In search of the Windhowlers

[Daithi]

The First of summer, 412 AV


Daithi had just been handed a figurine of a wild cat and pointed in the direction of the Windhowlers, this was indeed the start of a good day for him. As he exited the tent he was reunited with his animal companions, Brother his horse and Cian his cat. As long as he had been traveling with Endrykas he had heard the name in passing but only that, he knew next to nothing of them, other than what the man in the tent had just told him. Daithi praised Cian for being good while he was inside and patted Brother affectionately, then mounted. He felt as if the was a new air about the day, he rode along in a slow yet proud manner.

Not long later they had made it to the Pavilion that he had been pointed to, the Windhowlers. Daithi dismounted from Brother and bid him and Cian stay, then he took hold of the carved wild cat in his hand. The young man readied himself before entering the pavilion, making sure that he looked as confident as he could. Then when he was ready he made his way inside holding the figurine so it could clearly be seen. Once he was inside he looked for who he thought would be in charge saying, "Hello, I am Daithi and I am of the Diamond Clan. I was told to come here and give you this figure and you would take care of me in the ways of work. I am bonded to a Strider and have a hunting cat, as well as the use of my bow. He waited for the man to respond in turn.

[Daithi]

A tall Drykas man standing several inches taller than Daithi steped forward and outstretched his hand taking the wooden figure from Daithi, the man looked it over as if to check that it was indeed not a fake reproduction. After a moment the tall blonde man introduced himself, "Well hello Daithi my boy, it is good to meet you. I am Tsavan Windhowler, and we are happy to have you and in reality we have been a man down for some time now. That you have a cat is very much a plus, Though before we can be sure that we can keep you on for the long haul I need to see that you wont get yourself or another killed."

Daithi listened as the older yet still very capable man talk, making sure to absorb all that was said to him. He nodded and said, "Of course that is understandable. I will do my best to not let you down."

Tsavan continued on saying, "Very good, that's what I like to hear. Now While I stay here and tend to things here, but Zavik here, my number two will take you out and see what your made of. How does that sound?"

Daithi was very happy with what he was hearing, he knew he was not the best hunter in the world but he sure loved to show off what he did know how to do. "That sounds very good to me and thank you for the chance." With that said Tsavan left it to Zavik Windhowler to take charge of Daithi and show him the ropes, and to see if Daithi had what it took to hunt with the Windhowlers.

Zavik took a step forward and greeted Daithi, Zavik was much shorter than Tsavan and had light brown hair pulled back with a leather strap. The man may have been short but he was build like a brickhouse, very stout and looked as if he could and had in fact held his own against many foes over the years. Zavik said to Daithi, "Well met Daithi. The first thing we shall see is how well you use your weapons."

Daithi responded to Zavik, "It is good to meet you as well, and okay let us start on our way." With that Daithi began to follow Zavik out of the pavilion and out to a make shift archery range.

[Daithi]

The two men had made it to an archery range and Zavik took lead saying nothing. Daithi did not know it yet but that was the first lesson, say nothing, many things can be said through silence and body language. Zavik took his short bow in hand and showed Daithi what was to be expected from a real hunter. One, two, three bullseyes in a row! It was an amazing thing to see, and somethign the young hunter knew he would not be able to reproduce for sometime.

When Zavik turned the range over to Daithi, he knew he had to give it his one hundred and ten percent. He took his stance and nocked his first arrow, he aimed and let it loose. From about forty yards he only just hit the outside edge of the target. The second arrow was nocked and let loose with about the same effect. However the third arrow, when let loose hit much closer to the center, but still way nowhere near a bullseye. Zavik slaped Daithi on the back saying, "Well my boy, you have the makings of a fine archer. Many have done worse than that and went on to be great." He gave a wink and said, "Myself included."

Daithi thought that the man was only saying this to make him feel better but then thought to himself that all started out small. Once they had collected the arrows that had been spent Zavik asked Daithi what other weapons he had. "I have a half spear." Then the older man told Daithi to take an odd number of steps forward and throw his spear at the same target, and that a good hunter was good with many weapons.

[Daithi]

Daithi did as told and threw his spear, it was a new addition to his weaponry and he had not used it before. His throw was both poor in force and aim, it had not even struck the target. Zavik could not help but belt out a laugh to Daithi's dismay. After a few more throws Zavik pointed out how to hold the spear and some other pointers saying, This is how you do it here not like that. The man then took hold of the spear and threw it at the target, it went deep into the center of the target. It was an impressive sight to behold. Zavik then said, "What is good about these kinds of weapons is that they are good for both ranged and close up killing."

After collecting the spear Zavik told Daithi to throw it some more before they began working with it up close on the target. Daithi did as he was told and threw the halfspear over and over, slowly there was very little improvement. He could tell though that it made a huge change when he made the adjustments to how he held it and threw it. After several dozens of times running to get his spear and throw it at the target Zavik told him that it was good for now and that he should now move up to the target and get a feel for the use of his spear up close.

Daithi took his weapon in hand and slashed then stabbed the target a few times. Zavik took hold of the spear and again showed Daithi how to hold the spear and how to attack. Daithi took the spear back and began to do as he was showed over and over again. After what had seemed like forever Zavik told him, "Alright that's good you don't want your arms to fall off, we still have to take you out and see your hand at hunting something that can move."

His animals had been lazing about behind him enjoying the rest and watching Daithi and Zavik. Then Daithi and the older man went back into the tent collecting the rest of the hunting party, there were four others that would ride out with them. They mounted and rode out with a vast amount of weapons and animals.

After a couple hours of travel the men had found the first sign of Zibri, they could see where the animals had laid the night before and droppings all over a small area. It looked like it was a pretty small herd in size but it was no matter to them, they would only kill what they needed. As they followed the tracks and signs of the herd the men kept quite as to not disturb the herd if they happened to catch up to it.

[Daithi]

As the hunters traveled quietly and at a slowed pace they could tell that they were growing closer and closer to the herd. The tracks looked fresher and the dung was as well. His and the other hunting animals were showing signs of being near to prey as well sniffing about and stalking. After they had been tracking the herd of zibri for what must have been about an hour or so Daithi caught the first sight of the creatures. It was a small herd only forty or fifty zibri but this was still a good find for them.

Daithi motioned and pointed without speaking to let the others know that he had seen the herd, though it was likely that the others had already seen the herd before he had. As they moved closer they were silent as to not spook the zibri and Zulrav must have been smiling on them as the wind was on their side. Zavik signed that the six men would break up into two groups of three. The first which was made of Zavik, Daithi, and another hunter would spear-head the herd while the second group would move in on the flank of the zibri. After several minutes of careful riding they were in position and there was an exchange of signals.