Free for a Fellow Crow (Kalesse)

[Jaspayia]

Timestamp: Spring 65, 512 AV Time: Morning, just after sunrise Location: Just outside Keerdash Grove Who: Kalesse Jaspayia peered over the top of a dune, down at her prey. She saw the sliding tracks following behind it, carving deep grooves, proof at how heavy it was. It would have plenty of meat, and other supplies she could trade with the local Tatsuuwaats. She knew she wouldn't need to sneak up on it, but the desert was treacherous to those who weren't careful or showed it the proper respect. There could be other predators wanting an easy prey like this, but would prefer a tasty Chaktawe instead. She crouched as she walked along the top of the dune, just behind the crest, keeping an eye on the massive spurred tortoise. She drew her dagger with her right hand, keeping the left empty and up, feeling for any of the slow movements of a stalker, or the fast bursts of an attacker. The dune sloped downward until she was on the same level as the tortoise, and she found it's tracks. Deep grooves from its heavy feet, and the occasional dragging mark from uneven sand being rubbed down by the bottom of it's shell. Her midnight eyes saw no other tracks nearby, so maintaining her crouch, she followed the tracks, keeping an eye on the surrounding dunes. She didn't like being in a valley between them, it felt like a place for a perfect ambush. She watched her steps carefully, silently as she gained on the tortoise. She wouldn't likely find any noise leaves or twigs to step upon, but there were plenty other things, bones, tumble weeds, molts, etc. She made sure to walk in the tracks of the tortoise, in case anything was tracking her. It wasn't a particularly strong tactic, but it might fool some of the lesser predators. Her webbed feet pushed her forward, silently, slowly, as the tortoise grew closer and larger. Jasp now focused only on her prey, knife held out at chest level. She needed to strike while it's head was out, or life would be very difficult. The creature continued to move forward as Jasp began to sneak around the side of it, still outside of its field of vision. Jasp took one more step, as silent as could be, but the fates weren't kind to her, as her darkened foot stepped upon a particularly sharp rock, eliciting a hiss of pain from her lips. A hiss that was not unnoticed by her prey, as it quickly pulled itself within the safety of its shell. Jasp cursed herself and any god responsible for the clever placement of pointy rocks. She slid her pack off her shoulders and set it down, knowing this just became a bigger pain. She stalked around her fortressed adversary, noting the still open holes in the shell. She was not about to reach a hand in there, even if she had her knife. So the question was, how to kill it from outside, without injuring herself? She sat down in front of the tortoise, knife still ready, in case it got curious as she pondered how to deal with it. She had poles from her tent and water trap that she could strap her knife to, but she'd seen the beaks on these things, and she wasn't willing to lose a valuable tool so easily. Why couldn't this be easy like most critters, where a shot from her bow would kill it? It was like the light of Syna came on in her head. She COULD shoot it. Just not the shell! She scrambled over to her pack and pulled the bow from where it was strapped, put her knife on her belt, and walked over and once more sat down in front of the encased prey. She pulled a blunted game arrow from her quiver that was strapped to her thigh, and slid it into the bowstring. She held the bow side ways, not the best way to hold it for accuracy, but since she was a couple feet away, it wasn't the biggest concern. She gripped her fingers around the arrow, just behind the feathers, and pulled back on the string. She pointed the end of the blunted arrow into the darkened recesses of the shell, feeling the tension building in her arms, back, and abdominals. It was much harder to do this without a proper stance or use of her legs for support, and Jasp worried she might be a bit sore after this. She sucked in a breath, held it, and as she released the air from her lungs, she loosed the arrow. Her success was signaled by a loud thunk, as she suspected the arrow had struck the tortoise in the skull. She saw the feet slump out of the shell, unmoving. She leaned forward and plucked