15th of fall, 514 a.v
late morning
The sun was well into her climb, although there was still a hefty distance to go before she reached her high throne. The wind was strong amid an otherwise warm day, pleasant to the skin and burdened with the scents of autumn, full of ripening seeds and fruit and the animals that were already beginning to fatten upon them. It was the season of bounty, and with that bounty it was also the season of labor.
Shahar Dawnwhisper was one of those laborers, although not quite as theatrical as many; he did not slink through the grass in purpose for the Great Hunt, as so many others did, he did not pursue massive beasts or dangerous predators or other avenues to status and glory, preferring instead the calm swath of land around Endrykas proper. His work was more humble in nature, although it held its own importance; with so many warriors and hunters away, it seemed that his skills were far more valuable to those that remained. Hence, he was the one an Amethyst Ankhal had come to in response to a large pack of coyotes harassing the outer pavilions.
From what he’d been told, the coyotes had begun by bothering some of the Seme and Strider herds, though not really causing damage. At least, not until two nights before when they had managed to take a young colt, and then to viciously bite the man that had been sent out to guard the herd the night after. It was Shahar’s task to find and slay as many of the coyotes as he could, and hopefully their reduced numbers would make them less aggressive.
He had just begun tracking his quarry and was still within sighting distance of the outer fringes of the Amethyst district when he came to the conclusion that the pack was almost certainly marking its territory close to the city. Fresh tracks ran this way and that, the youngest of them surely only half an hour old. The prints had been made calmly, set close by an animal that was completely unhurried, and they intersected with countless others of the same. Wherever they were, they felt secure.
And it was Shahar’s job to disrupt that security.
The hunter slid a javelin out of the quiver on his back and settled low to creep after them.
late morning
The sun was well into her climb, although there was still a hefty distance to go before she reached her high throne. The wind was strong amid an otherwise warm day, pleasant to the skin and burdened with the scents of autumn, full of ripening seeds and fruit and the animals that were already beginning to fatten upon them. It was the season of bounty, and with that bounty it was also the season of labor.
Shahar Dawnwhisper was one of those laborers, although not quite as theatrical as many; he did not slink through the grass in purpose for the Great Hunt, as so many others did, he did not pursue massive beasts or dangerous predators or other avenues to status and glory, preferring instead the calm swath of land around Endrykas proper. His work was more humble in nature, although it held its own importance; with so many warriors and hunters away, it seemed that his skills were far more valuable to those that remained. Hence, he was the one an Amethyst Ankhal had come to in response to a large pack of coyotes harassing the outer pavilions.
From what he’d been told, the coyotes had begun by bothering some of the Seme and Strider herds, though not really causing damage. At least, not until two nights before when they had managed to take a young colt, and then to viciously bite the man that had been sent out to guard the herd the night after. It was Shahar’s task to find and slay as many of the coyotes as he could, and hopefully their reduced numbers would make them less aggressive.
He had just begun tracking his quarry and was still within sighting distance of the outer fringes of the Amethyst district when he came to the conclusion that the pack was almost certainly marking its territory close to the city. Fresh tracks ran this way and that, the youngest of them surely only half an hour old. The prints had been made calmly, set close by an animal that was completely unhurried, and they intersected with countless others of the same. Wherever they were, they felt secure.
And it was Shahar’s job to disrupt that security.
The hunter slid a javelin out of the quiver on his back and settled low to creep after them.
