Solo A Man and His Son

[Dravite]

18 Winter, 515 AV

Dravite bent down to check the last of the traps he had set the night before and this one, unlike the rest, was fruitful. He snatched up the rabbit and tied it to his belt before moving the location of his trap, mindful that the smell of death might ward off other animals or attract the kind that would ruin his snares. The watchman reset the trap carefully, arranging the grass overhead in hopes that it would funnel any curious rabbits towards it.

On foot, he decided to run the rest of the journey home, weaving his way through the tall grass at a pace that upped his heart rate and caused a light sheen of sweat to coat his brow. When he arrived at camp, Yuki and the other women were stirring and getting ready for the day ahead, "I come bearing gifts," the man smiled and handed the rabbit to Yuki who had taken to cooking for everyone in camp.
She threw it right back at him and smirked, "you think it's going to skin itself?"

Dravite laughed and sat down with the rabbit, taking the hunting knife from his belt to skin the creature. He found that the pelts didn't come away quite as easily when they were cold, and took the extra time to make a nice go of it. He removed the feet, cut down the middle, kept the tail and traced around the neck with his sharp hunting knife. Once the rabbit was rid of its coat he set it down for Yuki to work with and fetched his salt pouch to cure the soft pelt. The horse lord rubbed in a fistful of salt and stretched the skin out on the rack to dry in the wind and sun.

After washing and drying his hands, Dravite went into the tent to say good morning to his wives and hold his new son Jaeger. The boy had been delivered almost half a season too soon but he looked big, healthy, and strong. "Hello my son," the watchman bowed his head to kiss the babe's brow, "did you sleep well?"
Jaeger blinked awake and looked up at the man, though Dravite wondered if it was him he was seeing or a big blurry outline in the morning light that shone through the mouth of the tent. "Give him to me," Belkaia cooed, holding out her arms.
Dravite handed the boy over gently and smiled, "he's doing well."
Belkaia held the baby to her breast and brushed the feather soft line of hair above his ear, "he is, what are your plans for the day, my love?"
"I'm going out, not far," he promised, "to collect some bark for tanning."
"Is anyone going with you?"
"I might take Löwe," he admitted.
Belkaia nodded, "all right, safe travels."
Dravite knew his first wife wasn't fond of Löwe, but that wouldn't stop him from including the boy, "I'll see you later."
"Not too late," Belkaia warned.
"Before the sun sets," he promised before taking his leave.

[Dravite]

Dravite pulled on the large leather glove he used for training his hawk Hunter, and untied the animal's tether before standing back to summon the bird with a whistle, the same he used each time he had worked on teaching the bird when it was food time. The hawk flapped his wings and glided over to perch on the man's arm, dark beady eyes searching for a reward. The watchman slipped the hawk a small scrap of rabbit meat before returning him to his perch in order to feed the growing eagle he kept in the same room. The eagle wolfed down the small diced cubes of rabbit one at a time and screeched for more food, but there was none to give, "that's your lot you greedy little beak."

The watchman took Hunter on his arm again and left the tent, shielding the birds eyes from the direct light outside with a small leather hood to keep him calm. Fara was outside with Löwe, who ran up to Dravite in order to try and touch the hawk, "he's not a pet," Dravite scolded, "his job it to hunt, we don't want to confuse him remember?"
"Yes, Da," Löwe agreed and lowered his hand.
"Where are you taking him?" Fara inquired.
Dravite kissed the woman tenderly and nuzzled his nose against hers, "out, can the boy join me?"
Fara smiled warmly, "of course, try and stop him."

Dravite picked up his wood carving kit, his axes, and spear, organising some of his tools on his belt and inside the yvas bags for travel. His Strider Cree didn't seem fazed by the hawk or the young boy Dravite lifted to sit on the Stallion's back. "Be good for your father," Fara told the boy before turning to look at Dravite, "look after him, my lion."
"I will," he promised and kissed Fara again before getting up onto the horse.

The horse lord looked back over his shoulder as he steered the horse out of camp by moving his feet to the soft part of Cree's belly to give him a little nudge. The stallion snorted and sped up into a light trot, carrying his riders out of camp towards the Sea of Grass. "Why are you bringing the bird?" Löwe asked.
"He needs to get accustomed to riding," Dravite explained, "if I want him to come hunting with us."
"Are we going hunting?"
"Yes," the man smiled, "I'm hunting for a big tree, tell me if you see one all right?"
"Okay," Löwe agreed.

[Dravite]

Dravite had Cree canter once they were outside of the city, hoping the speed would not overwhelm the hawk but instead let him grow accustomed to moving with the animal. Hunter ducked and spread his wings at first but soon got the hang of it. "There's one!" Löwe called, spooking the bird.

As hunter tried to fly away he found that the thin strap of leather bound to his leg braces wouldn't let him get very far and slowly, Dravite brought his Strider to a stop and summoned the bird with a whistle. Hunter settled on the man's arm expecting a treat and when one wasn't presented quickly enough he squawked his disapproval. The watchman wrestled a piece of dried meat from one of the pounces on his belt and held it up for Hunter to tear a chunk out of. "That's a fine tree," Dravite smiled, "good spotting."

Off the horse and back on his own two feet, Dravite tied Hunter to the yvas and set him down on the handle to stick with the horse while he and Löwe went to check out the tree. It was tall and straight and would have taken two men with their arms stretched out to reach around its trunk. "Are you going to cut it down?" Löwe asked.
"I am."
"Why?"
"A winter project," Dravite admitted, "stand back, I don't want you to get hurt."