her arrow and inspected it for damage. The blunt head seemed fine and the shaft wasn't splintered, so she slipped it back into her quiver. She'd never tried cleaning a tortoise carcass before, and wasn't even sure if it was dead or just unconscious. She moved to the side of it and tried to push against it with her shoulder, grunting, her legs churning, her webbed feet pushing hard into the sand. But she wasn't strong enough to flip it. She moved over to her pack and grabbed the sturdiest pole from her tent, and one of the shorter stout poles. She jammed the long pole at a near horizontal angle, into the sand beneath the shell, then began to push up with it. It wasn't much easier than her first method, but the slight increase in leverage allowed her to get it up just enough to slip the shorter pole vertically beneath it to hold it there. She then dug feet into the sand and placed a shoulder underneath it, and began churning in the sand, pushing, struggling. She'd gain two inches, and lose one, grunting, straining, getting ready to curse the damned turtle when she finally felt it release. It tumbled over onto its back, rocking and finally settling. Jasp bent over catching her breath, thanking Makutsi that she didn't waste too much skin-water. After recovering, she grabbed her knife and peered down at the belly of the tortoise. She guessed she'd have to get the hard belly plate off before she could carve it properly. She tapped the plate with her knife, not thinking she could cut through it without severely ruining her blade. She did notice a fleshy seam where the bottom plate met the top shell. She poked at it with the tip of her knife, and found it slicing in with a small effort. Smiling, she slid the blade in further, and was soon sawing through the entire seam, between the legs, the legs and tail, and the legs and head. After the last cut was made, she began to pry the plate up with her knife, grabbed it, and tossed it into the sand. Setting to work quickly, she grasped the turtle behind the skull in case it woke up, and quickly severed the head off, and tossed it over with the bottom plate. The feet and tails soon followed suit, when she realized that the blood was pouring into the shell, curses escaping her lips once more. She reached her hand holding the knife beneath the skin, and began started slicing through the flesh, trying to separate it from the shell. It was a long, messy process, and she knew she was ruining the meat by now, having pierced several organs. But she was not leaving empty handed, that would be wasteful and an insult to Caiyha's bounty. She could at least get the shell. Almost a full bell later and she had the ruined meat out of the shell, and sitting in the sand. The shell was much larger when empty now that she looked at it. She moved away and began burying the meat, knowing some lucky predator would find it later. She grabbed the plate and strapped it to the outside of her pack, when she froze. Her fingers could feel something coming, slowly, carefully. That meant a predator, and it felt like it was to the north, behind her. She knew she was exposed and there was nowhere to run. Her tarp would be useless here on a flat plane, so she had to improvise. Quickly, she began burying her pack in the sand, grabbed her bow and tipped the shell over her and the half buried pack. She was sprayed with blood of the fallen tortoise, not necessarily a bad thing as it may mask her scent. She kept herself silent and the bow close to her. Her fingers would be able to tell if whatever was coming neared her. She began running through her entire situation, trying to think if she left anything to chance outside of the safety of her shell, now feeling closer to the tortoise than when she'd been the predator. She had all of her gear, the tracks would be too confusing for most to realize what had occurred. She slipped a regular arrow from her thigh quiver and nocked it, controlling her breathing, as something larger than a jackal neared her hidden location. This fear, trapped, but still somewhat safe, must be the entire life of a tortoise. As soon as the "movement" outside of the shell nudged it, Jasp flipped it upwards, standing up quickly, pulling back the string of the bow, and prepared to put in an arrow at whatever had appeared. OOCYou can make whatever she felt approach be Kalesse, or some other creature larger than a Jackal

