The Black Bay, Part 2 (Solo)

[Colt]

10th of Winter, 511 AV Thump, thump. Khasr rolled over. Thump, thump. He wanted to go back to sleep. Snort. The drykas grumbled and pulled open the flap of his tent. “Why are you up so early?” he grumbled. Another snort. He sighed and pulled on his clothing, rolling into the clearing with as much grace as he could manage. Stumbling to his feet, he looked at the space’s other occupant. The black bay stallion pawed the ground, muscles rippling, and Khasr’s annoyance dissipated. “I still don’t know your name,” he said softly. The horse whickered in response. “Are you… Midnight?” The stallion reared angrily and charged. Khasr tensed but did not move. He had gotten a hang of the routine over the last few days. Still, he couldn’t help but flinch as the bay threw itself to the side, avoiding the stock-still man and thundering away, snorting some more as it disappeared into the grasses. “No,” Khasr said, slowly exhaling. “You’re not Midnight, either.” They were developing a habit. The horse would come, Khasr would try to name it, and it would charge him to show its displeasure. He listened to the hoofbeats fade into the distance as he went through his morning routine: excruciating bath in the half-frozen stream, rekindle the fire, heat up whatever he had on hand, bank the coals, and check his traps.

[Colt]

His first one was empty, the blood and fur around it suggesting that it had been stolen, while the second one held a fat sage grouse. It flapped violently as he removed it, and after nearly losing his grip multiple times he snapped its neck in annoyance, then returned to his camp to dress it. He’d never been particularly good at tanning or leather, but he was a natural at surviving. He made a clean cut across the grouse’s stomach then methodically removed its organs and set them aside. He rinsed the resulting cavity in the stream then turned to the pile. The intestines were first; he washed them thoroughly, filled them with water by tying knots at the end, and set them aside. He did the same for the stomach and bladder, then trotted off and buried everything else. If night scavengers were hungry then they would go for the easier meal and most likely stay away from his camp. The sun was high by the time he finished, and he felt his stomach growl in complaint of the meager pickings he’d had when he woke up. “Just to tide you over,” he assured his innards. He gathered dead brush and unbanked the coals, blowing over them gently to coax flames to life before setting about to unfeathering his bird, which was no easy task. The musky smell that usually accompanied such activities was thick, but it was one that he was used to. I need a pot, he noticed as he speared the bloody thing with a stick and set it over the fire.

[Colt]

A growl alerted him to company, and Khasr looked up to see a shadow in the leaves. He tensed and instinctively inched towards his javelins, but the leopard did not make any move to threaten. It simply crossed from one end of the tree to the other, then plopped down in the crook of a branch and gazed at the Drykas with vague interest. It knew that nothing could reach it in its castle but birds, and it didn’t mind that because birds were tasty. Something was odd about its laziness, and Khasr had to think before he got it. “So you’re the one that robbed my trap.” The leopard replied eloquently by exploding into a yawn the size of the heavens, then began looking suggestively between Khasr and the cooking grouse. “Don’t even think about it. You already stole my other one.” The cat paid no head, and only after five minutes of fruitless looks did it give up, stretching luxuriously to remind Khasr that it had been planning to give up anyway. Khasr snorted. “Whatever,” he said back.

[Colt]

This was bad. Khasr was sweating under the leopard’s gaze, eyes screwed shut. He tried not to think about it, focus on the javelin in his hand… Damn, he though, fidgeting. Damn, damn, damn. He had eaten the majority of the grouse, and the leopard’s eyes were heavy on his shoulders. Damn. “Stop it. Stop it,” he muttered. He continued to burn. He couldn’t stand it anymore. Dammit. “Fine!” he yelled, hurtling the remainder of his meal into the tree. There was an excited snarl as the occupant began to devour it. Khasr watched the leopard with hate, but the creature was oblivious to everything but the greasy meat in its paws. After half an hour trying to ignore the leopard he had identified it as female, and when he stood to head to the lip of the ravine he growled. “Bitch.”

[Colt]

The horses made him forget his anger. He didn’t know why, but everything just looked better. The grass was greener, the waterfall was sparklier, and the horses themselves seemed nicer. The stallion was courting the lead mare, who seemed quite happy with the attention, the foals ran and jumped around like goat kids, and the bachelor herd was meandering their way around the valley’s ridge in a lazy manner. The Sea of Grass was always teeming with life regardless of what time of year it was, and neither prey nor predator was ever want for fodder. Khasr wondered why the horses were in such close proximity with the leopard, wondering if she even hunted them. As he remembered the locations, he realized that the leopard probably didn’t have to as she lived in probably one of the most prey-rich clumps of land in miles. Colonies of small animals lived right under her tree, so she barely even needed territory. Khasr sighed and leaned back to look at the sky. The frost had melted and the world was merely cool rather than cold. The sky was cloudy without being overcast, and breezes danced over the grass to remind everything within that it was, in fact, winter. He smiled in spite of himself. Even though it was colder than usual, even though he had relinquished a decent meal, he was happy. He wasn’t hungry, he was in the Sea of Grass, he was surrounded by life, by Caiyha’s bounty, with Semele below him and Zulrav above him. He was exactly where he belonged. And life was good.

