[PRP] Eyes in the darkness (Zeldin, Cole, & Jenu)

[one over three]

Zeldin had come east to visit her mother. Often it was Auri who flew out to see her but every now and again Zeldin found the time to visit her mom back home. The flight it’s self was easy enough. It was long, though, so she had to make sure she had enough time to visit with her mother and make the whole trip worth it. This time she was carrying some of her herd’s tea to share as well as the fire starting tools and a clay pot. Items their sister herd had procured on one of their recent trading trips. Soon the group hoped to produce items like these themselves, but for now they were settling for buying extra while abroad to sell with their tea.  

[one over three]

The sun was low on the horizon and Cole was just starting to stir when a shadow passed over him. He opened his eyes and gazed up into the sky, trying to catch a glimpse of what had cast it. Not being able to spot it immediately he took flight and climbed above the tree line. There he spotted a young angeni mare. She seemed to be weighed down with a few packages and seemed to be a little tireing.

He swooped down back below the tree line, staying high enough that he could keep an eye on her between the tree’s branches, but low enough that she would have trouble spotting him in turn. Angeni were dangerous prey but in a situation like this where his target was already loosing strength he’d have a chance. Maybe, if he was lucky, he’d be able to watch her undetected until after she fell asleep for the night. He imagined himself sitting, waiting, then taking off from his perch. His wings were powerful, but silent. Even the lightest sleeper wouldn’t be disturbed by his approach.

She vanished for a moment behind a particularly large tree, and when he came up above the canopy again she was gone. She’d probably chosen somewhere to land, then. He stayed above the canopy, looking for an opening in the trees large enough to accommodate a landing for a creature as large as her. There were a few possible candidates, but only one that stood out as an obvious landing choice. He made his way there.  

[one over three]

The bear walker had wandered to the base of her mountain, despite the unusually warm season, in an attempt to quell her discomfort. She’d been growing antsy lately and her store of frozen meats stashed around her home weren’t satisfying her the same way they normally would. She craved something warm and juicy, and she wasn’t patient enough to play out her regular plan of luring an unsuspecting victim back up the mountain with her. She’d hunt here, satiate herself, then return home and try her best to hibernate until winter arrived. For now she was watching a clearing, hoping that something would be unfortunate enough to settle down nearby while the sun set. She much preferred taking out prey in a lazy way like this rather than stalking something that stood a better chance of running.

She was still huddled as a bear in her shaded burrow when a young, grey angeni landed in the clearing she’d been keeping an eye on. The bear walker raised her head a little, slowly, to get a better view of the youngster. She was breathing hard, likely from a long flight, and was taking a few packs down off her back. One of her ears twitched. Interesting. She would have to go through the packages once the girl was taken down. It would be unlikely that an angeni would be carrying anything all that nice with them, but there was always a chance.

Her eyes flicked to the sky. It was growing dark fast.  

[one over three]

------Zeldin------
Zeldin carefully pulled the pack from her back and set it down. She was breathing a bit harder than she’d realized. Sometimes it was just too easy to get into a zone when you were flying for such long distances. Easy to get your breathing into a pattern and keep pace with your wing beats. A friend had taught her a long distance technique where she would alternate her wings which helped a lot with muscle fatigue. Still though her lungs never really got a chance to rest.

She took a deep breath then looked around, ears flicking as she listened for any hint of water nearby. There seemed to be something in the distance. Hopefully not too far. Being in the woods at night like this creeped her out. It always felt like someone was watching.  

[one over three]

------Zeldin------
Zeldin gave herself a good, long chance to catch her breath before carefully picking up her pack and strapping it back in place her back. Her ears flicked around as she tried to pin point the exact direction the sound of running water was coming from. Once she got herself oriented she started off, planning on staying on the ground to let her wing muscles rest. Her mother’s place was only an hour or so from here but the plan was to arrive in the morning so she wouldn’t end up saying hello before falling asleep. While she was sure Auri would understand and wouldn’t mind at all she still personally preferred to arrive when she’d have a little more energy.

She hesitated before setting off but once she was in the forest proper it didn’t seem all that bad. The trees were thick and old, and they choked out most of the low growths that often clogged up the forest floor. She still couldn’t see terribly far due to the darkness but the fact that she could see a fair bit through the space between the trees helped her relax a little. The chance of there being something truly dangerous this close to her mother’s home was low, after all. There would be no harm in letting down her guard just a little big. She took a deep breath to steady herself then continued on her way toward the water.

The whole while the forest remained still and silent.  

[one over three]

------Jenu------

The grumpy bear walker waited until the little angeni was a bit further away before crawling out of her cubby and following the stranger into the woods. She’d seen a few other walkers who’d ended up with strange, shiny stones stuck to them after a run in with an angeni. Some indicated that the stone was worth seeking out. Some were slowed by it. It made them weak and their movements looked as though they’d sunk deep into a pool of honey and struggled to get out. Those ones went down easily and she’d started decorating her cave with their little angeni stones. The bits of wet flesh still attached to the stone made it incredibly easy to stick them to the icy walls. After her first addition she’d made a point of seeking out walkers who bore these stones. Not a single one had seemed stronger for the addition.