[Kalesse]

"I'm going to absolutely murder that boy." Breathless with the effort of walking up the backside of a dune, Kalesse planted each foot firmly in the sand before exerting the effort to push herself further up the small incline; it was almost midday, and every ounce of energy counted. She had learned the hard way that what was lost in the midst of Burning Lands wasn't easily found.

Haizea didn't seem to have any trouble cresting the dune, dancing on the end of her reins with a spry sort of enthusiasm that Kalesse more than envied at that exact moment. The two were out in the middle of the sands searching for the young woman's charge; a headstrong child that, in a fit of overconfidence, had allowed his horse to get the bit in it's teeth.

And off they had flown over the stands.

An exhausted and frightened little boy wouldn't be hard to find. The horses were smart and knew where to go. Once Urtax had gotten his run, the headstrong stallion would not leave the child's side. But that didn't mean that the whole situation hadn't pushed Kalesse's patience to their limit. Bratty children. Didn't they appreciate what she was doing for them?

"Lets see if you're cool." They had given a good chase, but Urtax simply had more power. Unwilling to be the first pair to tire, Kalesse had kept them walking for the past half a bell. Kneeling down in the sand, knowing hands were ran along the inside of the mares forelegs, feeling for any kind of heat. Cool, but not clammy, was a good sign. The same process for the back legs and the young woman stood, brushing her palms off on her thighs. "We're good to go. Think we can find them, girl?"

There was a softness to the smile that lit the Chaktawe's face as the horse tossed her head and snorted; a clear and definite yes to the question. The haughty demeanor that constantly hovered around the young woman was shattered only by her horse, and it was a sight no one else ever saw.

Bouncing on the balls of her feet and gathering some power in her legs, Kalesse vaulted back into the saddle, easily sliding a leg over Haizea's back. "No more time to waste. Lets do this." The reins were gathered easily in one hand, not even a slight pressure of her legs needed to send the gray beauty surging forwards. Made for running through sand, the slight inclines of the natural dunes posed little problem for the pair as they flew, the golden sand spraying out behind their passage.

They hadn't gone far when the shimmering air before them started to reveal a dark, rounded shape in the sand. At first, Kalesse ignored it, trying to look at it from the corner of her eye; a heat mirage would disappear as soon as she turned her head to look directly at it. The pounding of Hai's hooves thudding into the sand was all she concentrated on for a few moments, ebony eyes unfocused into the distance before she suddenly whipped her head around towards the shape.

It was still there. And it was moving.

Kalesse sucked in a sharp breath as her heart started beating faster. The shape definately wasn't that of a standing horse. But perhaps a downed one, laying on it's side... "Oh god."

With the speed of their passage sending a constant tingle to the pores on her fingers, Kalesse had to rely on her other senses to figure out what was going on. Instead of urging Hai into a faster pace, the young woman instead slowed her mount further. The boy would be frightened, for sure. Racing up on him if he was in trouble would do no good. Impatient as she was to keep running, Hai was slowed to a rolling canter, a trot and then a walk.

Step by step, they picked their way towards the shape, though far enough away to still be indistinct it no longer seemed to be moving, whatever it was. A few chimes brought them closer still, and Kalesse let out a sharp swear of frustration. It was a tortoise, the pattern was visible now with the sun glinting off the shell.

All amusement was gone from the young woman's face when they got closer; Haizea started dancing nervously to the side, ears flickering back and forth until they lay flat against her head. With her tail swishing loudly behind them, whatever was wrong was making it hard for Kalesse to control her with only verbal commands. Forced to clamp her legs tight, the Chaktawe urged the mare forward, one reluctant step at a time. "What is wrong with you? It's just a turtle." But she was intrigued now.

"What in-" Having spotted the blood everywhere, the swirls and indents in the sand standing out amongst the rest of the flattened and windswept ground, Kalesse pulled Haizea up short just as the shell flipped and a blood soaked woman popped out.

Haizea screamed, trying to rear as the barbarian whipped out her bow and pointed it at the horses face. A grunt of effort was all Kalesse made as she swung the gray mares head around, turning her sharply as she tried to get the frightened beast under control.

"What in Ewaat's name do you think..." The pair turned again, Haizea's eyes still rolling wildly as she continuously tried to back away. "Put that thing down, petch it all!"