Löwe stood back out of the way while the horse lord readied his axe. He had cut trees down before but never anything quite this thick. Dravite took his axe and held it against the edge of the tree with the blade on a slight angle. When he was sure of his aim he pulled the axe back slowly and then swung at the trunk, the sound of iron meeting wood causing an echo to ring out across the plain. He kept swinging at the tree until he had managed to cut out a big wedge in one side. By this time Löwe had grown very bored and wandered off to stay close to Cree. Every now and then Dravite would stop for a drink and to check on the boy before returning to the task at hand.

It took a good hour or so to get the tree to the point of creaking and Dravite started on the other side when the tree would not give. When it finally came down it fell with a mighty crash, the top end of the tree splitting on impact. Cree looked up from where he had been grazing and skipped forwards out of fright. Löwe ran over to investigate.
"Damn it," the watchman hissed.
"You did it!" Löwe smiled, excited by his father's feat.
"I know, but the trunk has split," the man grumbled as he traced the crack to see how far it went, "it might not be too bad, want to help me strip the bark?"
"Yes!" Löwe beamed.

Dravite gave the boy his hatchet and exchanged the wood cutting axe for the hand axe on his belt. "Keep your fingers out of the way and swing like this," Dravite demonstrated, "not too far," he smiled and cut away some of the bark only to stop and watch his son give it a go.

[Dravite]

By lunch the two of them had managed to work up a sweat and remove a lot of the bark from the base of the tree on one side. While they took a break to eat something, the watchman untied his hawk and paced away from the animal before signalling for him to join them with the usual food whistle. Hunter eyed the watchman before testing his freedom and flew up into the air only to glide over to land on the man's gloved arm. Once he was rewarded, Dravite returned Hunter to his perch on the yvas and made sure he was securely tethered again.
"He didn't fly away," Löwe acknowledged.
"He is a smart bird," the horse lord grinned, "why fly away when he can stay and get his food for free?"
Löwe smiled, "when will you take him hunting?"
"Soon," Dravite admitted, "after a few more lessons I think he will be ready.

After lunch Dravite returned to his work and Löwe collected the bark they had already managed to strip, loading it up into a pile which Dravite would pack into the large set of yvas bags he had brought along for the journey. He swung his hand axe at the bark, chipping it away until a large part of the tree was left bare and then started cutting chunks out of the wood, trying to flatten the top.
"What are you making?" Löwe asked.
"A dugout."
"What's a dugout?"
"Like the boat we have at home, the one we used yesterday" the man explained.
"Why are you making a boat?"
"Because I wanted a project to work on with you."
Löwe beamed, "I'm helping!"
"Very much so," the horseman then signed, helpful, strong, excellent.

Dravite took up one of his charcoal sticks and started drawing an outline for the shape of the dugout. He sat on top of the tree then to test the width before readjusting the lines to make it slightly wider in the middle and lengthen both ends. When he found the end of the split he cut the top end of the tree right through so that it fell away and took the stress off the rest of the trunk. "Do you think it's long enough?" He asked Löwe as if the boy were some sort of expert.
Löwe only nodded, "yes."
"Deep enough?"
"Deeper than our other dugout."
"Wide enough?"
Löwe laughed, "I don't know."
"I think we're on the right track captain, but we should probably head home for the afternoon."
"Noooo," the boy protested, "can we finish the bark first?"
Dravite liked that his son was so enthused, "all right, we will finish stripping the bark and then head home."
"What if someone takes it?"
"Don't you think it's a bit heavy?"
"They might roll it."
Dravite laughed, "how about we write our names on it?"
"All right," Löwe nodded and took his turn to jot down his name once Dravite had done exactly that.

[Dravite]

Löwe helped shovel as much of the bark into the yvas bags as he could while Dravite made sure he had collected up all of his tools. He then helped his son close the packs and heaved the heavy bags up onto Cree's back. The stallion snorted and shook his mane back and forth, upsetting the hawk, who squawked at him indignantly.
"Look!" Löwe pointed over the watchman's shoulder as he lifted the boy up onto Cree's back, "a rabbit."
"You know what; I think Hunter might go for that hunt after all."

The watchman took the bird on his arm and whistled for the hawk to take flight. Hunter sprang up and took flight, racing skyward without any idea that the rabbit existed. The watchman saw the rabbit freeze when it saw the hawk before bolting across the plain in an attempt to race back to its burrow. When Dravite gave the signal for Hunter to make the kill, just as he had been taught by Ife, the bird didn't seem to want to listen. Dravite whistled again, frustrated with the animal and the hawk just continued on up into the sky.
"Is he running away, Da?"
"I hope not," Dravite mumbled.

Abandoning the idea of the hunt, Dravite got up onto his horse and steered the stallion in the direction the hawk was headed. They followed the bird about half a mile further away from Endrykas than the man wanted to head before he tried to summon the bird again, using the food whistle. This time Hunter seemed to hear him and swooped down out of the sky like a falling star before slowing up to land on the man's arm. Dravite's rewarded the hawk for coming back, against his better judgement and made sure he was secured before they set off for home.
"He's not ready, is he?" Löwe said softly.
"Not yet," the watchman agreed, "a few more lessons before we try that again."
"He listens."
"Sometimes, I'm just glad he came back."
"Me too," Löwe smiled.