[Colt]

The sun was high when he heard the hoofbeats again. The bay was getting more curious, going out of his way to find Khasr, and the man turned his head and watched the horse emerged from the clearing before standing. “Are you… Zephyr?” Charge. As before, Khasr stood stock-still, and as before, the stallion veered to the side before collision. “Are you just looking for excuses to run at me?” Khasr asked. The horse snorted and returned to wherever it had come from, and Khasr sighed as he picked up his javelins. As long as he was up, he should probably hunt since something had stared him out of what was supposed to be his lunch and dinner. He took note of the wind, then set off northward at a healthy jog.

[Colt]

He slunk through the grass, a javelin in each hand, eyes focused on the ground. Each step was careful, calculated, and barely made any sound. Khasr rolled his head to wipe some sweat from his face with his shoulder when he saw slivers of light, identifying a halt in the grass. He slowed even more, taking his time to assess the clearing. It was fairly large; probably around twenty paces across, and was inhabited by a herd of gazelles. They were grazing peacefully, lethargic in the warmth of high noon, and Khasr used that to his advantage. Stalking the perimeter, his eye settled on one of the larger males. He was around three feet at the shoulder, and his posture bore the pride of a creature at its prime. The Drykas inched into position and settled into a crouch not ten feet away and raised his javelin. The shot would be easy. The weapon flew through the air and slid gently into the gazelle’s chest. It looked down at it, as if it couldn’t quite believe what had just happened, then silently knelt down as if suddenly tired. It took a few heartbeats, but the rest of the herd soon erupted into panic and fled. Khasr didn’t mind. He wouldn’t be able to handle two gazelles. He stepped into the clearing and went to examine his kill. It was quite dead, warm blood seeping into the ground, and didn’t even twitch when he disenlodged his weapon. He wiped off the blood adorning it, put it with the rest, then shouldered the gazelle and headed back to his camp.

[Colt]

Thankfully, the leopard didn’t seem to be around, but Khasr still steered clear of her tree. He went to the other one ten or so feet away, shorter and stockier than the tall acacia, and set about to taking care of his kill. He felt around the joint in its hind legs until he found two lumps. He made generous holes between the tendons and bones, then slipped a javelin through both legs and hoisted it off the ground and onto the lowest branch of the tree. It hung limply, and Khasr drew his knife. The fur on the animal’s hide created faint lines on its stomach an legs, and he made clean cuts along the inside of each leg, then from the back of the stomach, over the collarbone and to the throat. He quickly made a last cut circling the very top of the neck, then cleaned his knife and prepared for grunt work. Since the gazelle had just been killed, it had not gone into rigor mortis and the process was much easier as a result. Khasr thumbed the cut at one of the hind legs until he made a significant parting between the hide and meat, then gripped and pulled.

[Colt]

Tearing the hide from the beast’s carcass was no easy feat, and in about an hour Khasr was rewarded with numb hands alongside his soggy new deerhide. A muscle coated the inside of the skin, and though it had stuck to the hide it had also made the hide come off cleanly. Yes, there were some holes, but it was better than nothing. After cleaning his hands off in the stream, the Drykas rolled the hide up neatly. He would have to return to Endrykas today if he didn’t want the hide to spoil, that was for certain, but he wasn’t too concerned about that; the city wasn’t set to move for another two days at least, and it was only two or so hours to walk.

Drying his hands on his cloak, Khasr moved the hide closer to his camp. Only then did it strike him that it might not have been a good idea to skin the beast after all; the leopardess had appeared and was already making her way over the tree towards where the carcass was hanging.

“Hey!” Khasr shouted, snatching a rock from the ground and throwing it at the would-be thief. It missed, but the leopardess was properly cautioned, at least enough for Khasr to come forward and cut the body down. He wasn’t too concerned about maggots; the skin-muscle had been damaged in the removal of the hide, but the muscle below it had not. The meat had sealed itself, and there was no place for flies to lay their eggs. This, too, would last until he returned to Endrykas, but he had to move quickly.

Motions quick and experienced, Khasr pulled everything out of his tent and collapsed it. It went into his pack quickly, followed by the bedroll and everything else he traveled with. He then turned to the firepit, separating the embers and dousing them with dirt; they would remain hot for a good long while, but unless someone else came along and deliberately stuck something inside them they wouldn’t catch flame.

Khasr pulled his equipment onto his back, tucked the rolled-up hide under one arm and drew the carcass over one shoulder, almost stumbling under the weight. He should have definitely left the skin on the beast. He went over the return trek in his head, factoring in the added burden to figure out when exactly he would reach the city. The sun was still at her peak, and so at a normal pace he would reach Endrykas within two hours. With the added burden, perhaps five hours. Good enough for him.

Khasr gave a last glance to the clearing where he had been staying. He didn’t know what he was looking for; the leopard? Perhaps hoping against hope that the stallion had come back one last time?

It didn’t matter. Not right now. Khasr shook himself and turned south. He had a long road ahead of him.

- End -

[Translucent]

Congratulations On Your Hard Work!

Shahar Dawnwhisper:
XP:+1 trapping, +2 butchery, +1 hunting, +1 weapon: Javelin
Lores: Out stubborned by a Leopard, Butchery: Careful to seal the meat to keep out fly larvae

Notes:

As always PM me if you have issues.