Jenu did her best to move through the forest silently, being careful with each step to nudge aside any leafs or twigs that might make noise if crushed under her huge paws. This often meant taking her eyes off the angeni girl, but fortunately her prey was barely moving faster than she was and never got too far ahead while she picked out her path. Any time she started getting too close she would pause and wait for the girl to move on ahead. She’d take this opportunity to examine the canopy and check for any obvious escaped routes the angeni could take.  

[one over three]

------Cole------

Cole followed after the mare, really only bothering to keep behind her or to duck into the shadows if he felt he was moving too fast in a direction that might cause her to catch the movement. While he watched he planned his attack. Verses someone with only one set of wings he would always go for the wings first. With an angeni they would still be able to fly after an attack like that, their speed would just be slowed to something he stood a chance of keeping up with. Annoying since a regular wind would be entirely grounded.

He turned his head as he scanned the forest, listening for any small noises that would betray the presence of anyone who might come to her aid. Through the trees he heard the faint sound of debris being shuffled around the forest floor. At first he thought it was the girl, but no, she was happily crunching away at the leaves as she made her way down the gradual slope. It wasn’t her.

Leaning forward and spreading his wings he glided across the path behind her and took up perch on a new branch. Here he listened again, narrowing down the exact location of the other creature. It was large, and it didn’t sound like it had hooves. Could it be possible that this territory belonged to another predator? He bristled a bit at the thought. Would there be a way to use this to his advantage? Or would he need to contend with the stranger in order to claim his prize.  

[one over three]

------Zeldin------
Zeldin was deep enough into the forest now that the trees were blocking out most of what little daylight remained. The rest would be gone fast, and while the grey mare hadn’t been keeping note of what stage the moon had been at she was sure that even a full moon wouldn’t have much hope of casting light down here. Her ear flicked back, had that been the sound of something passing through the brush? She paused a moment and took a deep breath. Really, No need to work herself up. It could have been a skunk, or even her own body brushing up against the nearby foliage. Goodness knows she wasn’t the single most graceful individual.  

[one over three]

------Cole------
Cole had been about to glide from his latest perch to the next when his prey’s demeanour changed. It was a slight thing, but still enough to warn him that she was more alert to her surroundings than she had been a few moments ago. He’d noticed the other creature earlier but part of him had hoped that it wasn’t trailing the same prey he was. Now he was sure he had competition.

His talons grasped the branch tighter as he wobbled his head ever so slightly this way and that, trying to get a better picture of where the culprit was hiding. The cursed walker was already aware of a few other creatures in the forest, but somehow the creature that had nearly just given him away had gone undetected until just that moment. That, in it’s self, was unusual. The noise didn’t come from a small creature. It was large enough that even if it was sleeping it should have been on his radar long before now.  

[one over three]

------Jenu------
The big bear walker cursed under her breath. At her size there wasn’t a single time or place where it was easy for her to move around without being detected. She was proud of how long she’d managed to make it without alarming the angeni mare, but in the end she’d gotten sloppy and a dead branch had touched her back ever so slightly. It’s leaves had fallen and now lay all around her on the ground and she was left fighting back the urge to tear it down and beat it into submission. The mare had barely paused but Jenu knew as well as the next idiot that even if the mare convinced herself that she was alone she would still have her guard up from here on out.

Not wanting to let the hunt go to waste Jenu switched tactics. Bending down she bit at her leg enough to draw blood, then limped out of her cover onto the path behind the other mare.

“Help,” she growled, hoping that her tone would sound more fearful and pained than it would angry. “You’re an angeni, aren’t you? I took a fall out of a tree a while ago and landed hard on some rocks,” she limped as she shifted her weight, trying to show the blood. “I got something lodged in my leg, it’s not bleeding too bad but I can’t get it out. Please, stranger!” she plead as she started closing the gap between the two of them.  

[one over three]

------Zeldin------
Zeldin’s heart just about skipped a beat when the rustling started up again followed by a strange, growling plea for help. Fallen out of a tree? She turned to look behind her, breaking out into a cold sweat when she realized just how large the stranger was. The trees around here were large, sure, but a beast that big couldn’t possibly expect to safely climb a tree! It would break any branch it tried to climb out onto! Besides, why was she only smelling blood now? She’d passed the spot the bear emerged from a minute before and if the bear had been hiding there she should have caught scent of it then.

She gave a small cough, “That looks like it hurts a great deal. I need to unload my pack before I can help though. Wait here, would you?”  

[one over three]

------Cole------
The owl walker froze watching the sheer stupidity of the situation play out before him, brain stalling as he tried to figure out what to do about it. He’d seen this particular bear around before and had mythologized her in his mind. She was huge, ruthless, and, he thought, cunning. But was she really? Was this really the calibre of her cunning? A lame duck trick like this one?

The smell of blood reached him, urging him forward. She wasn’t as scary as he’d imagined after all.