Muffled Steps (Zerda)

[Surei]

2nd of Summer, 512 AV, Late Afternoon The smooth trampling of hooves on the desert dunes was all Surei could hear behind him, as his associates followed his lead through the desert. His Eyktolian Desertbred, Isham, was free of its rider, who had chosen to track today’s prey in his most natural form, that of a viper. The group was on the traces of what they’d confirmed to be a lone Kelvic fox, who’d managed to outrun them for the greater part of the day. The chase had led them north, somewhere close to Surei’s old hunting grounds, a rockier part of the Burning Lands. The Dhani, however, didn’t need distraction from memories of another life. The hunting party already provided more than enough of it. They were more of a hindrance as it stood right now, though they would prove invaluable as soon as they’d locate their prey, which was bound to happen soon. As they progressed in this different (but just as barren) part of the desert, the terrain got more edgy, dunes giving way to ravines and crevices, a perfect place to hide from human pursuers. But Surei was no human. “Did he see something?” The Dhani had stopped, the higher half of his body off the ground, motionless. The man who’d raised his voice, a tall Eypharian whose dark skin revealed a life spent under the sun of the Burning Lands, had reached for his crossbow the moment Surei’d stopped moving. “No, but we might just as well get--oh for Syna’s sake, Chafri, drop the crossbow! Save your bolts for Tsana; it looks like we'll still be out there when the night falls on this place.” Noma, the head of the posse, was right, of course. They were hunting much smaller game, and Surei dwelled on familiar grounds. The crossbow wasn’t the tool of the day, and Chafri himself knew it; he acted on acquired reflexes, just like every single soul of this five-man party. He should be more concerned that the matter might get complicated for their horses to manoeuver through the increasingly treacherous terrain. Not Surei’s problem, that's for sure.

[Zerda]

Zerda had been hunting when she first heard the hoof beats of the caravan. She didn't think much of it at the time. lots of humans were traveling around. She must have gotten close to a city. She would travel away from it as soon as she found her dinner and dug a burro for a midday rest. It wasn't until the men got closer did she realize something was wrong. She could smell more metal with these people then other caravans. There was also a more distinct smell of human filth. She rememebered her enslavement and shuttered. These were smells like the place her master often went to so he could aquire more slaves. Her instincts had told her to run, run far away, but she had been curious. She crept quietly towards the caravan, her fur blending with the tan sand. The white fur on her large ears was the only thing that gave her away. but that was all it took. A man pointed and shouted. Her collar gave her away as a slave and she turned and ran as fast as she could in the other direction. Life as a wild fox was good, even though she did have an emptiness in her heart that drew her to civilization and caravans, but she could live with that. Now the sun had risen to its peak and was making its way back down and Zerda thought she lost them. She was also extremely hungry. She had been hunting midmorning, but the chase had ended that before she found anything. She smelled snake. She usually didn't eat them, expecially one she didn't reconize by scent, but desperate times call for desperate measures. She hadn't eaten for a couple days now, so she followed the scent. But when she found the snake, she felt uneasy. The snake seemed to be searching for something, but there was plenty of prey that snakes eat. It was searching in almost a human like manner. Then the snake, was it an illusion?, seemed to notice her. She turned and ran.

[Surei]

The Kelvic’s jolt sparked immediate reaction from Surei. He’d raised only for a second, a purely human reflex, and that was the first mistake of the day. The hurried steps would’ve carried a much more precise echo if the Dhani had stuck his head close to the ground. Nothing was lost, however. His prey’s odor still had a strong presence and moments later, the pursuit resumed. Caring only for a quick end to a hunt too long, Surei forgot about Noma and everyone else trying to catch up behind him. Slithering smoothly through the irregular terrain, he took a quick turn in a narrow passage following the scent, as the fox was still too far away to rely on any other sense. In the meantime, Noma ordered the dark-skinned Eypharian and another, more nimble than the first, to keep up with their friend, while he and the remaining member stayed behind with the horses. They couldn’t move further along the rock.

[Zerda]

Zerda ran as fast as she could over and under rocks, trying to find a place the snake couldn't get to. Everytime she thought she got away, she would smell the snake or hear the hoof beats of the riders,trying to race around the rock and block any route of escape that Zerda could find. She ran until she could go no more. She slowed down and finally sat under a rock, waiting for her fate. She simply hoped that the snake would eat her quickly so she didn't feel too much pain. She remembered distantly that her former master had told his apperentice that some snakes use poison to kill their prey quickly. She hoped the snake was poisonis. She heard a slither. She looked in the direction. She heard the slither behind her. She glanced there too. She didn't see anything. The snake was going to drive her insane. She laid down head in her paws and tried to keep calm, but she couldn't turn off her ears from hearing every little sound. A slither here, a rock shifting there. She closed her eyes but that only made her hearing better. She opened her eyes again. She began to play with a small pebble. Did I lose it? Could it have given up? She looked aroud. She saw no movement. She listened. The silence was deafening. Something wasn't right. Where was the snake? Was that a hiss? She laid her head down and waited. She thought, no she knew, that the snake was not gone, just waiting to strike...