate got. She was beautiful, and strong, and everything in the world that Miharu had ever loved, and after only this short time she couldn't remember a time when she hadn't known her. When her bondmate reached out and touched her, she arched her body closer to prolong the contact, feeling an almost electric surge of happiness at the small touch of affection.

"You should talk," she laughed, reached bloodstained fingers out to brush at the mud and earth that caked Siiri's skin. The backs of her knuckles followed the same path on the Myrian warrior's body that she'd traced on Miharu's, scraping off chunks of crusted dirt to fall to the ground between them. "At least mine can be licked off. I'll be scrubbing at your skin for days," she said with a teasing grin.